Olympic flame passes across Greece on fourth day

THESSALONIKI, Greece, March 27 (Xinhua) -- It's a journey of history in the fourth day of Olympic flame relay as the flame travelled in six cities in north Greece on Thursday.

The flame visited Naoussa, Skidra, Edessa, Giannitsa, Ancient Pella and Thessaloniki after starting from Veria in 9:30.

The flame entered the ancient town Edessa in drizzle, but the enthusiasm was not hampered in the "city of water". The town had 16 torchbearers as Mashinga Dimitra and Galani Evaggelia came onto the ceremony stage.

Dimitra, the 200 meters champion in Balkan Games, lighted the cauldron. Evaggelia was another champion in Balkan Games in the event of long jump. The two girls held high their torches and beamed gorgeous smiles to the crowd.

It's the third time for Olympic flame to visit the town after the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games and 2004 Athens Summer Games.

The mayor of Edessa Sonoras Ioannis was so proud to have the flame come three times in a town of 27,000 inhabitants. In the site of ceremony, a banner said "Greeting to Beijing" in Greek.

"We live in a town of 3,000 years history, we live in a town of abundance in water resource and we live in a town of reserving a lot of historic legacy, so we deserve to have the flame three times," said Ioannis.

"Beijing is a charming city as I know from what I see on TV and what I read on papers. It's a great place with a long history and I think Beijing can have a great Olympic Games.

"I hope Beijing Games can come out as a miracle that never happened before," said Ioannis.

Edessa is an ancient town in Central part of Macedonia region, in Greece, and the capital of the Pella prefecture.

It is also the provincial capital of the province of the same name. The name "Edessa" was ascribed an Illyrian origin by Ulrich Wilcken, in his biography of Alexander the Great.

Edessa is well known as the "town of the waters ", due to its copious water resources and its tourist attraction of the waterfalls, located in the actual town center.

Archaeological remains have been discovered on the site of ancient Edessa, just below the modern city. The walls and the agora have been unearthed so far.

At 5:00 pm, the flame passed the Ancient Pella, another city of historic relics. The ceremony was on in the historic site of the ancient city with huge pillars erecting.

Apostolos Tsaltaferidis, the mayor of Ancient Pella preferred to light the cauldron himself. He is a marathon frantic.

"The flame is a message of peace in the world. The flame comes to the same place of Alexander the Great setting off to unite the world in the way of wars," said Tsaltaderidis.

"The flame spreads its spirit to unite the world in the way of peace."

At the beginning of the 4th century BC, the capital of the Macedonian kingdom was transferred to Pella.

Under Philip II and Alexander III, Pella became a metropolis with an impressive complex of palaces and luxurious private houses.

The city was founded by Archelaus (413-399 BC) as the capital of his kingdom, replacing the older palace-city of Aigai (Vergina). After this, it was the seat of the king Philip II and of Alexander, his son.

The flame reached Thessaloniki to stay overnigh. Thessaloniki is the second major economic, industrial, commercial and political center in Greece, and a major transportation hub for the rest of southeastern Europe.

Thessaloniki retains several Ottoman and Jewish structures as well as a large number of Byzantine architectural monuments.

The city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and twenty-six other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great.

On the fifth-day journey, the flame is set to go southwards, passing ancient site of Dion, Larissa, Volos and Lamia.