A day of celebration for the people of Thessaloniki today as the city Metro is finally a reality. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis "pushed the button" and the first metro train of the city started its maiden route with hundrends of people present among them - along with the Prime Minister - the Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras.
HDN Newsroom
After the grandiose inauguration ceremony that included holy water and speeches by the main participants of the project, over the decades, the Prime Minister "pressed" the button symbolically, at the operation center at the Pylaia depot and the metro services began.
Venizelou station, which hosts the antiquities, was packed early on, with people waiting for the completion of the inauguration and the opening of the Metro gates, despite the heavy rain.
The placement of the antiquities is scenographic and this station is extremely well cared for, with good signage and several signs explaining what was found at the site and plenty of explanatory visual material for visitors.
The way in which the antiquities can be visited, with bridges around the perimeter, one level above the platforms, give the opportunity to see and admire them from various parts of the Station.
The floors of the Station are made of black granite at the level of antiquities and the walls are dark gray and brown.
There is a three-dimensional representation of the city in the early Byzantine period, where you can see the quadrupylon at the intersection of the main streets and the semicircular square, so that one can understand what the city was like at this point.
Immediately after the inauguration ceremony, the Prime Minister with the dignitaries – among them the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou and the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras – boarded one of the first trains that started from Pylaia, at approximately 13:45 noon on Saturday, November 30, 2024.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, his wife Mareva Grabowski and a crowd of people disembarked at Papafi station.
