Komotini

A walkable city in northeastern Greece where a dense café and food scene mixes with a visible Muslim minority culture — minarets, latticed windows, and traditional dress in the older neighbourhoods — that was exempted from the 1920s population exchange between Greece and Turkey. The Democritus University of Thrace, founded in 1973, gives the city a student population that sustains its lively centre. Mountains are visible from the plain, and the old market area rewards a wander.

• Population45,631
• Nearest water from center2.0 km
• Nearest mountain from center13.4 km