Hamidye Boulevard (now Ethnikis Amynis) ended at the Fountain, a gift of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who had envisaged this long avenue. City residents long remembered the cherry flavored sirop that bubbled from the fountain at the street's inauguration.
The boulevard, also known as the Rue Royale (since almost all the buildings lining it belonged to the Sultan), housed the foreign consulates, luxurious mansions and smart cafes, as well as the renowned Idadie School (now part of Thessaloniki's university).
The Turks called the whole new waterfront area Hamidye, though the Greeks nicknamed it Pirgoi (mansions) or the district of Exohes (the countryside, as it was situated outside the city's walls).
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