Pylaia

Pylaia (Πυλαία) is a Borough of Thessaloniki. Pilea covers 24.379 km2 with 4,5 km of coastline extending along the shores of the Thermaic Gulf and had a 2001 census population of 22,744 inhabitants. Pylaia is relatively sparsely populated for a municipality within the Thessaloniki Urban Area.

History
The first reference to Pylaia is found in a historian Thucydides, in 319 BC, under the ancient name Strepsa. It was later known as Kapoutzida, from the Turkish word kapoutzides, or gatemen, deriving from the guards watching over the city walls of Byzantine Thessaloniki. The current name came into general use in 1927, and is derived from the word Pyle (πυλη), meaning gateway and referring to the Eastern Entrance of the city.