Traïanoúpolis

Traianopolis was founded by the Roman emperor Trajan near the Via Egnatia and the lower Hebrus. Its hot springs made it a place of baths, while in Byzantine times it served as the ecclesiastical centre of Rhodope. Turkish raiders damaged the city in 1347, and it declined during the fourteenth century. After the Ottoman conquest, Gazi Evrenos endowed a vaulted inn known as the Hana beside the old road. Later bathhouses made use of the same warm waters that had drawn people to the ancient city.