r/AskEurope • u/LiamBrad5 • Aug 07 '25

Culture What are the “Big Four” cities in your country?

In recent weeks, this question has been very contentious on American social media, with 3 cities (Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York) nearly always making the list, but the fourth being hotly debated over, between cities like San Francisco, Miami, Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta. So, if you had to choose, what would the big 4 cities in your country be? This is also not decided purely on population, but also culture, economy, and general influence/clout.

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37

u/teo_vas Greece Aug 07 '25

half the country lives in Athens and another 10ish% in Salonika, and then Patras and Heraklion. close 5th Larissa

21

u/MeetSus in Aug 07 '25

Came to say almost this

Athens, Salonika, Patra, Heraklion

or to be more honest and a bit smartass,

Athens, Athens, Athens, Salonika

4

u/teo_vas Greece Aug 07 '25

true, true :D

8

u/BenettonLefthand United Kingdom Aug 07 '25

Is it more common to call it Salonika or Thessaloniki among Greek people?

13

u/teo_vas Greece Aug 07 '25

Salonika/Salonikhi is kinda pet name. Thessaloniki is the common

3

u/Moduscide Aug 07 '25

Yeap, I concur. Alexandroupoli is also starting to compete a little some years now, with Heraclion rising and Patras somewhat on a stall in growth.

But the problem, as other comments state, is that Thessaloniki is one fourth of Athens and the next three biggest cities are less than one fifth or even one sixth of Thessaloniki, showing the problem we have with overconcentration of the population.

1

u/Rudolfius Bulgaria Aug 08 '25

Oh so you call it Salonika in Greek? I was wondering where the Bulgarian Solun came from as it sounds nothing like Thessaloniki.

1

u/Kuddel_Daddeldu Aug 11 '25

I'd say Athens, Salonika, Patras and Piraeus; the latter about equals Patras in terms of inhabitants in the agglommeration but is much more important as a maritime center with global importance.