If you imagine Trikala only as a stop on the road to the Meteor monasteries, it is time to change your mind. The city not only impressed with its traditional architecture and with its great mountain landscapes but also with the innovative thinking of its citizens. In South Korea’s capitol Seoul, the Pacific Telecommunications Council group announced a list with the smartest internet societies and the Greek city Trikala is among them. The list includes 21 societies and on January 21^st the 7 finalists will be announced in the Hawaiian capitol Honolulu.

What did the citizens of Trikala do in order to get into that list? Each municipality in the city created their own internet portal, which connects to the main city portal. This way by typing in one address the citizens and contractors of the city can finish all kinds of tasks without having to wait in line and wasting their time. What can they actually do? They can submit applications and complaints to the municipality, get certificates, pay taxes and fines, they can get informed about cultural and sport events in the city, apply for open job positions online, and also attend online courses. The ones mostly satisfied by the city portals are the disabled and the immigrants.

Also in Trikala there is the so called electronic mayor – the citizens can send any questions and recommendations to the mayors and vice-mayors online and the authorities answer the same way. If the answer is not satisfactory, the citizen can demand a conference call with the responsible state employee. Wireless internet is added to all this, which is free and accessible to all citizens and visitors on the territory of the city. Now you are not wondering why Trikala is among the 21 smartest internet societies in the world.