Greece migrants last stop

Before catching the world's attention, Idomeni was a sleepy village on the Greek border with Macedonia, the last stop on the train before heading through former Yugoslav countries and onto western Europe.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees followed the train tracks past Idomeni northward in 2015, when the migrant crisis exploded. They came from Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, trekking through Greece after dangerous rides on rickety smugglers' boats from Turkey, most hoping to make it west and north to more prosperous European countries.

Idomeni is where they stopped when Europe decided to close its borders in March.

Gradually, helped by volunteers, the stranded refugees created a small town. There was a tiny school, a portable cinema, food stalls, barbers, a first aid station, a hotspot for wireless Internet. Refugees took over every inch of the train station and spread out into the surrounding fields, living in tents as the population swelled to 14,000.

A fortunate few hundred got places on decommissioned train cars — some had been used as sleeper carriages, others for freight. It's where Majd, a 22-year-old fine arts student from Damascus, wrote poetry, where toddler Abdul took his first steps, where Maher and Midia spent their honeymoon.

Braving bad weather and sheer boredom, the wait for some good news seemed endless.

It never came.

On government orders, Idomeni was cleared out last week. The tents were packed up, the land bulldozed, and the migrants placed on convoys of buses escorted by police to army-built shelters elsewhere.

The railway line reopened after two months of being shut down, the train cars once used as shelters left abandoned.

Idomeni returned to being a dot on the map.

Here's a photo essay from Idomeni by Associated Press photographer Petros Giannakouris.

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In this Saturday, May 14, 2016 photo a man jumps from the top of a train wagon in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city of Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016 photo, a Syrian woman washing clothes on a railway tracks outside a train that refugees and migrants live in, in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city of Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Sunday, May 8, 2016 photo, a child gets off a train that he lives in with his family in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city of Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Sunday, May 8, 2016 photo, 23-year old Mohamed from Syria looks out of the window from the cabin of a train that he lives in, in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city in Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Sunday, May 8, 2016 photo, Fatme from Syria watches her 18-month-old child crawl inside the train wagon that she lives in, in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city in Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, a Syrian girl gets in a train carriage as a woman cooks food on a makeshift fire in front of tents in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city in Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. On government orders, Idomeni was cleared this week. At its peak, it hosted some 14,000 people trapped by Balkan border closures.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Saturday, May 14, 2016 a Syrian young man looks out of a freight car that he lives with his friends in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city iN Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Sunday, May 8, 2016 photo, 23-year-old-Syrian man Mohamed lights a cigarette in his cousins cabin Majd Hamid , 22, as a Syrian woman Fatme gets in her cabin inside a train car that they live in, in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city if Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, a man looks out of a window of a train that he lives in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city of Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. After refusing to move for months, refugees camped out at the Greek border were bused to shelters in a police operation this week.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016 photo two Syrian twin sisters chat with a relative as they stand inside a freight car that their family live in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city of Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. On government orders, Idomeni was cleared this week. Just before the evacuation Idomeni had 8,400 occupants, according to official figures, and it's unclear where all those who didn't get the buses to other camps are. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Monday, May 9, 2016 photo, a Syrian woman holds a battery-operated torch in a stationary freight wagon in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city in Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. After refusing to move for months, refugees camped out at the Greek border were bused to shelters in a police operation to clear the camp. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, a Syrian girl looks out train window that she lives with her family in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city of Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. The evacuation of Idomeni has dashed the dreams of thousands migrants and refugees who had been camping there for months in the hopes of eventually being able to cross over the border and continue toward Europe's more prosperous heartland.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, a man walks with his child inside a train as tents are seen outside in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city of Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Sunday, May 8, 2016 photo, Susdar a 24-year-old Syrian woman look on her mobile phone in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city if Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016 photo, drops of rain cover a train as a man is seen inside train sleeper carriages that he lives in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city of Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016 photo, two Afghan man pray near railway track in front of the train that they live in the sprawling refugee and migrant tent city of Idomeni, on Greece's northern border with Macedonia. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

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Text from the AP news story, AP PHOTOS: Refugees who made a train to nowhere their home.

Associated Press writer Derek Gatopoulos contributed to this report from Athens, by Petros Giannakouris.

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