Kalavryta

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Kalavryta Καλάβρυτα
Location
Coordinates	38°2′N 22°7′E / 38.033, 22.117Coordinates: 38°2′N 22°7′E / 38.033, 22.117
Time zone:	EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (center):	758 m (2,487 ft)
Government
Country:	Greece
Periphery:	West Greece
Prefecture:	Achaea
Population statistics (as of 2001[1])
City Proper
- Population:	8,580
- Area:[2]	531.80 km² (205 sq mi)
- Density:	16 /km² (42 /sq mi)
Codes
Postal:	250 01
Area:	26940
Auto:	ΑΧ

Kalavryta (Greek: Καλάβρυτα) is a town, a province and a municipality in the eastcentral part of the prefecture of Achaea. It is the southern terminus of the Kalavryta - Diakopto Road and the eastern terminus of the Patras - Kalavryta Road. It is the largest municipality covering about 18% of the prefecture and is the leastly populated municipality in density. It also has the most number of communes in the prefecture. It is located approx. 40 km S of Aigio, 38 km S of GR-8/E65, about 190 km W of Athens, about 85 km NNW of Tripoli and about 130 km NE of Olympia.

[edit] Nearest places

• Rigoi NE

[edit] Communes

• Ano Vlassia
• Ano Loussi
• Doumena
• Drosato
• Flampoura (Kalavryta)
• Goumenissa
• Kalavryta
• Kallifoni
• Kandalos
• Kato Vlassia
• Kato Zachlorou
• Kerpini
• Kertezi
• Korfes
• Kouteli
• Lagovouni
• Lapanagoi
• Leontio
• Manesi
• Mikros Pontias
• Petsakoi
• Planitero
• Plataniotissa
• Priolithos
• Profitis Ilias
• Rogoi
• Sigouni
• Skepasto
• Trechlo
• Valta
• Vilivina

[edit] Historical population

The village has a small school, a lyceum, a gymnasium, a church, a small post office, banks, a train station and a square (plateia). The climate is a little cooler that the lowlands and receives some snow during the winter months but on Chelmos/Aroania, summers are a little cooler than Kalavryta and winter is very common which is used for skiing. Much of the municipality contains forests and mountains except for the regions in the southeast and southwest. The remainder of the municipality contains farmlands.

Kalavryta was home to developments that occurred on the 21 March 1821, which ignited the Greek War of Independence. On 13 December 1943, in what is commemorated as the Holocaust or Massacre of Kalavryta, allegedly in retribution of the killing of 81 German soldiers captured by partisans during the Nazi occupation in World War II, German troops ordered all male residents of Kalavryta, aged 12 years and up, to gather in a field just outside the village. There, they machine-gunned down 696 of them. Only 13 survived. After that they burnt down the town before they left and the next day they burnt down the Monastery of Agia Lavra, birth place of the Greek War of Independence.Post war, the federal Government of Germany offered gestures of atonement in the form of free school books for the high school,scholarships for orphans of the massacre and built an old peoples' home. No German commanders (eg Major Ebersberger who carried out the destruction of Katavryta;Hauptmann Dohnert who led the firing party) were ever brought to book for these events

Kalavryta railway station

The famous Diakopto-Kalavryta Railway was built by Italian engineers between 1885 and 1895. It is the southern terminus. The railway runs through a gorge but for the southern part runs within the road linking Kalavryta and Trapeza. Its length is 22 km and the journey is 68 min long. Kalavryta also has a famous Cave Lakes which is filled with lakes inside that cave in the southeast. Kalavryta also has the Kalavryta Ski Centre which is located east of town, situated on the slopes of mount Aroania (Chelmos) at 2,341 m is the tallest in Achaia. The monastery is located on a hill situated 8 km SW via the road from Kalavryta. Its elevation is abound 940 m. Another monastery is Mega Spilaion which is located in the northeast.

[edit] See also

• List of settlements in the Achaia prefecture

[edit] External links

• Mapquest - Kalavryta
• The Plaka - Kalavryta
• Museum of the Sacrificed People of Kalavryta
• Diakofto-Kalavryta Railway
• Kalalvryta Ski Center (in Greek)
• Pictures of Kalavryta