Ilioupoli

Ilioupoli (Modern Greek: Ηλιούπολη, meaning "sun city") is a suburb in the south-southeastern part of metropolitan Athens, Greece.

The area was made up of farmlands to the west and the central part and the rocky areas of the Hymettus to its east. Mixed farming was common in the western part. Much of the agricultural production that time was pastures and groves. Urban development replaced much of the farmlands in the 1930s and the 1940s. Today, from the western and to the east-central part of the municipality are urbanized while the businesses are within its main avenues and streets. The forest of Hymettus lies to the northeast and barren land to its east. The barren extend to the southcentral part of the ranges of Ymittos. The residential streets that are aligned to shape like an oval almost the same as Heliopolis, Egypt. Ilioupoli has a total of five ovals with aligning five to six streets in a row. Four are in the northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast and one in the central part. The western part of the municipality is not made up of streets that are oval-shaped. Much of the industrial buildings and businesses along with shopping outlets are aligned within Vouliagmenis Avenue. It has several interchanges.

Ilioupoli is also known as the "city of squares", or plateies, as they are called in Greek. The municipality contains more than a dozen squares, of various sizes, and people with little knowledge of the area often have problems finding their way towards their destination. In addition, most of the squares in Ilioupoli have a STOP sign for vehicles entering them, which is the exception to the Greek driving rule (where vehicles entering a square should have priority). As a result, a lot of car accidents, although minor, happen in the area, because drivers pay little attention to these specific STOP signs.

Areas of the municipality have also different names, mostly after certain landmarks. Examples include Astinomika, which is the part of the municipality close to Hymmetus, Xaraugi, the part that lies close to Vouliagmenis Avenue, Agia Marina, the blocks around the church of Agia Marina and the Melina Merkouri Theatre and Nisaki, the part close to Kanaria Square and the church of Koimisi.

Ilioupoli is twinned with Novi Sad (Serbia) and Larnaka (Cyprus).^[1]

Transportation

The city is passed by a road that links to Katechaki and Vouliagmenis Avenue to the southeast and has three entrances and a street linking Elliniko and Vyronas along with Ymittos. It is located south of Attiki Odos (number 65) which is also known as the Hymettus Ring which opened in 2004 with the Katechaki interchange. It is also located southeast of Athens. Ilioupoli can now be accessed by the nearest subway station, Attiki Metro with the Red Line in Alexandros Panagoulis named after Alexandros Panagoulis, since 2004. Prior to 2004 it was Dafni. The Ilioupoli subway station will be a future station of the Red line.

Ilioupoli is also linked by bus to downtown Athens (OASA 237 line), to Glyfada (OASA 140 line) and Piraeus (OASA 218 line).

Ilioupoli has schools, lyceums, gymnasia, banks, a post office and squares (plateies), including Karaiskaki Square and the other five circles, each of which align the centre of the oval-shaped streets. Ilioupoli also has a junior basketball and soccer team named Ilioupoli.

Historical population

Landmarks

• Anapsiktirio "Demetrios Kintis"
• Plateia Iroon (Iroon Square)
• Koimisi tis Theotokou Church
• Kentriki Plateia (Central Square)

References

Notes

External links

• Official website (Greek)
• Mapquest - Ilioupoli
• Europe/Greece/Attica/Attiki/Ilioupoli/ Photos of Ilioupoli
• http://www.cityofilioupolis.gr/ (in Greek)
• Ilioupoli's online shopping guide (Greek)