| Kineta Κινέτα |
|
|---|---|
| Location | |
|
Kineta
|
|
| Coordinates | |
| Government | |
| Country: | Greece |
| Region: | Attica |
| Regional unit: | West Attica |
| Municipality: | Megara |
| Population statistics (as of 2001) | |
| Village | |
| - Population: | 1,972 |
| Other | |
| Time zone: | EET/EEST (UTC+2/3) |
| Postal: | 191 00 |
| Telephone: | 22960 |
Kineta (Greek: Κινέτα) is a suburban town located 55 km W of Athens, 14 km W of Megara and 25 km E of Corinth. Kineta is the westernmost town in Attica and is part of the municipality of Megara. Kineta is located on an old highway (GR-8) linking Athens and Corinth as well as the rest of the Peloponnese while the superhighway GR-8/E94 is to the north serving an interchange is located north of the centre of the community. The old interchange which was closed in the early-2000s was located to the northeast and was unsuitable for trucks. The prefecture of Corinthia is bounded to the west and the Saronic Gulf is situated to the south. Kakia Skala is located to the east and is a steep area filled with bushes, a few forests and mainly of rock type. The Geraneia mountains cover the north and northwest.
Contents |
The urban area of Kineta is around the centre, along the Saronic and west of Kakia Skala which are large to the north. Farmlands are in the central part along with a few forests. Pine and other types of forests lie to the east, the north and the west with an embankment that is colored white. The rocks of Kakia Skala is to the east and to the north-east. The sparkling beaches that is Kineta's fame align with the coastline of Kineta and hotels including one that has about a few stories and is the tallest building in the community and restaurants are within the coastline. Hotel names include Kineta Beach.
In the mid to late-20th century, hotels began construction and began pop up making tourism the main industry in Kineta, agriculture was the main industry before the arrival of hotels. In 1992, the construction of an additional 4 lanes to the superhighway began until 1995 to near the old Kineta Interchange. Since 2004 after three years of construction, the 6-lane superhighway is entirely connected.
In 1833 it is referred as a small “Albanian village”. The name “Kineta” is said to be taken from a small lagoon or marsh on the beach, which produces such swarms of gnats in the autumn as to amount almost to a plague[1].
The lagoon does not exist anymore but Kineta still has (2010) more than its share of gnats. The Albanian word “kënetë” means “marsh” and seems to be the origin of town's name.
“To the east of Crommyon, at the western extremity of the Scironian rocks, was a temple of Apollo Latous, which marked the boundaries of the Corinthia and Megaris in the time of Pausanias. This temple must have been near the modern village of Kineta, a little above which the road leads over the Scironian rocks to Megara.”[2]
“His (Pausanias) Corinthiacs, therefore, open at the western extremity of the Scironides, near a temple of Apollo Latous. Here began a succession of narrow valleys at the foot of the mountains Oneia, extending twelve miles along the shore of the Saronic gulf, as far as the port Schoenous, or eastern extremity of the Isthmus properly so called. All this track appears to have been called Crommyonia. The only place mentioned in it by Pausanias is Crommyon; but we know from other authors, that there was likewise a town or fortress, named Sidus, between Crommyon and the Isthmus. It sufficiently appears, from Thucydides, Strabo, and Pausanias, that Crommyon itself was not far from the Scironides, which, as we have already seen, were the boundary of the Megaris. Near Kineta, a village not far from the western termination of the rocks, which is built like Megara with flat roofs, and is situated in a valley planted with olives, there are some vestiges which indicate that Crommyon occupied nearly the same site. Sidus appears to have been at Kassidhi, midway between Kineta and port Kalamaki, the ancient Schoenus”[3].
Kineta does not have a high school so the children living there have to attend schools in Agioi Theodoroi or Megara.
Instead Kineta has a police station and 12 churches (1 church per 164 persons).
| Year | Population | Change | Foreigners | Households | Families |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 187 | ||||
| 1971 | 163 | -24 | |||
| 1981 | 425 | 262 | |||
| 1991 | 1,878 | 1.453 | |||
| 2001 | 1,972 | 94 | 140 | 556 | 416 |
| Geraneia mountains | ||||
| Korinthos, Loutraki and Agioi Theodoroi | Kakia Skala and Megara | |||
| Kineta | ||||
| Saronic Gulf |
|
|||||