Platanos, Elis

Platanos
Πλάτανος
Location
Platanos
Coordinates
Government
Country: Greece
Region: West Greece
Regional unit: Elis
Municipality: Archaia Olympia
Municipal unit: Archaia Olympia
Population statistics (as of 2001)
Village
 - Population: 1,353
Other
Time zone: EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)

Platanos (Greek: Πλάτανος meaning maple) is a Greek town in Elis, part of the municipality of Ancient Olympia. Platanos is bypassed with the old GR-74 (Pyrgos - Tripoli) since the mid to late 20th century, the old highway runs through the village. Platanos had a 2001 population of 1,057 for the village.

Contents

Distances

Platanos located about 17 km east of Pyrgos, about 4 km northwest of Olympia and about 112 km (old: 116 km) south-southwest of Patras, about 121 km (old: 123 km) west of Tripoli and northeast of Krestena.

Settlement

Population

Year Village population Municipal district population
1981 1,185 -
1991 1,192 -
2001 1,583 1,590

Geography

Platanos is located north of the Alfeios valley. It contains many hills and forests around the area and are as tall as from 30 to 50 m. Farmlands are located within the village and the valley area and around the area. Forests includes pines, firs, spruces and cypresses.

Information

Platanos has approximately 10 to 15 km of paved roads and 15 to 20 km of gravel roads. Pelopio also has approximately 10 km of hydro lines as well as phone lines.

After World War II and the Greek Civil War, much of the population left for larger towns and cities like Patras, Athens or Thessaloniki, and a few people immigrated to other countries in Europe or in North-America. The population remained steady since the mid to late 20th century. Houses were stone-built until the 1950s and did not surpass modern-style homes until the 1980s. It was linked with pavement in the 1980s. Most of the homes are abandoned today. The town's population in 1991 jumped over the nearby Pelopio population which made it the largest towns and villages along with settlements in the municipality and one of the few in the prefecture and the peninsula that is larger than the municipal seat together with the municipal district.

The village was endangered by a fire that arrived from the south of the banks of the Alfeios, flames plundered the forests around the area and changed its geographical shape to an ashy situation, some flames came from the northwest which included Varvasaina. Firefighters battled the blaze along with choppers and airplanes and began on Saturday August 25 and continued through Monday August 27, 2007.

Economy

Its main production are fruits, vegetables, olives and cattle along with businesses and services. The majority of the production are olives.

External links

See also

References