| Varkiza Βάρκιζα |
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Varkiza
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| Country: | Greece |
| Region: | Attica |
| Regional unit: | East Attica |
| Municipality: | Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni |
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| Time zone: | EET/EEST (UTC+2/3) |
| Elevation (center): | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Postal: | 166 72 |
| Telephone: | 210 |
| Auto: | Z |
Varkiza (Greek: Βάρκιζα), also Alianthos (Αλίανθος) is a partly urbanised area forming part of the municipality of Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni in southern Attica, located east of the Megalo Daktylo (Large Finger). It lies approximately 2 km south of Vari, 22 km S of Athens, SW of the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport and the Attiki Odos (numbers 6 and 62), NW of Cape Sounio, and south of the Hymettus Ring. This locality is linked with Poseidonos Avenue (GR-91, and is the second most expensive area in Greece.
The Hymettus mountains lie to the northwest and the Mesogeian plain to the north ; another mountain lies toward the northeast. Most of the area's streets take names from Greek mythology, and its main street, Poseidonos, forms a connection with the route running from Neo Faliro down toward the Glyfada boundary. Forests cover a part of the municipality, but much of the mountainous area is rocky and grassy ; Varkiza has a widely known beach which takes in tennis courts, parkland and fields, restaurants, taverns, complexes and other amenities. The urban sprawl sporadically covers the farmlands, and moves west of Varkiza.
The population were rural until the 1960s, while suburban housing sprang up between the 1960s and the 1990s, making most of the population urban and expanding to this day. Housing development began in the central part of district, where farmland once used to dominate its central areas, and within the Saronic Gulf. Later, Varkiza became part of the Athens Metropolitan Area, and in the 1960s, the connecting highway added two lanes.
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The Treaty of Varkiza was signed in 1945 in an attempt to end the Greek Civil War.
Varkiza has one school (dimotiko), banks, a church, restaurants, bars, taverns, a post office and couple of squares (plateies).
Since 2001 Varkiza has been hugely modernised and even has its own Starbuck's Coffee shop.Varkiza just after the World War II was a small village for fishermen but today has developed to a small town for the rich with one of the best beaches in Attiki. In the summer Varkiza population triples as Varkiza resort is right next to the top summer clubs which are located on the "Glyfada strip".