Rio (, ''Río'', formerly , ''Rhíon'';

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Rhium'') is a town in the suburbs of Patras and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek language, Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwest ...

Western Greece Western Greece Region (, ) is one of the thirteen Modern regions of Greece, administrative regions of Greece. It comprises the western part of Central Greece (geographic region), continental Greece and the northwestern part of the Peloponnese pen ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Patras Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 98.983 km². The municipal unit had a population of 14,219 in 2021. The campus of the

University of Patras The University of Patras (UPatras; , ''Panepistímio Patrón'', ΠΠ) is a public university in Patras, Greece. It is the third-largest university in Greece with respect to the size of the student body, the staff, and the number of department ...

and the Casino Rio is located in Rio.

Geography

Rion is the northernmost municipal unit of the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

peninsula. It stretches along the southeastern coast of the

Gulf of Patras The Gulf of Patras (, ''Patraikós Kólpos'') is a branch of the Ionian Sea in Western Greece. On the east, it is closed by the Strait of Rion between capes Rio and Antirrio, near the Rio-Antirrio bridge, that is the entrance of the Gulf of C ...

, about 7 km northeast of Patras city centre. The nearby Strait of Rio, crossed by the Rio–Antirrio bridge, separates the Gulf of Patras from the

Gulf of Corinth The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf (, ) is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea, separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece. It is bounded in the east by the Isthmus of Corinth which includes the shipping-designed Corinth Canal and ...

to the east. The town is dominated by the

Panachaiko The Panachaiko (, "Panachaean"), also known as Vodias (Βοδιάς) mainly at the Middle Ages, is a mountain range in Achaea, Peloponnese, Greece. It spans about 20 km in length from north to south, and 15–20 km from east to west. I ...

mountain to the southeast.

Town layout

The town centre is also known as ''Agios Georgios Riou''. This is where the Rio railway station, on the line from Patras to Corinth, is located. The quarter Kastellokampos lies to the southwest of the centre. The ferry terminals, with services to

Antirrio Antirrio (, pronounced , ) is a town and a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Nafpaktia, of which it is a mu ...

, are in the north, on both sides of the Rio–Antirrio bridge. There is a large fortress with bastions next to the bridge. The campus of the

and the hospital lie in the southeast, across the Greek National Road 8A. There are sandy beaches along the coast, and a port north of town centre.

Subdivisions

The municipal unit Rio is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): * Agios Vasileios * Aktaio * Ano Kastritsi * Arachovitika (Arachovitika, Kato Arachovitika) * Argyra * Drepano * Kato Kastritsi (Kato Kastritsi, Magoula) * Pititsa * Platani * Psathopyrgos (Psathopyrgos, Kato Rodini) *Rio * Sella

History

The name ''Rio'' (and its older form ''Rhion'') derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

(''rhion''), generally meaning "jutting part", perhaps from (''rhis''), meaning "nose", but also "spur of land". The earliest attested form of the word is the

Mycenaean Greek Mycenaean Greek is the earliest attested form of the Greek language. It was spoken on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC). The language is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B, a script first atteste ...

, ''ri-jo'', written in

Linear B Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...

syllabic script. The site of Rio has been a strategic point since antiquity. Early 19th century, there stood an old Turkish castle (the " Castle of the Morea") at the cape, with a small settlement outside its walls.

Government

The mayors of the municipality were: * Vasileios Zervas (1998–2006) * Christos Liakopoulos (2006–2010)

Population

Transport

Road

Highway 8 (Elefsina - Rio) passes through from Rio. It is also the terminus of National Road 8 (Old National Road Athens-Corinth-Patras). The town is served by urban transport buses with lines 6 and 9 and the Patras Suburban Railway, via the "Rio" stop & the " Kastellokampos - University/Hospital" bus line .

Rail

Rio Railway Station, opened as a station in 1887 and since 2010 served by the local trains to Agios Andreas and

by Suburban Railway of Patras. Rio Station is currently under reconstruction as part of the construction of the new Athens-Patras railway line, which (when finished) will connect the area with

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. In order to ensure these needs, a new temporary station has been operating since 26 March 2019, at the height of Zaimi & Iroon Polytechneiou streets.

Gallery

View of panagopoulou road and mountains, Rio, Greece.jpg, Neighborhood and Panachaiko mountain Rio railway station, Achaia.JPG, Train station University of Patras Hospital and department of medicine.jpg, Hospital and bridge Library (BYP) - University of Patras.JPG, University library FestungRio.jpg, Castle University cemetery in Rio, Greece.jpg, Cemetery

References

External links

Municipality of Rio
{{Rio, Greece Populated places in Achaea Patras Mediterranean port cities and towns in Greece