Sminos ( el, Σμήνος, before 2001: Σμύνος - ''Smynos'')EETAA local government changes
/ref> is a former municipality in

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it has been part of the municipality

East Mani East Mani ( el, Ανατολική Μάνη - ''Anatolikí Máni'') is a municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Its seat of administration is the town Gytheio (before 2011 the small town Kotronas). The municipality covers the southeastern ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 94.503 km². Population 1,192 (2011). It is located just north of the

Mani Peninsula The Mani Peninsula ( el, Μάνη, Mánē), also long known by its medieval name Maina or Maïna (Μαΐνη), is a geographical and cultural region in Southern Greece that is home to the Maniots (Mανιάτες, ''Maniátes'' in Greek), who cla ...

on the eastern slopes of Mt. Taygetos, and it is named after the river Smynos, that runs through it. The region is known as Vardounia (and its villages as Vardounochoria), after the medieva
Vardounia castle
located in the area, now in ruins. Historically, Vardounia was a buffer zone between the Ottoman-Turkish controlled Evrotas plains and the Mani Peninsula. A contingent of Muslim Albanian settlers were relocated to the region by the Ottomans. These settlers formed a large segment of the local population until the Greek War of Independence when they fled to the Turkish stronghold at Tripoli. The seat of the municipality was in Agios Nikolaos. The most historic village of the municipal unit of Sminos is the mountainous village of Kastania. It has two towers (), in which its inhabitants used to defend themselves. The village has two coffee shops and attracts tourists in the summer. The largest village in the municipality is Petrina, known for its PDO

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

. The most prominent site in the municipal unit is the Monastery of Panagia Giatrissa which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists and worshipers every year. The Monastery sits on the path of the

European walking route E4 The E4 European long distance path or E4 path is one of the European long-distance paths. Starting at Tarifa Andalusia, located at the southernmost end of the Iberian Peninsula, across the Strait of Gibraltar facing Morocco, it continues throug ...

. Other sites of interest include the Vasilitsa forest (also on the path of the

), and the network of canyons formed by river Smynos and its tributaries. Formerly, the municipality rarely received tourists, except for visitors to the monastery; in more recent years

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

has been on the rise.

References

Populated places in Laconia East Mani {{Peloponnese-geo-stub

See also

References