Voies ( el, Βοιές , feminine plural) is a former
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
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 is part of the municipality
Monemvasia
Monemvasia ( el, Μονεμβασιά, Μονεμβασία, or ) is a town and municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located on a small island off the east coast of the Peloponnese, surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea. The island is connected t ...
, of which it is a municipal unit.
The municipal unit has an area of 215.527 km
2.
It is on the southern tip of
Cape Malea
Cape Maleas (also ''Cape Malea''; el, Ακρωτήριον Μαλέας, colloquially Καβομαλιάς, ''Cavomaliás''), anciently Malea ( grc, Μαλέα) and Maleae or Maleai (Μαλέαι), is a peninsula and cape in the southeast of the ...
. It is a predominantly
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
region with a few minor
villages
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
and one dominant town. ''Vatika'' is the common term for the area, but ''Voies'' is used in a more official context, particularly for postal situations. ''Voion'', the
genitive
In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
, is used for description: for example, to differentiate the village of Agios Nikolaos in Voies from other villages and towns of the same name, one would use ''Agios Nikolaos Voion''.
Neapoli is the administrative capital of the municipality, and is also the urban center to the numerous villages that surround the hinterland.
In the Kato Kastania village of Voies is found the large and colorful Kastania Cave.
"Kastania Cave, Kato Kastania, Greece", ''Atlas Obscura''
/ref>
Geography
There is a single mountain range that runs through the center of the municipality dividing it into two parts, both an east and west section. Adjacent to the west coast of the region lies the island of Elafonisos
Elafonisos ( el, Ελαφόνησος) is a small Greek island between the Peloponnese and Kythira. It lies off the coast of Cape Malea and Vatika. The area of the island is .
Overview
The population is between 300 and 350 during the winter bu ...
. The island contains some of the oldest evidence of human inhabitance in the whole of the Peloponnese.
Historical population
History
The name of the region derives from the initial name of the town of ''Neapoli'', ''Boiai'' ( grc, Βοιαί), which is thought to have been founded in the second century BC. The feminine plural ending has evolved from -αί to -ες.
The ancient writer Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to:
*Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium''
*Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC
*Pausanias of Sicily, physician of th ...
wrote that Boiai was founded "...by Boios
Boios (Βοῖος), Latinized Boeus, was a Greek grammarian and mythographer, remembered chiefly as the author of a lost work on the transformations of mythic figures into birds, his ''Ornithogonia'', which was translated into Latin by Aemilius M ...
, one of the Heraclidae
The Heracleidae (; grc, Ἡρακλεῖδαι) or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles (Hercules), especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira (Hyllus was also ...
, who is supposed to have gathered the people from three cities: ''Etis'', ''Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias (; grc, Ἀφροδισιάς, Aphrodisiás) was a small Ancient Greece, ancient Greek Hellenistic_period, Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of ...
'' and ''Side''".
Neapoli
Neapoli ( el, Νεάπολη meaning "new city") () is the largest town of the former municipality. It was initially an agricultural center, but now has seen a rise in the numbers of tourists (particularly visitors to the neighbouring island of Elafonisos
Elafonisos ( el, Ελαφόνησος) is a small Greek island between the Peloponnese and Kythira. It lies off the coast of Cape Malea and Vatika. The area of the island is .
Overview
The population is between 300 and 350 during the winter bu ...
). The commercial center of the town is located on the water front, facing Vatika Bay Vatika may refer to
*Ashok Vatika, a garden in Lanka in Hindu mythology
*Hanuman Vatika, a garden in Rourkela, India
*Shatavar Vatika Herbal Park, Hisar in India
* Shyam Vatika, a mural in Gwalior, India
* Vatika High School for Deaf & Dumb in Chand ...
. There are ferries to the islands Kythira
Kythira (, ; el, Κύθηρα, , also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira) is an Greek islands, island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Io ...
and Elafonisos. The town is surrounded by the villages of Faraklo, Paradisi and Lachi in its hinterland, and Kambos located on the same plain as Neapoli. Neapoli has a kindergarten school, a school, a church and a square.
Agios Nikolaos
Agios Nikolaos ( el, Άγιος Νικολάος) () is a small village, south-east of Neapoli. It has a largely agricultural population; however, many inhabitants are employed in the shipping industries.
Places of interest
* Neapoli
Villages:
* Velanidia (Βελανίδια), a Byzantine village about 17 km from Neapoli, it includes several Byzantine churches.
* Faraklo (Φάρακλο)
* Lachi (Λάχι) - Site of the Ancient city named Itis.
* Mesochori (Μεσοχώρι) - A village with Byzantine origins.
* Agios Nikolaos (Άγιος Νικόλαος) - The Agricultural center for the Municipality. The original name of the village dating back in the 17th century was "Panagia" from a homonymous temple of Virgin Mary. Most of the inhabitants trace their ancestry from the Western parts of Crete that was occupied by the Ottomans in 1669 resulting to a wide refugee influx in the Vatica area. Moreover, people from the island of Kythera started populating the village from the early 19th century and onwards. Known families include "Nychas" family presumably indigenous since the 17th century, "Pavlakis" Cretan ancestry and "Michaletos" Venetian ancestry coming from Crete as well. The village has a strong diaspora concentrated in Australia and Pretoria -South Africa.
*Paradeisi Paradisi ( el, Παραδείσι) is a village on the northern coast of the island of Rhodes, Greece. It has a population of 2,667 inhabitants (2011 census) and is the second-largest town (after Kremasti) in the municipal unit of Petaloudes.
The i ...
(Παραδέισι)
*Ano Kastania
Voies ( el, Βοιές , feminine plural) is a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Monemvasia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area ...
(Ανό Καστανία) - The location of many Byzantine Churches and Monasteries.
*Kato Kastania Kato or Katō may refer to:
Places
*Kato, Guyana, a village in Guyana
*Katō, Hyōgo, a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
* Katō District, Hokkaido, a district located in Tokachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan
* Katowice, a city in Southern Poland ...
(Κάτο Καστανία)
* Viglafia (Βιγκλάφια)
*Elafonisos
Elafonisos ( el, Ελαφόνησος) is a small Greek island between the Peloponnese and Kythira. It lies off the coast of Cape Malea and Vatika. The area of the island is .
Overview
The population is between 300 and 350 during the winter bu ...
- A small island just 500 m of the coast of Vatika near Viglafia.
* Pantanassa
See also
*List of settlements in Laconia
This is a list of settlements in Laconia, Greece.
* Afisi
* Agia Eirini
* Agioi Anargyroi
* Agioi Apostoloi
* Agios Dimitrios, Evrotas
* Agios Dimitrios, Monemvasia
* Agios Georgios
* Agios Ioannis, Evrotas
* Agios Ioannis, Monemvasia
* A ...
References
External links
VisitVatika,gr, Complete guide of Vatika region
Agios Nikolaos Official Website
Velanidia
Vatika (Greek, English)
Photos from Vatika and Elafonissos
{{Authority control
Populated places in Laconia
Monemvasia