Markopoulo () is a village and a community in the southeastern part of the island of

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallonia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th-largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regio ...

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 ...

. It is situated at the southeastern foot of

Mount Ainos Mount Aenos or Ainos (Ancient Greek: '' Ὄρος Αἶνος''; Modern Greek: '' Όρος Αίνος''; Italian: ''Monte Nero'' or ''Montagna Nera'') is the tallest mountain on the Ionian island of Cephalonia, Greece, with an elevation of . It ...

, at about 250 m elevation. The community consists of the villages Markopoulo, Kateleios and the beach village Kato Kateleios. Markopoulo is located 1 km east of

Chionata Chionata () is a village and a community in the southeastern part of the island of Cephalonia, Greece. It is situated in the plain between the southeastern slope of Mount Ainos and the Ionian Sea coast. The community includes the villages Kolaitis ...

, 2 km west of Kateleios, 2 km northwest of Kato Kateleios, 6 km west of

Skala The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, northwest of the city of Chernobyl, from the Belarus–Ukraine border, and ...

and 9 km southwest of

Poros Poros (; ) is a small Greek island-pair in the southern part of the Saronic Gulf, about south of the port of Piraeus and separated from the Peloponnese by a wide sea channel, with the town of Galatas on the mainland across the strait. Its surf ...

Historical population

History, agriculture, tourism

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

remains have been found nearby in the Sakkos cave, in Skala and in the Mounda Bay area. At nearby Mavrata there is a tomb from the

Mycenaean period Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainla ...

while

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

remains visible just behind the main Agia Barbara beach indicate settlement in Kateleios over 2000 years ago. Although Mounda Bay is very shallow there is also some evidence that Kateleios was a port and trading centre during the Venetian period, witnessed by the remains of an old pier or mole in the bay. Like virtually all of Kefalonia (except the Fiskardo area), the villages were destroyed during the

1953 Ionian earthquake The 1953 Ionian earthquake (also known as the Great Kefalonia earthquake) struck the southern Ionian Islands in Greece on August 12. In mid-August, there were over 113 recorded earthquakes in the region between Kefalonia and Zakynthos, and the mo ...

and have been rebuilt since. Remains of the old church bell-tower exist in Kateleios. Until quite recently Kato Kateleios was a small collection of fishermen's houses and huts, some of which are still inhabited, and the main town was further up in the valley, at Ano Katelios. Tourism development in recent years saw the construction of restaurants, homes, and rented apartments near the sea-front, which is now considered to be the main settlement of Katelios. The bay of Katelios is a designated marine Natura 2000 site. Due to the shallow waters of the bay and the scattered reef outcrops, the flow of sea water is slower than surrounding waters, making it an ideal habitat for the protected sea grass ''Posidonia oceanica'', which occupies a significant portion of the bay. The beach of Mounda, on the east of the bay and at a short distance from Katelios is a nesting area for the Loggerhead turtles (''Caretta caretta''). Sea turtle nests in this area have been monitored and protected since 1988, while an environmental station operates at the town's old school. Katelios is the only area on the island of Kefalonia with a river that has water flowing throughout the year. The small river flows from the hills around the area of Pastra. Until the middle 19th century, water mills were in regular use, and their remnants can still be seen between Pastra and Katelios.

References

External links

* {{Argostoli div Populated places in Cephalonia

Historical population

History, agriculture, tourism

See also

References

External links