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

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...

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 ...

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 has been part of the municipality East Mani, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 94.503 km². Population 1,139 (2021). It is located just north of the

Mani Peninsula The Mani Peninsula (), also long known by its medieval name Maina or Maïna (), is a geographical and cultural region in the Peloponnese of Southern Greece and home to the Maniots (), who claim descent from the ancient Spartans. The capital ci ...

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 vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

. 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. Other sites of interest include the Vasilitsa forest (also on the path of the European walking route E4), 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 nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

has been on the rise.

References

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

See also

References