Rovia

Rovia (Greek: Ρόβια) is a little village near Andritsaina, its 2001 population was 44 for the village and is ranked 6th in the municipality. Rovia is connected with the GR-76 (Megalopoli - Andritsaina - Krestena - Pyrgos) along with several other roads.

Nearest places

*Theisoa, north
*Matesi, northwest

Location

Rovia is approximately 25 km west-northwest of Megalopoli, 15 km west of Karytaina, east of Andrtisaina and southeast of Pyrgos and Krestena.

Population

Geography

Rovia is situated on a mountain slope, a small mountain is east of the village and its road encircles to the north, the mountains dominate the area, the forests are to the west and north as well as the Alfeios River, farmlands are within the vicinity of the village.

Information

Rovia has approximately 10 km of paved roads and 10 km of gravel roads. Theisoa also has approximately 10 km of hydro lines as well as phone lines.

Rovia's population grew even after the Greek War of Independence, in the mid-19th century, there was a slight poulation loss. The population grew and reached the highest population 254 recorded in 1920. After World War II and the Greek Civil War, much of the population left for larger towns and cities especially Patras and started its population trend to fall. The population remained steady since the mid to late 20th century. Houses were stone-built until the 1950s and did not surpass modern-style homes until the 1980s. It was linked with pavement in the 1980s. The fall ended when the population exploded from 97 to 200 not enough to recover to 254 and returned to over 200 since the 1950s. The restoration of the village's population lasted briefly, it plummeted below again to a lower 44 and the population recovery was not to be seen in the village.

The village was endangered by a fire in 2007 that arrived from the area of Andritsaina, flames plundered the forests around the area and changed its geographical shape to an ashy situation. Firefighters battled the blaze along with choppers and airplanes and began between 2 to 4 PM (14:00 to 16:00) on Monday August 27 and continued through the afternoon and evening hours, the southern portion was partially unaffected. It transformed into an ugly not so beautiful scene that became all burnt and grey, the air became stale and may take several years to recover the forests, planting will rarely be done.

Economy

Its main production are fruits, vegetables, olives and cattle along with businesses and services. The majority of the production are olives.

Other

Rovia has a school, a lyceum (middle school), a church, and a square ("plateia"). Its nearest gymnasium (secondary school) and banks are in Andritsaina and its nearby hospital is in Pyrgos.

External links

* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=4639 Rovia GTP Travel Pages]
*Map and aerial photos:
**Street map information from: [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=37.4928&longitude=21.9365&zoom=6 Mapquest] , [http://local.live.com/map.aspx?&lats1=37.4928&longs=21.9365&alts1=35 LiveLocal] or [http://maps.google.com/maps?||=37.4928,21.9365 Google] or [http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?lat=37.4928&lon=21.9365&=2 Yahoo! Maps]
**Satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.4928,21.9365&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k Google] or [http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=37.4928|21.9365&5style=h&lvl=15&v=1 Microsoft Virtual Earth] - image now available
*Coordinates: coord|37|29|19|N|21|56|13|E|type:city(44)_region:GR

See also

*List of settlements in the Elis prefecture