Smila, Greece

Smila (Greek: Σμίλα) is a little village near Olympia with about 400 citizens. It is about in the middle of Pyrgos and Olympia. Its 2001 population was 453 for the village and 522 for the municipal district. Its village population is ranked before Vassilaki and after Strefi. It is located about 15 to 20 km north of the GR-74 (Pyrgos - Tripoli).

ettlement

*Karoutes

Nearest places

*Platanos, northeast
*Olympia, east

Distances

Smila is located about south of Patras, east of Pyrgos, northwest of Olympia and north of Krestena.

Population

Geography

Smila is situated in a valley area that contains mainly farmlands, forests covers the majority of the area, the remainder are made up of Farmlands which are situated within the village and by its valleys. The average elevation is as low as 50 m tall and as high as 100 m tall. Forests includes pines, firs, spruces and cypresses.

Information

The myth says that it was called so, because there Praxiteles (the artist who made the famous statue of Hermes), lost his tool which was called "Smili". A lot of ancient artifacts where found in this village, especially in the northern part of it and are exhibits in the Olympia museum. A great cheesemaking tradition has been established in Smila over the past few years, with a lot of famous cheesemakers ("tirobixtes" in Greek slug) having been born in "Smila", some of who have found extensive occupation as ship chefs.

Chelidoni has approximately 10 to 15 km of paved roads and 15 to 20 km of gravel roads. Pelopio also has approximately 10 km of hydro lines as well as phone lines.

After World War II and the Greek Civil War, much of the population left for larger towns and cities especially the nearby Patras. 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 population stabily grew between 1981 and 2001.

The village was endangered by a fire in 2007 that arrived from the south of the banks of the Alfeios, flames plundered the forests around the area and changed its geographical shape to an ashy situation, some flames came from the souhtwest which included Varvasaina and Platanos. Firefighters battled the blaze along with choppers and airplanes and began between 2 to 4 PM (14:00 to 16:00) on Sunday August 26 and continued through the evenig hours. It transformed into an ugly not so beautiful scene that became all burnt and grey, the air became stale. It 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

Smila has a school, a lyceum (middle school), a church, a few restaurants, taverns and bars, and a square ("plateia"). Its nearest gymnasium (secondary school) and banks are in Olympia and its nearby hospital is in Pyrgos.

External links

* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=4466 Chelidoni GTP Travel Pages]
*Map and aerial photos:
**Street map information from: [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=37.67489&longitude=21.503&zoom=6 Mapquest] , [http://local.live.com/map.aspx?&lats1=37.67489&longs=21.503&alts1=35 LiveLocal] or [http://maps.google.com/maps?||=37.67489,21.503 Google] or [http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?lat=37.67489&lon=21.503&=2 Yahoo! Maps]
**Satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.67489,21.503&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k Google] or [http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=37.67489|21.503&5style=h&lvl=15&v=1 Microsoft Virtual Earth] - image now available
*Coordinates: coord|37|40|33|N|21|33|6|E|type:city(453)_region:GR

ee also

*List of settlements in the Elis prefecture