Tzanata

Tzanata (Greek: Τζανάτα), rarely: Dzanata, a village in the Elios-Pronnoi municipality, sits at the junction of the roads to Argostoli (36 km W), Sami (25 km N) and Poros (4 km E) in the southeast of Kefalonia, one of the Ionian Islands of Greece.

Along with the neighbouring villages of Agia Eirini and Kabitsata, it is situated in a fertile plain between the hill villages of Agios Yiorgios and Pastra (W), Agios Nikolaos (N) and the port of Poros (E).

The village has a small school, community centre and community clinic; a sports stadium to serve the local area is slowly being completed. A mineral water spring (vrysi) fed from the ‘bottomless’ Avithos lake at Agios Nikolaos feeds a fountain in the plane tree sheltered plateia (square) where the village festivals, served by souvlaki stalls and the adjacent taverna, are held in the summer months. Water from the surrounding mountains also feeds two reservoirs just outside the village, one completed in 2005 to feed the burgeoning summer demands of nearby Skala.

In 1991 archaeologist Lazaros Kolonas, excavating in the Broutzi area of Tzanata, discovered a tholos (beehive) tomb from the Mycenaean period measuring 6.80 meters in diameter. Despite a claim that it's the burial place of Odysseus it is generally believed to be the tomb of later royalty, circa 1400 BC. Nevertheless, it is the most important historical find on Kefalonia (or Ithaca) to date. The site is signposted from the Tzanata-Poros road.

As the road to Poros enters the impressive Poros gorge there is a rough vehicular track leading 4.5 km up to the oldest monastery, and oldest surviving building, on Kefalonia, the Atros Monastery.

Transport

Served by the fairly reliable, but infrequent, Argostoli – Poros bus.

Car and motorcycle/scooter hire available in Poros

Nearest places

*Agia Eirini and Kabisata, west
*Poros, east

Communications

*Radio Kymata 100.9 (Tzanata)
*Cosmos FM (Poros)

Geography

*Population: 174 (2001)
*Postal code: 280 86
*Elevation: 60 m
*Dialing code: ++30-26740-7xxxx

Population

ee also

*List of settlements in the Kefalonia prefecture

External links

* [http://kefalonia.foi.org.uk/toptrips.php?action=details&trip=Tzanata%20Tomb%20Heritage Tazanata Tomb Heritage – Friends of the Ionian]
* [http://marabu1.tripod.com/HISTORY.HTM Homeric Ithaca and the Tzanata tomb – Tripod]
* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=6319 Basic data on Tzanata – gtp.gr]
* [http://www.hellenicnews.com/readnews.html?newsid=4373&lang=US Odysseus’ tomb found in Tzanata – Hellenic News of America]
* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=6339 Kerameies on GTP Travel Pages] (in English and Greek)