Platanos, Ilia

"For the village in the Achaia prefecture, see Platanos, Achaea"

Platanos (Greek: Πλάτανος meaning maple), also with the first a accented is a Greek town in the Ilia Prefecture. Platanos is bypassed with the old GR-74 (Pyrgos - Tripoli) since the mid to late 20th century, the old highway runs through the village. Platanos had a 2001 population of 1,057 for the village. Pelopio is also in the municipality of Ancient Olympia.

Distances

Platanos located about 17 km east of Pyrgos, about 4 km northwest of Olympia and about 112 km (old: 116 km) south-southwest of Patras, about 121 km (old: 123 km) west of Tripoli and northeast of Krestena.

ettlement

*Agios Georgios Platanou (Άγιος Γεώργιος Πλατάνου) [2001 pop: 7]

Population

Geography

Platanos is located north of the Alfeios valley. It contains many hills and forests around the area and are as tall as from 30 to 50 m. Farmlands are located within the village and the valley area and around the area. Forests includes pines, firs, spruces and cypresses.

Information

Platanos 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. Most of the homes are abandoned today. The town's population in 1991 jumped over the nearby Pelopio population which made it the largest towns and villages along with settlements in the municipality and one of the few in the prefecture and the peninsula that is larger than the municipal seat together with the municipal district.

The village was endangered by a fire 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 northwest which included Varvasaina. Firefighters battled the blaze along with choppers and airplanes and began on Saturday August 25 and continued through Monday August 27, 2007.

Economy

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

Other

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

External links

* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=4461 Platanos GTP Travel Pages]
*Map and aerial photos:
**Street map information from: [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=37.6635&longitude=21.6087&zoom=6 Mapquest] , [http://local.live.com/map.aspx?&lats1=37.6635&longs=21.6087&alts1=35 LiveLocal] or [http://maps.google.com/maps?||=37.678,21.6087 Google] or [http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?lat=37.6635&lon=21.6087&=2 Yahoo! Maps]
**Satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.635,21.6087&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k Google] or [http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=37.6635|21.6087&5style=h&lvl=15&v=1 Microsoft Virtual Earth] - image now available
*Coordinates: coord|37|39|54|N|21|36|33|E|type:city(1,583)_region:GR

ee also

*List of settlements in the Elis prefecture