Drouva

Drouva (Greek: Δρούβα) is a settlement on a hill southeast of downtown and ancient Olympia and is also a part of the municipality, its 2001 population was 189 for the settlement and is ranked before Louvro and after Kamena. The GR-74 (Tripoli - Olympia - Pyrgos) is around the area. Before the excavation of the ancient city of Olympia in the 19th century, its inhabitants only lived in Drouva.

Nearest places

*Olympia, southwest
*Platanos, west-northwest

Location

Drouva is located 20 to 25 km east of Pyrgos, 110 to 115 km south of Patras and 115 to 120 km (old: 125 km)west-northwest of Tripoli.

Population

Geography

Much of the area around Drouva are forested, farmlands are founded within most of the valley areas and within the village.

Information

Drouva has approximately 5 km of paved roads and 5 to 6 km of gravel roads. Drouva also has approximately 5 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 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. Its population added only by 3 people between 1991 and 2001.

The village was affected by the fires in 2007 that arrived over the Alfeios riverbanks, 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 after sunset on Sunday August 26 and continued through the midnight hour and early Monday morning of August 27, parts of the area were 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 but the beauty of nature will replenish the area.

Economy

Its residents live now live off in tourism, agriculture remains Drouva's industry but it is second since the mid to the late 20th century.

Other

Drouva has a school, a church, and a square ("plateia"). Its nearest lyceum (middle school) and gymnasium (secondary school) and banks are in Olympia.

ee also

*List of places in the Ilia prefecture

External links

* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=4454 Drouva GTP Travel Pages]
*Map and aerial photos:
**Street map information from: [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=37.6147&longitude=21.6176&zoom=6 Mapquest] , [http://local.live.com/map.aspx?&lats1=37.6147&longs=21.6176&alts1=35 LiveLocal] or [http://maps.google.com/maps?||=37.6147,21.6176 Google] or [http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?lat=37.6147&lon=21.6176&=2 Yahoo! Maps]
**Satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.6147,21.6176&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k Google] or [http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=37.6147|21.6176&5style=h&lvl=15&v=1 Microsoft Virtual Earth] - image now available
*Coordinates: coord|37|38|30|N|21|37|5|E|type:city(189)_region:GR