Elafonisos ( el, Ελαφόνησος) is a small

Greek island Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227. The largest Greek island by a ...

between the Peloponnese and

Kythira Kythira (, ; el, Κύθηρα, , also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira) is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands ...

. It lies off the coast of

Cape Malea Cape Maleas (also ''Cape Malea''; el, Ακρωτήριον Μαλέας, colloquially Καβομαλιάς, ''Cavomaliás''), anciently Malea ( grc, Μαλέα) and Maleae or Maleai (Μαλέαι), is a peninsula and cape in the southeast of the ...

and Vatika. The area of the island is .

Overview

The population is between 300 and 350 during the winter but increases dramatically in the summer months. During July and August the number of

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

visitors reach over 3,000 per day (bringing with them some 1,600 cars). Many people visit the island for its light coloured, sandy beaches. Among the most well known of its beaches are ''Sarakiniko'', ''Fragos'' (Simos) and ''Panagias Nissia'', all filled with blue-green waters. Elafonisos is by far the largest inhabited island in the Peloponnese archipelago, and the only one that is a separate municipality. There are also some archaeological discoveries to explore on the island and in the surrounding waters. The main church of the community is

Agios Spyridon Saint Spyridon, Bishop of Trimythous also sometimes written Saint Spiridon (Greek: ; c. 270 – 348) is a saint honoured in both the Eastern and Western Christian traditions. Life Spyridon was born in Askeia, in Cyprus. He worked as a shephe ...

(Greek: Άγιος Σπυρίδων), which is built on a tiny separate piece of land which is connected by a bridge over shallow waters to the rest of the island. The community's land area also includes of the mainland consisting mainly of the famous ''Punta Beach''. On the nearby mainland, approximately east is Neapoli (Greek: Νεάπολη) of the municipality of Vatika. About south is ''Cape Frangos'' (Greek: Φράγκο) on the island of

Historical population

History

In antiquity, Elafonisos did not constitute an island but a peninsula with the name "Onou Gnathos" (Greek: Όνου Γνάθος) (Donkey's Jawbone) according to

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

. Just off the coast of Elafonissos lies the archeological site of Pavlopetri, a sunken city dating back to the early 3rd millennium BC and thought to have been claimed by the sea around 1000 BC.

References

External links

Elafonisos Municipality (Greek)Elafonisos(English)Elafonissos (English)

{{Authority control Islands of Greece Municipalities of Peloponnese (region) Populated places in Laconia Islands of Peloponnese (region) Landforms of Laconia