Foinikounta or Finikounda or Finikounta or Finikous ( el, Φοινικούντα, before 1930: Ταβέρνα - ''Taverna''1st
an
2nd name change
/ref>) is a seaside village and a community in the municipal unit of

Pylos-Nestor Pylos-Nestoras ( el, Δήμος Πύλου - Νέστορος) is a municipality in the Messenia regional unit, Peloponnese, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Pylos. The municipality has an area of 554.265 km2. Municipality The ...

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; el, Μεσσηνία ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. It is situated in the southwestern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula, 9 km east of Methoni and 37 km southwest of

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regi ...

. It is most notable for its beautiful beaches which attract mostly Greek and other European visitors during the summer months. It has a small port. The community consists of the main village Foinikounta, the small villages Anemomylos, Chounakia, Grizokampos and Loutsa, and the island of Schiza.

Population

History

It is believed to have been founded by the Phoenicians. The ancient town Phoenicus (Φοινικούς) was mentioned by

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 ...

as a port west of Cape Akritas.

''Description of Greece'' 4.34.12 It is believed that it was a small commercial port where the fishers of ''

murex trunculus ''Hexaplex trunculus'' (previously known as ''Murex trunculus'', ''Phyllonotus trunculus'', or the banded dye-murex) is a medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails. It is included ...

'' (a sea snail from which a known indigo dye is produced) could trade their product and has vanished in our days. The present village was founded in the 1840s by inhabitants of Lachanada, that had fled from

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

and Arcadians from Crisovitsi. It was initially called Taverna, after a tavern in the village. It received its present name in 1930. The main resources of the inhabitants are agriculture and tourism, which has flourished since the 1980s. Each of the three long sandy beaches in Foinikounta has been rated a Blue Flag beach.

References

Sources

*http://www.methoni.gr/ *http://www.finikunda.com/
Foinikounta at the GTP Travel Pages
{{Phoenician cities and colonies, state=collapsed Cities in ancient Greece Ancient Messenia Populated places in Messenia Phoenician colonies in Greece

Population

History

See also

References

Sources