Pastra () is a village and a community in the southeastern part of the island of
Kefalonia
Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallonia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th-largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regio ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
. It was the seat of the municipality of
Eleios-Pronnoi
Eleios-Pronnoi () is a former municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands (region), Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is part of the municipality Argostoli, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal ...
. The community consists of the villages Pastra and Kremmydi. Pastra is 2 km northeast of
Markopoulo, 3 km south of
Agia Eirini, 5 km northwest of
Skala, 6 km southwest of the port town of
Poros and 25 km southeast of
Argostoli
Argostoli (, Katharevousa: ) is a town and a municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands (region), Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is one of the three municipalities on the island. It has been the capi ...
.
Population
History
According to 19th century Greek geographer and historian,
Antonios Miliarakis, the village of Pastra and the area of the two villages (Kremmydi and Agios Giorgis) around it, used to be called Balta (later Valtes), and got its name from the many reeds and the streams it has. The name Valtes is said to be of Albanian origin and
means exactly that, "mud" or "swamp".
Albanian soldiers, from the
Albanian colony of the Republic of Venice, inhabited the area during the 15th century when the
Venetians gave them land in the "xomero" to settle with their families. Xomero meaning an outlying place, away from the capital. At the time, Kefalonia was also
a colony of the Republic of Venice. The village was later renamed Pastra in 1890 until today.
Until 2010 it was the capital of the municipality of Elios - Pronnon.
See also
*
List of settlements in Cephalonia
References
{{Argostoli div
Populated places in Cephalonia