Selianitika () is a coastal village in northern

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek language, Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwest ...

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

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 is part of the municipal unit of

Sympoliteia A ''sympoliteia'' (), anglicized as sympolity, was a type of treaty for political organization in ancient Greece. By the time of the Hellenistic period, it occurred in two forms. In mainland Greece, the term was often used for a federal state co ...

. It is located 6 km northwest of

Aigio Aigio, also written as ''Aeghion, Aegion, Aegio, Egio'' (, ; ), is a town and a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Achaea, West Greece, on the Peloponnese. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the mun ...

and 26 km east of

Patras Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

, at about 30m above sea level. The villages Selianitika and Longos (adjacent to the northwest) share a fine gravel beach on the

Gulf of Corinth The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf (, ) is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea, separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece. It is bounded in the east by the Isthmus of Corinth which includes the shipping-designed Corinth Canal and ...

which is approximately 1.5 km long. Both villages are among the most popular summer destinations of

. The village had a population of 856 in 2021. The village is crossed by the

Greek National Road 8 Greek National Road 8 (, abbreviated as EO8, common name: old Athens-Patras national road) is a single carriageway with at-grade intersections in the Attica, Peloponnese and West Greece regions. It connects Athens with the cities of Corinth and ...

and has an interchange to the A8 motorway. In the new (under construction) railway line Athens-Kiato-Patras there will be a railway stop south of the village.

Population

History

The name Selianitika is derived from the name of the village of

Seliana Seliana () also known as Phelloe () is a village in the municipal unit of Aigeira, in the eastern part of Achaea, north Peloponnese, Greece. The village had a population of 57 in 2021. Aigeira is 10 km to the north, and Kalavryta is 21 ...

. According to historian A. Fotopoulos, the descent of inhabitants of Seliana from the mountains to the coastal region of "Kryovrysi" near

(where the village of Selianitika lies today) started to happen during the Ottoman period. Initially, the residents of Seliana were spending the winter in Selianitika and the summer in their village of

but later they settled permanently. The residents of Seliana carried with them the parish of Saint Basil (the oldest of Seliana's churches) and today

Saint Basil Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great (330 – 1 or 2 January 379) was an early Roman Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia from 370 until his death in 379. He was an influential theologian who suppor ...

is the patron Saint of the village of Selianitika. The French historian, explorer and diplomat

François Pouqueville François Charles Hugues Laurent Pouqueville (; 4 November 1770 – 20 December 1838) was a French diplomat, writer, explorer, physician and historian, and member of the Institut de France. He traveled extensively throughout Ottoman-occupied G ...

, who travelled through the area in 1816 does not mention Selianitika but mentions the small neighbouring village of Longos as the only being inhabited after he crossed the river of Phoenix (tholopotamos): "Une humble chapelle et le hameau de Longos sont les seuls lieux habités qu'on ait en vue du côté des montagnes". So probably the village was not yet built. In 1874 the researcher and chronicler

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria (, ; 4 August 1847 – 12 October 1915) was an Austrian archduke of the House of Habsburg. He became known as a champion for Mallorca's wildlife, in an era when the term "conservation movement, conservation" was ...

did a research trip by boat in the

and he wrote a detailed book with his observations for the landscape and the populated places of north Peloponnese. When he visited Selianitika he found two houses built beside the coast and around 50 stone-built houses with double-pitched roofs lying few meters away from the sea (where still lies still today the center of the village). He describes the church of

as having an unfinished roof and he mentions the roughly shaped plaster

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

and the "stasidia" (church stalls of the greek orthodox church) inside the church. The village is described as having

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s and plane trees. He also describes the existence of three water wells. In the population census of 1879 (one of the earliest official documents mentioning the village), it had a population of 110 residents.

Tourism

The village is one of the oldest tourist destinations in the region of Achaia. It was officially designated as a tourist site (τουριστικός τόπος) first by Royal decree 146/1961 in 1961 and later by Presidential decree 899/1976 in 1976. Selianitika has also mineral springs and a very small balneological bath spa. The spring was officially designated as a healing spring by the Greek Government in 1923. These sulphurous baths are recommended for diseases like arthritis and rheumatisms.Thermal Mineral waters of Western Greece , page 36
(''Stratikopoulos K. - Master Thesis - Department of Geology - University of Patras - 2007'' (in Greek)) As of 2013 the mineral springs are not accessible to the public.

Gallery

File:Hagios Vasileios church Selianitika.jpg, The stone-built church of

in Selianitika (Summer 2018). File:Selianitika square beside the sea.jpg, Square beside the sea at the coastal front of Selianitika (Spring 2018) File:Medicinal_sulphurous_baths_of_Selianitika.JPG, Medicinal sulphurous baths of Selianitika File:Selianitika_beach_1.jpg, View of the fine gravel beach in the summer File:Selianitika_Longos_Panorama.jpg, Panoramic view of Selianitika and Longos from the nearby hills File:Selianitika_Iterchange_Olympia_Odos.jpg, Selianitika-Longos interchange on the A8 motorway File:Ανω διαβαση σελιανιτίκων.jpg, Rail overpass in Selianitika. Part of the new (under construction) Railway line Athens-Patras (April 2018) File:Old railway stop selianitika.jpg, The former Selianitika railway station.(April 2018)

References

Sources

*Αθ. Φωτόπουλος, "Ιστορικά και Λαογραφικά της Ανατολικής Αιγιάλειας και Καλαβρύτων", Αθήνα 1982 (In Greek) *K. Baedeker, "Griechenland - Handbuch fuer Reisende", Leipzig, 1893 (In German)

External links

Cultural association of Selianitika "Helios"
(In Greek)
Official website of the municipality of Sympoliteia
(in Greek) {{Sympoliteia Aigialeia Populated places in Achaea