Voies ( , feminine plural) is a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...

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 ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Monemvasia Monemvasia (, or ) is a town and municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located in mainland Greece on a tied island off the east coast of the Peloponnese, surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea. Monemvasia is connected to the rest of the mainland by a ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 215.527 km². It is on the southern tip of

Cape Malea Cape Maleas (also ''Cape Malea''; , colloquially Καβομαλιάς, ''Cavomaliás''), anciently Malea () and Maleae or Maleai (Μαλέαι), is a peninsula and cape in the southeast of the Peloponnese in Greece. To distinguish it from the ca ...

. It is a predominantly

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

region with a few minor

villages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

and one dominant town. ''Vatika'' is the common term for the area, but ''Voies'' is used in a more official context, particularly for postal situations. ''Voion'', the

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

, is used for description: for example, to differentiate the village of Agios Nikolaos in Voies from other villages and towns of the same name, one would use ''Agios Nikolaos Voion''. Neapoli is the administrative capital of the municipality, and is also the urban center to the numerous villages that surround the hinterland. In the Kato Kastania village of Voies is found the large and colorful Kastania Cave."Kastania Cave, Kato Kastania, Greece", ''Atlas Obscura''
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Geography

There is a single mountain range that runs through the center of the municipality dividing it into two parts, both an east and west section. Adjacent to the west coast of the region lies the island of

Elafonisos Elafonisos () is a small Greek island between the 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 ...

. The island contains some of the oldest evidence of human inhabitance in the whole of the Peloponnese.

Historical population

History

The name of the region derives from the initial name of the town of ''Neapoli'', ''Boiai'' (), which is thought to have been founded in the second century BC. The feminine plural ending has evolved from -αί to -ες. The ancient writer Pausanias wrote that Boiai was founded "...by

Boios Boios (Βοῖος), Latinized Boeus, was a Greek grammarian and mythographer, remembered chiefly as the author of a lost work on the transformations of mythic figures into birds, his ''Ornithogonia''. ''Ornithogonia'' was translated into Latin by ...

, one of the

Heraclidae The Heracleidae (; ) or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles, especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira (Hyllus was also sometimes thought of as Heracles' son b ...

, who is supposed to have gathered the people from three cities: ''Etis'', ''

Aphrodisias Aphrodisias (; ) was a Hellenistic Greek city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Asia Minor, today's Anatolia in Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about east/inland from the coast of the Aegean Sea, and s ...

'' and ''Side''".

Neapoli

Neapoli ( meaning "new city") () is the largest town of the former municipality. It was initially an agricultural center, but now has seen a rise in the numbers of tourists (particularly visitors to the neighbouring island of

). The commercial center of the town is located on the water front, facing

Vatika Bay Vatika may refer to *Ashok Vatika, a garden in Lanka in Hindu mythology *Hanuman Vatika, a garden in Rourkela, India * Shatavar Vatika Herbal Park, Hisar in India *Shyam Vatika, a mural in Gwalior, India * Vatika High School for Deaf & Dumb in Chan ...

. There are ferries to the islands

Kythira Kythira ( ; ), 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, although it is dist ...

and Elafonisos. The town is surrounded by the villages of Faraklo, Paradisi and Lachi in its hinterland, and Kambos located on the same plain as Neapoli. Neapoli has a kindergarten school, a school, a church and a square.

Agios Nikolaos

Agios Nikolaos () () is a small village, south-east of Neapoli. It has a largely agricultural population; however, many inhabitants are employed in the shipping industries.

Places of interest

* Neapoli Villages: * Velanidia (Βελανίδια), a Byzantine village about 17 km from Neapoli, it includes several Byzantine churches. * Faraklo (Φάρακλο) * Lachi (Λάχι) - Site of the Ancient city named Itis. * Mesochori (Μεσοχώρι) - A village with Byzantine origins. * Agios Nikolaos (Άγιος Νικόλαος) - The Agricultural center for the Municipality. The original name of the village dating back in the 17th century was "Panagia" from a homonymous temple of Virgin Mary. Most of the inhabitants trace their ancestry from the Western parts of Crete that was occupied by the Ottomans in 1669 resulting to a wide refugee influx in the Vatica area. Moreover, people from the island of Kythera started populating the village from the early 19th century and onwards. Known families include "Nychas" family presumably indigenous since the 17th century, "Pavlakis" Cretan ancestry and "Michaletos" Venetian ancestry coming from Crete as well. The village has a strong diaspora concentrated in Australia and Pretoria -South Africa. *

Paradeisi Paradeisi () is a village on the northern coast of the island of Rhodes, 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 Alba ...

(Παραδέισι) *

Ano Kastania Voies ( , feminine plural) is a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Monemvasia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 215.527 k ...

(Ανό Καστανία) - The location of many Byzantine Churches and Monasteries. *

Kato Kastania Kato or Katō may refer to: Places *Kato, Guyana, a village in Guyana *Katō, Hyōgo, a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan *Katō District, Hokkaido, a district located in Tokachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan *Katowice, a city in Southern Poland, ...

(Κάτο Καστανία) * Viglafia (Βιγκλάφια) *

- A small island just 500 m of the coast of Vatika near Viglafia. * Pantanassa

References

External links

VisitVatika,gr, Complete guide of Vatika regionAgios Nikolaos Official WebsiteVelanidiaVatika (Greek, English)Photos from Vatika and Elafonissos
{{Authority control Populated places in Laconia Monemvasia