Country Greece Vehicle registration AK Municipality Monemvasia Municipal unit Voies | Time zone EET (UTC+2) Local time Thursday 7:28 AM Administrative region Peloponnese Regional unit Laconia | |
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Weather 16°C, Wind N at 10 km/h, 58% Humidity | ||
Neapoli Voion or Neapolis Voion (Greek: Νεάπολη Βοιών) also named Vatika (Greek: Βάτικα) is a small town in Laconia regional unit, southern Greece. It is built near the south end of Malea peninsula, close to the Cape Maleas. It is 335 km southeast of Athens and 115 km south of Sparta. Its port is the gateway for the island of south Peloponnese such as Kythera, Antikythera and Elafonisos. Neapoli is the part of Monemvasia municipality and Voies municipal unit. Its population is 3090 residents according to 2011 census
Contents
Map of Neapoli Vion, Greece
History
Neapoli is built on the same site as the ancient Laconian city of Boeae, built in the 10th or 9th century BC by the Heracleid Boeus. The city later became part of the city-state of Sparta. During the early Roman era the city belonged to the Koinon of Free Laconians and flourished. The city later declined and was completely destroyed in 375 ADa by an earthquake. In the Middle Ages, the name was corrupted to Vatika, which is still used for the local citadel. In modern times in this place there was a village after the name Pezoula. In 1837 the Bavarian architect Birbach designed the street plan of a new town that was named Neapoli ("New Town").
Tourism
Offshore from Neapoli is the small island Elafonisos that is famous for its big sandy beaches. Beautiful beaches there are also around Neapoli. The most popular are the sandy beaches Neratzionas and Maganos. Near Neapoli, at the village of Kastania, is located the Kastania Cave known also as Cave of Agios Andreas. It is an impressive cave of 1,500 square meters surface. An interesting village close to Neapolis is Faraklo. It was built by the Venetians and was the most important village of the area during Venetian rule and later Ottoman rule.