Varkiza
Encyclopedia
Varkiza also Alianthos (Αλίανθος) is a partly urbanised area forming part of the municipality of Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni in southern Attica
Attica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...

, located east of the Megalo Daktylo (Large Finger). It lies approximately 2 km south of Vari, 22 km S of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, SW of the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport and the Attiki Odos
Attiki Odos
Attiki Odos is a privately owned toll motorway in Greece. The Proastiakos high-speed suburban rail is set almost entirely in the median of the motorway, along its main section. The motorway's numbers are 6 for the main section, 64 for the Hymettus Beltway and 65 for the Aigaleo Beltway...

 (numbers 6 and 62), NW of Cape Sounio, and south of the Hymettus Ring. This locality is linked with Poseidonos Avenue
Poseidonos Avenue
Poseidonos Avenue is a coastal road in Piraeus, Greece , that runs from Faliron to Glyfada, and beyond. Several Greek films were shot on the road, particularly between the 1950s and the 1980s, along with television shows since the 1980s. The road turns into GR-91 after Glyfada, a dangerous road...

 (GR-91
Greek National Road 91
Greek National Road 91 is a highway running from the southernmost limit of the Athens metropolitan Area, in Vouliagmeni up to Sounio. It is a continuation of Poseidonos Avenue . It was first constructed in the 1950s as a one lane per direction road, but was later extended to two lanes per...

, and is the second most expensive area in Greece.

The Hymettus
Hymettus
Hymettus, also Hymettos is a mountain range in the Athens area, East Central Greece. It is also colloquially known as Trellos or Trellovouno , a name of uncertain origin...

 mountains lie to the northwest and the Mesogeian plain to the north ; another mountain lies toward the northeast. Most of the area's streets take names from Greek mythology, and its main street, Poseidonos, forms a connection with the route running from Neo Faliro down toward the Glyfada boundary. Forests cover a part of the municipality, but much of the mountainous area is rocky and grassy ; Varkiza has a widely known beach which takes in tennis courts, parkland and fields, restaurants, taverns, complexes and other amenities. The urban sprawl sporadically covers the farmlands, and moves west of Varkiza.

The population were rural until the 1960s, while suburban housing sprang up between the 1960s and the 1990s, making most of the population urban and expanding to this day. Housing development began in the central part of district, where farmland once used to dominate its central areas, and within the Saronic. Later, Varkiza became part of the Athens Metropolitan Area, and in the 1960s, the connecting highway added two lanes.

History

The Treaty of Varkiza
Treaty of Varkiza
The Treaty of Varkiza was signed in Varkiza on February 12, 1945 between the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece for EAM-ELAS...

 was signed in 1945 in an attempt to end the Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...

.

Other

Varkiza has one school (dimotiko), banks, a church, restaurants, bars, taverns, a post office and couple of squares (plateies
Plateia
Plateia or platia is the Greek word for town square. Most Greek and Cypriot cities have several town squares which are a point of reference in travelling and guiding...

).

Since 2001 Varkiza has been hugely modernised and even has its own Starbuck's Coffee shop.Varkiza just after the World War II was a small village for fishermen but today has developed to a small town for the rich with one of the best beaches in Attiki. In the summer Varkiza population triples as Varkiza resort is right next to the top summer clubs which are located on the "Glyfada strip".
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