Greece: Travel Guide: Peloponnese: Ilia

Kastro-Kyllini is a municipality in the Elis Prefecture, Greece. Its seat of administration is in the small port town of Kyllini. Other settlements are Kato Panagia, Kastro and Neochori.

The municipality's population is around 3,000 to 3,500 people. 2,392 of those live in Kyllini-Kato Panagia. The largest town is Kato Panagia; Kyllini, the municipality's seat, is second. 80% of the total population lives in urban areas. The remainder remains rural. The boundaries run west of Myrsini (munic. Lechaina) on a creek. It is the westernmost municipality in Elis and the Peloponnese. The boundaries with the municipality of Vartholomio run north and west of Machos and north of Dimitra.

There are water towers in Kyllíni and Neochóri. There are forests south of Neochori, north of Machos, and on the hilltops, especially near the west coast of Kyllini. Fertile land are found mostly on a plain, and on hill, including olive trees. Its coastline is about 16 km long, measured from west of Lygia to west of Myrsini Beach. There are nearly 1,500 buildings, units, hotels and hotel units, and houses in the municipality alone. Agriculture consists of tomatoes, watermelons, potatoes, and corn in the plains, while pasture lands, and olive production are very dominant because most of the municipality is hilly. Agriculture used to be dominant in their business before the 1960s. Most of the hotels after the late-20th century were built after the 1980s lead by a sharp increase in tourism. There were only a few hotels in the region. An increase in tourism lead to expansion of hotels. Only about a quarter of hotels existed in the 1980s. After 2002, hotel expansion was halted. Currently, tourism is slightly slumping.

Founded in front of the Ionian coastline, this town has plenty of hotels and villas like the Avocado. A spring south of Kyllini has the same name. The westernmost point of the Peloponnese is one of the most scenic destinations in Elia. Most of the hill is covered with forests and olive trees. The plain covers only about 20% of the land, and Neochori is the only village lying. Most of the area is forested; the remainder is agricultural. The peninsula's westernmost port, the Port of Kyllini is just east of the heart of Kyllini. Restaurants and stores are line up with a street overlooking at the sea.

A military base is located to the southeast, off the Kyllini–Andravida Road, the former GR-84. The base contains luxury-sized houses for refugees. It is surrounded by barbed wire gates. There are no hospitals or health centers. The closest health center is in Varda. A monastery is located in Vlacherna southeast of Kato Panagia. Chlemoutsi, a fortress, was built to protect the invaders from other parts of Europe. Today it is abandoned, and has been turned into a tourist attraction. It sits atop a hill 135 m above sea level and surrounded by pine trees and houses from Kastro. Singers including George Dalaras (Giorgos Ntalaras) have entertained at the fortress.

The Thermal Springs of Kyllini (the Kyllini Baths) are the largest beach facility in the western Peloponnese. In the mid-20th century, construction began on opening a spring linking with about 1 km of roads with parking lot 200 to 300 m from the sea with hot-sandy beach. Kyllini is in an earthquake zone. There have been several strong earthquakes in community's history. The most significant recent earthquake was the Ionian Earthquake in 1953, which caused moderate damage.

Cape Kyllini is a cape located north of Kyllini. Between the cape and Kyllini is a small fortress named Glarentza and slightly east is the beach. It also offers a view of the island of Kefallinia from the north. The island of Kafkalida is the only uninhabited settlement. The island is rocky and has Kyllini's lighthouse. The lighthouse is about 20 to 30 m tall. It is accessed by a tiny port holding one or two boats and is not used for cars from the port of Kyllini. It is only accessed by a pathway. The northern half of the island are made up of rocks. The island about 100,000 years ago was connected with the mainland.

Port of Kyllini
The Port of Kyllini is the largest and busiest harbour of Elia in Greece. It is the peninsula's westernmost port. It carries cars, and automobiles to the harbours of Cephallonia at Poros, and Zante, at the city of Zante of the southern Ionian. It is a minor harbour, 50 km directly SW of Patras, 73 km (originally 76) SW by road, 45 km (originally 46) from Pyrgos, 66 km from Olympia. It is not as large as other harbours of Patras, and Greece. Operation is very small. The port is located not far from the centre of Kyllini.

A playground, and a square neighbor the port. Buildings are found between and on the port. Beaches, restaurants, and hotels are located in the middle of the port. Before the closure of the railway, there was a railroad station that used to carry passengers by train. Now only the railroad hidden in bushes, and other types of grass remains without a train waiting to be seen. The harbour has access by road from Chlemoutsi, Lechaina, Andravida, Amaliada or Amalias, the area of Pyrgos, Southern Elia, Varda, Lappa, Western Movri, and northern Messenia.

Fish is common in the ocean as the boats float away from the harbor. Tens of boats are in the harbor. Around 5 to 6 ferry boats are founded. Each carrying 3,000, sometimes 5,000 automobiles every day to the islands by boats owned by Ionian and Strintzis, 800 are carried to Kefallinia in and out of port of Poros, and thousands are carried to the port of the island of Zante each day.

The harbor was very small and carried only passengers. The harbour had been bombed by the German's during the Second World War, destroying the quay. Improvements were made later and started the ferry service to the Ionian Islands. The harbor was extended by around 75 to 100 m. Lights from poles were begging to be lit. Later in the late 1990s, increasing amount of traffic led to a redevelopment and expansion of the port. The port's land increased to about 150 to 180 m further to the sea. The size of the port is now about 5,000 to 10,000 m². In 2001, train service was cut off or abandoned due to the opening of the road connecting direct traffic from Kyllini to Myrsini bypassing Neochori, like a beltway.
Kastro (Greek: Modern: Κάστρο, Ancient/Katharevousa: -on) is a town located fifteen km west of the GR-9 between Lechaina and Andravida. The distance from Patras is 76 km SW. Its neighboring communes are Kyllini and Kato Panagia to the north, Neochori and Machos to the east, and Lygia to the south. Its nearest beach is Melissa Beach to the west. The famous Kyllini Baths are two and a half km NE. The town of about 800 people lies close to the peak of a slightly forested hill. The town has a school, a church, a square (plateia) and a post office. Much of the community is covered with groves and forested with a hilly setting. Most of the arable land is mixed and lies to the east of the town.

Castle of Chlemoutsi
On the hill lies the Chlemoutsi fortress or the castle which the town receives its name (elevation: about 200 m). It was built by prince Geoffrey I Villehardouin of the Principality of Achaea in 1220-1223, who called it Clairmont (from which Chlemoutsi is a derivation ). After the decline of the Principality the castle gradually lost its importance. Today it is as a monument and is sometimes used for concerts.

                                                                                                            source: wikipedia.org