Pastra

Community in Greece

Pastra Πάστρα
Community
38°6′N 20°45′E / 38.100°N 20.750°E / 38.100; 20.750
Country	Greece
Administrative region	Ionian Islands
Regional unit	Kefalonia
Municipality	Argostoli
Municipal unit	Eleios-Pronnoi
Population (2021)^[1]
• Community	160
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Pastra (Greek: Πάστρα) is a village and a community in the southeastern part of the island of Kefalonia, Greece. It was the seat of the municipality of Eleios-Pronnoi. The community consists of the villages Pastra and Kremmydi. Pastra is 2 km northeast of Markopoulo, 3 km south of Agia Eirini, 5 km northwest of Skala, 6 km southwest of the port town of Poros and 25 km southeast of Argostoli.

Population

Year	Population village	Population community
1981	245	-
1991	200	-
2001	175	243
2011	133	173
2021	122	160

History

According to 19th century Greek geographer and historian, Antonios Miliarakis, the village of Pastra and the area of the two villages (Kremmydi and Agios Giorgis) around it, used to be called Balta (later Valtes), and got its name from the many reeds and the streams it has. The name Valtes is said to be of Albanian origin and means exactly that, "mud" or "swamp".

Albanian soldiers, from the Albanian colony of the Republic of Venice, inhabited the area during the 15th century when the Venetians gave them land in the "xomero" to settle with their families. Xomero meaning an outlying place, away from the capital. At the time, Kefalonia was also a colony of the Republic of Venice. The village was later renamed Pastra in 1890 until today.^[2] Until 2010 it was the capital of the municipality of Elios - Pronnon.

References

^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
^ Μηλιαράκης, Αντώνιος (1890). Γεωγραφία πολιτικὴ νέα καὶ ἀρχαία τοῡ Νομοῡ Κεφαλληνίας.