Travel to Ilia!
Elia or Ilia Prefecture comprises some 2,617 square kilometers of primarily fine fertile farm country, mostly in the plain of Elia where the Alpheios river, the largest of the Peloponnese, flows into the Ionian Sea. It was one of the nicest prefectures, and had a lovely atmosphere and ambience, but the recent fires destroyed most of it and we have to wait for some time until things are cleared.
Elia has some of the longest and sandiest beaches in all of
Greece. There are an estimated 160,000 local inhabitants, whose occupations range from tourism to the farming of watermelons, pistachios, grapes, citrus fruits, and potatoes. There are three small lakes at Agoulinitsa, Mouria and Kaiafa, and two larger artificial lakes at Ladonas and Pineos. Winters in Elia are mild, and the summers are hot and dry.
In Homeric times, the locals were thought to have been called Epeioi and Pylioi and to have been a mixture of Phoenicians, Thessalians, Aeolians, Leleges, Pelasgians, and Caucones. The arrival of the Dorians caused them to form an alliance with Sparta. Eleia ceased to be an area of importance when the Byzantine Emperor, Theodosios, banned the Olympic Games in 393 AD.
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