PLACE – HISTORY – MONUMENTS:  A set-tling of the Municipal District of Oitylo, on the frontier of the two Prefectures Messinia – Lakonia, three kilo-meters far from the provincial road Kala-mata- Kardamili – Areopolis. According the lore, Saint Nikonas Metanoite, went ashore  at the Bay of Hotasia and used it as his base. Saint Nikon acted during the 10th century  for the Enlightenment and the Christianization  of the Slavs and the Greek residents of the peninsula of Mani. There are two caves, not far from the sea, up on the cliffs. There was the place of his ascetic and prayer. He founded the churches Panagitsa and Taxiarhi. There are two cistern dated at his time, built by himself,  to  save rain because since that time, there was lack of water. The churches of Prophet Elia and Pa-nagia Pantanassa are a place of worship and prayer for the residents of the region. During the local fair on 15th August, a lot of people come from all around the area.

Inhabitants – oc-cupation: there are 120 residents (accordingly to the census of 1991) but the permanent residents do not exceed 50. Their main occupation is stock-breeding as well as olive-tree agriculture.

Along the cost, on the rocks there are saltpans, with high quality salt. The re-sidents do the explo-itation by themselves. Tourism has not been developed to the area yet.

Transport – Road construction – Path-ways:  there is no transport to the settling. The residents them-selves constructed the picturesque port and the pathway that connects the village to the central road. There are pathways, but they need to be tarred.

Water supply: there is not water supply. They bring the water to the village in water-wagons. There are also cisterns to collect the rain. They are looking for a solution to this problem but everything is still only written.

Cultural Deve-lopment: the Cultural Association of Hotassia is very active at the local level. They or-ganize the annual fair on 15th August. They also  make effort to find solution to the problems of the region and to ameliorate the cultural level of the village.

Although the great existing problems, the region is developing quickly. The old houses are renovated and some new ones are built.

We would like to thank Mr. Elia Gatea, ex-President of Oitylo and Mr. Lyberi Patouhea for the information they gave us.

Antonis Roumaneas