VRILISSIA

'Vrilissia' (Greek: Βριλήσσια) in the ancient years was part of the periphery of the city of Flya which included the land from Psihiko to Agia Paraskevi and main center the Halandri Municipality. Today it is a contemporary mildly urbanized suburb of the Athens Prefecture. It is located at the foot of Pendeli Mountain, within the Athens basin and it's been named after the ancient name of the mountain, which is Vrilissos (Βριλησσός).

Contents

Etymology

Features

History

Population Growth

Settlements

External links

See also

Etymology

We come across many references of the "Vrilissos" name in some of Thucydides, Herodotus and Strabo's writings. The name probably means "Great Rock" and comes from the words "vri" (βρι) meaning "forceful" from the verb vriao (βριάω) meaning "I'm full of power," li (λη) from the word laas (λάας) meaning "rock," and the Pelasgic ending sos (σός).

Features

Vrilissia is an affluent suburb with several schools spanning all grades, sporting grounds and parks; it is also home to a large commercial district with a number of banks and several malls within its territory. Two popular centres of activity are the two main squares, "Plateia Iroon" or Iroon Square and "Plateia Analipseos" opr Analipseos Square, recently renovated and hosting several small coffee shops. Vrilissia has exceptionally wide, straight roads, in stark contrast to those typically found in Athens. It is relatively green with most houses/apartment blocks having a garden. In the early years of the 21st century the suburb has become very well connected to the mass transit system as well as the road network: Both the Athens Metro and the Suburban Railway (Proastiakos) are within walking distance for a considerable part of the suburb's population (Doukissis Plakentias Station). Several (and relatively frequent) buses serve destinations to neighbouring suburbs as well as the centre of Athens. The new Attiki Odos ringroad is also in close proximity (access from exits 12 and 13). Finally, in 2006, Penteli Avenue, one of the main roads serving the suburb, was widened to accommodate increased traffic, shortening traffic to Halandri by several minutes. Vrilissia has a popular men's handball team, competing in the A1 league.

History

In recent years, Vrilissia was struck by two fires, one that occurred on the same day that Parnitha was on flames on June 29, 2007, fires consumed several residentian buildings and its forests. It lasted during the evening hours and ended later on. Another fire rumbled on Thursday August 16, 2007 later in the summer, fires consumed another tens of houses as flames spreaded on dry grass, if it was removed, the fire would not spread into their buildings. THe fire entered the village in the evening hours and was arson caused. Firefighters arrived in its roads to battle the flames along with firetrucks, helicopters and airplanes. The fire lasted several hours and ended at night.

Population Growth

'Population Growth of Vrilissia'
Chronology	Population	Land	Density	Population Added	Population Increase	Total Population Increase
years	residents	km²	residents/km2	new residents	new percentage	total percentage
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)=(2)/(3)	(5)=(2)v-(2)v-1	(6)= [(5)v/(2)v-1] ★ 100	(7)=(7)ν-1+(6)ν
1981	7,587	3,856 km²	1,968 res./km²	+7,587	-	-
1991	16,571	3,856 km²	4,297 res./km²	+8,984	+118.4%	118.4%
2001	25,582	3,856 km2	6,634 res./km2	+9,011	+54.4%	172,8
2007	26.567	3,856 km2	7.408 res./km2	985	3,85%	176,6%

source: (ESYE)

Settlements

★ Vrilissia

★ Rematia

★ Ano Vrilissia

★ Patima

★ Krassas settlement

★ Doukissis Plakentias belt

External links

★ GTP Travel Pages

★ 'Map and aerial photos':

★
★ Street map: Street map from Mapquest, MapPoint, Google or Yahoo! Maps

★
★ Satellite images: Google or Microsoft Virtual Earth - image now available

★ Coordinates:

See also

★ List of municipalities of Attica

Northwest: Melissia	North: Nea Penteli	Northeast: Penteli
West: Marousi	'Vrilissia'	East: Patima
Southwest: Halandri	South: Agia Paraskevi	Southeast: Gerakas