Railbiking in Greece | Peloponnese | Arkadia | Chranoi

Chranoi (Greek: Χράνοι – Greek pronunciation: [xraˈni]) is a village in the municipality of Megalopoli, southwest Arcadia, Greece. It is located in the mountains on the border with Messenia, at about 500 m elevation. Chranoi had a population of 137 in 2011. The railway from Corinth to Kalamata passes through the village.
Chranoi was originally several smaller villages which grew together and eventually joined into one, according to local accounts. As part of Charilaos Trikoupis’ construction projects a bridge and a railroad station with trucks running through the village was built. It cut the village into Upper Chranoi and Lower Chranoi, area terms still used today by the locals. During World War II it was occupied by the Italians and many villagers joined the resistance with the National Liberation Front (Greece).
managed to convince the local Italian garrison, which was guarding its strategic bridge, to join them in the guerrilla warfare against the Nazi occupation, telling them that the Germans would otherwise kill them because of Italy’s surrender. During the Civil War, many joined the Democratic Army of Greece as well as the Royal Hellenic Army. The village had a relatively large and growing population compared to smaller villages up until the 1960s. Like most of Arcadia, its population starting falling due to the large waves of migration of Arcadian Greeks to major Greek cities, like Athens, and to foreign countries, particularly North American ones.

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