Arkadia

The capital of Arkadia prefecture has 25.000 residents and is 165 km from Athens. Tripoli was founded in the beginning of the 14th century and was known with her historical name Tripolitsa until the end of the 19th century. Built on an a fertile upland on altitude of 650m she easily dominated the villages and cities of the region.
Today Tripoli is an important rural, commercial and transport centre of Peloponnese. It has a lot of modern and neoclassic buildings, big squares and parks.
The region has great archaeological interest. Close to the city you can visit the ancient cities of Tegea (10 km.) the most important city of Arkadia in the antiquity, Mantineia (12 km) and Asea (17 km).
Interesting are the monasteries and churches in the region.
The monastery of Virgin Mary of Epano Chrepa (10 km), the monastery of Saint Nikolaos of Varson (12km) with important hagiographies and pictures, the monastery of Gorgoepikoou (17 km) built in 10th century and the monastery of Kaltezon (31 km) where the first Peloponnesian Senate took place (1821).

Homeland of Pelasgians, Arkadia, is occupied since the Geometric era. According to Herodotus and other writers Arcadians and Kynourians were natives. Around 1100 BC in the area came Dorians after hard battles with Pelasgians. It is worth mentioning that democracy flourished in the region earlier than Athens. The ancient arcadian cities of antiquity founded a lot of colonies and had frictions with the neighbour Sparta.

The decline began with the Roman conquest and continued until it was completely depopulated from the raids of Alarichos and the Slavs. In the 12th century Arkadia was conquered by the Franks and in 1458 by the Turks. During the period of the Ottoman domination Tripoli was an important military and administrative centre and played important role in the Greek Revolution of 1821.