Foinikounta is a small village in the southwest tip of the Peloponnese

Peloponnese

The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 located 10 km east of Methoni

Methoni, Messenia

Methoni is a village and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is a municipal unit. Its name may be derived from Mothona, a mythical rock. It is located 11 km south of Pylos and...

 and about 15 to 20 km west of Koroni

Koroni

Koroni or Coroni is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is a municipal unit. Known as Corone by the Venetians and Ottomans, the town of Koroni Koroni or Coroni is a...

 off the main road. It is most notable for its beautiful beaches which attract mostly Greek and other European visitors during the summer months.

Settlements

• Foinikounta
• Anemomylos
• Chounakia
• Grizokampos
• Loutsa
• Schiza
  Schiza
  Schiza is a Greek island off the southwestern coast of the Peloponnese. The 2001 census reported a population of two inhabitants. Administratively it is part of the municipality of Methóni in the Messinia Prefecture.-External links:*...
  
  , an island

Population

Year	Village	Municipal district
1981	519	-
1991	588	-
2001	559	626

History

Foinikounta is mentioned for the first time in Pausanias

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

' Messiniaka (4, 34, 12) as a port after Cape Akritas. It is believed that it was a small commercial port where the fishers of murex frunculus (a porphyry

Porphyritic

Porphyritic is an adjective used in geology, specifically for igneous rocks, for a rock that has a distinct difference in the size of the crystals, with at least one group of crystals obviously larger than another group...

 shell from where the known dye is produced) could trade their product. The origin of the name also has to do with the ancient Phoenicians whose trade routes came through this natural port.

The contemporary village appears at about 1840-1850, from the inhabitants of Lahanada, immigrants from Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

, who started building their houses on this location. It was also called Taverna, from a small tavern that someone kept there. Officially, it received its contemporary name in 1930, but the name Taverna remained in use until the 1980s. Today it is part of the Municipality of Methoni. The main resources of the inhabitants are agriculture and tourism, which has flourished since the 1980s. Each of the three long sandy beaches in Finikounda has been rated a Blue Flag beach

Blue Flag beach

The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education that a beach or marina meets its stringent standards.The Blue Flag is a trademark owned by FEE which is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation consisting of 65 organisations in 60 member countries in Europe,...

.

Sources

• http://www.methoni.gr/
• http://www.finikunda.com/
• Vassiliko at the GTP Travel Pages