Patras (
Demotic Greek ??t?a,
Pátra,
IPA ['patra],
Classical Greek ??t?a?,
Pátrai,
Latin Patrae) is
Greece's third largest city and the capital of the prefecture of
Achaea, located in northern
Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of
Athens. The city is built at the foothills of Mount
Panachaikon, overlooking the
Gulf of Patras.
The Patras metropolitan area is a conurbation of nearly 200,000 inhabitants.[3] The core settlement has a history spanning four millennia. In the Roman period it had become a cosmopolitan centre of the eastern Mediterranean whilst, according to Christian tradition, it was also the place of Saint Andrew's martyrdom. Dubbed Greece's Gate to the West, Patras is a commercial hub, while its busy port is a nodal point for trade and communication with Italy and the rest of Western Europe. The city has two public universities and one Technological Institute, hosting a large student population and rendering Patras a major scientific centre with a field of excellence in technological education. The Rio-Antirio bridge connects Patras' easternmost suburb of Rio to the town of Antirrio, connecting the Peloponnese peninsula with mainland Greece. Every spring, the city hosts one of Europe's largest and most colourful carnivals; notable features of the Patras Carnival include its mammoth-sized satirical floats and extravagant balls and parades, enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of visitors in a pleasant Mediterranean climate, with relatively cool yet humid summers and rather mild winters. Patras is also famous for supporting an indigenous cultural scene active mainly in the performing arts and modern urban literature; it was European Capital of Culture 2006.
Patras is located 215&_160;km (134&_160;mi) west of Athens by road, 94&_160;km (58&_160;mi) northeast of Pyrgos, 7&_160;km (4&_160;mi) south of Rio, 134&_160;km (83&_160;mi) west of Corinth, 77 kilometers northwest of Kalavryta, and 144&_160;km (89&_160;mi) northwest of Tripoli.
A central feature of the urban geography of Patras is its division in upper and lower sections, connected with stairs. This is the result of an interplay between natural geography and human settlement patterns; the lower section of the city, which includes the 19th century urban core and the port, is adjacent to the sea and stretches between the estuaries of the rivers of Glafkos and Haradros. It is built on what was originally a bed of river soils and dried-up swamps. The older upper section covers the area of the pre-modern settlement, around the Fortress, on what is the last elevation of Mount Panachaikon (1,926&_160;m (6,319&_160;ft))[4] before the Gulf of Patras.
