Vrachnaiika (, ) is a town and a former municipality in the regional unit of Achaea, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Patras, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 32.111 km2. It is a suburb of Patras, about 11 km southwest of the city centre, on the Gulf of Patras coast. The community has a disused rail station on the line from Patras to Pyrgos. The EO9 road (from Patras to Methoni, via Pyrgos) passes south of the centre.
Name
The name Vrachnaiika originates from the mountainous village of Vrachni in Kalavryta, from where the area's first inhabitants hailed. The suffix "-eika" (or "-aika") is common in Achaea and translates to "huts or houses". Accordingly, Vrachnaiika translates to "Vrachnaean huts/houses"—meaning the huts or houses of the people of Vrachni. The small town is also known by the name "Agios Vasileios", though this name is not used very frequently; the toponym dates back to the period when the then-uninhabited area belonged to the village of Dresthena. Agios Vasileios is also the name of the settlement's central church.
Population history Year Municipal district Municipality 1981 2,167 - 1991 2,259 4,274 2001 2,828 5,049 2011 2,664 4,627 2021 2,908 4,834
Subdivisions The municipal unit Vrachnaiika is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): Kaminia Monodendri Theriano Tsoukalaiika Vrachnaiika (Vrachnaiika, Dresthena, Moiraiika)
See also List of settlements in Achaea
References