Crossword Genius

Old coastal area is excellent, best seen from the east (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ionia

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'old coastal area' is the definition.
'Ionia' can be an answer for 'area' (Ionia is an example). I am not sure about the 'old coastal' bit.

'excellent best seen from the east' is the wordplay.
'excellent' becomes 'ai' (resembles 'An', old-fashioned term for excellent).
'best seen' becomes 'noi' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'from the east' is a reversal indicator (on a map from right to left).
'ai'+'noi'='ainoi'
'ainoi' backwards is 'IONIA'.

'is' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ionia that I've seen before include "Ancient region of Asia Minor" , "East coast of the Aegean in Classical times" , "Ancient area" , "ancient region of Eastern Mediterranean" , "Classical Aegean region" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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