THE PELOPONNESE – GOD’S COUNTRY The Peloponnese (/ˈpɛləpəˌniːz/) or Peloponnesus (/ˌpɛləpəˈniːsəs/; Greek: Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos) is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. THE PELOPONNESE IS ALSO KNOWN AS ‘GOD’S COUNTRY’. It is separated from the central part of the country by the Isthmus and Gulf of Corinth. During the late Middle Ages and the Ottoman era, the peninsula was known as the Morea (Greek: Μωρέας), a name still in colloquial use in its demotic form (Μωριάς). The peninsula…..
PATRAS Patras (Greek: Πάτρα Greek: [ˈpatra], Classical Greek and Katharevousa: Πάτραι (pl.), Greek pronunciation: [pátrai̯], Latin: Patrae (pl.)) is Greece’s third-largest city and the regional capital of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, 215 km (134 mi) west of Athens. The city is built at the foothills of Mount Panachaikon, overlooking the Gulf of Patras. Patras has a population of 213,984 (in 2011). The core settlement has a history spanning four millennia; in the Roman period it had become…..
THE FILIKI ETERIA When tracing how the Greek War of Independence actually began, it is difficult to pin it to any one thing. The overall feeling within the country is that the people were tired of being ruled by an occupying force. However, at various stages of the Ottoman Empire’s hold over the people of Greece, there had been resistance attempts – but all of them hadn’t amounted to much. The one thing these prior attempts seemed to lack…..
THE CITY OF ODESSA Odessa or Odesa (Ukrainian: Оде́са [oˈdɛsɐ]; Russian: Оде́сса [ɐˈdʲesə]) is the third most populous city of Ukraine and a major tourism center, seaport and transportation hub located on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. It is also the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast and a multiethnic cultural center. Odessa is sometimes called the “pearl of the Black Sea”, the “South Capital” (under the Russian Empire and Soviet Union), and “Southern Palmyra”. Before the establishment…..
PYLOS Pylos (Greek: Πύλος), historically also known under its Italian name Navarino, 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 the seat and a municipal unit. It was the capital of the former Pylia Province. It is the main harbour on the Bay of Navarino. Nearby villages include Gialova, Pyla, Elaiofyto, Schinolakka, and Palaionero. The town of Pylos has 2,767…..
THE LOUKOUMI Turkish delight, lokum or rahat lokum and many other transliterations[3] (Ottoman Turkish: رَاحَة الْحُلْقُوم rāḥat al-ḥulqūm, Turkish: Lokum or rahat lokum, from colloquial Arabic: راحة الحلقوم rāḥat al-ḥalqūm, Azerbaijani: /lɑːtiɡum/ ) is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios, and hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; traditional varieties are often flavored with rosewater, mastic, Bergamot orange, or lemon. The confection is often packaged and…..
CONSTANTINOPLE Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis; Latin: Constantinopolis) was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine (330–1204 and 1261–1453), and also of the brief Latin (1204–1261), and the later Ottoman (1453–1923) empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, and dedicated on 11 May 330 AD. From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest…..
PAPAZOLIS Georgios Papazolis, another Greek officer of the Russian army, cooperated with the brothers Grigory and Alexei Orlov for the preparations of the Greek insurrection in the Morea during the Russian military operations against the Ottoman Empire in 1769, The Orlov revolt[a] (Greek: Ορλωφικά, Ορλοφικά, Ορλώφεια) was a Greek uprising in the Peloponnese and later also in Crete that broke out in February 1770, following the arrival of Russian Admiral Alexey Orlov, commander of the Imperial Russian Navy during the…..
CATHERINE THE GREAT Catherine II, known as Catherine the Great, was a Prussian princess who became the queen consort of Russia through her marriage to Peter III. She then orchestrated a coup to overthrow her husband and became the Empress of the Russian Empire in July 1762. Catherine was Czarina for a period of 34 years till her death in November 1796, making her the longest-ruling female leader in the history of Russia. Though she is considered one of…..
GENERAL MELISSINO Pyotr Ivanovich Melissino (Greek: Πέτρος Μελισσηνός, Petros Melissinos), (Russian: Пётр Мелиссино), (French: Pierre De Mellisino); c. 1726 – c. 1797) was a General of the Artillery of the Russian Empire and was widely considered the best Russian artilleryman of the 18th century. He was born as Petros Melissinos on the Greek island of Cephalonia in 1726, he was of Greek origin and his father was a physician who belonged to the noble Greek family of Melissenos (Greek Μελισσηνός)……