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She has been a member for over 1 year (726 days).Hi!
I live in an island called Lesvos, in the capital, called Mytilini. It is the only city in here.
If you wanna know about me, I am Joanna, I am soon 15 years old and I love writing. If you like snail mail, other than exchanging cardpostals, we can be friends via it.
I like postcards wich view cities or the countryside of a place.(I would like to receive some cards with horses, especially german ones,too!=)) Generally, I like postcards that view places.Not animals or sth else(look sentence above). I love animals, but I cannot find info about a place from an animal card.(look at the sentence above).Also, I would love to get a ballet card. I love all types of music and dancings,too!It is an exception...But I mainly wanna get postcards that view places.
Send the card postal without envelope, with a little bit about yourself,please. If you wanna be friends with me, send your letter with the card postal in an envelope. In any case, I would love to learn sth about you!=)))))
Joanna
PS:Add a sentence or more at your language with the translation and you would be so kind if you drop a line and say me what places should I visit in your homeland!=)
PS1:If possible, draw a small flag of your country on the postcard and below,the name of your homeland.Okay, you don't need to write the name,but please, I really want you to draw a small flag!
PS2: The following sentences are optional, you should read it if you would like to know more about my homeland, in case I sent you a postcard, or you wish to do a private swap with me, just to see what you will get. You may tell me what you want to see exactly and I will mail that postcard to you, provided I find a postcard that view what you wanna see.
*******OPTIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT LESVOS- SOME HISTORY PARTS- SOME GEO INFORMATION- GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT MY HOMELAND*******
My city is a historical place, especially religiously, but it is not very famous. It was built in 1.000 BC. It is built on seven hills.
The sights are not so poor, but still not very famous. But here is a fossiled forest, which is rare and famous all over Greece (maybe abroad too, I don’t know) an old castle-fort and the view of my city is old, picturesque, like it was 50 years ago because the modifyings are small and little. It is situated in north Aegean Sea. Mytilini is situated in the south and east of Lesvos.
Lesvos is a region, as well. It contains 2 another islands other than itself: Lemnos and ST Efstratios (ST Charlie in English).
First of all, Lesvos is separated to 13 regions. It is about 1.636 metres or 4.908 foot big. That’s not very much, but Lesvos is the third biggest island in Greece, after Crete and Euboia. There are about 27.247 inhabitants in Mytilini and 90.634 inhabitants in Lesvos.
Let’s take a look at the sights now. In the fossiled forest in Sigri, is kept the biggest trunk of the world, 7,02 metres tall and 8,58 metres perimeter, or 21,06 foot tall and perimeter about 25,54 foot.
There is also a beach, where you can find a lot of fossils and take them in your home. You can pick some in the park, as well. In the museum you cannot.
In the city there's also some turkish buildings, or better yet the remainings of them. They used to be those buildings where postitutes work. In the north of Mytilini, there are 2 great Turkish buildings, Yeni Tzami that was built in 1825 and Tsarsi Hamam, that is now used as a museum. Yeni Tzami is used as a theater today, but you can enter in without wanting to see a play, if it is not played at the given moment.
There is also a Freedom Statue, like those that can be found in every area that was conquered in the past.
In the castle lived an Italian family, they were called Gatelouzi. They left us the castle, some italian recipies and words and the italian -elli- in our surnames, so in nowadays, if you come from Mytilini, your surname will end to an -elli- for female and -ellis- for male, according to the greek forms. My surname is –Polipathelli- , but my father and brother are called -Polipathellis-.
The castle was a fort, where people gathered when enemies arrived. It was useful to protect themselves, their valuable -and easy to transfer- items as well as the wealth of Gatelouzi. It impresses a lot with its medieval colour. It changed a bit when we were conquered by Turkishes. Now it is used as a theatre in the summer.
There are a lot of luxury old houses that were built in the 19th century; they are mostly situated in Kioski and Souratha area.
There is also an ancient theatre, where 15.000 people can watch the play. It is one of the most ancient theatres. The hearing is perfect. It was built after our freedom from Rome.
There are a lot of museums in here, but I must refer Theophilos’ and Teriade’s ones. Theophilos was a painter, and his painting was very special. He lived in 2nd century. In the museum are exhibited 86 of his paintings.
In Teriade’s museum are exhibited Modern Paintings, like Picasso’s, Matisse’s and Miro’s. There are also exhibited those that are called “Big Books”.
In Mytilini, the most famous beaches are EOT, Vigla, Neapoli, Kratigos and the ones among the road that goes to the airport. I don’t like EOT that much, it is very organised, but full of stones. It is always crowded. I like a beach that is called Katia, it is on the way to airport. I haven’t been still in the rest 3 that I said, but I like Haramitha, that is situated in a village called Loutra, Xabelia, that is really far from the city, Evraiki, very far again and Nifitha, in a village called Polichnitos. The beach in Skala Polichnitou is very nice,too. They are not as organised as EOT, with cantine and life guards, not all of them. I like the sand in them. Next to the beaches Nifitha, Polichinitos and Skala Polichnitou are restaurants, taverns and some hotels.
Now, let’s take a look at the religious sights. There is the church of ST Therapondas that means "The Curer" in some local greek form. It is said that he had cured thousands of people and he still does those miracles. It is a very famous church.
Another church in here is the Metroploli. It is another famous temple.
There are another 2 churches in here, but not in Mytilini, in 2 different villages.
The one is the church of ST Taxiarhis, a very thaumaturge saint. He is the most famous saint in Lesvos. He saves a lot of people and it is situated in a village called Mandamathos.
The second church is situated in Thermi. It is ST Raphael's church. Some people say that they have seen the saint to psalm next to the priest. In the same area, above ST Raphael’s church is a temple featured to 3 saints: Raphael, Nikolaos and Irene. They were terribly killed; Irene was only 12 years old when they burnt her.
In most temples are kept the graves of the saints and so do in those churches.
In Greece are approximately 6.000 species of plants, because it didn’t freeze in old times. In Lesvos are 1.400 species of them and some of them exist only in here. Kalloni (a village) is one of the most famous wetlands in Greece with more than 130 species of birds. Some trees and plants are:
Yellow Rosetree/Payona/Sea lily/Raki/Iris/Alysson/Simpleleaf/A lot of species of Orchid/Olive Tree/Pines/Oak/Fir/Beech/Chestnut Tree/Plane tree
About animals, in Lesvos live a unique specie of squirrel, called yalia. There are also the black stork and the islander mountainous partridge called “Tsoukour”.
Kalloni is the better place to watch birds. Its fishes are well- known. Most birds that emigrate here stay forever. There are a lot of species as I said, even pink flamingos! Also: wild ducks, wild swans, wild gooses, kingfishers, gulls… There are some species that I cannot find in my dictionary, like halkokotes, that means “duck of coper”.
Now I will tell some local specialities: green fava (type of sauce with some local been), keskesi, cheese-pie, general pies, sardines from Kalloni bay, scallops, aubergines, courgettes, pumpkin-flowers, bekri-meze, drunk cheese, small meatballs, radishes, sweets of spoon, rice-puddings, baklava, plantzeta, halva, honey, rusk, sea foods, patsas, oil cheese, feta, mizithra, pastourma, sausages… And of course gyros, souvlakia, tzatziki… Those products that are famous all over the world.
There are some women cooperatives that make sweets and foods in general. Those cooperatives are really famous, because those women that work there cook in old ways with old recipes and their products are healthy and tasty.
Talc powder was mixed with some aromatic substances to make the first soaps in Europe. Its history in here is very long. Old Greeks used it to paint white their buildings.
Ouzo has a long history in here, too. Most brands are made her and then sell all over Greece. A lot of people work in such industries and that’s why.
So, well, I haven’t tell everything about my city, so, for any further information, please send me a private message and ask me. I will answer as soon as possible and I will give the information you asked for.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. I will soon make a homepage in www.flickr.com to share some photos with you, but it is not available now. I will write the URL when it’s ready.
Have a very nice day and happy postcrossing, I wish you all the best in your life and find real happiness that is always somewhere close!!!
Joanna
