Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-08-10

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Lefkada, the lady of colors

[02] Fire near Ancient Olympia

[01] Lefkada, the lady of colors

Visitors arriving on the Ionian island of Lefkada, in western Greece, are greeted by impressive mansions of old aristocrats standing next to neoclassical and renaissance buildings that house museums and cultural institutions in the city of Lefkada, the island's capital. Terraces made of wood, stone-built slip-roads and colorful tin houses, make up the old section of the city.

The island is connected to the mainland by a long causeway, or draw bridge, and an undersea tunnel.

The main shopping street is pedestrianised, and runs through the middle of the town to the north harbour. The stone-built pedestrian zone is where the cityâs heart beats.

The city of Lefkada has been the capital of the island since the late 17th century when the Turks handed it over to Francesco Morosini, the descendent of a well-known Venetian family.

Lefkada is said to be where the poet Sappho ended her life, while myths link the island to the ancient Greek goddess of love Aphrodite and to Odysseus, the hero of Homer's Odyssey. In fact, it has been suggested that Lefkada was Odysseus' Ithaca.

It was the birthplace and home of poet and politican Aristotelis Valaoritis (1824-1879) and the birthplace of the Greco-Irish orientalist and poet Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, who was later known also as Koizumi Yakumo.

[02] Fire near Ancient Olympia

Twenty-five fire engines with a 90-member crew assisted by seven firefighting airplanes and a water dropping helicopter were battling the blaze.

A team of firefighters remains in the area to prevent flare-ups.

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