<p>Wandope  is a fell in the north-western area of the English Lake District. It lies to the east of Crummock Water and south of Crag Hill. From the summit there are excellent panoramas of the Sca Fell and High Stile ranges.</p><br>
<h2>Topography</h2><br>
<p>The North Western Fells occupy the area between the rivers Derwent and Cocker, a broadly oval swathe of hilly country, elongated on a north-south axis. Two roads cross from east to west, dividing the fells into three convenient groups. The central sector, rising between Whinlatter Pass and Newlands Pass, includes Wandope.</p><br>
<p>The highest ground in the North Western Fells is an east-west ridge in this central sector, beginning with Grasmoor above Crummock Water and then gradually descending eastwards over Crag Hill, Sail, Scar Crags and Causey Pike. Grasmoor has the greatest elevation, but Crag Hill stands at the hub of the range. It sends out a subsidiary ridge to the south west, stepping down over Wandope and Whiteless Pike toward Buttermere village.</p><br>
<p>Wandope is not prominent in views from below and from most directions appears subservient to its higher neighbours. The connection to Crag Hill is the broad plateau of Wandope Moss, sloping down easily to the west. On the opposite side is the striking feature of Addacomb Hole. This symmetrical hanging valley resembles a half crater, its headwall being 700 ft high.</p><br>
<p>The ridge south westward from Wandope is divided into two by Third Gill. The eastern branch is a short blunt ended spur, but the western arm narrows to the fine airy ridge of Whiteless Edge. This makes straight for the summit of Whiteless Pike across the col of Saddle Gate (2,065 ft). The flanks of the ridge are steep and rough throughout, but with more exposed rock to the east.</p><br>
<p>All of the run-off from the fell finds its way ultimately to Crummock Water, the Derwent-Cocker watershed ignoring Wandope in favour of the onward connection from Crag Hill to Ard Crags. Sail Beck carries the water from the south and east, running out from between Knott Rigg and Whiteless Pike into Buttermere village. Addacomb Beck and Third Gill are the tributaries which mark the northern and southern boundaries of Wandope on this flank. To the north and west of the fell is Rannerdale Beck, disgorging its flow direct into the centre section of the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The summit areas of Wandope are composed of the Ordovician Kirkstile Formation. This is the typical rock of the Skiddaw fells and is composed of laminated mudstone and siltstone. Beneath this are the Greywacke sandstone turbidites of the Loweswater Formation. The Causey Pike Fault runs across the southern flanks of the fell, beyond which are the rocks of the Buttermere Formation.</p><br>
<h2>Summit</h2><br>
<p>A small cairn marks the summit on a gentle grassy dome, a few yards in from the fall into Addacomb Hole. The view north is blocked by Grasmoor and Crag Hill, but a glorious mountain view extends in all other directions. The Scafells are perhaps the highlight from this vantage point.</p><br>
<h2>Ascents</h2><br>
<p>Buttermere is the obvious starting point for climbing Wandope, and several routes are available. Sail Beck and then Third Gill can be followed to give a toehold on the shorter eastern branch of the south west ridge. Alternatively Sail Beck can be followed further up the valley until Addacomb Beck is reached. Above this point a fine ridge can be seen, skirting the southern rim of Addacomb Hole.</p><br>
<p>Indirect routes are also popular, and Wandope can either be added to the traverse of the Grasmoor-Causey Pike ridge, or taken on a circuit of Rannerdale.</p><br>
<p>Whiteless Pike  is a fell in the north-western English Lake District. It stands immediately east of Crummock Water and forms a perfect pyramid shape when viewed from Rannerdale. In his celebrated guide to the Lakeland fells, Alfred Wainwright called it "the Weisshorn of Buttermere". There are good views of Great Gable and the Scafells from the summit.</p><br>
<h2>Topography</h2><br>
<p>The North Western Fells occupy the area between the rivers Derwent and Cocker, a broadly oval swathe of hilly country, elongated on a north-south axis. Two roads cross from east to west, dividing the fells into three convenient groups. The central sector, rising between Whinlatter Pass and Newlands Pass, includes Whiteless Pike.</p><br>
<p>The highest ground in the North Western Fells is an east-west ridge in this central sector, beginning with Grasmoor above Crummock Water and then gradually descending eastwards over Crag Hill, Sail, Scar Crags and Causey Pike. Grasmoor has the greatest elevation, but Crag Hill stands at the hub of the range. It sends out a subsidiary ridge to the south west, stepping down over Wandope and Whiteless Pike toward Buttermere village.</p><br>
<p>From the broad plateau of Wandope, the fine and airy ridge of Whiteless Edge descends south west to the depression at Saddle Gate (2,065 ft). A short climb then leads to the summit of Whiteless Pike. The ridge now turns south and falls to the wide shoulder of Whiteless Breast (1,440 ft), from where the slope continues down to Buttermere village. This is not however the end of the ridge, which twists sharply north west to continue to Rannerdale Knotts. Both sides of the ridge are steep throughout.</p><br>
<p>The eastern face of the fell drains via several feeders into Sail Beck, bound for Crummock Water via Buttermere Village. The north western flanks supply Rannerdale Beck, another feeder of Crummock Water which flows between Whiteless Pike and Grasmoor. The sharp elbow in the ridge, between Whiteless Pike and Rannerdale Knotts, forms the head of Squat Beck, a tributary of Rannerdale.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The summit of the fell is a part of the Kirkstile Formation, Ordovician rocks of the Skiddaw group. This is primarily laminated mudstone and siltstone. The Causey Pike Fault runs across to the south and Whiteless Breast and the lower slopes are examples of the Buttermere Formation, an olistostrome of disrupted sheared and folded mudstone, siltstone and sandstone. Within this are minor intrusions of basalt... There is no history of mining on the fell.</p><br>
<h2>Summit</h2><br>
<p>Whiteless Pike has a small peaked summit overlain with loose stones and bearing a cairn. The steep slopes add foreground to the view, which includes a fine prospect of the Scafells. The Helvellyn range and Western Fells are well seen, with the rather drab close-up of Grasmoor perhaps the only disappointment. Buttermere, Crummock and Loweswater complete the view.</p><br>
<h2>Ascents</h2><br>
<p>Buttermere provides the obvious starting point, climbing on a good path up Whiteless Breast and onto the ridge. From the shore of Crummock Water, access can be gained into Rannerdale, brancking off up the course of Squat Beck to the elbow in the ridge between Rannerdale Knotts and Whiteless Pike. Circuits of Rannerdale via the complete ridge of Rannerdale Knotts can also be made.</p><br>
<p>Fort Lewis Mountain is a mountain which stretches from Ironto in Montgomery County, Virginia to Masons Cove in Roanoke County, Virginia. The rural community of Bradshaw is located in the narrow valley between the south slope of Catawba Mountain and the north slope of Fort Lewis Mountain. The south slope of the mountain faces the western Roanoke Valley and is directly across from Poor Mountain. Fort Lewis Mountain is separated from Brushy Mountain by a narrow gap formed by Masons Creek. Brushy Mountain stretches in the same southwest to northeast direction for several more miles into Botetourt County, Virginia. Another narrow gap separates Fort Lewis Mountain from Little Brushy Mountain, a small 1,926 foot high peak, which is located in Roanoke County just north of Salem, Virginia.</p><br>
<p>The mountain, which had been called Butler Mountain on its west side and Deyerle Mountain on the east, was renamed for Fort Lewis, an early 19th-century fort which was located in western Roanoke County just outside the current city limits of Salem. The fort was named after Andrew Lewis, a colonial era general who lived in the area.</p><br>
<p>This massive chunk of rock, covered with a forest of oak, hemlock, hickory and huge rhododendron, tops out at 3,260 feet above sea level. It&#39;s the second highest peak of many that surround Roanoke, one of the least developed or explored. The tallest in the immediate area is Poor Mountain.</p><br>
<p>The mountain is home to the Havens Wildlife Management Area of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The public lands on the mountain are a popular destination for recreational pursuits such as hunting, hiking, mountain biking, and riding all-terrain vehicles.</p><br>
<p>High Crag stands at the southern end of the High Stile ridge which divides the valleys of Ennerdale and Buttermere in the west of the English Lake District. It is often climbed as part of a popular ridge walk, from Black Sail youth hostel, or from Buttermere via Scarth Gap. Panoramas of the Great Gable and the Scafells are visible.</p><br>
<h2>Topography</h2><br>
<p>The Western Fells occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and Wasdale to the south east. Westwards the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are Great Gable and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley. The highest section of the northern branch is formed by the trio of Buttermere fells, High Crag, High Stile and Red Pike.</p><br>
<p>The Buttermere Fells, also known as Buttermere Edge, form the watershed between Buttermere and Upper Ennerdale. The Ennerdale flanks are steep and rough, put with only small areas of crag, the lower slopes being planted with a ribbon of conifers. Across the narrow ridge-top to the north are deep corries and dark walls of crag, glowering down over the lake. The ridge continues south east to Haystacks and the Great Gable group. Beyond Red Pike to the west are Starling Dodd, Great Borne and the Loweswater Fells.</p><br>
<p>High Crag forms the eastern terminus of the Buttermere Fells, its most arresting feature being the great scree slopes of Gamlin End where the high ground falls away. 700 ft below, the ridge levels out once more and throws up the craggy top of Seat (1,840 ft). A final steep descent then leads to Scarth Gap, a walkers&#39; pass between Buttermere and Ennerdale.</p><br>
<p>All three Buttermere Fells throw out a rocky spur toward the lake, these walls enclosing Birkness and Bleaberry Combs. Birkness Comb, also called Burtness Comb on Ordnance Survey maps, lies between the truncated and unnamed northern ridges of High Crag and High Stile. Drained into Buttermere by Comb Beck, its headwall is rimmed by crags on all sides. Sheepbone Buttress flanks High Crag, which also has a share in Comb Crags, lining the onward ridge. It is the great scooped hollow of the Comb which results in the narrowness of Buttermere Edge. The northern spur also ends abruptly as High Crag Buttress, a further tier of rock lying just above the lakeshore.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The summit rocks are of the Birker Fell Formation, plagioclase-phyric andesite lavas. Interbeds of volcaniclastic sandstone and lapilli-tuff also appear. Seat is an outcrop of the flow banded andesite lavas of the Haystacks Member, shot through with quartz-feldspar phyric microgranite.</p><br>
<p>There was small scale mining activity in the late nineteenth century beneath Low Wax Knott, adjacent to the Scarth Gap path. Two men worked the operation, living on the fellside in a hut. A search was organised after their regular visits to the local hostelry abruptly ceased, and one was found dead in a pool at Warnscale. It was suspected that the other had killed him.</p><br>
<h2>Summit</h2><br>
<p>The triangular summit has a cairn at the high point above Gamlin End. The view is restricted by High Stile, but the head of Ennerdale- backed by the Scafells- presents a fine picture. More distant glimpses of Skiddaw and the Helvellyn range are also granted. A short walk north west toward the top of the crags brings Buttermere and Crummock Water into sight.</p><br>
<h2>Ascents</h2><br>
<p>Scarth Gap can be gained from the head of Ennerdale, but this is a long walk from anywhere except Black Sail Youth Hostel. Scarth Gap provides the more regular approach from the Buttermere valley, parking being available at Gatesgarth. On the Buttermere side a path cuts off the corner at the top of the pass and removes the need to first ascend Seat, before the long assault on the screes of Gamlin End. From the shore of Buttermere Wainwright noted that an ascent may be made via Birkness Comb, climbing a grassy rake through the crags.</p><br>
<p>Massawepie Lake is located in the town of Piercefield, in southern St. Lawrence County, New York, approximately 12 mi southwest of the village of Tupper Lake, New York. The lake is also surrounded by the Massawepie Scout Camps. The name of the lake is of Iroquois origin, meaning "the beaver&#39;s lake". The outlet flows west into the South Branch Grass River.</p><br>
<h2>Fishing</h2><br>
<p>The lake offers shore fishing, and there is a carry-down launch on the east shore on Massawepie Road with permission from the Massawepie Scout Camp. Public use is prohibited from June to August. Fish species present in the lake are lake trout, smallmouth bass, whitefish, walleye, yellow perch, black bullhead, rock bass, and white sucker.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>One of most notable geographic features is the Massawepie Mire located immediately to the south of the lake. It is bordered by two long north-south eskers. Hundreds of acres in size, the bog is one of the largest of its kind in the Eastern United States and is almost entirely on the Boy Scout camp&#39;s property.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1890, the Childwold Park House, commonly known as the Childwold Hotel, open on the shore of Massawepie Lake, just east of the main flagpole of the current camp. In the days before air-conditioning, upperclass residents of New York City would retreat to the Adirondacks to escape the summer heat. Visitors to Childwold Park would take the New York Central Railroad north from Utica and get off at Childwold Station. From there they would take a 7 mi trip along the Carriage Road to the hotel. The hotel burned down in 1910.</p><br>
<p>Avia  is a village and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality West Mani, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 179.828 km. In 2011 its population was 281 for the village, 611 for the community and 2,246 for the municipal unit. The seat of the municipality was in Kampos. Avia is a popular tourist destination. It also has a large olive production. Avia is situated on the east coast of the Messenian Gulf, southeast of Kalamata, southwest of Sparta and northwest of Kardamyli.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Ancient Abia</h3><br>
<p>In the location where Paliochora is located today, the Homeric city of Ire (Ιρή) is supposed to have stood (Iliad I 150 and I 292). The traveller Pausanias mentioned in his Description of Greece that the city Ire was renamed Abia by Cresphontes, king of Messene, after Abia, the nursemaid of his great-grandfather Hyllus, son of Heracles. Abia was disputed between the Messenians and the Spartans. Abia became a member of the Achaean League in 181 BC. In the city was a temple of Asclepius. After Pausanias&#39; time, Abia was not mentioned in sources. It was probably destroyed during barbarian invasions.</p><br>
<h3>Later period</h3><br>
<p>In the early 15th century, the Venetians built the castle of Mantineia at the location of the ancient city. It was the seat of the barony with the same name. Mantineia was abandoned by its inhabitants to escape pirate raids, and they settled in the inland village of Megali Mantineia. The ruined castle town received the name Palaiochora. In 1775, the Church of the Dormition was built at the site of the temple of Asclepius.</p><br>
<p>From the mid-19th century, the inhabitants of Megali Mantineia began to settle in the beach area again, in the settlements Palaiochora, Archontiko and Kopanoi (the modern Akrogiali). Palaiochora became the seat of the community of Megali Mantineia in 1924. In 1926 both the settlement Palaiochora and the community were renamed to Avia. In 1998, the community Avia merged with 7 other communities to form the new municipality Avia, with its seat in Kampos.</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit Avia is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):</p><br>
<p>Avia (Avia, Akrogiali, Megali Mantineia)</p><br>
<p>Altomira</p><br>
<p>Doloi (Ano Doloi, Kato Doloi, Kalianaiika, Kitries)</p><br>
<p>Kampos (Kampos, Orovas, Platoma, Toumpia)</p><br>
<p>Kentro (Kentro, Anatoliko, Chora Gaitson, Voreio)</p><br>
<p>Pigadia (Pigadia, Dendra, Krya Vrysi, Rizana)</p><br>
<p>Stavropigi (Stavropigi, Malta)</p><br>
<p>Sotirianika (Sotirianika, Charavgi, Drosopigi, Kouris)</p><br>
<h2>Population</h2><br>
<h2>Points of interests</h2><br>
<p>Saint George Monastery on a panoramic location</p><br>
<p>Santava Cape</p><br>
<p>Beaches: Archontiko, Koukkinos, Lykotropia (Λυκοτροπία), Paliochora, Portela, Patsourou (Πατσούρου), Poliana (Πολιάνα), Akrogiali and Santava or Sandova (Σάντοβα)</p><br>
<h2>People</h2><br>
<p>Alexandros Koumoundouros, Prime Minister of Greece</p><br>
<p>Aetos  is a village and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Trifylia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 94.850 km. In 2011 its population was 360 for the village and 1,915 for the municipal unit. The seat of the former municipality was in Kopanaki.</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit Aetos is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):</p><br>
<p>Aetos</p><br>
<p>Agrilia Trifylia (Nea Agrilia)</p><br>
<p>Artiki</p><br>
<p>Glykorrizi</p><br>
<p>Kamari</p><br>
<p>Kefalovrysi (Kefalovrysi, Tsertsaiika)</p><br>
<p>Kryoneri</p><br>
<p>Kopanaki (Kopanaki, Agios Dimitrios, Rizochori)</p><br>
<p>Monastiri</p><br>
<p>Polythea</p><br>
<p>Sitochori</p><br>
<p>Androusa  is a village and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Messini, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 50.514 km. Predominantly a farming region, the principal exports include kalamata olives, olive oil, and livestock. It is located 22 km north-west of the regional capital Kalamata. Municipal unit population 2,397 , village population 628 .</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Androusa is recorded as being founded by William II of Villehardouin during the mid 13th century. This was the same period as when the Androusa fortress/castle is thought to have been built, of which city walls and partially ruined towers remain on the village&#39;s eastern perimeter overlooking the Pamisos River and the Messenian plain. There are alternate theories pointing to an earlier (and possible Byzantine) construction due to certain design elements of the fortress walls. Later in the 14th century, Andruosa developed into an important religions seat, becoming the base of the Episcopal with the Decree of Patriarch Athanasios (1304-1310) who was from the village. After recapture by the Byzantines, it later became part of the Ottoman Empire as with the majority of the Peloponnese after the fall of Constantinople, and largely remained this way until liberation in the Greek War of Independence.</p><br>
<p>More recently, Androusa has become a regional agricultural center for the area where olives, olive oil, figs, raisins, and wine are produced, sold, and exported.</p><br>
<p>A number of historic constructions and locations in and around Androusa still contain evidence of its Byzantine past:</p><br>
<p>Ruins of a medieval castle fortification (formerly known as the Castle of Druges): commenced by William II of Villehardouin or the Byzantines around the 13th century, of which the outside fortification enclosure and several ruined turret towers remain. Traces of marble constructions dating to the Roman, post-Roman, or Latin Empire era are also revealed on the inner part of the fortification.</p><br>
<p>The Monastery of Saint George Isodomous: dating back to around the 11th century, this modest construction is possibly the best preserved Byzantine-era building within the village. Some roof restoration work has been completed in recent years</p><br>
<p>The Church of Saint Samarina: dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries, another modest construction among the most significant Byzantine constructions in the area as it is well preserved and showcases multiple well known Byzantine architectural elements (3 km north)</p><br>
<p>The abandoned monastery of Andronikos (a Byzantine emperor) in Maganiako, 10 km north-west.</p><br>
<p>Arfara  is a village and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kalamata, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 87.615 km. Population 2,648 . The village Arfara lies about 15 km from Kalamata. Its name is taken from the first people who lived in Upper Arfara, the Arfaras, some of whom still live in Simi and Rodos. It was the seat of the former Arfara municipality. Arfara has 3 small areas called Servia, Lafazaneika, Skomara and Karagiorgaika.</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit Arfara is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):</p><br>
<p>Agios Floros (Agios Floros, Christofilaiika)</p><br>
<p>Agrilos</p><br>
<p>Arfara (Arfara, Agios Konstantinos, Ano Arfara)</p><br>
<p>Pidima</p><br>
<p>Platy</p><br>
<p>Stamatinou (Stamatinou, Pelekito)</p><br>
<p>Velanidia</p><br>
<p>Vromovrisi (Vromovrisi, Ano Vromovrisi, Dremi, Krasopoula)</p><br>
<p>Ithomi  is a municipal unit  of the municipality  of Messini within the regional unit  of Messenia in the region  of Peloponnese, one of 13 regions into which Greece has been divided. Before 2011 the same hierarchy prevailed, according to Law 2539 of 1997, the Kapodistrias Plan, except that Messenia was a nomos and Ithomi a demos, with seat in Valyra. The lowest-level units were the same with the same populations in either system but where before 2010 they were Local Divisions, after it they were Local Communities. The municipal unit has an area of 90.428 km.</p><br>
<p>Ithomi is named after Mount Ithome.</p><br>
<h2>Communities of Ithomi</h2><br>
<p>The Demotike Enoteta of Ithomi contains the same subdivisions and populations as did the previous deme of Ithomi but the subdivisions are now Topikes Koinetetes (local communities). These are as follows:</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Municipal Unit of Ithomi does not include a community named Ithomi but is named after Mt. Ithome, the central geographic feature visible everywhere in the territory. The latter extends from west of the mountain through the valley to the east to and including the Mavrozoumena River, a tributary of the Pamisos River. The confluence is on the east of Aristodimio. North of there the Pamisos is totally controlled, running between straight dikes. It is not shown on many maps; instead the Mavrouzumena is portrayed as the upper Pamisos. The communities are small. The land is given mainly to agriculture, arboriculture and viticulture. The Mavrouzumena flows from north of Ithome more or less in its natural configuration, except that it is dammed just below Valira.</p><br>
<p>By far the largest community is Valira, the former seat of the former deme. As the name is not unique and is not uniquely Greek some maps label it Valira-Ithome. However, the only community ever called Ithome in the territory was what is now Archaia Messene, the ruins of a large ancient city, which early in its ancient existence was called Ithome. A somewhat larger territory around it was Messana. The village of Mavromati is located within the ancient walls. Its population constitutes the population of Archaia Messene.</p><br>
<h2>Municipal history</h2><br>
<p>The concept of a dēmos, plural dēmoi, (English deme) or municipality, originated in ancient Greece as a geographic unit of the people. Demes appear in the Iliad; they were not just units of Athens, famous for its ancient demo-cracy. The word can mean either the people or the geographic unit. The municipal structure always follows the settlement pattern often with some degree of lag. Periodically it needs to be updated. A given structure becomes part of the constitutional structure of government. The structures of ancient Greece yielded to the Roman when Greece (Achaea) became a Roman province and to the Byzantine when the former Eastern Roman Empire became the Byzantine Empire. Leo the Philosopher, a Byzantine emperor, declared the Roman structure abolished in the 9th century.</p><br>
<p>The archaeological concept that the grand city of Messene was constituted as a magnificent but isolated antique show by Epaminondas, never to be altered or of much practical use thereafter, and remaining today just as it was, is more mythical than not. Epaminondas reconstituted the quasi-independent city-state of Messenia with capital city at Messene. Messene remained the capital for several hundred years until the Byzantine Empire moved the seat of Messenia east of Mt. Ithome. The city was built so well that there was no need to reconstruct its fortifications, though they must have been repaired many times. Many alterations occurred within the walls. The ruins portrayed as those of Epaminondas&#39; city were in fact accumulated over the centuries. One might suppose that the residences were remodelled and rebuilt many times over the same city plan.</p><br>
<p>Koroni or Corone  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 a municipal unit. Known as Corone by the Venetians and Ottomans, the town of Koroni  sits on the southwest peninsula of the Peloponnese on the Gulf of Messinia in southern Greece 45 minutes southwest of Kalamata. The town is nestled on a hill below an impressive Venetian castle and reaches to the edge of the gulf. The town was the seat of the former municipality of Koróni, which has a land area of 105.163 km² and a population of 4,366 . The municipal unit consists of the communities Akritochori, Charakopio, Chrysokellaria, Falanthi, Kaplani, Kompoi, Koroni, Vasilitsi, Vounaria and Yameia. It also includes the uninhabited island of Venétiko.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The town was founded in ancient times. The 2nd century Greek geographer Pausanias in his book Messeniaka reports the original location of Koroni at modern Petalidi, a town a few kilometers north of Koroni. He also reports many temples of Greek gods and a copper statue of Zeus. In the centuries that followed the town of Koroni moved to its current location, where the ancient town of Asini had once stood. In the 6th and 7th centuries AD, the Byzantines built a fortress there.</p><br>
<p>The town appears for the first time as a bishopric in the Notitiae Episcopatuum of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise, in which it appears as a suffragan of the See of Patras. Surviving seals give the names of some of its Greek bishops. The Greek eparchy was suppressed in the 19th century as part of an ecclesiastical reorganization after Greece gained its independence.</p><br>
<h3>Venetian period</h3><br>
<p>Following the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Partitio Romaniae assigned most of the Peloponnese to the Republic of Venice, but the Venetians moved slowly to claim it, and the peninsula swiftly passed to the Frankish crusaders under William of Champlitte, who established the Principality of Achaea. The fortress of Koroni was initially given to Champlittes chief lieutenant, Geoffrey of Villehardouin. It was not until 1206 or 1207, that a Venetian fleet under Premarini and the son of Doge Enrico Dandolo took the Messenian peninsula and Koroni with its neighbouring Methoni from Champlittes men. Venetian possession of the two fortresses was recognized by Geoffrey of Villehardouin, by now Prince of Achaea, in the Treaty of Sapienza in June 1209.</p><br>
<p>The Venetian period lasted for three centuries, during which time Koroni and Methoni, or Coron and Modon—the first Venetian possessions on the Greek mainland—became, in the words of a Venetian document, "the receptacle and special nest of all our galleys, ships, and vessels on their way to the Levant", and by virtue of their position controlling the Levantine trade were known as "the chief eyes of the Republic". The town flourished as an waystation of merchants and pilgrims to the Holy Land. Koroni in particular was famous for its cochineal, from which crimson dyes were made, and for the Venetian engineers&#39;expertise in siege engines, which was much in demand by the princes of Frankish Greece in their wars. Of the two, Koroni was the more important: when the two captains of the fortresses were increased to three towards the end of the 13th century, the two resided in Koroni, and in emergencies a bailo resided there as an extraordinary consul. During this period Koroni became the seat of bishops of the Latin Church. As the Catholics imitated the pre-existing Byzantine ecclesiastical structure, the Latin bishop of Koroni remained a suffragan of the Latin Archbishop of Patras. One of its bishops, Angelo Correr, later became Pope Gregory XII. No longer a residential Catholic bishopric, Corone is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.</p><br>
<p>In the mid-14th century, the two Venetian colonies suffered greatly from the Black Death, so that it was necessary to send a fresh</p><br>
<p>batch of colonists from home, and the franchise was extended to all the inhabitants, except the Jews. The two fortresses began to be governed by a series of minutely detailed Statutes and Capitulations issued by the metropolitan government, containing such clauses as a regulation that forbade the Venetian garrison to wear beards, so as to distinguish them from the local Greeks. Unlike other Latin rulers in Greece, the Venetians allowed the Greek Orthodox bishops to reside in their sees alongside their Catholic counterparts, but in the latter half of the 14th century, there are reports of mistreatment of the Greek population, which fled from Venetian territory to the Franks of Achaea.</p><br>
<p>In the early 15th century, as the Principality of Achaea gradually collapsed, the Venetians expanded their territory in Messenia: Navarino was taken over in 1417, and by 1439 had constructed or taken over six further castles between Navarino and Methoni and Koroni to secure her extended possession. The first seaborne Ottoman attack on Koroni took place in 1428, and after the Ottoman conquest of the Despotate of the Morea in 1460, the Venetian domains shared a border with Ottoman territory. Koroni fell to the Ottomans in 1500, during the Second Ottoman–Venetian War (1499–1503): Sultan Bayezid II stormed Methoni, after which Koroni and Navarino surrendered (15 or 17 August 1500).</p><br>
<h3>Ottoman and modern period</h3><br>
<p>The town was retaken by admiral Andrea Doria in 1532, but in the spring of 1533 the Ottomans laid siege to it. Doria was able to relieve the town, prompting Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent to call upon the services of the corsair captain Hayreddin Barbarossa. Barbarossa was aided by the outbreak of plague among the garrison and a particularly harsh winter, and in 1534 the Spanish garrison surrendered the fortress and sailed for Italy. In the first half of the 16th century, Koroni was initially a kaza within the sub-province (sanjak) of Methoni and the seat of a kadi. The fortress itself and the surrounding territory were an imperial fief (hass-i hümayun). Its annual revenue was 162,081 akçes, which, according to Theodore Spandounes, were granted along with the revenue of Methoni to Mecca.</p><br>
<p>In 1582, the fortress was part of the Sanjak of Mezistre, and reportedly contained 300 Christian and 10 Jewish households, while the Muslim population was limited to the officials and a 300-strong garrison, which apparently remained constant over the entire Ottoman period. According to the 17th-century traveller Evliya Çelebi, Koroni was the seat of a separate sanjak, within either the Morea Eyalet or the Eyalet of the Archipelago. The 17th-century French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier reports that its bey (governor) had to provide a galley for the Ottoman navy. Later it was part of the Sanjak of the Morea, and is once more attested as a separate sanjak by François Pouqueville in the late 18th century.</p><br>
<p>In the Morean War, Koroni was the first place the Venetians targeted during their conquest of the Peloponnese, capturing it after a siege (25 June – 7 August 1685). It remained in Venetial hands as part of the "Kingdom of the Morea" until the entire peninsula was recaptured by the Ottomans in 1715, during the Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War. During the 18th century, the town declined: its harbour was reported as blocked and ruinous already at the turn of the previous century, but it continued to export silk and olive-oil; until the 1770s, four French merchant houses were active there. By 1805, the English traveller William Martin Leake reported that trade had stopped, that the port offered only "insecure anchorage", and that the Janissary garrison abused the local population.</p><br>
<p>Koroni became part of the modern Greek state in 1828, when it was liberated by the French General Nicolas Joseph Maison.</p><br>
<h2>Rocket launch site</h2><br>
<p>Between 1966 and 1989 a facility for launching sounding rockets was established near the town. The first launches were performed from Koroni on May 20, 1966 for investigation a total-annular solar eclipse. These rockets reached an altitude of 114 kilometers. From 1972 to 1989 several Russian meteorological rockets of M-100 type were launched. They reached altitudes up to 95 kilometers. In total 371 rockets were launched.</p><br>
<p>Meligalas  is a town and former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oichalia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 78.193 km. Population 3,385 .</p><br>
<h2>The Battle and massacre of Meligalas</h2><br>
<p>After the Germans left southern Greece terminating the occupation of Kalamata and surrounding Messinia area, the town became the site of a battle between the Greek Resistance forces of EAM-ELAS commanded by Aris Velouchiotis and the Security Battalions that had been stationed in the town during German occupation.</p><br>
<p>The Security Battalions were forces set up by the collaborationist Prime Minister Ioannis Rallis, with the approval of the German authorities, to defend the Greek people from the communist atrocities. Under the terms of the Caserta agreement, signed by the British, the Greek Government in Exile, and Greek resistance leaders, (1e) ‘The Security Battalions are considered as instruments of the enemy. Unless they surrender according to orders issued by the GOC they will be treated as enemy formations’.</p><br>
<p>In September 1944, following the evacuation of German forces from Messinia in the Peloponnese, ELAS disarmed the majority of collaborationist forces in the Messinian capital Kalamata. Some Battalionists, however, broke out of Kalamata and retreated to the town of Meligalas. According to one eye-witness, on the way they killed 30 inhabitants of the village of Aprochomo, as well as four ELAS operatives who were fixing the village’s telephone system.</p><br>
<p>ELAS arrived in Meligalas on 11 September. The Battalionists refused to surrender. On 14 September the Battalionists executed all hostages they held. After a three-day siege of the town beginning on 11 September, Meligalas fell to the hands of the Resistance forces. Following the fall of the town, some Battalionists were kept as prisoners while a disputed number were executed for treason and collaboration with the occupation forces. The bodies of those who had fallen in the battle, including some ELAS fighters, and those executed were thrown into a well shaft known as "pigada".</p><br>
<p>A British Foreign Office memorandum notes: Ares (Velouchiotis) arrives in Kalamata from Meligalas, at the head of the III Division of ELAS, with 1000 antartes and his officers. He transfers to the city a number of prisoners, members of the Security Battalions. On the road to Kalamata a mob of non-combatants string up 12 of the prisoners and knife 14 others.</p><br>
<p>ELAS lost approximately 200 fighters. There is however considerable dispute about the number of Battalionists killed in the fighting and in subsequent executions, with figures ranging from 700 to several thousand. In 1945. the coroner’s office of near-by Kapsadaki announced that it had exhumed 708 bodies. On the memorial there are inscribed 787 names from 61 towns and villages. The Meligalas Victims Association gives a figure of 1,144, of whom 108 are from Meligalas, including 18 women, 18 elderly people, one youth and no children – the remaining 96.8% are men of fighting age. In the same publication of the Victim’s Association that gives a figure of 1,144 bodies, there are also references to 1,550 and more, 2,000 and 5,000.</p><br>
<p>The aftermath of the battle of Meligalas is frequently termed the Massacre of Meligalas by right-wing groups, referring to the execution of combatants and non-combatants by ELAS after the battle. After the Occupation and the end of the Greek Civil War, Greek governments paid tribute to the fallen collaborators, a practice which ceased after the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. Today representatives of Neo-Nazi and far-right organisations, including the political party Golden Dawn,along with some independent groups and ordinary citizens, hold a memorial service every year at Meligalas.</p><br>
<p>Oichalia  is a village and a municipality in Messenia, Greece. The seat of the municipality is in Meligalas. Oichalia is known for its rich expanse of olive trees and fig orchards. At its height the village boasted several cafes, a bustling farmer&#39;s market, and a popular open-air cinema run by the Limberopoulos family. Other families, such as the Hantzopoulos and Karbaliotis clans, the former a cobbler and the latter a butcher, helped make Oichalia the destination of choice for Messinians in need of footwear and quality meats.</p><br>
<h2>Municipality</h2><br>
<p>The municipality Oichalia was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 5 former municipalities, that became municipal units:</p><br>
<p>Andania</p><br>
<p>Dorio</p><br>
<p>Eira</p><br>
<p>Meligalas</p><br>
<p>Oichalia</p><br>
<p>The municipality has an area of 415.433 km, the municipal unit 59.060 km.</p><br>
<p>The Fucine Lake  was a large endorheic lake in central Italy, stretching from Avezzano in the northwest to Ortucchio in the southeast, and touching Trasacco in the southwest. Once the third largest lake in Italy, it was drained in 1877.</p><br>
<h2>Lore</h2><br>
<p>The former lake is mentioned by Virgil in the Aeneid in book 7, in that it weeps for Umbro, the healer priest killed tragically in battle. (See line 7:882 in the Fagles translation).</p><br>
<h2>Roman drainage</h2><br>
<p>The Romans knew the lake as Fucinus Lacus and founded settlements on its banks, including Marruvium. It was the site of the Battle of Fucine Lake in 89 BC. However, while the lake provided fertile soil and a large quantity of fish, it was also believed to harbour malaria, and, having no natural outflow, repeatedly flooded the surrounding arable land. The Emperor Claudius attempted to control the lake&#39;s maximum level by digging a 5.6 km drainage tunnel through Monte Salviano, requiring 30,000 workers and eleven years, but with uncertain success. Of the collapse of one of the tunnels Cassius Dio observed</p><br>
<p>"When the Fucine Lake caved in, the prominent freedman Tiberius Claudius Narcissus was severely blamed for it. For he had been in charge of the undertaking, and it was thought that after spending a good deal less than he had received he had then purposely contrived the collapse, in order that his wrong-doing might not be detected."</p><br>
<p>The original lake had a fluctuating area of about 140 km&sup2; which the Claudian initiative may have reduced to about 90 km&sup2;. A 4.5 km collecting canal was extended and deepened by Hadrian which reduced the area of the lake to about 57 km&sup2;. The larger 19th century tunnel, along the same route as the Roman tunnel, destroyed most of the archaeology of the Roman tunnel, which is why the success of the earlier Claudian scheme is so uncertain. The deeper Hadrianic canal destroyed the archaeology of the Claudian canal. The final Roman canal has left clear archaeology, showing that 1 km from the lake, the tunnel was 7.5 m deep, 19.5 m wide at the top, and 4.5 m wide at the base. It sloped to the tunnel at 0.05% (a gradient of one in twenty). A very detailed account of the Roman scheme is found in the Brisse & Retrou reference below.</p><br>
<h2>Drain blockage</h2><br>
<p>As the Empire fell, there was a failure to maintain the Roman drainage scheme. Sediment and vegetation blocked the collecting canal. An earthquake on a fault crossing the collecting canal dropped the land on the lake side 30 – relative to the tunnel entrance. Investigations where the fault crosses the canal show that large amounts of sediment had accumulated in the canal before the earthquake. On the assumption that this earthquake would damage Rome it seems very likely that the earthquake occurred shortly before 508 AD when the earthquake damage to the Colosseum was repaired. The lake appears to have returned to its uncontrolled pre-Claudian area by the end of the 5th century and certainly by the end of the 6th century.</p><br>
<p>Some suggestion, or attempt, to restore the Roman drainage scheme appears in both the 13th and 15th centuries but neither succeeded.</p><br>
<h2>New drainage</h2><br>
<p>In the 19th century, the Swiss engineer Jean François Mayor de Montricher was commissioned by the prince Alessandro Torlonia to drain the lake. A 6.3 km and 21 m canal was begun in 1862 and after more than 13 years, the lake was completely drained. The resulting plain is one of Italy&#39;s most fertile regions. Antiquities from the Roman occupation of the land, after the first drainage scheme, became part of the Torlonia collection.</p><br>
<p>Stavroupoli  is a village and a former municipality in the Xanthi regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Xanthi, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 342.002 km. Population 2,050 . Stavroupoli and Nestos Valley  including Nestos River Tempi  is a popular tour region and vacation target in North Greece.</p><br>
<p>The municipal unit Stavroupoli is subdivided into the communities Dafnonas, Gerakas, Karyofyto, Komnina, Neochori, Paschalia and Stavroupoli. The community Stavroupoli consists of the settlements Stavroupoli, Lykodromi, Kallithea and Margariti.</p><br>
<p>During the Bulgarian occupation of the region in World War II from 1941 to 1944, the village was renamed Krastopole Кръстополе and was infamous as the location of the Krastopole or Enikyoy concentration camp where Bulgarian Communist Party and other left-wing enemies of the ruling regime were interned.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>George Papassavas (1924) painter</p><br>
<p>Topeiros  is a municipality in the Xanthi regional unit, Greece. The municipality has an area of 312.493 km. Population 11,544 . The seat of the municipality is in Evlalo.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Topeiros was an ancient Thracian settlement, which in the imperial times evolved into a great urban center survived until the Byzantine period. The city is identified with the late Roman and Byzantine ruins saved a little south of the modern village of Paradeisos, where there is a passage of the river Nestos. The city functioned as tribal, administrative and religious center of the Thracian tribe of Sapaioi.</p><br>
<p>Thanks to its strategic position, in early 2nd AD century it was rebuilt – according to the Greek type of city-states – by emperor Trajan under his provincial policy intended to urbanization of Thrace. It was then known as Ulpia Topirus in Latin. Within the limits of its territory that stretched on both banks of the river Nestos were a dense network of rural settlements and castles, as well several Roman stations of via Egnatia.</p><br>
<p>Thermes  is a former community in the Xanthi regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Myki, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 90.014 km. It consists of the villages Ano Thermes, Thermes , Meses Thermes, Medousa, Kidaris, Diasparto, and Kottani. The population of Thermes was around 1396 inhabitants in 1991. In 2011, the population decreased to 812 inhabitants. Thermes is popular for its hot spas, which can be found all around the area.</p><br>
<p>The Turkish name of Thermes is ılıca which means "spa". In Bulgarian, the community is known as Lydža (Лъджа) or Banja (Баня), the former a version of the Turkish name and the latter a calque also meaning "spa".</p><br>
<h2>Relief of Mithra</h2><br>
<p>Thermes is also famous for the relief of Mithra (a Persian origin goddess of the sun) end of 2nd - beginning of 3rd century AD. The relief is depicting Mithras sacrificing a bull. Close to Mithras we can see figures of Cautes and Caupates.</p><br>
<p>The neighborhood of Irvington, named after Washington Irving, includes Irvington Historic District, a historic district in Indianapolis, Indiana. Both are in Indianapolis, Indiana. The historic district is a 545 acre area that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. That year, the district included 2,373 contributing buildings, 5 other contributing structures, and 2 contributing sites.</p><br>
<h2>Historic Irvington</h2><br>
<p>Founded in 1870 by Sylvester Johnson and Jacob Julian, Irvington was originally created as a suburban town of Indianapolis. It formed along winding roads of dirt and brick that reflected landscape design in the Romantic era. The town was built as a quiet suburb where artists, politicians, military generals, academics, and heads of local industry resided. In 1902 Irvington was annexed by Indianapolis.</p><br>
<p>Irvington is located five miles (8 km) east of downtown Indianapolis on the western edge of Warren Township. The neighborhood is situated on Washington Street, which is the route of the historic National Road, a National Scenic Byway. US 40 was formerly routed along the road. Through the early 1900s, a commuter rail/trolley system ran from Irvington to downtown Indianapolis along US 40.</p><br>
<p>Irvington is the largest locally protected historic district in Indianapolis. The district includes roughly 2,800 buildings and about 1,600 parcels of land. Seventy-eight percent of Irvington homes were built before 1960. Irvington began petitioning its residents in 2001 through the efforts of the Historic Irvington Community Council. The Irvington Historic District Neighborhood Plan was adopted by the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission on October 4, 2006.</p><br>
<h2>Butler University</h2><br>
<p>From 1875-1928, Irvington was the home of Butler University. Butler transformed Irvington into a college community. The campus grew in the southwest corner of Irvington, between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the B&O Railroad tracks. Buildings at the campus eventually included the Main Building (1875), Science Building (1892), Women’s Dorm (1880s), Bona Thompson Memorial Library (1903, today known as Bona Thompson Memorial Center), and a World War I era gymnasium. The Christian Women’s Board of Missions built a Missionary Training School in 1909 adjacent to the campus. By the 1910s, the university had over one thousand students. All the Butler buildings have since been demolished except for the Bona Thompson Memorial Library and the Presidents Home (which is now, locally called the "Church on the Circle"). Built in 1903, the Bona Thompson Memorial Center is the current home of the Irvington Historical Society. It houses the Irvington Historical Societys art collection and historical documents. The Society&#39;s art collection can be viewed in the rehabed gallery space. Also on display are various art shows, including a yearly juried show. Events from meetings to weddings and receptions are held at the Center.</p><br>
<h2>Events</h2><br>
<p>Irvington is a family-friendly neighborhood. Throughout the year, several festivals are held in the community that allow friends and neighbors to come together.</p><br>
<p>For over 10 years, the Irvington Historical Society has hosted an ice cream social at the Bona Thompson Memorial Library. Ice cream, displayed art, and music attract neighbors to the event so they can learn more about the history of Irvington and tour the library.</p><br>
<p>The Irvington Garden Club presents annual events to show local gardens, homes, and art. The Irvington Home Tour also allows the public to tour several historic homes; 2013 marked the 40th annual Tour of Homes.</p><br>
<p>The Irvington Farmers Market, one of the most popular farmers markets in Indianapolis, is held every year beginning in June and lasting through October.</p><br>
<p>Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Parish, located in the heart of Irvington, holds an annual carnival on their property to raise money for the church. The carnival features rides, games, and neighborhood information.</p><br>
<p>The Pour House hosts the annual "Baby it&#39;s Cold Outside" fundraiser during December in Irvington to raise funds to help men in Indianapolis that are experiencing homelessness. This event features music, dancing, drinks, raffles, and a silent auction.</p><br>
<h3>Irvington Halloween Festival</h3><br>
<p>The Irvington Halloween Festival is a non-profit event founded in 1947 by the Irvington Community Council in an effort to bring together residents, neighborhood organizations, and businesses in Irvington for a celebration of heritage and community. The festival encompasses the week leading up to October 31, culminating in a street festival on the final Saturday. East Washington Street is closed through downtown Irvington to hold the street festival. Events include a 5 mile run, a pageant, musicians, contests, Halloween-themed movies, storytelling, ghost tours, live theater, roller derby, a haunted puppet show, and dozens of other events.</p><br>
<h2>The arts</h2><br>
<p>Irvington was the birthplace and home to the only historic art movement in Central Indiana named for a specific place, the Irvington Group. In the early 1900s, this group of artists lived, met, practiced and exhibited art in Irvington. Today, many of the artists&#39; homes and studios remain standing throughout the community.</p><br>
<p>The Irvington Lodge, Bona Thompson Memorial Library, and The Studio School & Gallery are public venues where arts are currently taught and displayed throughout the Irvington neighborhood.</p><br>
<h3>The Irving Theatre</h3><br>
<p>Built in 1913, was originally used for a nickelodeon. In 1926, the theatre went under major renovations; adding six rental units, a second story, and lengthening the theatre. Throughout the decades, the theatre&#39;s uses differed until it closed in the mid-1990s. It sat unoccupied until 2005, when it was reopened, and has been looking for funds to be renovated since then. The theatre is a hub for live music, films, and art, community, and private events. Three apartment units are on the second floor.</p><br>
<p>The Irving is one of the city&#39;s largest all-ages music venues. With a capacity of over 700 people, the theatre hopes to attract bands that would otherwise pass on an Indianapolis visit.</p><br>
<p>The Irving Theater now hosts WOOT-FM Community Radio Project in the far western storefront. WOOT-FM is a not for profit community radio station featuring local musicians and acts. WOOT-FM&#39;s plan is to receive their LPFM license in the year 2014 serving the Indianapolis Metropolitan area.</p><br>
<h2>Churches</h2><br>
<p>Church congregations came with the new families.</p><br>
<p>One of the oldest is an African-American congregation, Irvington Baptist Church. Formed in 1887, it is one of the oldest African-American congregations in Marion County. Additional churches like Downey Avenue Christian Church first met in the Butler University Main Building, and later built a church in the 1890s.</p><br>
<p>Presbyterians gathered to form a church in the early 1900s, as the Methodists had done in the decades before.</p><br>
<p>Catholics petitioned for a parish in 1909, which became the aforementioned Our Lady of Lourdes. All of these denominations maintain beautiful historic houses of worship today.</p><br>
<h2>Schools and libraries</h2><br>
<p>Irvington is home to local schools and a branch of the Indianapolis Public Library. Thomas Carr Howe Academy and George Washington Julian elementary school #57 are both part of the Indianapolis Public Schools. There are also two Charter schools. Irvington Community School is for grades K-8, and the other is the Irvington Preparatory Academy, serving grades 9-12. Together, these schools offer public education for grades K-12. Irvington is also home to the Roman Catholic school, available for grades K-8.</p><br>
<p>Irvington has a long history of libraries. In 1903 the Bona Thompson Library was open to Butler students and the public. Since then, a local Irvington library has always been open to residents in different locations ranging from homes to particular structures. In 1956, the Hilton U. Brown Library, named in honor of the Irvington resident, opened on East Washington Street. In 2001, a new, state-of-the-art Irvington Branch Library opened at 5625 East Washington Street. The former Brown Library building is now used for early education by Indianapolis Public Schools.</p><br>
<p>Irvington was also home to the Children&#39;s Guardian Home on University Avenue, before being converted to a new high school for the Irvington Preparatory Academy.</p><br>
<h2>Historic structures</h2><br>
<p>Irvington is both architecturally and culturally significant to Indianapolis – Marion County. The area contains excellent examples of every major American architectural style from 1870–1950, including Italianate, French Second Empire, Victorian Gothic, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival. However, Irvington is perhaps best known for its fine collection of Arts & Crafts architecture, including the only known example of a Gustav Stickley designed house in Indiana.</p><br>
<p>Washington Street is home to several historic business buildings including the old bank (now Jack and Jill&#39;s Antique Shop) and the Irving Theatre.</p><br>
<h3>Benton House</h3><br>
<p>The Benton House was built in 1873 by Nicholas Ohmer, and was the home of Allen R. Benton, a former president of Butler University, Irvington. The Irvington Historic Landmarks Foundation was formed in 1966 to oversee the purchase and restoration of the house. In 1973 the home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the only house on the National Register on the Indianapolis East Side listed in the Historic Register that is available to the public.</p><br>
<h3>Stephenson Mansion</h3><br>
<p>The Stephenson Mansion was listed on The National Register of Historic Places as the William H. H. Graham House in 1982. The home was built in 1889 for William H. H. Graham, who was associated with the Benjamin Harrison administration. It also served as a sorority home for Kappa Kappa Gamma students at Butler University in 1923. D. C. Stephenson acquired the home in 1923 and remodeled it to resemble a Civil War-era plantation home. The home is one of several in the neighborhood that are interesting to people who believe in haunted houses.</p><br>
<h2>Parks</h2><br>
<p>Ellenberger Park (est. 1903, one time known as Jameson Park) is located in northern Irvington. Landscape architect and urban planner George Kessler developed this park and Pleasant Run Parkway in the early 1900s. In 1930, the park added a pool, and in 1962 an ice rink was installed, which was later closed in 2009. The park also includes two playgrounds, eight tennis courts, a baseball diamond, softball diamond, football field, fitness trail, beach volleyball court, and a hill perfect for winter sports such as sledding and snowboarding. Ellenberger Park hosts outdoor movie screenings in the summer. In recent years, the City of Indianapolis has finished constructing the Pleasant Run Trail greenway. The trail currently runs 6.9 mi and connects Ellenberger Park with Garfield Park, the oldest park in the city (est. 1873, renamed in 1881), on the old Southside of Indianapolis; significant northern and southern expansions are planned for the trail.</p><br>
<p>At the center of Irvington is South Irvington Circle Park, surrounded by a round-about street intersection. The park includes a fountain, a bust of Washington Irving, and personalized brick paths. Band concerts are often held on the circle throughout the summer season.</p><br>
<p>In September 2009, Mayor Greg Ballard and local citizens celebrated the opening of the Pennsy Trail, a 1.2 mile walking, running, biking trail between Arlington Ave. and Shortridge Rd. Named for the Pennsylvania Railroad that ran through this area until its tracks were pulled up in 1982, most of the trail follows along residential housing. However, other notable sites include a small set of local shops at South Audubon and Bonna, and the Irvington Charter Elementary school.</p><br>
<h2>Businesses</h2><br>
<h2>Notable residents</h2><br>
<p>Painter Constance Coleman Richardson grew up in Irvington, but she is not listed as a member of the Irvington Group</p><br>
<p>Aridaía  is a town and a former municipality in the Pella regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Almopia, of which it is a municipal unit. It was the capital of the former Almopia eparchy. It is located in the northwest corner of the Pella regional unit, bordering the southern part of the Republic of Macedonia and the northeast corner of the Florina regional unit. Its land area is 562.910 km&sup2;. The population of Aridaia proper is 7,057, while that of the entire municipal unit is 20,313 . Its largest other towns are Prómachoi , Sosándra , Ápsalos , Loutráki , Polykárpi , Tsákoi , Voreinó , and Χifianí . The municipal unit is divided into 17 communities.</p><br>
<h2>People from Aridaia</h2><br>
<p>Nikodim Tsarknias, priest of the Macedonian Orthodox Church</p><br>
<p>Mount Owen  is the second highest peak in the Teton Range, Grand Teton National Park in the USA state of Wyoming. The peak is named after William O. Owen, who organized the first documented ascent of the Grand Teton in 1898. Mount Owen is part of the Cathedral Group of high Teton peaks, a collection of peaks in the central section of the range that are particularly rugged. The 40 mi long Teton Range is the youngest mountain chain in the Rocky Mountains, and began its uplift 9 million years ago, during the Miocene. Several periods of glaciation have carved Mount Owen and the other peaks of the range into their current shapes. Valhalla Canyon is situated on the west slopes of Mount Owen.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing</h2><br>
<p>After two failed attempts in 1927 and one in 1928, Mount Owen was first climbed in 1930, and was one of the last of the major Teton peaks to be climbed. Numerous routes have been explored, ranging in difficulty from Class 5.1 to 5.10</p><br>
<p>Skydra  is a municipality in the Pella regional unit of Macedonia in Greece.</p><br>
<h2>Municipality</h2><br>
<p>The municipality Skydra was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units:</p><br>
<p>Meniida</p><br>
<p>Skydra</p><br>
<p>The municipality has an area of 239.525 km, the municipal unit 120.963 km.</p><br>
<h3>Municipal unit of Skydra</h3><br>
<p>Division of the municipal unit Skidra with total population 15,613 (2011). The 11 communities of Skydra are:</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In Skydra there is an ancient settlement in Mandalo.</p><br>
<h3>Historical Population</h3><br>
<h2>Sporting teams</h2><br>
<p>The town hosts two football clubs:</p><br>
<p>Aetos Skydra F.C., plays in the Greek Football League 2</p><br>
<p>Nea Genia Skydras, plays in the fifth Division of Greece (amateur league of the Pella Football Clubs Association).</p><br>
<p>In addition, Skydra has a volleyball team, Aristotelis Skydras V.C., which recently was promoted at the A2 Volleyball League.</p><br>
<p>Aiginio  is a town and a former municipality in Pieria regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pydna-Kolindros, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 75.541 km, the community 62.246 km. The population of the municipal unit was 4,869 people and the population of the community was 4,345 people as of 2011.</p><br>
<h2>Municipal unit</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit of Aiginio consists of the settlements of Aiginio (population 4,153), Megali Gefyra (population 192) and Katachas (population 524). Aiginio and Megali Gefyra constitute the community of Aiginio while Katachas is the other community of the municipal unit.</p><br>
<h2>Sporting teams</h2><br>
<p>Aiginio hosts the sport clubs Aiginiakos F.C., football club that have played in third national division and the volleyball club Niki Aiginiou that plays in A1 Ethniki Volleyball (first level).</p><br>
<p>Elafina  is a former municipality in Pieria regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Katerini, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 160.690 km. The population of the municipal unit was 4,313 in 2011. The seat of the municipality was in Palaio Keramidi.</p><br>
<h2>Administrative division</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit of Elafina consists of the following communities (populations in 2011):</p><br>
<p>Aronas, population 324</p><br>
<p>Elafos, population 499</p><br>
<p>Exochi, population 583</p><br>
<p>Exochi, population 446</p><br>
<p>Toxo, population 137</p><br>
<p>Katalonia, population 396</p><br>
<p>Lagorrachi, population 557</p><br>
<p>Lagorrachi, population 454</p><br>
<p>Meliadi, population 103</p><br>
<p>Moschopotamos, population 543</p><br>
<p>Palaio Keramidi, population 890</p><br>
<p>Trilofos, Pieria, population 521</p><br>
<p>The community of Exochi consists of two settlements: Exochi and Toxo. The community of Lagorrachi consists of the settlements of Lagorrachi and Meliadi.</p><br>
<p>Methoni  is a village and a former municipality in Pieria regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pydna-Kolindros, of which it is a municipal unit.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The ancient Eretrian settlement of Methoni, located at the interface between the Thessaloniki plain, the hilly terrain of Pieria and the shoreline of Thermaic Gulf, has gone through numerous wartime situations over the past centuries. Methoni has been well known as an important harbor during the Greek times closely affiliated with the Athenian Alliance. According to historical manuscripts the urban settlement was distanced from the harbor. However, there exist no historical references about either the distance or the potential locations of the harbor.</p><br>
<p>Identification of the precise location of the Methoni port holds great significance from a geomorphological point of view, but above all represents a major archaeological concern. The port infrastructures appear to have been disconnected from the rest of the city: Several decrees (notably in 430 and 423 BC) provide us with information on the matter (Queyrel, 2003). These infrastructures had been seized by the powerful city of Athens, in order to leave Methoni a degree of commercial autonomy with regards to the Kingdom of Macedon which was in full development at the time. One of these decrees, dated 430 BC, mentions that "the Methoneans must enjoy unrestricted rights to use the sea and must allow them, as before, to import goods on their territory".</p><br>
<p>We also know that in 359 BC, Argeas, former enemy of Amyntas (father of Philip II of Macedon), or according to certain historians (Diodorus, XVI, 3, 5.) one of his sons, had just obtained a fleet of 3,000 hoplites from the Athenians: The troops disembarked and then set up in Methoni. No more references to the city are to be found in the texts after the seizure, then destruction, of the city by Philip II&#39;s armies during the summer of 354 BC. There are signs of occupation during the Imperial period but there is no evidence of a continuous presence in the sector after the 4th century BC (Papazoglou, 1988).</p><br>
<p>Research efforts aiming to locate antique Methoni were undertaken from the 19th century, first by the famous English explorer W.M. Leake (Leake, 1967) who had traveled Macedonia at length and then by Léon Heuzey (Heuzey, 1876), who thought he had found the port of former Methoni, "marked by a small creek forming the shore not far from the mouths of Haliacmon" (Heuzey, 1876). Their respective research remained imprecise and no definite occupation site was ever identified. Their research was more focused on the quest for the royal tomb of Philip II and the Necropolis of the Temenid and Macedonian kings: Aigai, identified in the 1980s with the site of modern Vergina.</p><br>
<p>In the middle of the 20th century, Hammond used the descriptions of Strabo (Strabon, VII, fragments 20 and 22), positioning the city of Methoni at 70 stades (14 km) from Aloros (the original city of Ptolemy of Aloros) and at 40 stades (8 km) from Pydna (Pydna (Ancient Site)), to produce the hypothesis whereby Methoni must have been located nearby the current eponymous city. Later, during the 1980s, two occupation sites were confirmed: The first, dating from the Archaic and Classical periods (Site A), was identified using archaeological material that had been found and then analyzed. The second site, located slightly further north, dates from the Imperial period (site B) and presents a smaller spatial extension than the first (Hatzopoulos et al., 1990); nevertheless, no hypotheses concerning the location of port infrastructures were formulated, or even suggested.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<h3>Administrative division</h3><br>
<p>The municipal unit of Methoni consists of the communities of Makrygialos, Methoni, Nea Agathoupoli and Palaio Eleftherochori. The seat of the former municipality of Methoni, that ceased to exist after the 2011 local government reform was in Makrygialos.</p><br>
<h3>Population</h3><br>
<p>The population of the community of Methoni is 746 people and that of the municipal unit of Methoni is 3,169 people as of 2011.</p><br>
<p>Anogeio  is a village and a former municipality in the Preveza regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ziros, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 71.698 km. Population 890 . The seat of the municipality was in Gorgomylos. Anogeio village  is located on the western slopes of Xerovouni, in the Pindus mountains of Epirus. It has a pleasant dry climate, which is predominantly influenced by its high altitude and distance from the sea.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The 19th and 20th Century history of the settlement is well documented. Its economy was almost exclusively based on sheep herding. The transhumant way of life was fairly typical of the rural populations of the Pindus range. Shepherds would spend the summer months in the village and relocate to lower pastures in the winter. The distant origins of the village are more obscure, however it is believed to have been founded in the period following the failed 1611 uprising against the Ottomans in Epirus led by Dionysius the Philosopher of Ioannina. The remote location of the village would have enabled tax evaders, revolutionaries and other outcasts to avoid the Ottoman authorities. This situation was fairly typical in the Balkan mountains during the 17th-20th centuries (see klephts).</p><br>
<h2>Balkan Wars, Battle of Pente Pigadia and liberation of Filippiada, October 1912</h2><br>
<p>Anogeio is located in the high ground above the strategic pass of Pente Pigadia, on the road linking Ioannina with Preveza and southern Epirus. On the 5 October 1912 Greece declared war against Turkey with the aim of incorporating Greek speaking provinces in Epirus and Macedonia. On the 10 October 1912 during the operations to secure the market town of Filippiada, a unit of 150 Evzones (from the 30th Battalion) took up positions in Anogeio. With the help of local residents, who were well acquainted with the terrain, they organised the defenses of all the western foothills leading up to the village. The Turkish army, well aware of the strategic implications of the pass, led a determined assault against the Greek positions at Anogeio on 11 October 1912. The assault was unsuccessful and later that day the Evzones counter-attacked and captured the fort at Pente Pigadia. When news of the fort&#39;s capture reached the Turkish General Esat Pasha, he ordered a general retreat, which led to the bloodless liberation of Filippiada and the surrounding villages.</p><br>
<h2>The Petra Robbery</h2><br>
<p>Anogeio is the homeland of the Rentzaioi clan, two members of which achieved notoritey through being chief suspects for one of the biggest bank robberies in the history of the region. The event took place in the turbulent years following the liberation of Epirus from the Ottoman Empire in 1913. On the 12 June 1926, a National Bank of Ioannina vehicle was held up at the location of Petra (on the Ioannina to Preveza highway). 15million drachmas, a substantial sum for the time, were stolen from the vehicle and 8 members of the security crew were found murdered at the scene. The robbery was reputedly the most high-profile act in a number of murders, kidnappings and higwhay robberies with which the Rentzaioi brothers (Thymios and Ioannis) were associated. Their story and the manhunt across Albania, Italy and the Balkans to their eventual arrest in Varna, Bulgaria are recorded in Greek national newspapers of the time (including Kathimerini), archives of the period held in the National Library of Greece, the University of Ioannina, and local oral tradition. They were tried and executed for their crimes on 5 March 1930 in Corfu jail. Clan rivalry, and banditry were endemic in the mountains of Greece during the late 19th and early 20th century as attested in numerous sources. The bandits were often tolerated and supported by the local populace. Petty local officialdom and state authority were held in general disregard, a phenomenon accentuated by the remoteness of the mountain settlements.</p><br>
<p>Thesprotiko  is a village and a former municipality in the Preveza regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ziros, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 131.823 km. Population 4,075 . The village was known as Lelova  until April 1, 1927 when it adopted its current name. An independent community since 1919, Thesprotiko became a municipality in 1948.</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit Thesprotiko is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):</p><br>
<p>Assos (Assos, Kerasovo)</p><br>
<p>Galatas (Galatas, Agios Savvas, Zervo)</p><br>
<p>Meliana</p><br>
<p>Nikolitsi (Nikolitsi, Elaia, Platania)</p><br>
<p>Pappadates (Pappadates, Agioi Apostoloi, Galini)</p><br>
<p>Polystafylo (Polystafylo, Agia Triada)</p><br>
<p>Rizovouni (Rizovouni, Ziropoli)</p><br>
<p>Thesprotiko</p><br>
<h2>Population</h2><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>It is the capital of the area of Lakka in the Preveza Prefecture (Lakka Lelovou), it has a beautiful valley which includes several villages. The village is located between the Thesprotika (Baldenesi, Μπαλντενέσι) with the elevation of 1,250 m and Tsouka Podogora-Zarkorachi to the east with the elevation of 1,270 m. It had a lake with the name of Mavri which dried up in 1960.</p><br>
<p>Fanari  is a former municipality in the Preveza regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Parga, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 205.893 km. Population 7,962 . The seat of the municipality was in Kanallaki.</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit Fanari is subdivided into the following communities:</p><br>
<p>Acherousia</p><br>
<p>Ammoudia</p><br>
<p>Andonia</p><br>
<p>Ano Skafidoti</p><br>
<p>Despotiko</p><br>
<p>Kanallaki</p><br>
<p>Kastri</p><br>
<p>Koroni</p><br>
<p>Koryfoula</p><br>
<p>Koukkouli</p><br>
<p>Kypseli</p><br>
<p>Loutsa</p><br>
<p>Mesopotamo</p><br>
<p>Mouzakaiika</p><br>
<p>Narkissos</p><br>
<p>Skepasto</p><br>
<p>Stavrochori</p><br>
<p>Themelo</p><br>
<p>Valanidorachi</p><br>
<p>Valanidoussa</p><br>
<p>Vouvopotamos</p><br>
<p>Filippiada  is a small town and a former municipality in the Preveza regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ziros, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 142.409 km. Population 8,106 . The town Filippiada is situated at the foot of low hills on the right bank of the river Louros. The northern part of the municipal unit is mountainous. Filippiada is 10 km northwest of Arta, 30 km northeast of Preveza and 52 km south of Ioannina. The Greek National Road 5  passes through the town, and the Greek National Road 21 connects it with Preveza.</p><br>
<p>The area of Filippiada has been inhabited since at least the 8th and 7th centuries BC. The ancient cities of Charadron (Χάραδρον) and Bouchetion (on which the medieval Byzantine castle of Rogoi was built) were located here. There are many sites such as Saint Bessarion Church, the monument in honor of the fighters of the Battle of Bizani, and Lake Ziros.</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit Filippiada is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):</p><br>
<p>Agios Georgios</p><br>
<p>Dryofyto</p><br>
<p>Filippiada</p><br>
<p>Gymnotopos</p><br>
<p>Kerasona (Kerasona, Agia Faneromeni)</p><br>
<p>Kleisoura (Kleisoura, Pente Pigadia)</p><br>
<p>Nea Kerasounta (Nea Kerasounta, Iliovouni)</p><br>
<p>Panagia (Panagia, Gonia, Voulista)</p><br>
<p>Petra</p><br>
<p>Romia (Romia, Paidopoli Zirou)</p><br>
<h2>Population</h2><br>
<p>The Pope–Leighey House, formerly known as the Loren Pope Residence, is a suburban home in Virginia designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The house, which belongs to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has been relocated twice and sits on the grounds of Woodlawn Plantation, Alexandria, Virginia. Along with the Andrew B. Cooke House and the Luis Marden House, it is one of the three homes in Virginia designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.</p><br>
<h2>Conception</h2><br>
<p>Commissioned in 1939 by journalist Loren Pope and his wife Charlotte Pope, the design followed Wright&#39;s Usonian principles and was completed in 1941 at an official cost of $7,000 (original target price was $5,000) &mdash; at 1005 Locust Street, Falls Church, Virginia.</p><br>
<p>Loren Pope, at the time a writer for the Washington Evening Star had grown interested in Wright after studying his Wasmuth Portfolio, a 1938 Time Magazine article and Wrights recently published autobiography. Pope met Wright in 1938 when the architect made a presentation in D.C. while working on another project that would remain un-built. Pope approached Wright at his presentation, indicating hed like Wright to design his home. Wright indicated that he did not design speculative work, rather only designed homes for “people who deserved them.”</p><br>
<p>Pope subsequently wrote the architect, beginning his letter “Dear Mr. Wright, There are certain things a man wants during life, and of life. Material things and things of the spirit. The writer has one fervent wish that includes both. It is a house created by you.” After Wright agreed, Pope subsequently visited another Usonian home of Wrights design and met Wright at Taliesin. The architect originally designing a house of 1,800 ft&sup2, Mr. Pope at the time making $50 per week. Borrowing the money for the house proved difficult, with one lender counseling Pope the home would be a "white elephant." Popes employer, the Evening Star, eventually offered a loan of $5,700 and construction commenced after Wright sized the plan down from 1800 sf to 1200 sf.</p><br>
<p>Pope and his family lived in the house for 6 years, moving in 1946 to a 365-acre farm in Loudoun County, planning to subsequently build a larger Wright-designed home. Limitations on his income precluded Pope from affording the new home until 1959, when Wright was busy with the Guggenheim Museum in New York.</p><br>
<h3>Design</h3><br>
<p>The design follows Wright&#39;s Usonian model of well-designed space for middle-income residents with a design that brings nature inside, using modest materials and a flat roof.</p><br>
<p>The L-shaped single-story plan &mdash; designed on a 2 by 4 ft rectangular grid scored into its concrete floor painted in Wrights signature Cherokee red &mdash; features two bedrooms and a bathroom in one wing and living and dining areas in the other. At the juncture of the two wings are the homes entrance, a study and the kitchen. To accommodate the original site&#39;s slope, the house features two levels.</p><br>
<p>The living room features a ceiling at eleven-and-a half feet, the bedroom wing opens outward with tall glass doors and windows, and the house features a patterned ribbon of clerestory windows at the top of the walls. Materials included Tidewater red cypress (finished in clear wax), brick, and glass. The entire house features radiant heater with hot water pipes embedded in the concrete slab. Furniture was designed by Wright.</p><br>
<h3>Construction</h3><br>
<p>Wright assigned apprentice Gordon Chadwick to oversee construction of the home, though Wright himself visited the house several times. Wright felt the houses construction was costing the owner too much and did not request his final payment. Wright, who wanted to name the home "Touchstone," felt the design was one of the best representations of his Usonian ideals. Howard Rickert from Vienna, Virginia, was the projects primary carpenter.</p><br>
<h2>Marjorie Leighey - first relocation</h2><br>
<p>The Popes sold the home to Robert and Marjorie Leighey in 1946. In 1961, the state of Virginia informed the Leigheys the house would be condemned to make way for Interstate 66. Robert died in 1963, and Marjorie Leighey donated the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1964, along with the entire $31,500 condemnation award to help pay for the relocation. Before donating the home, Ms. Leighey had turned down the initial condemnation award of $25,605 from the Virginia Highway Department.</p><br>
<p>The home was dismantled, moved, and reconstructed on the property of Woodlawn Plantation, 9000 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, Virginia, where it opened to the public as the Pope–Leighey House in 1965. Leighey continued to reside in the home from 1969 until her death in 1983.</p><br>
<h2>1995 - second relocation</h2><br>
<p>The house had initially been poorly located at Woodlawn Plantation &mdash; over an area with unstable marine clay. In 1995, the house was again relocated thirty feet at a cost of $500,000</p><br>
<p>Anogeia  is a municipality in the Rethymno regional unit, Crete, Greece. The municipality has an area of 102.632 km&sup2;. Population 2,379 .</p><br>
<p>When exactly Anogeia was founded and by whom, is not accurately known. Many believe that the original settlement was founded by villagers from the village Axos, which is located west of Anogia, at the location where the Minoan city Oaxos was situated.</p><br>
<p>According to a legend, a shepherd from Axos found one day on one of the slopes of Psiloreitis an icon depicting Saint John the Baptist. Pious as he was, he picked it up carefully, wrapped it in a towel, took it to his home and placed it there alongside the other icons. On the following day he was astonished to find out that the icon had disappeared. Terrified, he went back to the place he had found it on the day before, where he was exhilarated to discover that the icon was exactly at the same location. This inexplicable phenomenon was considered to be an order from the heavens, to build at that exact location a temple dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.</p><br>
<p>The church of Saint John seems to be the first building of the settlement, which later came to be known as “Anogia”. Within the temple of Saint John are remains of Byzantine drawings on the walls, which can be dated back to the 11th century.</p><br>
<p>The historian Stelios Spanakis, summarily provides geographical, as well as historical information about Anogia,: “Anogia is a town –municipality in the Mylopotamos Province of the Prefecture of Rethymno. In the 1981 census it numbered 2.449 citizens. It is located in the northern reaches of Psiloreitis, at an altitude of 700-790 meters. When in 1182 Crete was divided among the 12 Young Princes of Byzantium, Anogia were given to the family of Fokas. Anogia are referred to by Venetian and Greek scholars and historians as Anogia, or Anoia. In 1593 it was already a significant settlement, numbering 911 citizens. Anogia are referred to as a revolutionary place during the years of Turkish occupation. In 1822, when the Anogians were fighting the Turks in Messara, Serif Pasha found the village empty and put it to the torch. In November 1866, when the Arkadi Monastery was being burned, Resit Pasha tried to capture Anogia, but he was repulsed by the Anogians and other villagers from Mylopotamos.” This tradition continued during the German occupation and in August 1944 the village was once again razed to the ground in reprisal for the local&#39;s participation in the resistance.</p><br>
<p>The living conditions of the people of Anogia, as well as those of other mountain villages in Crete, were extremely difficult. Anogians of old times were mainly shepherds, goatherds and not so many of them were farmers. The barren soil, the harsh winters, the frequent revolts and the constant purges from the conquerors contributed to the primitive living conditions, to the great poverty and the lack of even the most basic of comforts.</p><br>
<p>The French historian Victor Berard (1897) during his journeys in Crete, dedicated but a few lines for the village of Anogia, where with a raw and laconic way describes the hopeless living conditions of the time: “The village Anogia, resembles the outposts on the remote peaks of old, where men and animals live together in miserable hovels”.</p><br>
<p>The Italian Vittorio Simonelli who visited Crete in 1893, was much more generous in his descriptions. First, he was put up at a “tolerable inn”. As for the villagers themselves, both men and women, made a great impression on him, when on a Sunday he saw them going to the church. He wrote: “Anogian women are beautiful, with red cheeks and faces that are lit up by eyes black and shiny, like agate. Their traditional clothing, accentuates the health and beauty that characterize the ancient Cretan archetype. The men are also handsome, being tall, lean, and easy in their movement, proud, but without even a trace of ferociousness”.</p><br>
<p>In recent years, the Yakinthia (Hyacinthia) cultural festival is held at an altitude of 1200m in the Nida Plateau, south of Anogeia. The festival is held annually every July and focuses on the Cretan folk tradition and its blending with the traditions of Greece and the Mediterranean.</p><br>
<h2>Contribution to national liberation struggles</h2><br>
<p>In 1941 in Anogia, the Liberation Action Committee was founded. Anogia was the core of the Resistance in Crete and the abduction of General Kreipe took place in Anogia and the evacuation to take him to Cairo was orchestrated there. In retaliation, on August 13, 1944, the commander of Fortress Crete Müller ordered the demolition of Anogia and annihilation of every male from Anogia in a radius of 1 kilometre. Thus, on August 13 of 1944, three battalions of German troops surrounded Anogia and set garrisons in the surrounding hills. They arrested 80 elders and sent them to Heraklion and executed nine disabled persons, all others were evacuated to the surrounding mountains. They blew up every single house with dynamite, and started an arson, about 800 houses became rubble and they burned 6 elderly disabled women. The remaining men fled to Mount Psiloritis to safety.</p><br>
<p>Between 1941 and 1944, during the fight against the German invaders, a total of 104 Anogians were killed.</p><br>
<p>In 1946, the state honored Anogia with the award of the War Cross first class for the disasters which affected and for their heroism. The following year, the community, honoris causa, was recognized as Municipality Anogia.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Psarantonis (1939), composer, singer and performer of lyra</p><br>
<p>Nikos Xilouris (1936–1980), singer</p><br>
<p>Harder Hall is a historic hotel in Sebring, Florida. It is located on Little Lake Jackson, at 3300 Golfview Drive. On June 20, 1990, it was added to the USA National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>Original capacity</h2><br>
<p>The hotel was designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival Style architecture popular during the period and contained 134 rooms. It had approximately 50,000 ft&sup2; square feet of rooms and halls, 35,000 ft&sup2; of public areas including a mezzanine lobby. The 4,200 ft&sup2; great room and banquet room both had 22 ft ceilings with large french doors that overlook the lake.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early</h3><br>
<p>Harder Hall was named for its developers, Lewis F. Harder and Vincent Hall, both of West Palm Beach. Prior to the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Florida experienced a boom in real estate and tourism. It was during this period that many Spanish style hotels, such as Harder Hall, were built. Construction of the hotel began in 1925, prior to the end of the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The firm responsible for the construction of the building, Schultze and Weaver, were also responsible for the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida. In 1927, the classic Spanish Style hotel and golf resort, opened on the shore of Little Lake Jackson. Harder Hall was built in Sebring because the city was a stop on the Atlantic Coast Line railroad. In 1953 it was bought by Victor and David Jacobson and partners Larry Tennenbaum and Sam Levy. In 1954 Victor commissioned golf course architect Dick Wilson to transform the golf course into a championship layout. Among the major tournaments held at Harder Hall Hotel were the Haig & Haig Scotch Foursome, a PGA Tour/LPGA Tour event. Other famous guests of the hotel were Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw and Mario Andretti. With head pro Ben Roman Victor started the first golf school in the world. Victor and Eva Jacobson also operated Harder Hall Golf and Tennis Camp at the hotel between 1967 and at least 1982. This was the first and last co-ed, teenage golf and tennis camp in a resort hotel ever and drew campers from all over the world. Victor operated this hotel until the 1982 when he sold it to a group of investors who went bankrupt, unable to convert their plan to convert the structure to timeshares. The building has been unoccupied ever since. Several times different groups tried their luck on the extensive renovation project but never got far. A few times this classic building barely escaped demolition, before being put on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h3>Current</h3><br>
<p>In 2004 the building was acquired by another investor from Florida, who in 2005 through 2006 gave the ambitious restoration project another try. This one witnessed more work done than all other previous attempts combined, but ran out of funds in 2006. Currently the half-finished project is awaiting new owners to finally finish the restoration. Harder Hall was purchased at auction by the city of Sebring in July 2007.</p><br>
<p>The golf course is in great condition and remains open to the public on a fee for play basis.</p><br>
<p>Djedi River  or Djeddi River is a wadi  in Algeria and one of the largest rivers of Sahara. It starts in the Saharan Atlas mountains, at elevation of about 1,400 m, flows for about 480 km approximately from west to east, and discharges into Chott Melrhir lake at about –40 m below mean sea level, which is the lowest point of Algeria. It is fed by rains and melting snow and has a permanent flow only in its upper part. The river rises on the southern slopes of Djebel Amour, near the town of Aflou, and feeds several date palm groves, such as the Laghouat oasis, which largely depend on this supply; water is also taken from numerous wells dug near the river. During the rain season in winter, the river helps to rise the water level of Chott Melrhir, and in summer, the lake and lower reaches of the river dry out. The river is up to several kilometers wide, but its banks are rarely covered with water. The river bed mostly consists of gypsum and mud and bears traces of erosion associated with the large variations of the flow. Although the soil in and around the river appears arable, it is barren due to the high concentration of salt. For the same reason, the soil absorbs much condensation overnight that keeps it partly humid during much of the day.</p><br>
<p>The river has numerous wadi tributaries, including Bedjran, Bicha, Mlili, Msaad and Mzi, all of those flowing from the left and none being navigable. Djedi River flows near the town of Laghouat (population about 125,000), and the town of Sidi Khaled (population ~40,000) stands on its left (northern) bank. The river&#39;s name is thought to be derived from the Berber languages Irzer Idjdi meaning river of sand which transformed into Arabic Ouad Djedi (meaning the river of the goat).</p><br>
<p>Iasmos  is a town and a municipality in the Rhodope regional unit of Thrace, Greece. It is built on the side of the Rhodope Mountains. Although references about the village date back to the 16th Century, it is likely that those references are about the old location of the village, a few kilometres west of the current position. The actual date that the inhabitants settled in the current place is between the late 18th century and 1814 .</p><br>
<h2>Municipality</h2><br>
<p>The municipality Iasmos was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 3 former municipalities, that became municipal units:</p><br>
<p>Amaxades</p><br>
<p>Iasmos</p><br>
<p>Sostis</p><br>
<p>The municipality has an area of 485.285 km, the municipal unit 221.795 km.</p><br>
<p>Maroneia  is a village and a former municipality in the Rhodope regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Maroneia-Sapes, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 287.155 km. Population 6,350 . The seat of the municipality was in Xylagani.</p><br>
<p>In legend, it was said to have been founded by Maron, a son of Dionysus, or even a companion of Osiris. According to Pseudo-Scymnus it was founded by Chios in the first half of the 6th century BC. According to Pliny, its ancient name was Ortagures. It was located on the hill of Aghios Gheorgis, and archaeological findings date it as a much older and as a pure Thracian city.</p><br>
<p>Maroneia was close to the Ismaros mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey. Some scholars identify Maroneia with his Ismaros. Homer has Odysseus plundering the city but sparing Maron, whom he identifies as a priest of Apollo. Maron presents Odysseus with a gift of wine, as well as with gold and silver.</p><br>
<p>In the era of Ancient Greece and Rome, Maroneia was famous for its wine production. The wine was esteemed everywhere; it was said to possess the odor of nectar, and to be capable of mixture with twenty or more times its quantity with water. That the people of Maroneia venerated Dionysus, we learn not just from its famous Dionysian Sanctuary, the foundations of which can still be seen today, but also from the city&#39;s coins.</p><br>
<p>In 200 BC it was taken by Philip V of Macedon, who vented his rage by slaughtering a great number of the city&#39;s inhabitants. The Roman Republic subsequently granted Maroneia to Attalus, King of Pergamon, but almost immediately revoked their gift and declared it a free city.</p><br>
<p>Maroneia was the largest and most important of all ancient Greek colonies of Western Thrace. The city owed its prosperity to the extensive and rich territory and also to the port which favored the development of intense commercial activity. Furthermore, Romans had granted many privileges to the city, such as the proclamation its freedom and the increase of its territory, where a dense network of rural settlements was developed.</p><br>
<p>In December 1877 Captain Petko Voyvoda overthrew the Ottoman rule and established a free administration in the town.</p><br>
<p>It is the seat of a Roman Catholic titular bishopric called Maronea.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Metrocles (4th century BC), Cynic philosopher</p><br>
<p>Hipparchia, Cynic philosopher and sister of Metrocles</p><br>
<p>Sotades (3rd century BC), poet</p><br>
<p>Petko Kiryakov (Captain Petko Voyvoda) (1844–1900), Bulgarian politician and leader of the national revolution</p><br>
<p>Archbishop Michael of America (1892-1958)</p><br>
<p>Edessa ; known as "city of waters"), is a city in northern Greece and the capital of the Pella regional unit, in the Central Macedonia region of Greece. It was also the capital of the defunct province of the same name.</p><br>
<p>Edessa holds a special place in the history of the Greek world as, according to some ancient sources, it was here that Caranus established the first capital of ancient Macedon. Later, under the Byzantine Empire, Edessa benefited from its strategic location, controlling the Via Egnatia as it enters the Pindus mountains, and became a center of medieval Greek culture, famed for its strong walls and fortifications. In the modern period, Edessa was one of Greece&#39;s industrial centers until the middle of the 20th century, with many textile factories operating in the city and its immediate vicinity. Today however its economy mainly relies on services and tourism. Edessa hosts most of the administrative services of the Pella regional unit, as well as some departments of the Thessaloniki-based University of Macedonia.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The Greek name Ἔδεσσα (Édessa) means "tower in the water" and is generally thought to be of Phrygian origin, although a minority of scholars consider it to be Illyrian instead. The Slavic name Vodĭnŭ (Водьнъ) was first attested in the 10th century, and became the common name until the 20th century.</p><br>
<p>Vodená (Βοδενά) was the name used in Greek until 1923, when the ancient name was revived. The Bulgarian and Macedonian name remains Voden (Cyrillic: Воден). In Turkish, the city is known as Vodina, and in Aromanian the city is known as either Edessa, Vudena or Vodina.</p><br>
<p>Seleucus I Nicator named the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey) after the Macedonian Edessa.</p><br>
<h2>Municipality</h2><br>
<p>The municipality Edessa was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units:</p><br>
<p>Edessa</p><br>
<p>Vegoritida</p><br>
<p>The municipality has an area of 611.212 km, the municipal unit 321.225 km.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>According to some ancient writers, Caranus, the legendary founder of the Argead Dynasty (whose most famous member was Alexander the Great), established the city of Edessa and made it the first capital of ancient Macedon, and later Argead rulers moved Macedons capital to Aegae and eventually Pella. Archaeological remains have been discovered on the site of ancient Edessa, just below the modern city (40°4748.48"N 22° 3&#39;26.24"E). The walls and many buildings have been unearthed so far. A colonnade with inscription in Greek dates from Roman times. The city achieved certain prominence in the first centuries AD, being located on the Via Egnatia. From 27 BC to 268 AD it had its own mint. The Orthodox Christian Saint Vassa and her three children were put to death here in the 3rd century AD.</p><br>
<p>Little is known about the fate of the city after 500 AD, but we know that its Greek bishop, Isidoros, participated in the Ecumenical Council of 692.</p><br>
<p>The city disappears from the sources thereafter, and re-emerges only in the 11th century, in the account of the Bulgarian wars of Emperor Basil II by the chronicler John Skylitzes, with the Slavic name Vodena (τὰ Βοδηνά in Greek), commonly held to derive from the Slavic word for "water". The Bulgarian historian Vasil Zlatarski hypothesized that it was Vodena, and not Vidin on the Danube, that was a base of the Cometopuli in their revolt against Byzantium.</p><br>
<p>Due to its strategic location, controlling the Via Egnatia as it enters the Pindus mountains, the town was much fought over in the subsequent centuries: the Normans under Bohemond I captured it briefly in 1083, but were eventually repelled by the forces of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The Nicaean emperor John III Vatatzes captured in 1253, while in the mid-14th century its possession was disputed between the Byzantines and the Serbs under Stephen Dushan, with the latter securing its possession in January 1351. The city was for some time under control of Radoslav Hlapen, who gave it as dowry to his son-in-law Nikola Bagaš probably around 1366/7. The city remained in Bagaš&#39;s hands at least until 1385. It fell to the Ottoman war leader Evrenos Bey in the late 14th century, along with the rest of Macedonia.</p><br>
<p>During the period of Ottoman rule, the Turkish and Muslim component of the town&#39;s population steadily increased. From the 1860s onwards, the town was a flashpoint for clashes between Greeks and Bulgarians.</p><br>
<p>After almost 500 years of Ottoman rule, Edessa was annexed by Greece on 18 October 1912 during the First Balkan War, following the Hellenic Army&#39;s military victory against the Ottomans in the battle of Sarantaporo. At that time, Edessa was already well on its way to becoming a major industrial center in Macedonia. Four large textile factories were in operation by 1914, employing the abundant waterfalls as a source of energy. Prior to World War I, in addition to Greeks, the region of Edessa was also populated by Turks, Bulgarians, Pomaks and Vlachs, but during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey most of the Turks and Pomaks living in Edessa were transferred to Turkey. Large numbers of Greek refugees from Asia Minor were settled in the area in 1923. The population swelled from 9,441 to 13,115 in the 1920s. A large segment of the population specialized in silk production, allowing Edessa to enjoy a high standard of living in the interwar period (1922–1940).</p><br>
<p>The town suffered during the last days of German occupation of Greece in 1944. As a retaliation for the shooting of one soldier by resistance fighters, the Nazis set Edessa on fire. Half of the city, including the Cathedral and the First Primary School, was destroyed and thousands of people were left homeless.</p><br>
<p>During the Greek Civil War (1946-1949) Edessa was twice attacked in 1948 by the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE), under the control of the Communist Party of Greece. The Slavic-Macedonian National Liberation Front, later simply the National Liberation Front or NOF was heavily established in the area, with eleven Slav Macedonian partisan units operating in the mountains around the city. When the NOF merged with the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE), many Slav Macedonians in the region enlisted as volunteers in the DSE. In early 1949, the military forces of the Greek Government conducted a series of successful military operations that destroyed all communist forces and after the end of war in August 1949, many communists and sympathizers, both ethnic Greeks and ethnic Slavs were expelled from Greece and fled to the countries of Eastern Europe.</p><br>
<p>Since the 1970s Edessa&#39;s economy no longer relies on industry. At the beginning of the 21st century, it is a city based on services (mostly linked to its function as capital of the Pella regional unit) and tourism due to the many ancient sights nearby, including ancient Pella, the waterfalls and winter sports.</p><br>
<h2>The Ancient Site</h2><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<h2>Infrastructure</h2><br>
<h3>Transportation</h3><br>
<p>Edessa railway station is located on the Thessaloniki–Bitola railway and is served by both InterCity trains and Proastiakos Thessaloniki suburban trains.</p><br>
<h3>Media</h3><br>
<p>Pella TV</p><br>
<p>Egnatia TV</p><br>
<h2>Sports</h2><br>
<p>Edessa hosts two sport clubs with presence or earlier presence in the higher national divisions in Greek football and handball. These clubs are shown below.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Dimitris Beis (1928 - 2012) resistance fighter against the junta of the Colonels and Mayor of Athens, 1979 - 1986</p><br>
<p>Giorgos Paschalidis, (born 1951) former Minister and close associate of Prime Minister Costas Simitis</p><br>
<p>Aggelis Gatsos (1771–1839), fighter in the Greek War of Independence</p><br>
<p>Vangel Ajanovski-Oče (1909–1996) - secretary of SNOF</p><br>
<p>Marietta Chrousala (1983 - ) - fashion model and television presenter</p><br>
<p>Georgi Ajanovski (1940 - ) - Macedonian journalist</p><br>
<h2>Twin cities</h2><br>
<p>Gornji Milanovac, Serbia</p><br>
<p>Pleven, Bulgaria</p><br>
<p>Bitola, Republic of Macedonia</p><br>
<p>The Leader River is a river in the Hurunui District of the Canterbury region in New Zealand&#39;s South Island. It is a tributary of the Waiau River, which it meets near Parnassus. Numerous smaller watercourses join the Leader River, including the Hookhamsnyvy Creek.</p><br>
<p>In the 1910s, the New Zealand Railways Department intended to build a railway up the Leader River&#39;s valley as part of the Main North Line linking Christchurch with the Marlborough region. Between 1912 and 1914, roughly 3 km of track was laid northwards from Parnassus up the Leader River&#39;s valley, a few more kilometres of formation was made, and work began on a bridge over the Leader River. However, the outbreak of World War I brought a halt to construction, and when work resumed on building the railway, a more easterly route out of Parnassus was chosen. Nonetheless, a pier from the never-completed Leader River bridge continues to stand in the river.</p><br>
<p>Gaya Island  is a sizeable Malaysian island of 1,465 ha, just 10 minutes off Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and forms part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. Gaya Island derived its name from the Bajau word "Gayo" which means big and occupies an area of 15 km²  with an elevation of up to 300 metres. Several ridges rise more than 600 feet , peaking at 1,000 feet , along the backbone of Gaya Island.</p><br>
<p>Gaya is the largest island in the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, closest to downtown Kota Kinabalu (KK) and is covered with dense virgin, tropical forest. It has been a forest reserve since 1923. The island has 20 km of hiking trails and two 5 star resorts named Gayana Eco Resort, home to the Marine Ecology Research Centre, and Bunga Raya Island Resort on the north-east part of the island. Historically, Gaya Island was also the site of the English colonialists British North Borneo Companys harbour, razed by the folk hero Mat Salleh on 9 July 1897.</p><br>
<p>In recent years, there has been a plan to turn Gaya Island into a city island and tourism hub. A cable car line has also been proposed before to connect with the city centre.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Before the Ice Age, it formed part of the Crocker Range mass of sandstone and sedimentary rock on the mainland. However, about one million years ago, the melting ice brought about changes in the sea level and parts of the mainland were cut off by the sea to form the islands of Gaya Island, Sapi Island, Manukan Island, Mamutik Island and Sulug Island. Evidence of this can be seen from the exposed sandstone of the coastline forming the cliffs, caves, honeycombs and deep crevices.</p><br>
<p>In 1882, the British North Borneo Company set up a trading settlement on Gaya Island. After destruction in 1898 the settlement was moved to the mainland in 1899 and named as Jesselton in honour of Charles Jessel, a manager of the Chartered Company. Later it was renamed to its current name, Kota Kinabalu.</p><br>
<p>In 1974, the major part of Gaya and Sapi islands was gazetted as Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, covering an area of 8,990 acre. In 1979, the park was increased to 12,185 acre with the inclusion of the three nearby islands of Manukan, Mamutik and Sulug. The park is spread over 4,929 hectares, two thirds of which cover the sea.</p><br>
<h3>Illegal settlement</h3><br>
<p>Starting from 1970s, Filipino-Moro refugees comprising Tausūg and Bajau peoples began to inhabited the island in their bid to escape from the war in the southern Philippines. Both the Malaysian federal government and the Sabah state government do not officially recognise the settlement and the inhabitants as they are known as illegal immigrants. The eastern shore of Gaya Island supports a well-known illegal Filipino colony, called Kampung Lok Urai, with stilt houses girdling the beach as far as the eye can see. It has a 6,000 floating population of largely Filipinos who provide Kota Kinabalu with a source of cheap labour. It is considered a dangerous, high crime or "no-go" area by the police and KK-ian locals. The stilt houses are linked by walkways of weathered planks. As the population grew, new houses spread seaward, with no regard for sanitation. The population in the island have also been criticised for their rubbish throwing attitude, where most of the rubbish will be found floating around the sea near their settlements. Three fires in 1994, 1998 and in 2014 have wiped out nearly half of Kampung Pondo.</p><br>
<p>The Sabah state government has since working to end the Filipino squatter problems that have become the main cause for rampant crimes, terrorism and drug trafficking in the state especially to the capital city as their location are too close with business areas by relocating them to a proper place to ease proper management, with many of the problematic illegal immigrants will be deport back to the Philippines and their further entry will be prevented. After the fire in Kampung Pondo on 2014, the Sabah state government have proposed to move the illegal immigrants in the island to Kinarut with a better facility of modern houses, this has been opposed with an outcry from the Sabahan citizens, including some who want the current Chief Minister to resign over his mishandling power. In late 2016, the state government submit recommendations to the Malaysian federal government through the Main Committee on Management of Foreigners to move any refugee placement schemes in the state to other more suitable locations far from the towns and industrial development areas.</p><br>
<p>The squatters relocation is in line with the Kota Kinabalu metropolitan development to turn Gaya Island into a city island and tourism hub.</p><br>
<h2>Administration</h2><br>
<p>Sabah Parks, the body charged with protecting the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, is headquartered on the south-eastern part of Gaya Island in a bay shared with the Downbelow Marine & Wildlife Adventures dive station. A development on the edge of Gaya island nearest to Sapi island is also used by Sabah Parks and offers a small, quiet beach for public recreational use.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Gaya Island is well known for a legendary beach at Police Bay. The 400 metres (0.25 mile) stretch of white sand, gently slopes out to the sea and makes Police Beach ideal for swimming in the crystal clear water. Police Beach fronts the upmarket Bunga Raya Island Resort. The coral reefs along the entire coast of Gaya island are in excellent condition, making it a surprisingly good diving destination, considering its proximity to Kota Kinabalu city.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal in downtown Kota Kinabalu is the ferry terminal for those heading to the islands in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (Gaya Island, Sapi Island, Manukan Island, Mamutik Island and Sulug Island). This ferry terminal is also the departure point for patrons staying at either Manukan Island Resort or Gayana Resort. While the speedboat owners on the island are kept busy, ferrying Filipinos schoolchildren, housewives and traders who sell craftwork at the Filipino market in the Kota Kinabalu Waterfront.</p><br>
<p>The Bay of Wismar or more commonly Wismar Bay or Wismarbucht is a well sheltered multi-sectioned bay in the southwestern Baltic Sea, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, and is considered the south-central part of the much larger arm of the Baltic known as the Mecklenburg Bay —a long fingerlike gulf oriented to the west-southwest  from the  Baltic proper. Wismar bay is considered one of the finest natural harbors on the Baltic, and served as the destination for much seaborne shipping until circa the 1910s when its minimum depths of 5 m became too shallow for larger more modern ships. Today, because of the shallow sheltered waters the bay is the subject of much research via underwater archeology</p><br>
<p>There are four lobe like parts of the Bay of Wismar which are themselves bays on its southern shores, each separated by a north intruding headland from the others (see maps at right) and a broad channel running northwest to southeast parallel to the line formed by the tips of the four bounding headlands. The tips of the four headlands are remarkably well aligned and very closely co-linear spanning 10.80 mi northwest to southeast tip to tip along the channel along which the inlets are respectively Boltenhagen Bay, Wohlenberger Wiek, Eggers Wiek, and the inner bay. A channel, the Breitling between Poel island and the mainland is accounted part of the bay as well, which in its northern limit is the north shore of the island.</p><br>
<p>From the western headland to the eastern shore of the inner bay is 13.4 mi. All of the waters are bounded by Poel Island on one side—a large mainly agricultural and recreational island sheltering the most easterly parts of bay (the inner Bay of Wismar and the small coastal seaport) along most of its northern edge.</p><br>
<p>The sheltered anchorage extends over an rhombus shaped area in the southerly lee of Poel island roughly 3 mi N-S in the inner anchorage narrowing to 1.75 mi N-S between the innermost headland and southernmost tip of the island and roughly 5–6 miles (8–10 km) that distance WNW to ESE.</p><br>
<p>In general, the main waters of the bay are located to the west, southwest and south relative to Poel Island which is wholly within Wismar Bay. The northern tip of the island in a line westerly to the headland of Großklützhöved (3.35 mi north of the village of Klütz) forms the mouth of the bay.</p><br>
<p>Main ports: Wismar, 20 mi by rail north of Schwerin.</p><br>
<p>Illgill Head is a fell in the English Lake District. It is known more commonly as the northern portion of the Wastwater Screes. The fell is 609 metres high and stands along the south-east shore of Wastwater, the deepest lake in England.</p><br>
<h2>Topography</h2><br>
<p>The panorama of the Wastwater Screes across Wastwater is one of the most famous and awe-inspiring views in England. Poet Norman Nicholson described the Screes as ‘like the inverted arches of a Gothic Cathedral’.</p><br>
<p>The title Wastwater Screes applies to the scree-covered north-western fellside which plunges dramatically down into Wastwater. This also includes Illgill Head&#39;s neighbour Whin Rigg, the continuation of the ridge to the south-west. The scree slope continues beneath the lake to a depth of 79 metres (259 ft). The screes were formed as a result of ice and weathering erosion on the rocks. Geologically, Illgill Head and Whin Rigg are part of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, typical for the southern-western area of the Lake District.</p><br>
<p>In marked contrast to the north-western slope, the opposite flank of the fell, which descends to Burnmoor Tarn and Miterdale, is much gentler and covered in heather and bracken.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The summit area has outcropping tuff, lapilli-tuff and breccia of the Lingmell Formation amid the drift deposits. The crags atop the Screes reveal the plagioclase-phyric andesite lavas of the Birker Fell Formation.</p><br>
<h2>Summit</h2><br>
<p>The summit is a flat sheepwalk, giving no clue to the drama of the Screes. North-west from the cairn the grassy plateau gradually tilts, until a few yards away it simply disappears over the brink. Illgill Head is a fine viewpoint for Wasdale Head, the surrounding fells all appearing as they soar up from the dalehead. Nearer views, with care, are possible down the Screes themselves.</p><br>
<h2>Ascent</h2><br>
<p>Illgill Head is commonly ascended from Wasdale Head over the north-eastern shoulder of the fell, skirting the edge of the Screes. There is also an ascent from Boot in Eskdale either over Whin Rigg or direct via Burnmoor Tarn.</p><br>
<p>A lakeside path along the south-eastern shore of Wastwater starts at Wasdale Head Hall and continues through the boulder field with exhilarating close-up views of the Screes.</p><br>
<p>The Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge  is part of the Western Sudetes mountain range in the Czech Republic.</p><br>
<p>The ridge is almost 60 km long, and the width does not exceed 15 km. In the north-west it starts in a saddle between hills Pískový vrch (547 m) in the Lusatian Mountains and Ostrý vrch (514 m) already in the Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge. The elevation of the hills gradually increases above 800 meters and culminates with Ještěd (1012 m). Ještěd is the highest peak of the ridge and the only peak above 1000 m as well. The ridge continues to the south-east. It is intersected by the deep valleys of Mohelka and Jizera. The last hill above 700 m is Kozákov (744 m).</p><br>
<p>The range mostly consists of various quartzites, though some parts are formed from sandstone. Almost the entire Ještěd ridge is covered by forest up to the valley of Mohelka. The other part is a mosaic consisting of forests, meadows and fields. Most notable are beech forests, often protected as natural reserves. The Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge is not protected as a whole; however, the Ještěd and Maloskalsko natural parks have been created, along with several smaller reserves.</p><br>
<p>The terrain is suitable for hiking and cycling. Winter sports are limited by there being only intermittent snow. The most popular area for both downhill and cross-country skiing is centered on Ještěd.</p><br>
<p>Barbalissos  was a city in the Roman province of Euphratensis. Its site is marked by the ruins at Qala&#39;at Balis, which partly retains the old name, south of Maskanah , in modern Syria, on the road from Aleppo to the site of Sura, where the Euphrates turns suddenly to the east.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The city, built near the ruined site of ancient Emar, which had fallen in 1187 BC. During the Roman Empire served as the base of the Equites Dalmatae Illyriciani, a Roman cavalry unit which probably had its origins in the Balkans.</p><br>
<p>In 253 it was the site of the Battle of Barbalissos in which the Sassanid Persians under Shapur I defeated a Roman army. Shapur proceeded to sack and burn all the major towns and cities of Syria Coele such as Antioch, Zeugma and Samosata.</p><br>
<p>The Byzantine Emperor Justinian (527–565) rebuilt its walls.</p><br>
<p>The Arabic version of the list of the bishops at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 includes an Antonius of Barbalissus. Sources in Greek mention a Bishop Aquilinus of Barbalissus, who, at the time of the Council of Ephesus (431), was a partisan of Nestorius and was for that reason exiled from the bishopric; and Theodoret of Cyrus speaks of a Bishop Marinianus of Barbalissus, who may have been the replacement for Barbalissus, as having been imposed by force.</p><br>
<p>Although Lequien wrote that no Notitia Episcopatuum mentioned Barbalissus, which he suggested was a small fortified town rather than a city, an early 20th-century writer says the diocese is included in one such list, dating from the 6th century, as a suffragan of Hierapolis Bambyce, within the patriarchate of Antioch. It appears in no later Notitia Episcopatuum, apparently because at some unclear date it passed into the possession of the Jacobite Church. The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian gives the names of five Jacobite Bishops of Bales or Beit Bales (the Syriac equivalent of Barbalissus): John, Habib, Basil, Timothy, and Elias.</p><br>
<p>No longer a residential diocese, the bishopric of Barbalissus is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.</p><br>
<p>Tukgahgo Mountain  is located in the Takshanuk Mountains with a peak elevation of 4,675 ft in the USA state of Alaska. It is situated 6.6 miles north of Haines, 3.5 miles to the southwest of Chilkoot, and 16 miles to the southwest of Skagway. It is one of eight peaks in Haines Borough. Geological investigations of the veins in the mountain have revealed silver, gold, platinum, and palladium mineralization, derived from mid-Cretaceous events.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Tukgahgo, an indigenous name given by the Tlingits, was recorded by geologist Eugene C. Robertson and published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 1952. In order to climb the Tukgahgo Mountain and reach the summit, detailed information needs to be ascertained from the topographic maps published by USGS and the Skagway B-2 USGS quadrangle map.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>New geological findings close to Tukgahgo and the eastern ridge have been reported. In 1991, when the sampling was carried out by geologists, a rock formation 2,500 ft to the southwest of Tukgahgo Mountain on the northwest trending Chilly peak (elevation 4,520 ft The geologic formations of the area consist of metabasalts and amphibolites, which are enclosed as roof pendants within the hornblende diorite, granodiorite and monzonite. The intrusive rocks are inferred to be part of the Mount Kashagnak pluton.</p><br>
<p>Samples collected from the veins were analyzed for metals like molybdenum, platinum and palladium. One vein with visible molybdenite assayed at 1,240 ppm across the vein. Quartz veins also revealed pyrite, chalcopyrite, malachite, and molybdenite. The gold content was reported to be 0.824 ppm, while silver and copper contents were of the order of 2.70 ppm and 2,140 ppm, respectively. The mineralization is interpreted as of mid-Cretaceous age. The metallic elements identified as present in the vein structures include silver, gold, copper, with minor quantities of palladium and platinum but no mining operations have been reported.</p><br>
<p>American Beach is a historic beach community in northeastern Florida popular with African-American vacationers. It is located north of Jacksonville on Amelia Island in Nassau County. During the time of segregation and the Jim Crow era, African Americans were not allowed to swim at most beaches in Jacksonville, and several black-only areas were created. American Beach was the largest and most popular, and was a community established by Abraham Lincoln Lewis, Florida&#39;s first black millionaire and president of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company. It contains American Beach Historic District, a historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>American Beach was founded in 1935 by Florida&#39;s first black millionaire, Abraham Lincoln Lewis, and his Afro-American Life Insurance Company. The plan was for his employees to have a place to vacation and own homes for their families by the shore. Throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, summers at American Beach were busy with families, churches and children. It was a place where African Americans could enjoy "Recreation and Relaxation Without Humiliation". The beach included hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs as well as homes and other businesses.</p><br>
<p>American Beach played host to numerous celebrities during this period, including: folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, singer Billie Daniels, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Billy Eckstein, Hank Aaron, Joe Louis, actor Ossie Davis, and Sherman Hemsley. James Brown was actually turned away from performing outside Evans&#39; Rendezvous, a nightclub on the beach. In 1964, American Beach was hit hard by Hurricane Dora, and many homes and buildings were destroyed. The passage of the Civil Rights Act that same year desegregated the beaches of Florida, and American Beach became a less and less popular vacation destination as more African American Jacksonvillians turned to locations nearer their homes.</p><br>
<p>A.L. Lewis great-granddaughter MaVynee Betsch, known to locals as the Beach Lady, returned to American Beach in 1977 to fight for its preservation. For years, she planted trees along Lewis street, offered historical tours of the beach, and fought to raise public awareness of the beach and its struggle until her death September 2005. She wanted to make American Beach a monument to black Americans determination to overcome the obstacles of the Jim Crow era. As of January 2001, American Beach is listed as a historic site by the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>Historic district</h2><br>
<p>American Beach Historic District is a USA historic district in American Beach. It is roughly bounded by Gregg, Lewis, Leonard, Main and James Streets, and Ocean Boulevard, encompasses approximately 40 acre, and contains 67 buildings and one structure. On January 28, 2002, it was added to the USA National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>Fictional portrayals</h2><br>
<p>Janice Sims, That Summer At American Beach, (2006)</p><br>
<p>Sunshine State, Film directed by John Sayles (2002) Sunshine State (film)</p><br>
<p>The South End of Stamford, Connecticut is a rapidly growing neighborhood located at the southern end of the city, just south of the Downtown neighborhood. It is expected to be greatly changed with redevelopment over the next decade. The South End is a peninsula bordered by Interstate 95 to the north and almost totally by water on all other sides, with few streets linking it to neighborhoods to the east and west. It contains some industrial tracts, several old factory buildings, many small homes and apartment buildings, and a number of office buildings. Most of the neighborhood has been designated as the South End Historic District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>Historic district</h2><br>
<p>The South End Historic District covers a 177.1 acre area of the South End neighborhood.</p><br>
<p>The Yale & Towne Lock Works was a major manufacturer which, along with other industry in the area, provided employment and shaped the neighborhood. The oldest structure in the district is the Peter DeMill House. Other notable buildings are Number 715 on Atlantic Street, a tenement building, and the Holy Name Rectory. The historic district includes the Pulaski Street Bridge, a wrought-iron lenticular through-truss bridge over the Rippowam River.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The South End was one of the first sections of Stamford to be cleared and held in common by the original settlers from 1641 to 1665. By 1699 it and other sections of the town had been apportioned to individual land owners.</p><br>
<p>"The area of Stamford known for many years as Hoytville was owned by George Hoyt, a real estate agent and the largest property owner in the city in the 1870s," wrote Susan Nova in an article in The Advocate of Stamford. The South End was the manufacturing heart of the city in the nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries.</p><br>
<p>Most of the South End, previously owned by Greenwich-based Antares, which began a multi-use project on 82 acre "...abruptly handed the project it spearheaded to Building and Land Technology L.L.C. BLT signed on to the $3 billion-plus project earlier as a co-developer, and announced a $200 million recapitalization of the project," according to the Fairfield County Business Journal. "They showed great vision in assembling and entitling such an extraordinary piece of ground," said Carl Kuehner III, chief executive of BLT, in a prepared statement announcing the change. "Harbor Point incorporates the best in innovative urban design, community planning and technologically advanced environmental design."</p><br>
<p>Linus Yale, Jr. introduced some combination safe locks and key-operated cylinder locks around 1862. Then in 1868, he and Henry Robinson Towne founded the Yale Lock Manufacturing Company in the South End to produce cylinder locks. Yale died later that year. The Yale & Towne lock company manufactured locks there (giving Stamford its early nickname, "Lock City"). And other manufacturing businesses were sited there.</p><br>
<p>In 1938, the neighborhood was severely flooded by a hurricane that swept through southern New England. Since then, barriers have been constructed in Stamford Harbor to prevent similar flooding.</p><br>
<h3>Pitney Bowes</h3><br>
<p>The Pitney Bowes Corporation has a long history in the South End. In 1917, Walter Bowes moved his operations there, and in 1920 combined his firm with another to form Pitney Bowes. The company had manufacturing operations in the neighborhood for decades and its 422,000 ft&sup2; corporate headquarters is located at the southern end of the triangular peninsula at 1 Elmcroft Road, where about 550 people work.</p><br>
<h3>April 2006 fire</h3><br>
<p>The biggest fire in Stamford&#39;s history started on April 3, 2006 in Building 15 of the old Yale & Towne factory buildings. The fire spread to another, 17,500 ft&sup2; building housing several antiques dealers. Dark clouds of smoke formed over the scene, visible from miles away. About 200 residents from homes on Pacific and Henry streets were evacuated. The biggest casualty was a firefighter who suffered a minor knee sprain.</p><br>
<p>Stamford Fire Rescue Department Firefighters used 1 million gallons of water in three hours. Then the water mains ran out and water from the nearby harbor had to be pumped in to douse the flames. The fire department spent $25,000 in overtime to put out the fire.</p><br>
<p>The complex at 735 Canal Street had been rented out by Antares Investment Partners of Greenwich to various businesses, including about 100 antiques dealers.</p><br>
<p>The blaze started as a fire on a workbench in a piano shop, although city fire marshals never determined the exact cause. City investigators found Antares had not fixed the sprinkler system, although it knew the system was broken when it bought the building in October 2005 from Heyman Properties of Westport. To fix it would have required cutting off the heat in the building as a new heating system was installed, and Antares was waiting until later in the spring or summer for that, Bruce Macleod, operations chief at Antares, had said, according to The Advocate, Stamfords daily newspaper. Heyman officials knew of the sprinkler system problems "and did nothing to fix them for years, the citys chief fire marshal said in April," The Advocate reported. The sprinkler system had broken in the 1990s, when heat was turned off in vacant parts of the building, causing water in the sprinkler system to freeze, cracking the pipes.</p><br>
<p>The antiques dealers filed a class-action lawsuit against Antares and the piano shop in July 2006.</p><br>
<h2>Redevelopment plans</h2><br>
<p>The Stamford train station and train tracks, along with Interstate 95, separate the South End from Downtown Stamford. Since 2000, real estate near train stations in southwestern Connecticut has been recognized as valuable for office and residential space, and plans are underway for several office buildings near the station in the South End.</p><br>
<p>In 2008, Building and Land Technology (BLT) purchased 82 acre, roughly the northern half of the South End, including both the old Yale & Towne site and the site of the former coal gasification plant off Washington Boulevard from Antares. The "", as they are now called, opened in May 2010, on property that once was part of the Yale lock factory located on Henry Street. In mid to late 2010 buildings at 100 and 101 Washington Boulevard were completed and are now home to the luxury apartment complex 101 Park Place and the new office headquarters of Building and Land Technology.</p><br>
<p>The 20 acre Yale & Town site will have 300,000 ft&sup2; of retail space in new buildings off Canal Street, along with the 225 apartments at the "Lofts at Yale and Towne" located in a century-old, six-story factory building on Henry Street, according to plans Antares presented to the city Zoning Board in early 2007.</p><br>
<p>About 4,000 housing units are planned for the development, along with some retail and office space. Antares had originally said the retail space in its plans was only to service the South End neighborhood, but in summer of 2006 it submitted a proposal to the city Planning Board for 500,000 ft&sup2;. The Downtown Special Services District objected, and officials of that organization told the Planning Board at a hearing on August 10, 2006 that the retail space could hurt Downtown stores.</p><br>
<p>In 2009, Pitney Bowes paid an engineering consultant to study traffic in the South End, particularly in connection with plans for new office buildings and residences. According to the study, the new developments will clog traffic in the neighborhood, even with the planned improvements to Washington Boulevard and Atlantic Street (including reconstruction of the railroad underpasses of Atlantic and Canal streets) in the South End.</p><br>
<h2>Fire Department</h2><br>
<p>The Stamford Fire Rescue Department&#39;s Fire Station # 2 serves the neighborhood.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Part of Elia Kazans 1947 film Boomerang was shot in the South End, particularly at St. Lukes Chapel, and nearly all of the rest of the movie was shot in Stamford, especially the Downtown section.</p><br>
<p>The musicians Moby and Battery Jackson once lived in some of the abandoned factory space in the South End.</p><br>
<h2>In the South End</h2><br>
<p>Koscusko Park, a city park &mdash; at the southern tip of the peninsula</p><br>
<p>CTE Inc., an anti-poverty agency &mdash; 34 Woodlawn Avenue</p><br>
<p>South End Branch of Ferguson Library &mdash; 34 Woodlawn Avenue</p><br>
<p>Ponus Yacht Club</p><br>
<p>Woodlawn Cemetery, a large, old cemetery &mdash; in the southeast part of the neighborhood</p><br>
<p>The prominent peak of Mount Verstovia is located just 2.6 miles east of the center of Sitka, Alaska, on Baranof Island, Alexander Archipelago. The 3,354 foot summit rises steeply from the nearby pacific ocean, with its lower flanks cloaked in temperate old growth rain forests and its upper regions, above 2,400 feet, being above treeline and providing excellent vistas of Sitka and the surrounding mountain and ocean environments.</p><br>
<p>This peak was first named "Gora Verstovaya" in 1809 by the navigator Ivan Vasiliev. Gora translates to mount in Russian and verst refers to a unit of measurement equaling 0.6629 miles (or 3,500 feet) which closely resembles the actual height of Mt. Verstovia.</p><br>
<p>The main summit of Mount Verstovia is called Arrow Head by the people of Sitka, Alaska, because of its resemblance of an arrow head pionted up behind the sub peak.</p><br>
<p>A significant sub peak of Mount Verstovia lies just 0.5 miles to the west of the main summit. This 2,550 foot "hump" was reported in 1869 by G Davidson, USC&GS, to be named Cross Mountain. It is said to have acquired that name as the Russians erected a cross there. This sub peak is now locally referred to as "Picnic Rock" although it bears no name on USGS maps. It should also be noted, in hopes of avoiding confusion, that modern USGS maps now name an entirely different peak some 8 miles to the southeast as "Cross Mountain"</p><br>
<h2>Access and recreation</h2><br>
<p>Mount Verstovia is accessible by a well-maintained public trail that, departs from Jamestown Bay and after 1.8 miles of switchbacks, arrives at the top of "Picnic Rock" (USGS 2,550). One may continue on to Mount Verstovias summit by following the unmaintained trail approximately 0.8 miles to the east. This unmaintained trail includes some steep scrambles and requires basic alpine skills and judgement.</p><br>
<p>Snowboarding, skiing, and other winter sports are very popular in the bowl nestled between "Picnic Rock" and Mount Verstovia. The trail is marked with reflective signs on tree trunks to help snow aficionados find their way up in snowy conditions.</p><br>
<p>The original South Gilboa Station, MP 70.4, was a spartan station with a long platform on the end for ice from Mayhem&#39;s Pond, which the station was on the shores of, to be loaded onto. The ice would then be shipped to the ice houses in Kingston, New York. However, this building was torn down by the Ulster and Delaware Railroad, and replaced with a new one in the early 1900s.</p><br>
<p>The new South Gilboa Station, MP 70.6, was one of the U&D&#39;s new pre-fabricated stations that were set up in the early 1900s. It was about a quarter of a mile east of the original station, and was a good freight stop, with many farms around for vegetables, fruit, dairy, etc. to be loaded onto for shipment.</p><br>
<p>This station was abandoned in 1954, with the end of passenger service on the U&D, and was left to deteriorate. However, this station is planned to be restored by the Town of Gilboa Historical Society. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.</p><br>
<p>Mount Arrowhead or, as it is more commonly referred to, simply Arrowhead, is a mountain just east of Sitka, Alaska on Baranof Island that is, according to USGS maps, actually named Mount Verstovia.</p><br>
<h2>Name background</h2><br>
<p>Arrowhead, like Mount Verstovia, is almost always incorrectly referred to in regular conversation. What is colloquially called Arrowhead is really Mount Verstovia and the real Mount Arrowhead lies about a mile and a half to the east on the same ridge out of sight from downtown Sitka. The naming confusion is understandable however, because the real Mount Verstovia (or colloquial Arrowhead) bears an uncanny resemblance to its namesake.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>Almost all hikes up Arrowhead begin up the Mount Verstovia trail and continue up Arrowhead&#39;s western ridge on an informal trail and then cuts behind to the southern face and continues as a scamble up a ravine for the last two or three hundred feet. It is also possible to access from the eastern ridge although it is easier (and safer) to ascend before descending. Because of this, the primary alternate route is cutting underneath the cliffy northwestern face and meeting up with the eastern ridge and the ascending.</p><br>
<p>Lake Žuvintas is a shallow lake in Alytus district, central Lithuania. Area of Žuvintas Lake is 965 ha. It is the shallowest lake in Lithuania with the greatest depth 3 m and average only 0.6 m. It is a paradise for water birds, but also faces danger of becoming a swamp.</p><br>
<h2>Nature reserve</h2><br>
<p>It is a strictly protected reserve. It is first Nature Reserve in Lithuania, established by an outstanding Lithuanian naturalist and ornithologist professor Tadas Ivanauskas (1882–1970) in 1937. Žuvintas Strict Nature Reserve was enrolled into the International list of Designated Wetlands and Shallow Waters of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) since 1993. Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve has the status of Important Bird Area (IBA) and Site of Community Importance (SAC) in compliance with the established criteria for European conservation territories of natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora since 2004. In 2011 it has become a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.</p><br>
<p>Whitsand Bay, situated in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom runs from Rame Head in the east to Portwrinkle in the west. It is characterised by sheer, high cliffs, dramatic scenery and long stretches of sandy beaches. The South West Coast Path runs the length of the bay.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The bay is overlooked by Rame Head, a conical hill with the ruins of a 14th-century chapel dedicated to St Michael on top. Polhawn Cove is a rough beach, consisting of sharp rocks, shingle and an area of open sand. West of Captain Blake&#39;s Point, long stretches of sand are interspersed with rocky headlands and small bays, many inaccessible at high tide. The holiday settlements of Freathy and Tregonhawke are built on terraces on the cliff faces.</p><br>
<p>A National Trust property at Sharrow Point preserves a small cave excavated by hand in 1874 by a hermit called Lugger, who inscribed verses on the ceiling to relieve his boredom. Lugger&#39;s Cave is fenced off to the public.</p><br>
<p>The headland forms part of Rame Head & Whitsand Bay SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), noted for its geological as well as biological interest. The SSSI contains 2 species on the Red Data Book of rare and endangered plant species; early meadow-grass (poa infirma) and slender bird’s-foot-trefoil (from the lotus genus).</p><br>
<h2>General information</h2><br>
<p>A campaign to stop the dumping of dredged silt and sludge (5.3 million tonnes since the 1980s) from the River Tamar and the port of Plymouth has been running for several years. In 2010 the group with the help of Sheryll Murray secured an independent review of the dump site, but the review stated that no significant environmental impact has occurred and the dumping continues.</p><br>
<p>There is a UK Ministry of Defence firing range between Tregantle Fort at the western end of the bay and Trethill Cliffs near Portwrinkle, and this area is closed during Tregantle Fort firing range operations.</p><br>
<p>Whitsand Bay is popular with divers, and in 2004 the former Royal Navy frigate, HMS Scylla (F71), was scuppered to provide a new underwater reef. The Scylla was sunk nearby an existing World War II wreck, the Liberty Ship James Eagan Layne</p><br>
<p>HMS A7, an early Royal Navy submarine, sank in Whitsand Bay, Cornwall on 16 January 1914 with the loss of her crew whilst carrying out dummy torpedo attacks on Onyx (her tender) and Pygmy. An oil slick was seen and the location marked. Several attempts were made to salvage her over the next month by attaching hawsers to the eye-ring on the bow, but her stern was too deeply embedded in the mud and the hawsers parted without pulling her out. She lies today where she sank, in about 130 ft (40 m) of water. In 2001, she was declared as one of 16 wrecks in British waters designated as "Controlled Sites" under the Protection of Military Remains Act by the British Government and which cannot be dived without special permission.</p><br>
<p>The beach does not have any toilets and access to the beach is steep, narrow and slippery. Whitsand Bay is a popular surfing spot. An RNLI lifeguard service operates between May and September at the foot of Tregonhawke cliff, where there is a surf school and a cafe.</p><br>
<h3>Safety</h3><br>
<p>There are dangerous rip currents. The western part of the beach is closed during firing range operation at Tregantle Fort, firing times are indicated by a red flag. The paths to the beaches at Sharrow Point, Withnoe, Tregonhawke and Freathy are steep, narrow and slippery and are not suitable for wheelchairs. There is a risk of being cut off at high tide.</p><br>
<h2>Whitsand Bay Fortifications</h2><br>
<p>The 1859 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom identified Whitsand Bay as a weak point in the defences of Plymouth and proposed two Palmerston forts; Polhawn Battery at the eastern end, whose guns would cover the beaches and prevent an amphibious assault, and Fort Tregantle at the western end which prevented an overland approach.</p><br>
<h3>Polhawn Battery</h3><br>
<p>Constructed between 1862 and 1867; seven 64 pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns were installed in armoured casemates. During World War I it was used for accommodation and was sold in 1927. It has recently been restored as a hotel and wedding venue. Now changed its name to Polhawn Fort.</p><br>
<h3>Tregantle Fort</h3><br>
<p>At the western end of Whitsand Bay, Tregantle Fort stands 360 feet above sea level. It is hexagonal in shape and is surrounded by a ditch on three sides. The fort was completed in 1865 and included a barracks designed for 1,000 men. It was intended to be armed with 22 7-inch guns but only seven were ever fitted. It was used for musketry training during World War I and gas warfare training and accommodation for US troops in World War II. It is currently part of the Defence Estate and is regularly used as a live firing range with red flag warnings and the path down to the beach closed.</p><br>
<h3>Whitsand Bay Battery</h3><br>
<p>When the Stanhope Committee reviewed the country&#39;s defences in 1887, it was realised that naval artillery had improved so much that it would have been possible for enemy warships to anchor in the Bay and bombard Plymouth without being threatened by the existing forts. To counter this threat, a battery of three 12.5 inch rifled muzzle-loaders and two 6 inch breech-loaders was constructed near Stone Farm at the top of Tregonhawke Cliff. The RML guns were mounted in concrete open barbettes and 6-inch guns on Hydropneumatic disappearing carriages. The battery was strongly fortified against land attack with a dry moat protected by three caponiers.</p><br>
<p>It was completed in 1893 at a cost of £25,991. but The 6-inch guns did not stay in place very long and were removed in 1897. Despite recommendations for rearming during the First World War, the RMLs remained the sole armament until the battery was fully disarmed in 1920. During World War II, the battery was used for radar training, as part of the Coast Artillery Training Centre, Plymouth. It was released by the military in 1951 and became a caravan park. Although the ditch has been filled-in, many of the original features can still be seen.</p><br>
<p>Rawaki Island is one of the Phoenix Islands in the Republic of Kiribati, also known by its previous name of Phoenix Island. It is a small, uninhabited atoll, approximately 1.2 by in size and 65 hectare in area, with a shallow, brackish lagoon that is not connected to the open sea. It is located at {{coord|3.721|S|170.712|W}}.</p><br>
<p>The island is designated as a wildlife sanctuary. Kiribati declared the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in 2006, with the park being expanded in 2008. The 164,200 square miles marine reserve contains eight coral atolls including Rawaki island.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>Rawaki has been described as being ham or pear shaped. Its highest elevation is approximately six meters. It is treeless, being covered mostly with herbs and grasses, and thus forms an excellent landing and nesting site for migratory seabirds and turtles. Unlike many other Pacific islands, no rats were noted on Rawaki during a 1924 scientific expedition.</p><br>
<p>Rawaki has its own species of seabird tick, Ixodes amersoni. It also boasts various species of flies, moths, leafhoppers, green bugs, and spiders. Sea birds consist of sooty, grey, and white terns; frigates, petrels and shearwaters; boobies, migratory plover and curlew. Rawaki has never been invaded by rats so that the bird populations have survived.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Unlike some other islands in the Phoenix group, Rawaki does not seem to have ever been inhabited by prehistoric Polynesians or other Pacific islanders.</p><br>
<p>Rawaki was discovered on 23 February 1824 by Capt. John Palmer from the London whaling ship Phoenix. It was claimed for the U.S. under the Guano Islands Act on March 14, 1859 by C.A. Williams and Company, later the Phoenix Guano Company. The company mined guano on the island until the supply was exhausted in August 1871, when the islands were abandoned. This claim was later relinquished in the Treaty of Tarawa. On June 29, 1889, a British protectorate was declared, and the island surveyed. On March 18, 1937, it was placed under the jurisdiction of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. It later became part of Kiribati.</p><br>
<p>In 2008, Rawaki was placed, together with the other Phoenix Islands, within the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, one of the largest marine protected areas in the world.</p><br>
