Last weekend was a long weekend for Greeks. It was the Carnival weekend, the great end of the Apokria and a lot of people travelled to visit cities and towns that celebrate this day with big Carnival parades.

I travelled in Patra, the centre of the Carnival celebration in Greece and I am going to present in my blogs a few snapshots of this festival which as I have explained at my previous blog comes from the ancient years. It is a tradition that has travelled among the centuries.

I will start to present you the Carnival in Patra providing some general information about the city because many of you have already asked to learn about it after I posted the last blast of my web page.

Patra is the third-largest city of Greece and the capital of the prefecture of Achaea, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers to the west of Athens. The city is built at the foothills of Mount Panachaikon, overlooking the Gulf of Patra.

The Patra's metropolitan area is a conurbation of a quarter of a million inhabitants. The core settlement has a history of four millennia, and in the Roman times it became a cosmopolitan centre of the eastern Mediterranean. Dubbed as Greece 's Gate to the West , Patra is a commercial hub, while its busy port is a nodal point for trade and communication with Italy and indeed with the rest of Western Europe. The city has two Public Universities and one Technological Institute featuring a large student population and making it a major scientific centre with a field of excellence in technical education. The futuristic Rio-Antirio bridge connects Patra'' eastern suburb of Rio to the town of Antirrio, essentially connecting the peninsula of Peloponnese with mainland Greece. The city enjoys a pleasant Mediterranean climate, with relatively cool yet humid summers and very mild winters.The city of Patra was the European Capital of Culture in 2006.

The town was founded about 1100 B.C., but became of importance as a port only in Roman times. After the fourth Crusade it became the see of a Roman Catholic archbishop. In 1408 it came under the control of Venice and in 1430 of Mistra. In 1460 it fell into the hands of the Turks, by whom it was destroyed in 182, at the beginning of the war of liberation. Thereafter it was rebuilt in neo- classical style on a rectangular street layout.

Patra stands below its Venetian Castle, on the site of the ancient city where, according to history, the Apostle Andrew taught Christianity and was later crucified and buried. It is the largest communication center of Western Greece and is a thriving commercial and industrial center.

The city nowadays is divided into upper and lower parts connected by broad flights of steps, as well as streets. The upper part is the older and more picturesque but the lower part is attractively laid out with plenty of squares in a geometrical pattern. The most notable squares are Psila Alonia and Georgiou I square. There are many exquisite neoclassical buildings like the '' theatre "Apollon" in Georgiou I Square, the Town Hall, the headquarters of the Local Trade Association and the Justice Court.

The most significant, open to visit, ancient monument in Patra is the Roman Odeon, now reconstructed and used as an open-air theatre for performances and concerts during the summer period. Overlooking the whole town is the ruined Castle, whose current outline dates back to the Venetian invasion of the town (1687 - 1715). In current times, its interior is laid out as a public garden.

Close to the seafront, between the site of the new and the old port, there is the monumental church of St Andrew and in a projection of land stands a replica of the city's emblematic old lighthouse, built as a part of a coastline beautification project. Generally, much of Patra's coastline has streets running alongside.

According to the Christian tradition, Saint Andrew came to Patras to preach Christianity during the reign of Emperor Nero and was crucified as a martyr. He is said to have suffered crucifixion on a cross of the form called Crux decussata (X-shaped cross) and commonly known as " St Andrew's cross ". He is ever since considered to be the patron saint of the city. According to tradition his relics were removed from Patras to Constantinople, and thence to the West. Local legends say that the relics were sold to the Romans by the local priests in exchange of the Romans constructing a water reservoir for the city.

In recent years, the relics were kept in the Vatican City, but were sent back to Patras by decision of the Pope Paul VI in 1964. The relics, which consist of the small finger and part of the top of the cranium of St Andrew, are since kept in the New Church of St Andrew in a special tomb and are reverenced in a special ceremony every November 30. The cross of St Andrew upon which he was martyred is also kept in the New Church of St Andrew, near the Saint's relics. Two temples were built in his honor, an old Byzantine-style basilica and a new monumental church completed in the 1970s.

Twin cities of Patra are:

• Bydgoszcz , Poland

• Chisinau , Moldova

• Bari , Italy

• Ancona , Italy

• Gjirokaster , Albania

• Canterbury , Australia

• Reggio di Calabria , Italy

• Limassol , Cyprus

• Craiova , Romania

• Banja Luka , Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Ammochostos , Cyprus

• Saint-Etienne , France

One of the biggest tourist attractions of Patras, is the Carnival of Patra , held every year from February to March. It is said to be one of the most famous in the world coming just after Rio de Janeiro and Venice.