

PATRAS CARNIVAL, GREECE
Patras is a city in the Peloponnese peninsular, a land of antiquity. Patras has quite a busy port on the trade route to western Europe via Italy, and it is a university town. The word Carnival comes from the Late Latin expression carne levare, which means "farewell to meat", signifying the approaching fast for Lent - a solemn religious observance in the Christian calendar, 40 days before Easter Sunday. Many parts of Europe continue with the tradition of the Carnival, which is