Monday 1 September 2008

Sister cities

CDP Sister Cities Theme Day

Wellington St, Hania, Crete, Greece

wellington st hania chania

Hania St, Mt Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand

hania st wellington new zealand

Hania and Wellington became sister cities in 1984. They are linked in contemporary history by the assistance provided by the people of Crete to New Zealand soldiers during the second world war while they were fighting with the allies against the enemy.

The renaming of the former Lloyd St to Hania St was chosen due to the location of the Greek Orthodox Church of Wellington, which serves the Greek community in the area. The church is located in the suburb of Mt Victoria which was where the first Greek migrants to Wellington chose to make their home. I lived in the neighbourhood of the church for nearly two decades. I took this photo nearly five years ago when I was last in New Zealand.

The choice of the street in Hania which was eventually renamed Wellington St was more random than that. It is a long narrow built-up road that starts on the outskirts of the town and ends by the sea at Nea Hora beach. It is a mish-mash of light industry, shops, a few old houses and many apartment blocks. The Greek explanation on the sign translates as 'sister city'. It isn't the most picturesque street in the town, but at least the sign has been updated to explain its name, despite the spelling mistake in the Latin alphabet transliteration - the Greek letters 'OUE' make the English sound, 'WE' as in 'well'. Oh ouell...

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

10 comments:

  1. Is this "sister cities" day? I just read another blog with that theme on it today.

    I like this story, especially about the misspelling. One would THINK someone is there checking things like that. But it happens all the time here, too!

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  2. How interesting to learn all about these!

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  3. that sure was a very interesting post!

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  4. ouell now you highlight ouell how these concepts work 1n ways not originally envisaged

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  5. καλώς σας βρήκα. πολύ ωραίες πληροφορίες

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  6. Hey, i did not know this about Hania and Wellington! Although, the Wellington association lunch you posted some time ago should have provided some kind of hint :-D

    Let's just hope that amongst the "light industry" shops is one that makes wellies..........so there you go, not so random after all!

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  7. I didn't know that Hania had a "sister" city!!!

    Καλό Χειμώνα επίσης!!!

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  8. Do you know what kind of flower is "canna"?
    In Greeks please in order to understand...

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  9. Ouell said and ouell illustrated.
    Five years? Long time since last visit. Why are NZ and Oz so very far away...?

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  10. I don't know about sister cities, Maria, but as I have mentioned to you before, I happen to live in Crete, Illinois in the U.S. Doesn't that count as something? ;)

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