So we're here at the municipal art gallery in Mykonos Town there is currently an exhibit
about Manto who's a Greek hero and an amazing woman we're here with Marilena Sfaellou who's
a guide here in Mykonos we were going to do it down by the waterfront at Manto Square
but it was just too windy so we came into this beautiful exhibit which is in the art gallery
and Marilena is going to help us to just learn a little bit about the history of Manto and her
connection to the Greek struggle for independence nice to be with her so who was Manto and why was
she so significant in Greek history yeah very very significant uh because first of all as a
woman uh that was like a breakthrough that she was involved in all these actions fighting against the
Ottoman Turks in our war of independence back in 1821. she sponsored the war with all her fortune
she equipped demand for warships she actually bought herself in those battles back in
1822 when the Ottoman Turks attacked the island she basically dedicated her the whole life and and
this cause and she also informed and wrote letters to wealthy European women in France in England
making them realize what the Greeks are doing and promoting our award of independence so because she
was so dedicated to that cause she didn't really care about the money yeah imagine when later on at
some point time when she had difficulty surviving because she ended up really poor at the end of
her life and with no support so trying to get some fans and a small pension from the state
wanted some office ask her you are applying for getting some extra pension and support who are
you and what have you done for the country and she simply said nothing so humble was she basically
although she lost her fortune she did die poor in 1840 but free and they knew she established
the Greek state a little bit before that and what is her connection specifically to Mykonos
she was from Mykonos her family came from Mykonos so she also came here to basically initiate
all the preparations for the war of independence back in 1821 and as i said she fought herself here
and some other places in the sea she was active and she was the one that organized
the Mykononians in the war of independence nice and so here we are in 2021 in Greece this is 200
years of Greek independence this year exactly so we're celebrating her with lots of other of course
important figures of that war of independence but she is very very special as a woman because
of her dedication known as yeah lady Manto or La Bella Greca as lots of people knew her because she
was also very very beautiful and yeah despite the turbulences and also the fact that she had
also a little incident with she was quite heartbroken with a love affair she had a general
that did not work out after all so really actually that did she did so much for the for her country
but was not really recognized at her time only afterwards great so people who are visiting Greece
will find her legacy in museums throughout the country right yes throughout the country
so definitely connected to me pronounce her in Paros where she died but she's definitely
everywhere in Greece and everybody knows about Manto great so it's Santorini Dave in addition
to doing great hotel reviews and restaurant reviews we're also trying to help our visitors
and our readers to know more about Greek stories and connections to the history and the culture
Marilena is a local guide here in Mykonos and we'll link to her in the description
she does walking tours and culinary tours and Delos tours of all kinds again we're here in
the Mykonos municipal gallery where there is a beautiful art exhibit about Manto open for the
month of September here in 2021 Marilena thank you so much for sharing your time thank you great
and again here in the gallery it's in the tangle of Mykonos Town and just a beautiful space
Efkarishto
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