MATESHNITSA

The village of Mateshnitsa was made to change its name by the Greek government to Simos Ioanides. It is about 5 kilometres west of Lerin. It is a settlement near the road between Lerin-Kostur at 21 degrees 21 minutes longitude and 40 degrees 46 minutes latitude and 820 metres above sea level. It has an area of about 9 square kilometres.

The little village borders with the following settled places: to the east with Lerin, to the south with Kalugeritsa, to the west with the village Armensko, to the northwest with the Bela Voda mountain and to the northeast it borders the village Kabasnitsa.

Before the start of the Greek Civil War in 1945 there lived in the village about 18-20 families who were of Macedonian background. The residents were employed in agriculture and raising livestock.

During the Greek Civil War, the residents of the little village did not actively take part in the organization of NOF and the armed forces of DAG. Only one person took part and he died heroically.

He was:

1. Jankulov Trajan

After the Greek Civil War in 1949 and the forced emigration, the number of residents rose. In the last official census in Greece in 1991 it was recorded that the village had 267 residents.

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