Category: Greece
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Graffiti with a message
Greece’s rising graffiti artist is a young local guy by the name of Kostas Louzis who signs his work “Skitsofrenis” (skitso is Greek for sketch). He’s a serious environmental activist whose biggest work spans an extraordinary three kilometres along the roadside from Kalamata to Sparta. The images are of a planet in agony – burnt…
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The right eye of Venice
Methoni at the south-west point of the Peloponnese was the “vine-producing Pedasus” of Homer’s Iliad. In the 13th century it became the biggest Venetian citadel outside Venice itself, and the ruins of the great fort are still there today, maintained (frugally) by the Department of Antiquities. Methoni was known as “the right eye of Venice”…
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Corruption pervades Greek arms contracts
Athenians are currently enthralled by the high-profile corruption case against one of the most senior members of the Pasok, “socialist” government, former Defence Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos. The ex-minister, his daughter Areti and his ex-wife Vicki Stamati are all in custody as evidence of complex money-laundering charges makes front-page news almost every day. As Defence Minister…
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The condition of Greek workers
On Monday former ACTU president Sharan Burrow, now general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), came to Athens to present the findings of a European survey of workers’ conditions at a press conference. The situation in Greece, she said, was now “dire”, with 91 per cent of Greek workers on reduced incomes. Warning…
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Into the wilds
We’ve been in the Deep Mani, the southernmost part of the Peloponnese, discovering stories of warrior women and relics of the one of the oldest known civilisations in all of Greece. Our way led over winding mountain coastal roads into the wildest, most barren landscape we’ve yet seen. Clinging to folds in the stony hills…
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A vision of classical Greece
It’s one thing to read about an early civilisation or see pictures of its monuments. But to stand above a great amphitheatre, and look across what remains of the city below, is something quite different. You feel its history all about you. Ancient Messini in the southern Peloponnese is one of the most significant sites…
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Whither Greece?
After a series of despatches on wartime and post-war Greece, it’s time to draw some political conclusions about the ancient nation regarded as “the cradle of democracy”. To all intents and purposes it is broke and living week-to-week on life support from Euro-bank loans. It is ruled by a weak three-party coalition whose partners are…
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Unholy alliance against bail-out
The Greek bail-out negotiations are so tortuous that they require a knowledge of quantum physics to track their progress. The next “crunch date” is July 24 when the so-called “troika” representing the Euro-banks, the IMF and the European Commission return with their final report on what the Greek people must sacrifice to satisfy the German,…
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Museums under attack
History under our feet Pottery, says Greek archaeologist Giorgos Hourmouziadis, “is the gold of pre-history”. So it turned out to be when we visited Messenia’s Archaeological Museum in Kalamata. It’s tucked away behind the beautiful 13th century church of Agii Apostoli in the centre of town, housed in what was once the mansion of the…
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Where Zorba danced
Near Stoupa in the Mani where we go to swim there’s a beach named Kalogria, which in Greek means “nun”. Local legend has it that almost 1,000 years ago, a novice from the nearby nunnery fell in love with a prince. When the church would not release her from her vows so that she could…