Category: World
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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…
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Greece’s wartime history: a reflection
Hitler’s German army invaded Greece in Operation Marita on April 6, 1941. Using overwhelming ground and air forces, including 10 armoured, mechanised and mountain divisions and the SS Adolf Hitler Bodyguard, the campaign was to avenge the humiliating defeat inflicted on Mussolini’s army. The German army blitzed its way to victory in three weeks with…
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Severe case of foot in mouth
Greeks are in disbelief at the way they are being blamed for the crisis by right-wing European politicians. German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged them in the recent elections to vote for parties that would enforce the European Union’s proposed austerity measures. Last week British Prime Minister David Cameron courted the Little England vote by saying…
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Greece told to flog its assets
The troika supervising Greece’s relegation into poverty, unemployment and a Third World economy based on tourism, olives and cheap wine has been laying down the law to the New Democracy-Pasok-Kavala coalition government. The troika represents the unelected European Commission, the unelected European Central Bank and the unelected International Monetary Fund. Their reps are sleek, cold-blooded…
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Discovering a region – and a writer
The Mani is the long peninsula, like the middle prong of the Peloponnese trident, stretching down into the Mediterranean between the Aegean and Ionian seas. We’ve parked ourselves like true Australians on its coastal fringe, at the northern, most accessible end, and are only just beginning to explore it. One who knew the area intimately…
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Paddy’s gift to the nation stalled
When Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor, the swashbuckling adventurer, travel writer and war hero, died just over a year ago he bequeathed his magnificent residence at Kardamyli on the coast of the Peloponnese to the Greek people. (See previous online despatch “Where Paddy meets Bruce”, 6.7.12, plus photos on Facebook). In his last will and testament…
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Where Paddy meets Bruce
A 70-minute drive south to Kardamyli on a divine mission to pay tribute to the extraordinary accomplishments of two Englishmen, now departed – Patrick Leigh Fermor and Bruce Chatwin. Leigh Fermor lived in the area almost 50 years and was given honorary citizenship of the village as well as greater awards by the Greek Government.…