Worldcrunch
Running, discus throw, long jump, javelin throw, wrestling … After learning all about the Ancient Olympic Games, my wife was enjoying a well-deserved break in the shade, sitting on the ruins of the sanctuary of Olympia where the very first competitions were held.
-Analysis- LISBON — What a successful gamble for Lisbon: The European Commission is about to ratify the proposal to end Portugal’s excessive deficit procedure. The country will be joining the club of virtuous economies , against experts’ forecasts. The recovery is a remarkable achievement considering Portugal hit a virtual rock bottom in 2011. On the […]
PARIS — Every day, tourists in the Louvre crowd around the Venus de Milo. The two-meter high armless marble lady is one of the museum’s most renowned pieces of art. But the statue, recovered by a farmer on the Greek island of Milos in 1820, might have to go home soon. The statue of Venus, […]
ELEFSINA — Greece must repay 7 billion euros of debt by July. But, as has been the case since 2011, the country will not be able to honor its debt without first receiving the credit promised by the International Monetary Fund and the members of the eurozone in July 2015 (86 billion euros). Athens’ creditors […]
In Greece, everywhere you go and everything you see can easily take on a mythological aura. When you’re well-versed in the ancient Greek texts — as a high school philosophy teacher like me was bound to be — a seemingly mundane pier like this might actually seem to be the mooring for Charon’s boat, carrying […]
As Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte would say: “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” Resting for a second on a column in the sanctuary of Olympia, my wife Claudine snapped this shot of me most probably chewing on a twig or a toothpick — for I was one of the few French philosophy teachers in the […]
There are 400 pleats in the kilt-like fustanella worn by the Evzones guards who patrol Athens’ Syntagma Square. That’s one pleat per year of Ottoman occupation. Now I wonder what the pompoms on the clogs stand for …
On the first of our many trips to Greece, my wife and I drove down to Mystras in the south of the country. Abandoned in the 19th century, the town’s churches, castle and fortress walls stand as a reminder of Byzantine grandeur.
This was the first of about a dozen trips to Greece. From Athens to Epidaurus to Crete … There is something about the country’s history and its people that always made us come back for more.
This was a souvlaki of epic proportions, near the ancient site of Mycenae in southern Greece.
SPOTLIGHT: GREECE REDUX It’s that time of year again: Greek anger and economic strife are making headlines: general strikes, bailout reviews, anti-austerity reforms. But a recent study looking to the recent past, published in Handelsblatt, a business newspaper from Germany (of all places), shows the Greeks have every right to be angry. Berlin-based economists found […]
Ta Nea, May 9, 2016 As a three-day general strike that paralyzed large parts of Greece ended Sunday, the leftist government of Alexis Tsipras won a Parliamentary vote to bring about tough austerity measures. “Hostages of Syriza’s austerity,” headlines Athens-based daily Ta Nea in its Monday edition. Over the weekend, outside the Parliament in Athens, […]
Like me before him, my grandson (who’s been translating my comments into English for this here blog) is taking his spring break in the Greek Cyclades archipelago. Wishing him well on his journey — who knows, he may also stumble upon a Crete-shape cloud? During this two-week hiatus, take a look back at all the […]
SYRIA SLIDING BACK TO OPEN WAR Few had dared to consider the five-year-long conflict in Syria over. Yet for the past two months a fragile truce among some, though not all, the warring sides had offered a bit of hope that peace might not be too far off. Casualties were down, diplomats were talking, life […]
Kathimerini, April 28, 2016 “Greece hands the Olympic torch to Rio,” writes Athens-based daily Kathimerini on its front page Thursday, featuring a picture of Wednesday’s handover ceremony in Athens. To mark 100 days before the start of the 2016 Olympic Games due to take place in Rio de Janeiro from Aug. 5 to 21, thousands […]
Larissa in eastern Greece is traditionally held to be the birthplace of Achilles. This would-be motorcycle hero was also destined to fall, caught by the heel by a local traffic cop.
ASSAD CALLS FOR UNITY GOVERNMENT Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reiterated calls yesterday for opposition members to join him in forming a national unity government, a prospect opposition leaders have rejected. In an interview with Russian news agency Ria Novosti that comes days after the government’s recapture of Palmyra, Assad said that the main goal of […]
Oia church, on the Greek island of Santorini, is a one-picture summary of the surrounding Cyclades islands, with its whitewashed walls and its blue dome.
I’ve already told you how my wife and I liked to wander off the beaten path and picnic somewhere nice. This time we’d picked a vast meadow — only to discover that the place was next to a cemetery, which apparently had a little problem with upkeep … Bon appétit!
Many such “blue caves” hide under the chalky cliffs of Paxi, the small group of islands near Corfu in western Greece, where I was two months ago — marking my 12th visit to Greece in the past 53 years.
TALIBAN AIRPORT SIEGE FINALLY ENDS Afghan forces have broken the Taliban siege on the Kandahar airport more than 24 hours after the attack began, AP quotes the country’s Defense Ministry as saying. The assailants killed at least 50 people, among them 38 civilians, 10 Afghan soldiers and two police officers. The 11 gunmen who carried […]
This Orthodox bishop in the Greek city of Patras was on his way to St Andrew’s Cathedral, the largest church in the country.
This is no ordinary stone. For the Ancient Greeks, the omphalos represented the navel of the world, determined by Zeus when he sent his two eagles across the world to meet at its center. The eagles may have gotten lost along the way, as there are several such stones around the Mediterranean Sea, Delphi merely […]
The Greek island of Santorini, in the southern Aegean Sea, is one big active volcano. And though it’s dormant, there’s always the risk of an eruption that could destroy the beautiful whitewashed houses as one did some 3,600 years ago.
U.S., RUSSIA REACH DEAL ON SYRIA CAMPAIGNS Washington and Moscow officials signed an agreement yesterday to regulate flights over Syria in a bid to avoid potential clashes in the skies between U.S. and Russian aircraft as the rival countries engage in separate operations against jihadists, The New York Times reports. But the deal doesn’t include […]
EU-TURKEY TENUOUS DEAL ON MIGRANTS Photo: Antonio Masiello/NurPhoto/ZUMA European Union states are considering an aid package worth 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) to Turkey as well as quicker visas for Turkish citizens in exchange for Turkey’s help in curbing the flow of migrants into Europe. The BBC reports that European leaders also agreed to “re-energize” […]
“Second Chance for Syriza,” reads the front page of Greek financial daily Naftermporiki on Monday, following the election that returns the leftist party’s leader Alexis Tsipras as prime minister. With just over 35% of the vote, Syriza came out on top, leaving center-right New Democracy behind at 28%. But Tsipras’ victory is less resounding than […]
Despite some hopes inside and outside of Greece that a political coalition will emerge in Athens to lift the country out of crisis, the nation’s deeper forces do not bode well.
The ancient windmills on the entry to the Lasithi highlands, on the Greek island of Crete, look like sentinels, warning passersby: You’re not far from the Dictaeon Andron — the cave where Zeus, the Greek god of thunder, is said to have been born and reared.
Being only 70 ft-wide (21 meters) at its base, the canal that cuts through the Isthmus of Corinth is far too narrow for today’s large cargo freighters. It’s now mostly used by cruise liners, on the deck of which tourists can admire its high limestone walls.
ATHENS — We were staying in the downtown area close to Athens’ Kotzia Square, walking distance from the local fish market, the hardware market and local spice vendors. So a fishy mist weighs down the air, mingled with the opulent, nostalgic aroma of mastic (a resin used in the manufacturing of ouzo and mastika, a […]
A popular hot spot for European summer vacationers, the Greek island of Kos is now also a prime destination for undocumented immigrants from places like Syria and Pakistan.
I could never have been a Greek Orthodox bishop: True, the black cassock and the “chimney-pot” style hat look good — but I like to keeep my beard trimmed.
Banks are back, the stock market has reopened and all economic signs (including the banks and stock market) are disastrous. Normalcy has returned to Greece! The more serious truth is that the deal signed last month by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras — which includes new austerity measures in exchange for a third bailout to […]
The Church is hugely wealthy and exempt from almost all taxes. But its charitable works are crucial in Greece, ravaged by financial crisis and an inept public sector.
GREEK BANKS REOPEN Photo: Marios Lolos/Xinhua/ZUMA Greek banks reopened today for the first time in three weeks, marking the return of some semblance of normalcy for the bankrupt country. VERBATIM “The conditions of the agreement, however, are positively alarming for those who still believe in the future of Europe,” former International Monetary Fund director Dominique […]
“Wounded, He Continues Until Further Notice,” writes left-leaning Greek daily Efimerida ton Syntakton on the front-page headline of its Thursday edition after the Greek parliament approved a package of tough measures leading a third bailout deal. The he in question is Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who won a bittersweet approval late Wednesday of the […]