A Christmas Story: Takis Gift
MILTO Polykaravakis, the shipping tycoon, was in a foul mood as he sat in his
From the Plains of Marathon
More than fifteen hundred runners gathered in Athens in October for the biannual “Classic Greek Marathon” which draws athletes from all over the world. Among the participants was a young American physician who resides in Athens. He completed the forty-two-kilometre course barefoot
The Christmas of 1673
For more than three hundred years, the immense and beautiful cave on the island of Antiparos has attracted curious adventurers, but on Christmas, 1673, it served as the site of an unusual celebration. His Excellency, the French Ambassador to Turkey, the Marquis de Nointel, accompanied by an entourage that numbered more than five hundred, made the perilous descent into the forbidding grotto to celebrate the Nativity. There they remained for the three days of Christmas…
In Retrospect
IN NOVEMBER, the fifth anniversary of “the Polytechnic” was observed with official wreath-layings, marches, demonstrations, television specials, and simple gestures from ordinary people who placed garlands of flowers or a single blossom on the gates of the Institute.
Pilion: Where the Centaurs Roamed
Covering most of the peninsula of Thessalian Magnesia, which juts out from the eastern coast of mainland Greece about half-way between Athens and Thessaloniki, is the Pilion area, dotted with villages strung out along the beaches.
The Holy Mountain
When a group of young students set off for Mount Athos, their intention was to explore the Holy Mountain on foot and to visit as many of the twenty surviving monasteries as possible. Their religious convictions ranged from the devout to the sceptical, their reasons for the journey from the spiritual to simple curiosity. When after ten days they returned to the “outside world”, they brought with them vivid impressions of the monastic life — and new insight into this renowned but little-known sphere of Orthodoxy.
It’s a Dog’s Life
THE plethora of tax bills tabled in Parliament in recent months has generated considerable gloom through-out the population.
Greece Through New Eyes
Contrary to a widely-held misconception, there are many active women’s organizations in Greece, most associated with political parties or professional groups, and focussing on issues within a local framework. This year, the Women’s Union of Greece (EGE) embarked on a broader approach which culminated in September with the arrival of representatives from groups abroad to participate in a unique international gathering. “This is the first time,” said a sixteen-year-old village girl, “that women from all over the world have come to discuss our problems.”
The Assyrian Community
A visitor to Athens often stumbles on the unexpected. Nothing at first encounter could be less likely, for example, than finding an Assyrian church on a small, side-street near the National Road in the working-class area of Aegalio. Yet the hand-painted sign, posted over the entrance to a converted garage, proudly proclaims in Syriac, Greek, and English: “Saint Mary Assyrian Church of the East in the Blessed Country of Greece”.
At the Fair
A FEW months ago, it seemed unlikely that the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair would take place. Yet it opened on September 10 with hardly a wrinkle, and only the tents, still pitched in the public parks, remained to remind visitors of the devastation caused by earthquakes earlier this year.