Archive for the 'Greece' Category

“If all of the Greek islands were merged with the mainland, it would be about the size of Alabama; there are 10 million Greeks – and perhaps another 4 million living throughout the world, who still think of themselves as Greek. They are, thanks to their history, magnificent patriots and nationalists – and abominable citizens, who deeply mistrust every government they’ve ever had. Essentially they are fierce individualists, who mistrust so much whatever government happens to be in power as the very idea of government. The have almost no sense of civic responsibility – Pericles complained about this at length – and History has never given them much of a chance to work out a stable system of government.”

This past August I went on trip to Paris (for a week) and Greece afterwards (for a little more than 2 weeks). It was my first time in Paris – needless to say the city is beautiful. Everything there is so purposeful, so symmetrical, just perfect. If your heading down I recommend you buy the 2 or 4 day museum/monument pass – it’s vital cause you bypass lines (and save money). The Museum D’Orsey is a must, as is the Louvre. If you want to see everything in the Louvre don’t try and do it all in a single day. Also, make sure you get the headset before you go inside as everything is in French. Check out the Picasso museum if you like his work – be warned that a lot of his famous pieces aren’t there. If you have time check out the Palace of Versailles and the gardens behind them, you’ll need to take a train there, but you can grab the one at the stop beside the Eiffel Tower. Your pass gets you in there also.

Greece was just as I remembered it last year, but then again that’s why I keep going back. A highlight from Greece was visiting the Benaki Museum in Athens. Benaki was a wealthy man living in Alexandria who migrated to Greece in the early 1900s. He was an avid collector of Greek history and art, particularly that of Modern Greek history. After his death he donated his estate and his entire collection to the Greek government – hence the Benaki Museum was formed. I don’t think there is any place in the world with a more impressive collection of Modern Greek history than here. On the third floor was the traveling photo exhibit of Hubert Pernot. In the late 1800s Hubert was commissioned by the French government to come to Greece, take photos and convince the French people to vacation there. I’m not sure why the French government wanted the French people to vacation in Greece, perhaps moral was low and Greece was seen as an exciting new land just coming out of a 400 year war. In any case, Hubert fell in love with Greece and spent the next 30 years of his life touching every part, during which he compiled three amazing photo albums. This exhibit is a collection of his best photos (digitally enhanced of course).

You can look at photos from my trip here.

Photos

Paros, Greece – I hadn’t posted in a while and thought November deserved something.

More information:
EO Natural Hazards: Fires in Greece
Greece Declares Emergency as Fires Rage
Greek Fires Kill 63, Scorch Olympia Site; 32 Suspects Arrested

The Greek island of Naxos is rich with a certain type of mineral called Emery. Before the decline of the industry, the town of Moutsouna was buzzing with boats docking to get their next shipment. Today Moutsouna is used as a small tourist destination with nice villas and cafes for people looking to get away from the busy city life. I spent an afternoon here while I was in Naxos and saw the ultimate BBQ near the water (were the boats used to dock). Give me that BBQ with that view and I’m happy.

Somehow I managed to take over 800 photos on my trip to Greece this past summer. It took me a while, but I’ve gone through them and selected a subset of 82 photos to upload. The trip was great – in terms of islands I visited Naxos, Paros, Mykonos, Ios and Santorini. I spent 15 days on the islands and 7 days on the mainland (Athens/Tripoli/Nestani).

See them here.

I’ve been really bad about posting updates to this blog, but fear not.. my life (like yours) has kept rolling along. I’m headed to Greece June 22nd for 3 weeks. I’ll be spending 15 days in the islands and 6 days back at my home town. The 15 day island tour will take me to Santorini, Ios, Mykonos, Naxos and Paros… I spend 3 days per islands which gives me enough time to rent and enjoy a Vespa on each!

Since my last golf course post I’ve played Humber Valley, Markham Green, Bantys Roost and Remington Parkview.. I really wanted to post about each course I went to this year, but it looks like they are going to be delayed.

I went shopping in Buffalo last weekend at the Walden Galleria.. with the great exchange rate (I got 1.08 at the bank), you can’t go wrong. The only thing you have to look out for, is getting back over the border without paying any taxes on your goods. Here’s what I did: I crossed over at the Peace Bridge and told the border rent-a-cop we were meeting friends in Buffalo and driving to the American Falls. After shopping, we stuffed everything in my golf bag and took the 20 minute drive to the American Falls.. which by the way are amazing. After spending some time at the Falls, we crossed over at the Niagara border. When the person at the crossing asked what we were doing in America, I just said we went to look at the American Falls… he replied “really? I’ve never done that”.

In a strange turn of events, which started with the Facebook application, I have created a Twitter account.. I actually (kind-of) enjoy it and will probably be updating it while I’m in Greece.

This Friday (March 9th) the film adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller comes out. The movie is about the Battle of Thermopylae, largely regarded as the most famous last stands in history. This is really an amazing story of courage, passion, pride — and the ability to overcome insurmountable odds. If you have time, read about it.

In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC, an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history. A small force led by King Leonidas of Sparta blocked the only road through which the massive army of Xerxes I could pass. After three days of battle a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks, revealing a mountain path that led behind the Greek lines. Dismissing the rest of the army, King Leonidas stayed behind with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespian volunteers. Though they knew it meant their own deaths, they held their position and secured the retreat of the other Greek forces. The Persians succeeded in taking the pass but sustained heavy losses, extremely disproportionate to those of the Greeks. The fierce resistance of the Spartan-led army offered Athens the invaluable time to prepare for a naval battle that would come to determine the outcome of the war. The subsequent Greek victory in the Battle of Salamis left much of the Persian navy destroyed. Xerxes was forced to flee to Asia and left his army in Greece under Mardonius, who was to meet the Greeks in battle for one last time. The Spartans and other Greek allies assembled at full strength and decisively defeated the Persians in the Battle of Plataea, putting an end to the Greco-Persian War and with that, Persian expansion into Europe.

The performance of the defenders at the battle of Thermopylae is often used as an example of the advantages of training, equipment and good use of terrain to maximize an army’s potential, as well as a symbol of courage against overwhelming odds. The heroic sacrifice of the Spartans and the Thespians has captured the minds of many throughout the ages and has given birth to many cultural references as a result.

Read more about this

My parents came back from Greece today and brought back some great photos from Nestani. I’ve uploaded them to Flickr in their original sizes, so feel free to download and develop them. Most of the photos are from St. George’s Name Day this past year. I’ve posted a few below — click here to see all of them. The people from Nestani now reside all over Greece and the world, see the comments from here to learn more.









See all here

March 15th was a sad day for my home town Nestani.  Our Mother Superior Markela passed away yesterday in Athens.  She had lived at the monastery (Panayia) in Nestani for 38 years.  The funeral took place today with hundreds of people crowding the monastery to pay their respects.  Nestani can be seen here.

I got some good news earlier this week; I’ll be one of the recipients for the Canadian Hellenic Greek Scholarship this year. The banquet to receive the scholarship is this Friday at the Cypriot Banquet Hall in Toronto. It’ll be a nice end to a busy year as the McMaster Greek Society president.

Update May 15 2006: Joe Volpe was at the banquet

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first saw this. With Goolge Earth you can actually zoom in to Nestani, Greece. Were talking a town you can walk from one end to the other in 20 minutes.

I took some screen captures below and highlighted key parts. Nestani is 15 minutes from Tripoli and 1.5 hours from Athens.

Nothing better than Greek air.

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Its annoying that we live in a society were we praise people for changing their lives around. I was at a baptism yesterday, and I overheard my uncle and my father talking about a dentist back in Nestani, Greece. This dentist lets call him Jim, for the last 10-15 years was addicted to drugs.

I was fortunate at a young age, to go back to Greece frequently and one year that we were there, my sister began complaining about her teeth. Only knowing a single dentist from our home town, my dad made an appointment with Jim. Before we went and saw Jim, my dad spoke with some of his friends about my sister and the pain she was going through. Once my dads friends heard that we were going to Jim, their faces went cold, and told us to go there, make an excuse and get out of there.

Jim was crook, and since he was addicted to drugs, had to make as much money as possible to pay for his addiction. This meant taking out teeth of little kids, even if they didn’t need it. We went and saw Jim, and right away he said my sister needed to remove two teeth. Right after that, my dad made some excuse and we left. In the meantime, my dad’s friend made an appointment with another dentist that he knew, and we went and saw him right away. My sister needed a filling, 30 minutes later everything was fine.

So fast forward in the story, my dad is at the baptism talking to my uncle about Jim. Apparently Jim realized his wrongs, and is now punishing his body by fasting and becoming a monk. Oh how amazing, everyone was saying, that this man changed his life around, stopped taking drugs and is now becoming a monk.

Becoming a monk and fasting is no reason for my forgiveness. What about all the kids’ teeth he ripped out for no reason? So he caused pain and suffering to people for 15 years, and now he decides to go back to God and we need to praise him? The reality is that people somewhere in this world can’t eat properly, because this man removed teeth for no reason.

I know this is the wrong way to think about this, but if he wanted my forgiveness, then he should have all his teeth removed. Then he could understand the gravity of his crimes.

I told this to my mother, and she half agrees with me and says,

… remember when Jesus said, he who has no sin may cast the first stone…

This was in reference to the women who committed adultery and was subject to stoning by death. I responded by saying, the woman, by committing adultery was only hurting herself. Jim removed the teeth of children and adults for no reason. The woman disrespected herself, Jim caused pain and suffering to others.

This year I’m the President of the Greek Society at McMaster University. Using some basic marketing, we’re looking to re-define our image and attract as many new members as possible. Our name is in the process of changing from McMaster Hellenic Society to ΣΕΦ. Translated ΣΕΦ means “Group of Greek Friends”. Many more cool things are on the way..

I just finished getting up the new website. We’re going for a “blogging” style, so that members can come and see all the news at any point in time. The new site really fits our new image, take a look.