Unlike the Catholic church where saints are created at breakfast, lunch and supper, the Orthodox church doesn’t mess up its throngs with just anyone. I mean, if John Paul II had his way, the whole population of Poland would be beatified (with General Jaruzelski the patron saint of dictators). No, the Orthodox church even used […]
Athens part II: Reasons to be Cheerful
Do you know what the good residents of the Athens neighbourhood of Exarcheia did when they realized that their main square had become a centre of the drug trade? Senior citizens stood on the square with a megaphone and announced as loudly as they could: “You, there! I saw you passing the dope palm-to-palm to […]
Athens Part I: The Bad News
Let’s get the bad news over with: the transformation of Athens from a country’s diamond tiara during the Olympics to the war zone of 2011 has been as astonishing as it has been swift. There are no-go areas in the city, where even two years ago there were trendy bars, and the hulks of empty […]