Continuing to beckon visitors: The island of Crete from an Australian perspective

It was my first day at work in London, a Wednesday as I recall, when my Kombaro called. “Billy, come over to Crete, you won’t regret it” By the Friday I had flown out to Crete to see what the fuss was all about…

Crete can elicit different emotions for different people. To the Greeks, it’s the symbol of uprisings and an indomitable spirit; to the Ottomans, a thorn in their side; to the Venetians, the jewel of their Mediterranean empire; and to the Germans, an almost impenetrable fortress.

To the Australians and the New Zealanders, it is a place of remembrance and camaraderie. As an Australian myself with a Greek background, I soon discovered what Crete means to a lot of people.

A Greek-Australian-Japanese Wedding in Stomio

It’s the phone call that I had waited years to receive…”Billy, I’m getting married.” Then the line went dead. A few moments later, George had called again to explain that he would be getting married in a matter of weeks in Stomio, Greece. 

George Manetakis has been my best friend since we first met in detention at primary school. As he often recalls, “We lost years of lunch-times, but gained even more years of friendship in return.”
 

Libya: The secret haven of Greek colonies

Arabic charm, Berber tribesmen, Islamic traditions, Mediterranean coast, pariah in the West. These are some of the tags we can ascribe to Libya when we think about that country.

Mention the name Ghadafi and one automatically associates it with Libya…

Mention the name Belisarius and you will draw a blank…but 1500 years ago this was a name associated with Libya. In fact before the coming of Islam in the 7th Century AD, northern Libya was a Greek-speaking territory.

A Greek village in Hungary: a story of the communist refugees

It’s funny how a simple request to visit friends can lead to another Hellenic Travels adventure. With winter in London seemingly at an end, I was invited to Budapest to visit a few of my Australian friends who had moved there.

As I always do before a simple visit to a foreign country I typed in the words ‘Greek’ and the destination country with the hope of locating a restaurant serving souvlakia and ouzo. The results that Google search returned astounded me. I found an article published in 1993 in the US about a Greek village in Hungary. The Greek village was located 60 km south of Budapest and before I knew it I had convinced my friends to take me to the mysterious Greek village of Hungary!

Restoration: Tunisia with a touch of Hellenism

Restoration. A word that stood out for me on my recent trip to Tunisia – a word which succinctly captures what the Greek community are aspiring to and what I in turn having been seeking for 10 years.

Tunisia is picturesque Mediterranean country. Pristine beaches to the north, the Sahara in the south, the Arab culture of the East and a touch of influence from the West (via the French colonial years). It has been a melting pot of history’s great cultures: Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Berbers, Arabs and Ottomans.

What most people won’t know is the long history of Greek speakers in Tunisia. Indeed, across North Africa, the presence of Greeks can be traced back to the merchants and traders who set up towns in Egypt in Antiquity through to the Byzantine occupation of the region from 535 AD – the last Byzantine territory to fall was Ceuta (Spanish enclave in Morocco) in 711 AD!! In fact, for the uninitiated, Greek cities could be found in Libya, notably Cyrenaica, Egypt under Alexander and the Ptolomies and a number of Byzantine cities developed in the 6th Century AD, as far a field as Algeria.

Macedonia: What’s in a Name?

It’s been a long time since I last wrote an article on Macedonia. Like most of the Greeks abroad, we carry Macedonia in our hearts, and back in my student days I campaigned on the issue. It was a constant feature of the Greek magazine we produced. However, I drifted from the campaign. It wasn’t until a recent visit to Thessaloniki from London in 2008 that the historian in me awoke from its slumber – like a great bear after a long sleep.

Should I be writing on Macedonia? It’s an emotive issue and I would merely be another Greek providing his thoughts on the matter. BUT I’m also a historian…

The Greeks of Odessa and Ukrainian cuisine

It had been an unusually cold period for that time of the year in the Ukraine. We were waiting anxiously, freezing, near the village’s only shop. It was a rather overcast day. I had already asked people if they spoke Greek, surprisingly the responses I received were: ‘Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian, English.’ Then I heard a group of middle aged and older women speaking Greek. I rushed over to them to chat – but this was no facebook chat window. They were initially hesitant and frightened by an outsider, who seemed to be able to speak their language. As I did so the sun finally came out …… now lets backtrack for a minute. How did I get to this small village near the Black Sea?

A sign of the Greek times: Byzantine Malta

To some of my regular readers, it comes as no surprise that in April I made the move from Sydney to London ostensibly to work. On my list of places to visit was Malta, a little island nation in the Mediterranean with a population of 400 000.

Croatian Customs officials and the Greek church of Zadar

I moved to London in April 2008 in order to be closer to real frappe and to visit Greek towns and sites that fall outside of Greece proper. I was in dire need of a break from the dismal London weather and from constant weekend trips across Europe, so I booked in a 2 day retreat to a place called Zadar, Croatia.

True to form as I arrived at Zadar, 2 things occurred which are standard aspects of my European trips.

An ancient Greek theatre in Barcelona: Greek towns in Spain and France

A few years ago I made it to Barcelona. During the course of site seeing I came across the ruins of “Teatre Grec” (Greek theatre). To say I was astonished would be an understatement. To say that I am Greek “blind” is also an understatement – a rare condition that disrupts a person’s vision so that they only see Greek things.