The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece!
Where burning Sappho loved and sung
where grew the arts of war and peace
where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!
Eternal summer gilds them yet
but all, except their sun, is set...
The mountains look on Marathon
and Marathon looks on the sea;
and musing there an hour alone
I dreamed that Greece might still be free;
for standing on the Persians' grave
I could not deem myself a slave.
Today, Greeks all over the world celebrate the Day of Independence. The March 25 of 1821 is celebrated as the first day of the greek revolution against the ottoman rule. This day was chosen to set up on the day of Annunciation symbolizing the redemption of the greek nation.
Αfter the war was over and some more social and political adventures, in 1833, Greeks welcomed the first King of Greece.
Otto was the second son of Crown Prince and later King Ludwig I of Bavaria, and Theresa, daughter of the Duke of Altenburg Sazen.
He was chosen by England, France and Russia and he was only 17 when he first arrived in Greece.
Two weeks later, Otto replaced the previous greek currency "Phoenix" with "drachma" which, 'till then, was not in use for nearly 2000 years.
In 1834, he moved the capital of Greece from Nafplio to Athens where he constructed a whole new city.
Before the greek revolution, Ottomans had turned the remains of the Parthenon into mosque and the Acropolis into an ottoman neighborhood full of houses.
The Old Palace in Athens, today's House,was built at the expense of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, as a personal loan to his son Otto. The foundation stone was laid in 1836 and Otto moved in with his wife Amalia in 1843.
Following his wife's advice, he also selected the costume of "tsolias" to be the greek national costume.
The foustanela (skirt) was made by 400 rectangular triangles fabrics that symbolize the 400 years of ottoman rule, sewn together with oblique straight.
On the upper part of the body, Otto's tsoliades wore the "meintani", a tight vest buttoned to the neck. Over this one wore a second tight but shorter vest with long sleeves that were open to the inner side, the "fermelis".
Small lethal weapons were usually hidden under the wide vest.
Before "tsarouhi", tsoliades wore "videla" a kind of patent leather shoes and above them wore a kind of leggings called "touzloukia".
Queen Amalia also chose the female national costume of modern Greece. She and her husband hoped that costume could be a way to come closer to greek people.
The female national costume is an inspiration of Amalia and bears her name. It consists of patchy - Greek and foreign-elements.
Over her vienneze-fashioned dress she wore a tight kind of jacket that is inspired by the "kavadi" of the Karagounes of Thessaly.Over the "kavadi" she added the "zimpouni" which is a costume element in many greek islands.
The fez is also characteristic in "Amalia's" costume . The rich tassel is typical of married women and single women wore another type of hat, the "kalpaki".
By the beginning of the 20th century, national costumes had already a more simplified form and were part of everyday wardrobe until the 1930s.
Today, the costume of tsolias is worn mainly by children, in special occasions and the members of the Presidential Guard, theathenians.blogspot.gr/2013/03/tsoliades-in-brussels.html
Earlier, hudreds of students marched in the annual school parade in view of tomorrow's Greek National Day.
Boys and girls in traditional costumes...
...or wearing blue and white marched in the applause of people gathered in Panepistimiou Avenue to attend the school parade.
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This year though, the parade was shorter and people was hardly more than the 4.000 policemen that circled the whole area.
In fact, it was very difficult to reach the parade 'cause most streets in the center were closed. Security measures were extremely high in order to avoid possible protests and attacks against politicians as it happened in previous parades. Only officials were allowed to reach Syntagma and simple people had only the chance to watch the end of the parade.In many cases, the police did not even allow to take pictures.
Tonia , Eleanna, Liza and Constantina (left to right) also tried to take some photos.
They all study photography and were supposed to photograph the parade as asked by their professor.
" I took great photos! Just feet and flags!" says Tonia ironically.
" Policemen told us that we have to have special license" adds Eleanna.
"All these refer to other times that no one wants to remember" comments Tonia.
"It's extreme but very interesting as a picture. All this is so new" tells me Constantina.
"People don't dare to hold our national flags 'cause they're scared of being confused with
nationalists extremists" says Giorgos.
" I paid 100 euros to get the license to be here. I sell each flag for one euro and I buy it for half. I'm not even going to make what I paid for".
" At least Cyprus dared to say NO. They are brave people. Even if they pay hard for it, Europe deserved it. But there's so much more that we can't even imagine".
"I only hope that this will end soon. Our children need to have future".
Currently, every Greek child is born with debt over 30.000 euros.
Exarchia square is not a place that tourists usually visit. In fact, I've read dozens of tourists' instructions to avoid the whole area.
Exarchia is right next to Kolonaki and it is also a very vivid neighborhood but in another way.
Here it's not just the cafes, bars and young people that give life to the area.
It is not just the little stores selling guitars, used clothes, comics, old books and records that give the place this certain air. Artists, left winged intellectuals and anarchists are definitely part of it.
PETTY BOURGEOISIE
YOU'VE UNDERSTAND NOTHING
*Also, your kids are going to eat you
Nickos Romanos (theathenians.blogspot.gr/2013/02/terrorism-new-generation_6485.html ) stars in many slogans lately. He and his best friend -who was murdered by the police in the age of 15- are the new symbols of young Greek anarchists.
People still leave a flower on the spot Alexis was murdered, on Messologiou street.
Since that night gas masks turned into must-haves and this figure is all over.
Although the police rarely break the "avaton" and enter Exarchia, the whole area is circled by policemen. Riots between cops and anarchists take place quite often and fancy cars are always in danger. Except from policemen, mainstream journalists, politicians and of course nazis are not welcome too.
Many people say that "this neighborhood has a voice" because of the slogans and grafities all over.
The construction of the area started in the second half of 19th century and a little later got its name after Exarchos who was the owner of a big deli on Themistokleous street. Today, only some buildings still remind of that time.
On the left, the so-called 'blue building' was built in early 1930s and it's a typical sample of Bauhaus architecture.
Students, hipsters, immigrants, people of all social classes meet and mix up on Exarchia square where there's usually some event or concert taking place.
But is it dangerous being in Exarhia? Well, I've never felt like that but it could surely be adventurous. In this unique "free state" of Greece you could find yourself having lunch while anarchists set up cars on fire. It happens.
While our beloved Cyprus is living the worse nightmare since the turkish invasion on the island in 1974, Greece is getting prepared to celebrate the Day of Independence proving, once more, that only Greeks could invent the word irony!
Greek politicians will watch the school and military parade standing proudly under this tent and greeting the greek courage.
On the left of the platform, a black balloon is still on the air and a poster showing Giannis Ntokos.
"Ηave a nice trip, our friend. Your struggle won't be lost.We will never forget you.
Giannis Ntokos was found dead in his flat in January.The forensic findings did not identify the cause of death but the coroner ruled out crime. He was one of the thousands of Greeks who lost at least 70% of their money after the "haircut" of the greek bonds and pioneered in the struggle of all these people that earlier protested again.
Justify the money-savers- We trust Justice- Cancel PSI
A few meters above, just around the corner, another group of people is anxiously waiting the political decisions for the day after.
It's people working at the Bank of Cyprus and protest against losing their jobs.
Definition of irony
* the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect:‘Don’t go overboard with the gratitude,’ he rejoined with heavy irony
*a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result:the irony is that I thought he could help me [count noun]:one of life’s little ironies
*(also dramatic or tragic irony) a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.
