
Tag Archive for Greece
Awareness, Culture, Europe, History, Travel
Athens is Angry
by Thomas Stanley • • 0 Comments

Athens is angry, it seems. It’s a tempered anger, for the most part, but it is lies always below the surface. One always has the feeling of underlying tension, not with each other, but with people and social systems in power. This is most evident in the ubiquitous graffiti. In Greece, especially in major cities…
Europe, Travel
Lovely
by Thomas Stanley • • 0 Comments
Culture, Europe, History, Travel
Bulgarian Changing of the Guard
by Thomas Stanley • • 1 Comment
After the amazing chance encounter with the Greek soldiers demonstrating changing of the guard, I was excited to see if we could watch the Bulgarian changing of the guard.
At the beginning of the video, the soldiers are coming out to change the guard. Their long stomping strides reminded me of toy soldiers with a hint of ballet technique.
After changing the guard, the troop returns to the barracks from whence they came. It was neat to see. I now want to see each of the different style as we progress and I regret not investigating if Turkey had one.
Below is an edited version of the video I shot. Some parts are shaky because I realized I was in their path and had to move out of the way. Enjoy!
Culture, Europe, History, Travel
Greek Changing of the Guard
by Thomas Stanley • • 0 Comments
Update: It turns out that what I observed was the Greek changing of the guard as happens at other governmental buildings. Soldiers, dressed in classic uniforms change station and some are positioned at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
As I was wandering around Athens yesterday, I noticed a strong military presence down one of the streets. There were riot control buses and many heavily armed personnel. Curious, I wandered down the street to see what was up. One of the major thoroughfares was entirely cordoned off. Considering the recent economic crises in Greece, I wondered if it was a protest of some sort, but it ended up to be a Greek military procession of cadets, I think, marching from their barracks to the Greek Parliament building.
Though an ardent pacifist, I couldn’t help but be moved by the scene and the pride of these young men. Plus, the outfits are amazing!
Awareness, Culture, Europe, History, Travel
Gawking at Locals
by Thomas Stanley • • 0 Comments

Olympos is a small village on the Greek island of Karpathos described by some as a “living museum.” One of the evidences for this is often given is that “the women still wear traditional clothing.” Another is “the remoteness of the village has kept its traditions intact.” Enticed by these descriptions, Erika and I had been…
Europe, Food, History, Life, Travel
And onto Karpathos we go…
by Erika Crichton • • 1 Comment

Wednesday’s departure from Turkey left me with mixed emotions. Our time in Turkey was quite wonderful overall, and we had started to become more familiar with some of the customs and travel processes involved in being there. But there was a clear draw for both Thomas and I to move onto another country and…
Europe, Travel
Tentative Itinerary
by Thomas Stanley • • 3 Comments

Many people want to know where, specifically, we are going. While we have a general idea where we are headed, we purposely purchased one-way tickets so that the flow of the trip seemed less constrained. Below are the countries we hope to visit as well as a general map of our intended path. This will…