When Violence Overshadows the Message
04 Nov 2011 1 Comment
in Daily Life, Greece, Italy, NabloPoMo Tags: 99%, economy, Italy, Na.Blo.Po.Mo, protest, Rome riots
I’ve been wanting to write this for some time now, but as I mentioned before, I haven’t had much time to do so. And in a way maybe it is good that this has happened, as, had I written this when this was all over the news, it would have been submerged by all the other bits and pieces flowing in. Now, maybe it will be a singular voice, or at least not one of too many.
A couple weeks ago was the worldwide protest of the Indignados, also known as the Other 99%. A wave of protest that is taking over most of the Western world protesting what we have become, or rather what out financial and governmental institutions have become.
As happened in other countries, many cities across Italy also protested. The most important protest took place in Rome. And so did the violence. You can read what happened, briefly here. The aftermath of all of this was the following: Not one news channel broadcast the message that the peaceful protesters were trying to say. They all focused on the violence and the destruction, and catching the guilty parties. It’s been weeks, and they have yet to mention the reasons of the Italian protesters.
Conspiracy theory may make you think that it is the government hiring thugs to commit crimes so that the public will be distracted from the real issue. This is a technique that has been used before here (not the violence, the distractions), and I don’t think only in Italy to be honest. But unfortunately it is a short-term distraction, as I have a feeling that things will get better before they get worse, and if Italy doesn’t want to find itself in the same position as Greece, they had better get their asses in gear and do something. If people see some action being taken, real action, not just words, and action that involves EVERYBODY, maybe they will be more willing to make the sacrifices necessary to keep things afloat, but only if they see that it is fair, or else it is just more punishment for the 99%.
Greek Stuffed Calamari
07 Mar 2011 8 Comments
in Food and Recipes, Greece, Italy Tags: calamari recipe, fish, greek stuffed calamari, Italy, Mediterranean diet
The weekend has passed – I had time and so it means I cooked! Now this isn’t a traditional Italian dish, but it is still Mediterranean and I learned it from an Italian so it works in the end!
Ingredients
4 fresh calamari
1 small bunch parsley
2 small cloves garlic
1 package feta cheese (about 200g)
10-15 cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper
dry white wine
olive oil
Clean the cherry tomatoes and cut into fourths. Dice the feta cheese, and finely chop the garlic and parsley together. Then clean the calamari (make sure it’s calamari, not squid or cuttlefish). Remove the tentacles and eyes, and all the insides in the long part of the body. Don’t cut at the body unless you really need to. The meat is pretty tough so you can carefully turn them inside out if you want. The remove the skin from the body (the purply brown stuff). This also comes off fairly easily – just put your finger underneath it and pull. Rinse out bodies and set aside. Rinse tentacles then finely chop.
Then in a frying pan or skillet, add a bit of oil. When it is warm, add the garlic-parsley mixture and the tentacles. When the tentacles start to get white, add a dash of white wine and stir. Let cook for about 2-3 minutes until wine has evaporated.
While the mixture is cooking, in a bowl, mix together the feta cheese, tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. When the tentacle mixture is ready, let cool for a moment then add to cheese. Mix well.
Prepare a baking sheet and line it with oven paper or aluminum foil. Take the calamari bodies and stuff with the cheese and tentacle mixture. Close the calamari with a toothpick and set aside on baking sheet.
Chances are you will have quite a bit of left-over filling. Not to worry! Add a handful of pine nuts, some olives, capers and oregano, and you have a tasty side dish to accompany your stuffed calamari!
Bake the calamari in the oven (180C, 350F, 3 gas) for 10 minutes, then turn, add another dash of white wine, and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
Serve with veggies and leftover filling and some of that chilled white wine you’ve been using!
Enjoy!
Delphi
20 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in Greece, Photo of the Day, Things to See Tags: Delphi, Greece
Delphi. Home of the Oracle. Much smaller than I imagined…we arrived late at night and got off the bus. This wonderfully illuminated road greated us, bubbling with life. We dragged our tired selves through the crowd to our hotel and collapsed on the bed.
We woke up around 930 the next morning and opened the shutters and saw …no-one. Hardly a soul in sight under the baking sun. Strange…we went down to the lobby and asked where we could have some breakfast. The bar next door was suggested. We obeyed. The bar was an amazing surprise. It seemed dark and empty when we came in, but when we asked for breakfast we were led to a beautiful shady terrace overlooking the valley right to the sea. Our jaws dropped. We were served a wonderful breakfast with coffee, cookies, jam, toast, eggs, and fresh fruit, picked right off the tree next to the terrace. Magnificent.
We then braved the heat and headed out to Ancient Delphi. The heat waves were rolling off the road and the dust was everywhere, but we, and all the other tourists, waited in line patiently to enter and enjoy the marvels of the ancient city. Like many Greek ruins you feel very very small looking up at them. You are not allowed to walk around in them (in fact we were witnesses to a huge screaming match between a custodian and a dancing tourist) but you can still feel their power.
Ancient Delphi is not for the faint of heart. It is hot and all UPHILL, but the Greek are smart and put water fountains all over the place with fresh spring water (never tasted water so good!)
Below Ancient Delphi is the Gymnasium and the Tholos. The Tholos is probably the most famous symbol of Delphi. It was the temple to Athena, and has been partially reconstructed. The gymnasium is fun though, the track is still complete and there is still a pool (empty of course).
The heat was still oppressive so we escaped by going into the museum (thank you air conditioning!) and enjoying the thousands and thousands of pieces. We left the museum as the sun was going down and noticed the streets coming alive – and not with tourists. All the residents thrive at night (no wonder – the heat is incredible during the day – you would never believe that in SNOWS in Delphi and people go skiing in the winter) and the restaurants and streets were packed, the lights were all turned on and real life began!
We enjoyed our last evening in Delphi and were very sad to leave it early the next morning. We returned to Athens, spent the night in our hostel, and went off to the airport the next morning back to Italy and leaving Greece behind, taking only our memories and thousands of pictures with us.
Santorini
17 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in Greece, Things to See Tags: fira, Greece, oia, perissa, santorini, Summer, sunset, Travel
The next stop on our Greek tour was Santorini.
There is nothing as awe-inspiring as when the ferry chugs into the crater and you see the walls rising up above you and you feel very very small. The water, the heat, the sun glinting off the inside of the crater and you in your tiny little boat – nothing more incredible!
Santorini is a volcanic island, like many other Greek islands, and has a strange shape to it, like a half moon. This is because during the bronze age the volcano blew, destroying most of the island and the people living on it. It formed a giant lagoon now called the Caldera. In recent years two small islands have formed in the middle of the lagoon, complete with hot springs. Just so that no one ever forgets what Santorini really is!
Besides its obvious geological interest, Santorini is also naturally and architecturally interesting. It is full of white houses, and churches, churches everywhere! It has various cities, Fira being the capital and Oia being famous for sunset-watching and its millions of steps to get from the town to the sea.
We stayed in a less famous part of the island called Perissa at a small hotel called Stelios’ Place. Yes, I am going to advertise for these guys because they were fantastic! As well as being wonderful people and coming to pick us up at the terminal (and taking us there when we left) the hotel itself is absolutely lovely with its white walls, blue doors and fuchsia-coloured bougeonville. It also has a pool, a small bar for home-made breakfasts (a must is Greek yoghurt with fruit and honey), and is a three second walk from the beach!
We explored the island by renting a quad. You can also rent a scooter, but I personally think a quad is much more fun! We saw a little bit of everything, and then went swimming on Red Beach. Be warned: STAY AWAY FROM THE ROCKS! They are home to the infamous sea urchin. Sea urchins do not like to be stepped on and release a series of quills much like a porcupine does and then require tetanus shots and cause pain, a lot of pain! Poor Andrea was the victim of such an adventure and can testify the truth of my statement.
Sea urchins aside, Santorini is also famous for its wine and its sunsets. Everyone goes to see the sunset in Oia, but it is no fun to be jostled about by hundreds of people while trying to take a photograph. My suggestion, and that of our hotel receptionist, is to go to Santo Wines. You sit down and order a sampler of their local wine, and while sipping and munching away you can see the most amazing sunset ever. There is nothing better! But bring a sweater, when the sun goes down it gets cold!!!!
Our two days passed all too quickly, and early in the morning we hopped onto a ferry for an entire day of travel – to Delphi, home of the Oracle.
Greece
10 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in Greece, Photo of the Day, Things to See Tags: Athens, Greece, photo, Photo of the Day
Today’s Photo of the Day is a photograph I took about a year ago and is the beginning of my new series – last year’s trip to GREECE!
Now is the vacation season, and to honour that I decided to put up last year’s shots, seeing as this year my holiday will be in September, not August.
So, first stop: Athens. What to say about Athens? Home of the Acropolis, the National Museum and traffic; lots and lots of traffic. I swear, it beats Italian traffic, and as a tourist you learn to keep eyes and ears wide open, because that green light that claims you can cross means nothing to local drivers. Andrea and I learned it after the first ten minutes of setting foot on Greek soil, when we nearly got ourselves run over for having a split-second doubt. Be decisive is my advice to you.
Visiting Athens takes about two days. The museum itself takes nearly a day and is chock full of very interesting archaeological finds. You are even allowed to use your camera – no flash. Oh, and never ever try to make fun of a statue by emulating it in any way. The ladies have a very sharp eye and will make you delete the photograph. We got yelled at but one person actually had their camera taken from them and their photos deleted right in front of their very astonished eyes. Besides the museum adventure we enjoyed a very hot and dusty day at the Acropolis and its surrounding area. It is well kept and amazingly cheap, all things considered. You can buy one ticket that allows entry into all the sites for only €12.00 if I’m not mistaken (don’t take my word on it, I’m going by memory). There are tonnes of restaurants nearby and the waiters wait for you to stop and glance at a menu, then come up to you speaking a series of languages till they get the right one and try and convince you to choose their restaurant and not someone else’s. It is quite frustrating because some of them really press you super hard, others are nice and let live. I chose them of course.
There are also the National Gardens (probably better seenin the spring, they were pretty dry in August), and the changing of the guards in Syntagma Square. The change occurs on the hour and is excruciating to watch. The guards drag their feet in a slow deliberate manner making their heels click and shaking the pompoms on their shoe tips. Like in London, tourists enjoy being photographed with them. Another thing that is nice in Syntagma Square is the Metro station under it. It has pieces of history all along its walls, and one of the most interesting clock designs ever!
All in all Athens doesn’t really have all that much else to offer. If you go outside the tourist area, keep a sharp eye out for pickpockets, most especially on the Metro. I enjoyed it very much however, and would like to go back, maybe in a cooler season!
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