Greece

Subterms

    Latest story

    150 Shares23 Views

    In a Medieval Greek Fortress, Residents Feud Over ‘Pharaonic’ Cable Car Plan

    by

    The authorities in Monemvasia, founded in the sixth century, say people with limited mobility need access to the town’s peak. But critics say the project would destroy the identity of the site.Carved into a massive rock, the medieval fortress town of Monemvasia rises from the Myrtoan Sea in southern Greece, its Byzantine churches and crumbling palaces a draw for the thousands of visitors who walk its cobbled pathways every year.But there is trouble in this tranquil retreat. A plan to build a cable car to the peak above the town, where a beautifully preserved 12th-century church sits in relative isolation amid stunning views of the coast, has divided the community.The top of Monemvasia is currently accessible only via a winding, 240-yard stone path — a dizzying and exhausting climb.The authorities say the cable car, to be financed with around $7 million from the European Union, will make the site reachable for visitors with limited mobility.But the plan has been met with consternation, and legal challenges, from cultural groups and residents who say it will undermine the rock’s protected status.Standing over Monemvasia is a 12th-century church with stunning views of the Myrtoan Sea.Niki Kitsantonis for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    More stories

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      Trump Picks Kimberly Guilfoyle, His Son’s Fiancée, as Ambassador to Greece

      by

      The announcement came as Donald Trump Jr. has been seen with the socialite Bettina Anderson in Florida.It was an announcement made amid a swirl of tabloid speculation: Kimberly Guilfoyle, a loyalist of President-elect Donald J. Trump and — more pointedly — the fiancée of his son Donald Jr. had been named ambassador to Greece.The timing of the move — early Tuesday evening — would have been unremarkable except for what preceded it: rumors that the president-elect’s eldest son was dating a socialite, Bettina Anderson.The new relationship was seemingly documented in a series of photos published earlier on Tuesday by the British tabloid The Daily Mail, which described them as “incontrovertible proof the soon-to-be First Son has moved on” with a “stunning ‘it girl.’”Andrew Surabian, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, 46, did not return a request for comment on his relationship with Ms. Anderson, or on his engagement with Ms. Guilfoyle, to whom he has been betrothed since late 2020. Ms. Anderson, 38, also did not return requests for comment.In his announcement of her posting to Greece, the president-elect called Ms. Guilfoyle “a close friend and ally,” but made no mention of her relationship with his son.“Her extensive experience and leadership in law, media, and politics along with her sharp intellect make her supremely qualified to represent the United States,” the elder Mr. Trump wrote, in a post on Truth Social.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump taps former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle as US ambassador to Greece

      by

      Donald Trump has named Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host who has been engaged to Trump’s eldest son, to be the US ambassador to Greece.“For many years, Kimberly has been a close friend and ally,” Trump wrote in a statement. “Kimberly is perfectly suited to foster strong bilateral relations with Greece, advancing our interests on issues ranging from defense cooperation to trade and economic innovation.”Guilfoyle’s nomination would require Senate confirmation. She wrote on social media: “I’m honored to accept President Trump’s nomination to serve as the next Ambassador to Greece and I look forward to earning the support of the US Senate.”The president-elect has been filling out his administration with loyalists, donors and family members. Trump chose Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father, to serve as ambassador to France, and Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of daughter Tiffany Trump, to serve as a Middle East adviser.Guilfoyle – who was engaged to Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr in 2020 – has served as a campaign fundraiser and surrogate for Trump. She has not served in any foreign policy or diplomacy role, working as a prosecutor in California before transitioning to a career in television.Guilfoyle left Fox News in 2017. In 2020, the New Yorker detailed allegations from a former assistant of Guilfoyle who had accused her of repeated sexual harassment. More

    • 163 Shares139 Views

      in Elections

      Was This Scrap of Cloth Once a Tunic Worn by Alexander the Great?

      by

      A Greek researcher says a piece of purple-and-white fabric discovered decades ago in a tomb in northern Greece may have belonged to Alexander. Others disagree.Could it be a scrap of Alexander the Great’s clothing?A fragile piece of purple-and-white fabric, frayed over more than two millenniums, that was found in one of a series of tombs in northern Greece decades ago is at the center of a new claim ruffling feathers in the country’s archaeological community.The debate erupted this month after Antonis Bartsiokas, a paleoanthropologist at Democritus University of Thrace, published a paper arguing that one of the tombs, believed up to now to house the remains and treasures of Alexander’s father, actually held items belonging to Alexander the Great himself and his half brother. That included a purple chiton, or tunic.The claim challenges the work of one Greece’s most renowned archaeologists, Manolis Andronicos, who led the discovery of the tomb in 1977. Mr. Andronicos, who died in 1992, had asserted that the tomb and artifacts belonged to the father, Philip II of Macedon, whose military victories united ancient Greece and laid the foundation for his son’s conquests from Egypt to India.Mr. Bartsiokas, who specializes in the microanalysis of fossils, instead believes it was Alexander’s half brother, Arrhidaeus, or Philip III, who was buried in the tomb, along with some of Alexander’s possessions, including the chiton, a piece of purple cotton with a layer of white fabric in between.If the new claim were confirmed, it could upend long-held beliefs about one of the most important burial sites in Greece. Some Greek archaeologists say, however, that the claim is without substance.Mr. Bartsiokas said he used new technology and his interpretation of an ancient frieze found in the tomb to make his case.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares149 Views

      in Elections

      Deadly Toll in Greece as Heat Waves Sweep the Country

      by

      Several foreigners have gone missing or been found dead after going out for walks in recent days as temperatures in Greece soar.Heat waves that have swept across Greece this month continued to exact a deadly toll over the weekend, with the authorities on Sunday reporting another death on a Greek island. At least six tourists remain missing on Greek islands.The authorities said that a body of a man had been found Saturday on the island of Samos, where a Dutch hiker has been missing for a week. The body has not yet been identified. Searches were also underway for the six other tourists who have gone missing on Greek islands amid searing temperatures this month.“The problem of missing hikers is not new — we have it every year,” said Constantina Dimoglidou, a police spokeswoman. “But this year, it seems more people became disoriented during the heat wave.”One of the missing was Albert Calibet, 59, a retired police officer who is a dual citizen of France and the United States, on the Aegean island of Amorgos. Mr. Calibet had set out on a trek alone on Tuesday morning, Ms. Dimoglidou said.Also missing were two Frenchwomen, aged 73 and 64, on another Aegean island, Sikinos; an Israeli couple in the area of Vytina in the Peloponnese peninsula; and a 55-year-old United States citizen on the islet of Mathraki near Corfu, the authorities said.The announcements came only days after the remains of Michael Mosley, a British medical journalist and documentary maker, were found on the island of Symi after his disappearance during a walk. At least three other tourists have died while out walking during the extreme heat this month.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 88 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      Greece Closes Schools and Acropolis Amid Heat

      by

      Concerns are also growing for two foreign hikers who have gone missing on Greek islands amid the soaring temperatures.Intense heat in Greece prompted a mini lockdown for two days starting on Wednesday, with some schools closing and the Acropolis restricting visiting hours, as the authorities searched for two foreign hikers just a few days after a British medical journalist was found dead on the island of Symi after going for a walk in searing heat.The onset of sweltering temperatures, which meteorologists said might set a record on Thursday, prompted the Health Ministry to issue a warning to older people and people with chronic ailments to stay indoors. The authorities also advised anyone who works outdoors to avoid strenuous activity from noon to 5 p.m.Temperatures were forecast to reach 41 Celsius, or 105.8 Fahrenheit, in Athens on Wednesday and rise to 42 Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit) on Thursday before dipping on Friday, according to Greece’s National Meteorological Service. The heat elsewhere in the Greek mainland was expected to reach 43 Celsius.Walking up Lycabettus Hill in Athens on Wednesday. Temperatures were forecast to reach 105.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the city on Wednesday and 107.6 degrees on Thursday.Alkis Konstantinidis/ReutersThe tinderbox conditions also raised concerns about wildfires after a disastrous summer last year, when wildfires killed more than 20 people in Greece and razed vast areas of forestland. Greece’s civil protection authority and the army were conducting 24-hour patrols of major forests this week in an effort to prevent fires from breaking out.Meteorologists have warned that Europe is on course to have another scorching summer. Last summer’s heat and wildfires hurt some Greek businesses that rely on tourism, although the country still reported record tourism revenue for the year overall. This year, while many visitors still plan to visit the Mediterranean nation, others are opting for cooler Northern European countries.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 175 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Have Wine for Breakfast, Put On a 51-Pound Suit and Get to the Battlefield

      by

      One by one, Greek soldiers, bellies full from a breakfast of red wine and dry bread, armed and clad themselves in a bulky, buglike suit of armor as they prepared for battle.They aimed their spears at wooden targets, and their chariot was connected to a treadmill motor, but for 11 hours, these elite soldiers from the Hellenic Armed Forces pretended to fight as if it was the 15th century B.C.They had been recruited for a study to determine if the Dendra panoply, a suit of armor from 3,500 years ago considered to be one of the oldest known from the Bronze Age in Europe, could be worn in battle. Or if it was only ceremonial, as some scholars have previously argued.The soldiers wore a replica of the suit, and scientists tracked their blood-glucose levels, heart rates and other physiological measures, finding that the men’s bodies could handle the strain of the armor, according to a paper published in the journal PLOS One on May 22.Andreas Flouris, the lead author of the paper and the director of the FAME Lab at the University of Thessaly in Volos, Greece, where the battles took place, said that the simulated combat, as well as other research components, showed that the armor would have been “a very advanced piece of military technology” at the time.“If you’re carrying a piece of wood or a stone or maybe something with a bit of bronze in the front, like a spear, somebody wearing this armor looks like a giant robot in front of you,” said Dr. Flouris, a professor of physiology at the University of Thessaly.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares179 Views

      in Elections

      Greece Is Betting Big on Liquefied Natural Gas From the U.S.

      by

      When a withering financial crisis forced Greece to rethink its economy a decade ago, it bet big on green power​. Since then, Greece’s energy transition has been so swift “it almost feels utopian​,”​ one Greek environmentalist said.​Mountainous ridgelines and arid islands ​are covered in wind turbines and solar panels​ that ​today provide nearly two-thirds of the nation’s electricity.​​​But ​now Greece​ is deliberately pivoting back toward fossil fuels, just not to burn at home. This time it’s betting that it can become one of Europe’s main suppliers of natural gas, with much of it shipped from the United States.Both Greek and European Union subsidies have funded new pipelines that crisscross the country and connect to a brand-new import terminal that will send gas to a broad swath of Central and Eastern Europe for decades to come.The investments in Greece are part of a deluge of investments into natural gas around the world, with significant consequences for climate change. In coming years, nearly a trillion and a half dollars will go into constructing pipelines and terminals, according to Global Energy Monitor. Twenty percent of that spending is in Europe.The world’s pivot to gas speaks to a kind of hedging that increasingly defines global climate negotiations: While nations have agreed on the necessity to transition away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible, almost all major economic powers are promoting gas as a “transition fuel.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More