Madam Rallou is agitated. “A Greek komboloï is not a worry-bead” she insists. It’s a mistranslation. Write it down”. I’ve arrived in Nafplion, one-and-a-half hours out of Athens, below the ancient Mycenae and Argos. It’s December, there is an astonishing 20C outside and I’m visiting Greece’s first and only worry-bead, sorry komboloï, museum. Madam Rallou […]
Semana Santa in Seville
The Semana Santa in Seville, Andalucia’s sprightly capital, is the week of religious celebrations that takes place between Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos) and Easter Sunday (Domingo de Resurrección) every year. It is the biggest and most renowned Easter festival in Spain; the locals know it, so prices double and treble during this period. Me, […]
A Modern Saint on Kimolos
Unlike the Catholic church where saints are created at breakfast, lunch and supper, the Orthodox church doesn’t mess up its throngs with just anyone. I mean, if John Paul II had his way, the whole population of Poland would be beatified (with General Jaruzelski the patron saint of dictators). No, the Orthodox church even used […]