6 minute read
KLIMATARIA | TAVERNA
from FREE ATHENS
TAVERNA
KLIMATARIA
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Klimataria, which means «arbor» in greek, “has been spreading its leaves” since 1927 above the Temple of Apollo and next to the first covered theatre of Athens. You will immediately feel the vibes of the historic city centre! Entertainment starts from traditional greek recipes enriched with modern touches and is successfully combined with tap wine of high quality. Sit comfortably and enjoy!
/ 2 Theatrou Sq. - Athens / t: +30 210 32 16 629 / www.klimataria.gr / fb: Klimataria
500 m / OMONIA ISAP LINE 1 / METRO LINE 2
GREEK CUISINE
ACHILLEAS - VERGINA
Don’t leave Athens without tasting the real greek souvlaki at Exarchia. Served with side dishes or with pita bread, Vergina’s souvlaki will please your palate. You can also try the “skepasti”, a special version of greek pizza with gyros! Soups and hotpots are worth trying, as they are cooked with high quality oil and fresh ingredients following the tradition of the mediterranean cuisine.
/ 62 Valtetsiou St. - Exarchia / t: +30 210 33 02 933 / fb: Achileas1978
KLEMENS VON METTERNICH
LORD CASTLEREAGH THE FIRST “GREY CLOUDS” OVER THE GREEK REVOLUTION
In the outbreak of the Greek Revolution there weren’t only supporters by the side of Greeks. Europeans condemned the Greek Revolution, although it hadn’t a social character, like other movements in Europe, but a purely liberation character after 400 whole years of slavery. They were aware that a possible expropriation of the Ottoman Empire would upset the balance in Europe to a great extent, a fact that the powerful of the Old Continent wanted to avoid.
Klemens von Metternich, the Austrian chancellor, was one of the first to discourage the Greek Revolution because of his monarchist sentiments. Due to his extreme conservative beliefs, Metternich wanted for Austria but also for Europe an entire system of government organisation based on the authority of the monarch, aided by a powerful bureaucracy.
British governors were also against the Greek Revolution of 1821, as the French consul mentioned in a memorandum to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1822 in Thessaloniki, with the main proponent of the anti-hellenic attitude the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lord Castlereagh. In the reborn Greek nation, British powers recognised an uprising naval power, which had to be drowned.
The French monarchy, recently wounded by the consequences of the French Revolution, was also leery of the demands of the Greek revolutionists.
In the case of Russia, the situation was controversial. Although Russia had placed under its protection the Christian populations of the Ottoman Empire, tsar Alexander didn’t exert political pressure on the Ottomans, as he didn’t seek to support the liberation of Greece.
Finally, the distant American state didn’t support the Greek Revolution, still American Philhellenism had a popular expression. America, aiming to serve her financial interests, followed a pro-turkish policy in order to sign a conducive trade agreement.
The people of the time, and not only the Greeks, seemed ready to claim their right to life, but the state authorities resisted with all their strength the impending social modernization.
The world is the expanding Greece and Greece is the shrinking world.
Victor Hugo, 1802-1885, French author
Hence, we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.
Winston Churchill, 1874-1965, British Prime Minister, Nobel Prize 1953
If it is true that the violin is the most perfect of musical instruments, then Greek is the violin of human thought.
Helen Keller, 1880-1968, American Writer
What the mind and the heart is for a human, Greece is for humanity.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The world can be as dark as it wants, but it is enough to insert a piece of Greek life, to be immediately fully enlightened.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Apart from the machines, everything timeless comes from ancient Greece: Schools, Gyms, Arithmetic, Geometry, History, Rhetoric, Physics, Biology, Anatomy, Hygiene, Decoration, Poetry, Music, Tragedy, Comedy. The light of Greece opened my eyes, penetrated my pores, expanded my whole being.
To those who think that Greece does not matter today, let me say that they could not make a bigger mistake. Today, like ancient Greece, is of the utmost importance for anyone looking to find himself.
Henry Miller, 1891-1980, American author
THEY SAID ABOUT GREECE OVER THE YEARS
Greece ... It all started here and will end here!
Jalaluddin Al Rumi, 1207-1273, Persian poet
If in the library of your house you do not have the works of the ancient Greek writers, then you live in a house with no light.
George Bernard Shaw
Cursed Greek, you discovered everything, philosophy, geometry, physics, astronomy. You left nothing for us
Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805)
Other countries offer you the discovery of customs, popular belief or the landscape, but Greece offers you something more difficult: the discovery of yourself.
Lawrence Darrell, 1912-1990, British author
Although we could expect that the Greek Revolution of 1821 would be supported by the Europeans neighbors, one small island in the west Atlantic ocean was the first to approve the Greek struggle, not only by offering help, but also recognizing the Revolution as a movement towards the making of the Greek state.
Prominent Greeks living in Paris, such as Adamantios Korais, announced their plea for help to the world community, but the only answer came from “Haition”, today’s Haiti. Poor Haiti was the second country in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States of America, to declare its independence from France on January 1, 1804. The country became the first independent African-American Republic and the only state to be born after a successful slave revolution.
Having had a similar experience on the road to freedom, the Haitian president, a man of French descent from his father, with European culture and studies in France, was the only one who responded positively to the call, as he was inspired by strong philhellenic feelings. In a reply letter dated on January 15, 1822, Boyer acknowledged the Greeks’ right to self-determination and spoke warmly of the revolution.
Haiti sent 45 tons of coffee for sale to the Greeks in order to buy weapons and ammunition, but most importantly sent 100 Haitian volunteers. Unfortunately, the 100 romantic Haitians never arrived in Greece! They died because of hardship during their long and arduous voyage across the Atlantic ocean. Their sacrifice is considered one of the most heroic acts committed by non-Greeks during the Revolution. Note that the first of the “Great Powers”, which differentiated and supported the Greeks, was finally Great Britain, which recognized the Revolution a year and a half after Haiti!
On the occasion of the celebrations for the 200 years since the Greek Revolution, it was proposed to place a marble votive plaque in the Greek Parliament and to award 100 scholarships to Haitian students for Greek educational institutions. Also, the municipality of Kalavrita honored Haiti in a special event, while the mayor started an information campaign of the local authorities of the whole country in order to raise money for the construction of a school in Haiti, which is facing serious financial problems with much of its population living in poverty.
