Athens Insider Summer 2022

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Culture

3 Feel-Good Books to read this Summer

There’s a palpable change in the Spring air, and it’s not just the scent of budding thyme leaves being warmed by the sun. A new genre of the novel has arrived as a rebuke to the ceaseless grim tidings all around us – political, economic and environmental: and it’s called “Up lit”. Readers, it seems, are now voting for life-affirming stori...

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The Darkly Familiar Greece of Leo Kanaris

John Carr reviews Leo Kanaris’ gripping potboilers with private eye George Zafiris. Both Codename Xenophon and Dangerous Days are spiked with Zafiris’ incisive descriptions of Athens and its resilient crisis- scarred people. Whether you opt for the beach or balcony to snuggle with these thrillers, before long, you’ll be rooting for the un...

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The Ornate Finesse of Dassios’ designs

Dimitris Dassios’ itinerant sartorial style brings alive the sensual vibrance of an Oriental souk with the meticulous tailoring of an Italian couture house. Swarovski crystals, semiprecious gems, Indian zari, cultivated pearls, intricate 19th century Turkish embroidery, mirrors and tassles – and over-sized flowers – find their way into hi...

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Coronavirus: A Parallel Pandemic

London-born, Nottingham-based award-winning documentary and travel photographer, Dan Giannopoulos’ work has often focussed on individuals and communities on the fringes of contemporary society whether by their own volition or through circumstances out of their control. In this compelling photo-essay, he documents the debris left behind by...

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Trouble in Paradise

Timothy Jay Smith’s Fire on the Island unveils the complex layers that guise the sun-drenched, bougainvillea-tinted Greek isle, blighted by declining tourism and the seemingly intractable refugee crisis. There are family feuds and a corrupt clergy. There is racism and homophobia. But there is romance, humour and mystery too! An engaging s...

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Under lockdown no more

John Carr mirrors the collective psyche of a country eager yet cautious to crawl back to near-normalcy. As I find when I rub the fuzz Of sleep from eyes and stagger to The place where the first thing I do Is look in the mirror with a start And ask myself, "Who's this old fart And why doth he still walk the earth...

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How to Celebrate May Day (Protomayia)!

Tomorrow is Protomayia. Though official celebrations have been slated for May 9, there's no reason why you can't pay tribute to the Return of Spring and the End of Lockdown like a true Greek… On this Greek version of Labour Day, locals traditionally gather bright blooms from the hillsides and fashion them into wreaths for thei...

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Corona Viriad 3

John Carr baits you into his virus-obsessed world with an ode to the invisible crown-shaped bug. 'Tis four weeks now this lockdown weighs So heavily upon our days, As we all huddle as in hiding Awaiting that oh-so-glad tiding That Covid 19 has at last Been sent the way of viri past. But let's not soak in gloom and doom...

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Canto IX

A soft-spoken Doctor is the darling of the masses. John Carr joins the ranks of his adoring fans and pens this glowing tribute! Let's hear it, folks, for Dr T, That modest chappie on tv, Who every afternoon at six Unmasks ol' Covid's nasty tricks And lets us know what's going' down Plus how to get rid of our frown Even...

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