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I don't see your point. In your photo you look more like a Turk and less like what most people think a German should look like. Does this make you a Turk (I guess maybe you do have Turk blood in you, I don't know...). Again, the whole discussion of a "pure" race of people is just laughable. There's no such thing. We all have the seeds of several different cultures and "races" planted in us. Even the Mongols were in Europe raping for decades in the 13th-14th centuries. Some of us may very well carry Mongol genes too. Does this makes us part Mongols?

So then if the Germans repeatedly raped the Russian women during WWII and then the Russians did the same when they took over Germany does this make today's Germans Russians, and the Russians Germans? So when we're pissed with the Germans we're really pissed with the Russians, and when we befriend the Russians we really befriend the Germans? Putin may in fact be German, and Merkel may be Russian! I'm confused... What a wonderfully complicated world...

Eyoismos, please keep in check the personal insults. There's no need for this. Everyone is entitled to an opinion even if some of us don't like it.

A couple of good reads about poor people and homelessness is George Orwell's "Down and out in Paris and London" and also William Vollman's "Poor people". Both are good books if you have the time to read them The article I mentioned above rings many similarities to Orwell's work which was written 70-80 years ago. Things have not changed much since then. There's a need for a radical change in this world so that more people will share the wealth. Things have definitely improved over the past couple of hundred years, and they keep improving, but we've still a long ways to go. I don't know if this change will happen in our lifetime but it's bound to happen ( I hope!).

Ajax, if you really believe what you're claiming in those posts above then you can't really believe yourself that you're a Pontian through and through. Greece, as well as Anatolia (and all of the world for that matter) has been a melting pot for millennia. For anyone claiming they're a direct descendant of the ancient Athenians or ancient Spartans is as ludicrous as claiming they're Pontians or Arvanite or Vlachs (or Swedes or French or Italian or whatever else) through and through. There's no such thing as "pure" race anywhere in the world. We're Greek not because our DNA is 100% Greek. We are Greeks because we share the same language and culture (and in some cases same experiences too). The same goes with those people who call themselves "Turks" or "Italians" or whatever else. I personally cannot trace my family tree past 3-4 generations back. I know that my great great grandparents on both sides were Greeks living in Asia Minor. I have supporting documentation to prove that. I know nothing before that. Is it possible that 5-6 generations back one of my ancestors got married to a Turk or an Arvanite or an Italian or whoever else and I carry some of those genes? It's certainly possible. Would this really change who I am today if I'd ever find out that there's Turkish or Italian or German or whatever else genes in me? Not really. I'd still consider myself Greek, and for all it's worth, all people I know would still see me as a Greek. So what you're talking about in your posts doesn't make any sense to me. I'm directly connected to the ancient Greeks culturally and I'm also directly connected to them linguistically as I'm speaking their language. On top of it I was born and raised in their land, so I also share with them the love and pride of living in that area of the world which they called home. This is what makes you and I Greek. It's not the genes we carry from generations of intermixing with all the people who set foot on this land we now call Greece. It's the cultural and linguistic ties we have to everything that is called Greek today.

After reading this interesting story I'm realizing that not much has changed in how we treat homeless and out luck (and out of work) people in the western world since at least the early 1900s. It's really heartbreaking reading the stories of these people and the way they're treated by a system which seems to have been put in place to keep them out of the way of us ordinary people. http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/city/city/168899-homeless-essay

Ιωσηφ, Nafplio is a beautiful town. It's pretty touristy visited by non-Greek and Greeks alike (mainly from Athens/Piraeus as it's a relatively short drive from there). There are some really nice restaurants and tavernas in Nafplio and believe it or not 2 or 3 great gelaterias. Another beautiful place you should add to your list is the island of Hydra. No cars allowed there so this little island has retained some of the charm of good old times. It's loaded with tourists year round but this doesn't take away from its charm. Since you're an Olympiakos fan (like myself ) you have to visit Piraeus and watch an Olympiakos game at the Karaiskaki stadium (I was born and raised in the area...). Piraeus is a very nice seaside town. You should visit the areas of Pasalimani, Mikrolimano, Freatida and Castella and then make your way further south to Palaio Faliro in an area called "Marina Flisvou" full of bars, restaurants, coffee places and of course people. Great place for people watching and great views of Mikrolimano and Castella.

When was the last time you visited Greece? Maybe you're still dreaming of the Greece you saw in the 70s and 80s.

Not completely true. Even though there's the odd taverna in small towns which does offer locally sourced fresh food, in most cases in small towns you'll get stale and sometimes badly prepared food as firstly there's not enough traffic so you may be eating meat, fish or vegetables which are 2-3 days old or more, and also in many cases the cleanliness of the place can be questionable. In bigger cities there are many places where not only the food is great, but it's also prepared nicely by professional cooks (and follows all the regular and expected standards of cleanliness...).

Hi Ιωσηφ, welcome to Hellenism.Net There are many great places to visit in Greece. All islands are great to visit during the summer. Lots of action, lots of tourists and lots of fun. During the winter most of these places become less busy, so if you're travelling as a visitor/tourist it's best to stick with bigger cities like Athens, Thessaloniki, Piraeus, Patra etc. There's lots going on in these cities during the winter months when all the locals are around. There are many interesting "party" places to visit like the "Gazi" area in Athens, or "Ladadika" in Thessaloniki. In terms of sports, again Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki would be the places to go to as all major Greek soccer and basketball teams have their home fields there. Even though things have changed a lot over the past few years anywhere you go in Greece (even in big cities like Athens) it should be pretty safe to go around even late at night. There are some pockets in some big cities which you should avoid. Just check with the locals in any place you visit and they'll let you know where not to go. Sparti is a rather boring small town in Peloponnese, but Laconia has lots to offer outside Sparti. There's the picturesque Monemvasia, the amazing caves of Diros and the unspoilt beaches of Elafonisos. There's also the rocky Mani peninsula, home of the infamous Maniates. That's an interesting place to visit as well. Hope this helps! (man I should become a travel agent! )

Best wishes for a quick recovery.

This was an amazing success despite all odds. Well done girls!

I'm a huge Olympiakos fan but not a big basketball fan. Nevertheless, huge win for Olympiakos yesterday against a strong Barcelona side. Let's see if we'll make it all the way again

Patrick, if Greeks hated the German people (as you presume...) then you wouldn't be allowed to post in here, and more than that you wouldn't be allowed to voice your opinions against Greece and the Greek people in a Greek forum. Would you? Please be more respectful of this forum and of its members. You're still young. After you travel a bit and have the opportunity to see the world you'll realize that no matter where you go most people (be it German, Greeks, Italians, Nigerians, Iranians, Chinese...you name it) are all the same at their core and hold the same or similar values. In essence if you're nice to people they'll be nice back to you, if you're nasty you'll receive the same nasty treatment by them. This is a universal truth. Holds everywhere on the most part. So be nice and you'll go a long away

Pretty ballsy move considering the number of Turks living in Germany.

Sorry to hear this Dino. I hope all is well with your mother. Please do keep in touch.

Things don't look very good for Greece right now...

I just barbecued some lamb chops. No eggs or easter bread for us. We kept it pretty simple.

As much as I sometimes too want to hate Greece and the Novo Graecians (neoellines) I simply can't. Firstly because every time I go back I fall in love with the land all over again. Secondly, because even though I do hate many novo Graecians I also passionately love many others. You're right in the part that we're wannabe Europeans. We're not Europeans, as we're not middle Easterns either. We're this unique blend which makes us so different that everyone loves to hate us and hates to love us. Most of all, we're the lucky bastards who call that wonderful land home.

I think it's the Schengen treaty ajax. Seems, based on their actions, that they're headed for going back to the drachma. I should hold off for a few weeks before I book my flights to Greece. I may end up paying less if Tsipras and his boys continue on this road.

Problem with all these charities is that you ask them to come pick up this stuff and sometimes they never show up or they show up whenever they want. We're in a rush to get out of the house by tomorrow so I can't trust that these charities will be here on time to pick up all the stuff. I'm also not very fond of Christian type charities like the Salvation Army, you know that

If the Greek government pulls this off they'll be getting over 80% of the vote in the next election. Make the illegal immigrants and refugees issue a true European issue. Why would Greece (and Italy I guess) be the only ones who have to deal with this? Let the whole of EU feel the pain.

We're moving into our new house this week so we've been donating a lot of stuff over the past few days, from clothes and dishes and pans to big screen TVs, couches, fire pits, loungers etc. The idea behind giving away most of our stuff for free was firstly because my wife's been picky and wants to go to the new house with as little as possible and then buy new pieces where needed, and also it was a good opportunity to declutter and get rid of old stuff we barely ever use anymore. In between some junk we gave away some pretty valuable stuff like older leather couches (still in excellent shape), older plasma big screen TVs, dishes and utensils etc. When I posted those ads in Kijiji for people to pick up these stuff for free I was expecting to see people in need coming in to pick those stuff up. Single mothers, people out of work or out of luck needing to rebuild their lives etc. Instead I saw people coming in driving brand new minivans or brand new trucks and SUVs picking up all this free stuff. At some point I was seriously thinking to put a stop to this and start being more selective on who I'd donate this stuff to, but then we're in a rush to move out of our house so there's no time for being picky. But seriously, in a couple of situations I was really ready to tell some of those people to fuck off and let people in real need come pick up these stuff. This has been a surreal experience. I wasn't expecting to see this. I though that it would be nice to give away these stuff for free to some people in need and at the end of the day we just made some comfortable asshols even more comfortable with our free stuff.

Exactly, completely agree. Technology has gone a long way of course and we can now conclusively point to the right person if there's DNA evidence. However, many convictions are made based on eyewitness accounts which is utter nonsense. It's proven over and over again that eyewitnesses are not to be trusted. Not only because in many cases (as in the case I shared above) the system manipulates them to provide a testimony which goes along with the assumptions made by the police, but also because it's scientifically proven that most human beings are notoriously bad eyewitnesses - http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-the-eyes-have-it/

We used to have a topic like this one in the old forum so I'd like to restart it here. As painful as it is to read stories like this one below, it's also critical for everyone to see that many innocent people are filling the jails of every country. In some case it's just a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, in some others it's just a testament of how rotten our judicial systems really are.