Boulevard News

28 April - Loud Speakers

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I bet there are no village criers anymore in Europe. But they still exist, only now they are electronic criers. Here on the island, in each village they have an electronic village crier: everywhere there are loud-speakers that regularly announce important messages from the municipality. They announce for example when the electricity or the water will be cut because of repairs, they announce when there is a municipality meeting or when and where festivities will take place. But with this system you can also try to find your lost dog and people are even summoned to remove their car when they are parked in the wrong place (wich makes you the laughing stock of the town!).

20 April - Tulips from Lesvos

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

As a child you collected cigar-bands, sugar-bags or stamps. Growing older the collectors boxes and albums were put into a cupboard and forgotten. Only getting much older people get to an age to restart collecting things...

13 April - Under the Sahara

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

We live in a strange world... We don't live in the Sahara, but we live under the Sahara! For a few days clouds of sand have covered the sun and the blue sky. I'm not sure if the high temperatures are due to this Sahara sand. But it's certain that I had to dig deep into my closet to find some summer clothes. At 28°C even a light sweater is too hot.

6 April - It is raining...

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

It's a pity for the tourists that arrive on the island, but it has now been raining for some 2 to 3 days. The first tourists are mainly birdwatchers. They will not get wet in their cars that most of them use to watch the birds, but the birds are hardly to be seen through the thick shower curtains of rain. One thing is funny: it is the birds that signal the end of a shower: as soon as the water stops falling from heaven, above the dripping sounds comes the carols of the birds.

30 March - To sin during Lent

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Since Lent has started the summer weather has slowly died away. Lower temperatures, some rain and some occassional storms are somewhat more normal for the time of year. Which you cannot say of nature, that did its best to bring plants into flower as quickly as possible and made all the greenery grow to great heights.

24 March - Rhodes

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The best way to better appreciate the island where you live is to go to another island. Last week we went to Rhodes. Again I fell in love with the Old Town, but I was glad to come home today and rediscover the mountains, the flowers and the trees of Lesvos.

10 March - Clean Monday

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The advantage of Lesvos is that it's a long way from Athens. This means it never shares the chaos of the capital. Athens and the greater part of Greece were crippled by strikes last week. This was the cause of daily blackouts. And the banks joined the electricity guys, so when you wanted money, there wasn't any. Even when you tried to cash your invested money, you couldn't. For days Greece was a black spooky hole on the international exchange market.

2 March - Dangerous Island

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

"Do not make the stories of your island too good, so that it will remain a nice place. Friendly greetings Marius."

24 February - Anaxos

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

In a single day the ice cold weather was forgotten because, as predicted, the weather was in a hurry to reach for summer temperatures. So only a few days later we were walking in warm spring sunshine. Our walk brought us to Anaxos, a small tourist resort that in the winter should be totally empty, but was now very lively with road building activities.

17 February - Snow line

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

It's often said that the Dutch like to talk about the weather. Well, nowhere else than here on the island of Lesvos, weather is the talk of the day. And unlike in Holland, the weather here has some influence on daily life.

9 February - The Fairy Tale of Lesvos

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Sappho lived a few centuries BC and is now considered as one of the greatest poetesses of ancient times. Lesvos is well known for Sappho. But Lesvos also produced the first pastoral romance of world literature. A pastoral romance (also called a shepherd romance) glorifies the countryside and nature.

3 February - The death of a bishop

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Last week the biggest news in Greece was the death of archbishop Christodoulos. The 'pope' of the Greek Orthodox church had for months fought for his life because of cancer. He even flew to America, but they could do nothing, he died on 28th January.

27 January - Following Sappho

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Last week we enjoyed the warm Alkionides days, but for tomorrow they say snow is coming. On one of these warm days we travelled with friends to the west, to Eressos, where we would visit a waterfall.

20 January - Alcionides Days

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

A Dutch proverb says you can 'live like a God in France'. But in Greece you live with the Gods. Each year this is proved by the Alcionides Meres or Halcyon Days, also called The Little Summer of January. The Gods must organize these warm days, how else would you explain this phenomenon?

13 January - Land grabbing

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

When it's really clear weather on Lesvos, from some heights in the north, like Vafios or Lepetimnos, you can see a kind of pyramid sticking out of the sea: Mount Athos.

6 January - Cross-throwing

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

It's a strange sensation, waking up in the morning, opening the paper on the internet and reading the headline: 'Greece struck by a large earthquake'. I slept well and looked around: everything normal. Here there was no earthquake. It wouldn't have been the first time that I woke up from my sleep because of an earthquake. That feels like somebody's rocking your bed. Then I mostly turn oevr and think: it can't be that bad...

1 January - A sad outcome

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The sky above Lesvos is grey. For about two weeks the sun did its best, but now the weather will change again into rainy and cold conditions. The wind takes it easy during the daytime, but blows during the night. Not a happy situation for the refugees who like to travel during the night across the sea.

25 December - Happy New Year

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

There is no Lesvos News this week, because of Christmas, but I would just like to wish all my readers a

HAPPY NEW YEAR

CHRONIA POLLA

XΡΟΝΙΑ ΠΟΛΛΑ

17 December - Christmas

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. However, in very early times, centuries before this holy child was born, it was the birth of the sungod Mithra, that was celebrated, amongst others by the Greeks, on the 25th of December. Originally it was an Iranian god that fought evil. He won the battle with the holy bull and slaughtering the bull, from its blood grew plants and animals.

10 December - Greek Images

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Do you remember the television serial from 1977 'Who pays the ferryman'? It was a popular serial about an Englishman who served in Crete in World War II and returned later to this Greek island and its wayward inhabitants. It's set in the Sixties and looking back at the serial you will see that not that much has changed in Greek life. Especially not on Crete, where for the last few weeks the little village of Zoniana has been in the news, because after a shoot out with the police, in which a police officer was badly wounded, the whole village was turned upside down by a huge police raid. They found out that the village was full of criminals. Shepherds with millions in their bank accounts, discovery of weapons and drugs finally prompted the government to make a full investigation.