Ottoman Whispers in a Secret Corner of Greece
For decades, the northeastern Greek region of Thrace was known mainly as an outpost for soldiers guarding Greece from a hostile Turkey and Communist Bulgaria. Today, thanks to much improved relations with both countries (especially Turkey), Greece is finally showcasing the area's diversity, natural beauty and backstory.
Days of Wild Oregano and Goatherds
The eastern Lassithi prefecture, which stretches from a lush plateau of farms to dry crags overlooking transcendentally blue bays, offers plenty of portholes into a disappearing Crete and its robust geography. But the last-paradise vibe may not last much longer. Several developers are scoping out the land for resort development, and residents fear that the resorts will guzzle the island’s increasingly scarce water resources.
Edging closer in a divided capital
The Mediterranean island-nation of Cyprus has been cleaved into the sovereign Greek Cypriot south and the occupied Turkish Cypriot north since Turkey invaded the island in 1974. As reunification talks begin again, the Cypriots who live in the divided capital of Nicosia are cautiously reaching out to each other.
Debating the merits of energy from air
As wind energy becomes a strong clean-air alternative for industrialized countries, an increasingly vocal anti-wind farm lobby is decrying the turbines as ugly, noisy and hazardous to tourism.
Trying to be green, with very little water
Can resort development on increasingly drought-baked land be ecologically sound?
Next Stop, Salonika: Greek youth remake “Seattle of the Balkans”
Though often overshadowed by Athens, Greece's second-largest city is actually Southeast Europe's cutting-edge cultural gem.
Next Stop, Athens: Take one forlorn district, add chic and stir
Once a sooty, dilapidated neighborhood next to the Greek capital’s gasworks, Gazi has become the hottest arts and entertainment hub in Athens.
Next Stop, Monemvasia: A living rock in a lost world
A narrow causeway connects this Byzantine-era town, built into a Gibraltar-like rock, to the Peloponnese.
Foraging: Atlantis Books on Oia, Santorini
The most eclectic English-language bookstore in Greece is in a tiny town on the much-photographed volcanic island of Santorini.
Edinburgh at its edgiest
Everyone is wild for the Fringe, this Scottish city’s biggest and headiest annual festival.
Summit of the gods
The rugged, storied peak of Mount Olympus is attracting growing crowds of nature-seeking adventurers who have grown tired of Greece’s hedonistic beach scene.
The root of the matter: El Greco
A Cretan village that was the painter’s birthplaces bridles at a nearby town’s claim on the artist locally known as Domenikos Theotokopoulos.
Letter from Athens: For birthplace of the Olympics, Games are a loss
The pretty Peloponnesian town of Olympia prepared mightily for a wave of tourists during the Olympics, but the summer of the 2004 Games turned out to be one of the quietest and most disappointing on record.
Letter from Athens: Beautification creates aggravation
A massive — and massively delayed — Olympic face-lift for Athens halted business for many shopowners boxed in by construction.
Back to Vietnam: Father’s past, girl’s future
An immigrant father and his Americanized daughter struggle through a cultural divide that threatens to ruin their bond.
His life, his music is upbeat
A look at the manic world of the N.C. Symphony’s new conductor, the Welshman Grant Llewellyn
Cherokee Stickball: Tribal game keeps past in play
In the Cherokee reservation in western North Carolina, a family tries to keep an ancient sport and its cultural rituals alive.
Insurance reflects fear of art attack
Museums scramble to pay hefty anti-terrorism premiums after 9/11.
History they can’t let go: The future of Oberlin Village.
An ambitious new development unsettles a historically black neighborhood in Raleigh, NC.
Princeville, Tarboro submerged by Tar River
Floods spawned by Hurricane Flood devastate parts of eastern North Carolina.
