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The end of feta
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little country that was newly open to visitors, one that people were happy to discover, including through its traditional feta.
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Beyond the Meteors
Modernity being what it is, Christmas in Greece is already a substitute, with the added bonus of spit-roasted meats that are still quite local. This is how the town of Trikala in Western Thessaly is currently lavishly decorated, while its so-called “Christmas” amusement park, whose official, marketed name is “Elves Park,” experiences its heyday during this time of year.
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Typical Village
Kefalóvrysso, our Thessalian village, is a typical village. This means it fits the standard typology of Greek villages—places that do not rely on tourism for their livelihood, yet are affected to varying degrees by the economic crisis, as well as by a declining population.
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The Tile
In Greek, Keramídi means “the roof tile,” but for our family, it is the name of a small village—once considered all but lost—nestled between “its” two Thessalian rivers. If you take the road from Tríkala, in Western Thessaly, toward Palamás, you will find it just upstream from that larger town—the very place where my mother’s family hails from. For us, then, passing through is, in a sense, unavoidable.
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Thessaly Flooded
Thessaly, the region I come from, has just experienced… yet another Greek disaster. Huddled together in our family home near Trikala, we waited for the… event to come to an end. The heavy rain, which began on Monday, September 4, finally stopped on Thursday, September 7. Three houses in our village were partially flooded, but elsewhere—for instance in Palamas, the village where my mother’s family is from in the neighboring region of Karditsa—many homes ended up literally underwater.