Wednesday, October 28, 2009

'OXI' DAY - WHEN GREECE SAID 'NO' ITALY.


I just missed the service around the statue of Konstantinos Sfakianakis, the villagers were singing the national anthem as I came down the hill. However I managed a few shots as they were dispersing.
Today is a Bank Holiday in Greece to commemorate the day that 'Metaxa' Prime Minister of Greece refused to bend to Mussolini's request for Italian troops to pass through Greece after conquering Albania. Mussolini ignored the refusal, marched into Greece and thus started a bloody war between Italy and Greece bringing Greece into the 2nd World War. After a few days of very heavy fighting the Italians were repulsed back into Albania by the Greek army. Not wanting to see Mussolini defeated, Hitler then came to his aid and invaded Greece.
As you can see it was a bit of a rainy morning but as I spent the morning in Agios Nikolaos (bright and sunny) I missed getting wet.





1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Jane and greetings from a wet and windy Scotland. It's Mike and Heather here. I'm sure you've heard we've extended our family and can't wait to bring Alex over to meet you all. We had Mike's mum and dad over for a month when Alex was just born and it was just wonderful to see them. Mike and I love reading your blog and it really does makes us feel closer to home. Keep up the good work Jane and love to all xxx