25th March

Greek Independence Day

Honouring the start of the revolution in 1821 to remove the Ottoman Turks from Greek soil

In 1829 Greece was finally freed from the Ottoman yoke and declared an independent nation

Celebration of the Annunciation in the Greek Orthodox church

Archangel Gabriel informs Mary of her upcoming virgin birth

Big military parade

Name Day for Vangelis and Evangelia

Eating of salt cod and garlic sauce

One of two days during Lent when it is ok to eat fish

The second day is Palm Sunday

We always fly the flag on National days and celebrations

The little black one on the left is the silver fern of New Zealand

Boys in traditonal island dress

After the speech making -

poems of historical fervor read by pupils of all ages from pre-school to Lykeio -

wreath laying -

the national anthem of Greece -

and the final parade of pupils from all the schools

there is dancing in the square

A display of classic dances from the islands and the Greek mainland

Little-uns put on a display of greek dancing, some wearing the costume of Greek Queen Amalia

Then the older-uns take over, grandaughters included

We had a front row seat at our favourite cafe which is right on the square

Coffee first and then a glass of wine. All the people of Poros are out today, dressed in their finest along with hordes of city slickers here for the long warm weekend and quite a few tourists and yachties.

Most of our time is not spent drinking 'coffee' but greeting friends and relatives. All of Poros passes before us and most of them receive a handshake, a kiss on both cheeks or at least a 'Kronia Polla'. 'Many Happy Returns', the customary greeting on this day.

After all these shenanigans we were off to Galatas for a meal of salt cod and kalamari to honour the brother of our son-in-law whose name is 'Vangelis'.