#heraklio

Paloma

A … primitive, rowing boat, carved from a single tree trunk, anchored at the port of Heraklio, Crete beginning of the week.

The boat was constructed by Czech scientists, an exact copy of an ancient boat Italians had used 8,000 years ago.

The wooden boat left the port of Lavrio in Attica and reached the island of Crete after a stop over at the island of Milos, Cyclades.

The boat is used to revive the ancient routes that were made for the obsidian, a precious mineral of the time.

Washing hangs from the balconies of an unassuming apartment block on Irodotou street in Heraklion, the capital of Crete. Outside, children ride bikes and old men play cards in a coffee shop. But before May this year, this building looked rather different. A sign hung outside reading: “Golden Dawn, Heraklion region”. The ultra-nationalist, far-right Greek party used this street as its local base.

It was local teachers who first spotted its influence. “Two of my 13-year-old students had family problems,” recalls Maria Oikonomaki, 50. “Golden Dawn approached them in cafes and the gym, presenting themselves as family and protectors. They took them for coffee and gave them lessons on Greek history.”

Then came the violence, including the stabbing of two Pakistani workers. “I thought to myself: ‘My god, what is happening in this neighbourhood?’” says Oikonomaki.

​Despite the attacks, Golden Dawn might ​have kept its foothold in Heraklion – or ​dug in deeper – had the city’s residents not decided to fight back.

Golden Dawn was formed in 1980 and remained a fringe party until Greece’s devastating financial crisis started in 2009. As faith in the major political parties ebbed away, Golden Dawn’s narrative of a once-great nation ruined by immigration struck a chord with some disillusioned voters. As well as becoming the third-largest party in the Greek parliament, it also established a street-based paramilitary wing that regularly attacked immigrants and political opponents.

An ancient amphora was found floating in the sea off the popular beach Arina by Heraklio in North Crete. The amphora estimated to be from the Byzantine period was found by a swimmer who had shot pictures of the sea.

The man was enjoying the sun at the beach and had shot some pictures of the calm sea.

While he was later checking on the pictures on his mobile phone, he saw a floating object. Due to the many drowning incidents on the island “the man believed it was a floating head,” local media neakriti that has the report and the pictures writes.

He conducted the sea sports facility at the beach and saw the man in charge the picture. He also got alerted and got on a surfing board to approach the object.

It was nothing alarming except a floating amphora.

The surfer took it to the beach and informed the Heraklio port authorities.