Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Drinking
5 Alexandrino
BAR
OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP
There's a quaint French-bistro feel to this tiny bar on the emerging dining and bar strip
along Benaki. Alexandrino is great for a quiet drink with excellent wines and cocktails. The
service is friendly and you can sit at the narrow bar or at the few tables on the pavement.
(Emmanuel Benaki 69, Exarhia;
Omonia)
Understand
Greece's Military Dictatorship
Exarhia's anarchic reputation has roots in its association with radical politics and the infamous student sit-in at the
neighbourhood's Athens Polytechnio (Technical University), under the junta. This military dictatorship was
headed by a group of army colonels, led by Georgios Papadopoulos and Stylianos Patakos, who staged a coup on
21 April 1967. They established a military junta with Papadopoulos as prime minister. King Constantine attempted
a counter-coup in December before fleeing the country.
Total Domination
The colonels declared martial law, banned political parties and trade unions, imposed censorship and imprisoned,
tortured and exiled thousands of dissidents, including actress and activist Melina Mercouri. In June 1972 Papado-
poulos declared Greece a republic and appointed himself president. On 17 November 1973 tanks stormed a build-
ing at the Athens Polytechnio to quell a student occupation calling for an uprising against the US-backed junta.
While the number of casualties is still in dispute, the act spelt the death knell for the junta.
The Fall of the Junta
Shortly after, the head of the military security police, Dimitrios Ioannidis, deposed Papadopoulos. In July 1974
Ioannidis tried to impose unity with Cyprus by attempting to topple the Makarios government in Cyprus; Makarios
got wind of an assassination attempt and escaped. The junta replaced him with the extremist Nikos Sampson (a
former right-wing Greek Cypriot National Organisation of Cypriot Freedom Fighters (EOKA) leader) as president.
Consequently, Turkey occupied northern Cyprus, partitioning the country and displacing almost 200,000 Greek
Cypriots who fled their homes for the safety of the south. The junta dictatorship collapsed.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search