Word: samarina
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...with Pattakos in Samarina, a small village in the north of Greece, when he made a surprise visit on a tour of the northern provinces. He descended on the village from the sky in a helicopter like a profane god seeking disciples. Few in this remote village had ever seen a helicopter, so most of the people ran to meet this awesome, whirring machine...
When I saw the helicopter from my tent overlooking Samarina, I was afraid that it could only mean more trouble. I was one of a group of people who were living in Samarina for several weeks to make a documentary film about the Vlachs, a transient group of shepherds who make their summer homes in Samarina and a number of neighboring villages...
This was a touchy task, since Samarina and other Vlach villages are within a few miles of the Albanian border. Greece and Albania never signed a peace treaty after World War II and are still technically at war. Of course, every official I went to denied he had any power in the matter and sent me along to other officials who they said
...when the helicopter arrived the day after I returned to Samarina, I thought it had come on our business to take the film we had shot, and to prevent us from continuing. Coincidentally, as I discovered later, a communique had been sent up from Athens that same day ordering the local policemen to do just those things. In any case, I was ironically relieved on learning it was Pattakos...