Terror by Land and Sea: My Greek Vacation

GREECE IS A GREAT PLACE to spend one’s Fourth of July. After all, it is the birthplace of democracy. And there is never any shortage of metaphorical fireworks.

The pyrotechnics have been especially volatile over the last week. My wife and I experienced both a near-mutiny at sea and a semi-close brush with a terror attack.

The mutiny occurred Saturday, when we set out from Athens to our secret island hideaway in the Saronic Gulf.

We took the 5 pm Flying Dolphin hydrofoil from Piraeus. After some time, we noticed that the boat was chugging along at a dead crawl, rather than flying over the waves at its usual 44 knots. A rumor spread that we were having engine trouble. But no announcement came over the intercom.

My wife suggested strongly that we proceed to the bow and position ourselves by one of the open hatches. If it became necessary to abandon ship, she explained, we would be among the first ones out, before the panic started.

"Panic? What panic?" I thought innocently. Engine trouble or no, we hardly seemed to be sinking.

But my wife is Greek-American. She has been visiting Greece since childhood. She knows things about this country that ordinary Americans don’t.

We stationed ourselves in a stairwell on the starboard bow. To our left was a stairway up to the bridge, where the captain sat. To our right, through an open hatch, we could see inflatable lifeboats lashed to the deck.

The action started soon after. A man pushed his way through and started yelling at the captain from the stairway.

"Why haven’t you made an announcement?" he shouted (as my wife murmured real-time translations in my ear). "People need to know what’s happening. Are we all going to be swimming soon, or what?"

I assumed that the man must be some sort of crewman or ferry line official, to approach the captain so boldly. But, no, he was just a passenger speaking his mind. Soon the stairwell filled with other passengers, all yelling and screaming at the same time.

One woman with a particularly Wagnerian set of lungs pulled out her cell phone and called the police, to report – quite inaccurately – that our captain was drunk.

"We’re all going to drown," said the first man to my wife. "We’re going to die."

Every cell phone on the boat lit up, as people frantically called their families. "I feel like we’re in the World Trade Center on 9-11," my wife quipped.

They say that Greece gave birth to Western civilization. But Plato and Socrates were not with us that night. An older, more primitive Greece showed its face. The spirit of Pan came alive among us – the randy, goat-legged god who gave us the word "panic."

No crewman even attempted to calm or restrain the passengers. The mob climbed freely into the bridge, crowding around the captain and shrieking in his ear. A full-scale riot seemed only moments away.

My mind drifted to the Greek liner Oceanos, which had sunk off South Africa in 1991. The captain and much of the crew had abandoned ship while 170 passengers were still aboard. My wife tells me this is common on Greek vessels.

As the mood grew uglier, I wondered if our own captain and crew might begin casting longing eyes at the lifeboats. I found myself sliding unconsciously in front of the escape hatch, as if to block their way… not that I really thought our brave crewmen would try such a thing, but, well, just in case.

In the nick of time, the engineer arrived, announcing that all was well. We were soon cruising along at a healthy 40-plus knots, the uprising forgotten.

Local terrorists provided a fitting coda to our adventure. We heard on TV the next day that a bomb had exploded near the Flying Dolphin ticket booth, less than six hours after we had bought our tickets there and boarded our boat. A second bomb, two grenades and a revolver were found nearby. The alleged bomber – icon painter Savas Xiros – was severely maimed when the first bomb exploded in his suitcase. Authorities believe he may be tied to Greece’s notorious "November 17" terrorist gang.

If there was any link between Xiros’ terror plans and our mysterious, unacknowledged "engine trouble" at sea, no one is saying.

All that aside, we are enjoying the beach and getting lots of wonderful Mediterranean sun. Have a Happy Fourth, everyone!

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Richard Poe is a New York Times bestselling author and cyberjournalist. His latest book is The Seven Myths of Gun Control.

Greek Anti-Terror Police Find Arms Cache in Athens

July 03, 2002 08:05 PM ET
By Karolos Grohmann
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek anti-terrorist police on Wednesday discovered an arms cache in an Athens apartment that could be a den of the November 17 urban guerrilla group, which has killed U.S., British and Turkish diplomats with impunity.
If confirmed as a November 17 hideout, it would be a major break in cracking one of Europe's most mysterious and deadly guerrilla groups, and help to allay some security concerns ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics.
A police source said a massive dragnet resulted in what could be the closest police have come in 27 years to the group, which mixes Marixt-Leninist dogma with Greek nationalism.
Scores of anti-terrorist police blocked apartment buildings and cordoned off streets in the Patisia district as three police helicopters hovered above.
The source said a pile of rockets, guns, ammunition and launchers were found in one apartment.
November 17 emerged with the killing of the U.S. CIA station chief in Athens, Richard Welch, in 1975 and graduated to firing rocket propelled grenades across busy streets and sophisticated remote controlled car bombs.
The last confirmed November 17 hit was the murder of British military attache Stephen Saunders in June 2000.
The source said the stockpile of weapons was being take to a police laboratory.
"We think this is a central den of November 17," he said.
But he said key evidence, such as a signature .45 caliber pistol, used in multiple killings, and a typewriter, used to write its claims of responsibility, were not among the finds.
Police have declined to comment officially on the search, saying only that the investigation into the group was in full swing.
No member of the group has ever been brought to justice and it is renowned for coolly planned operations and taunts to the police. "The investigation...is continuing. Police are making systematic and methodical efforts to battle terrorism," Greek police spokesman Eleftherios Economou told reporters.
PORT BLAST BREAK
Since a weekend bomb blast in the busy tourist port of Piraeus, sources said police have brought in dozens of people for questioning and were continuing home searches.
Local media have hailed the police finds since Saturday's bomb as a major breakthrough.
Monday, police said a gun found at the site of Saturday's explosion was linked to a November 17 attack some 18 years ago.
A 40-year-old man, thought to have tried to plant the bomb which exploded prematurely, was under guard in hospital with serious injuries. He was the only person hurt.
Police distributed photographs of the alleged bomber, who has yet to be questioned, and asked the public for information about the man, a church icon painter and son of a Greek Orthodox priest.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb blast.
The guerrilla group takes its name from a bloody 1973 student uprising against a military junta then ruling Greece.

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