Dock and port workers have long had a tradition of solidarity with the oppressed, upheld by strong labour unions and workers’ rights.
In February 2025, nearly a year and a half into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, dockworkers’ unions from Mediterranean countries came together to disrupt weapons shipments to Israel and Western countries’ military support of the onslaught.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
“Weapons need transport, infrastructure, and workers’ hands to reach their destination,” Markos Bekris, leader of Greece’s dockworkers’ union, ENEDEP, at the Port of Piraeus in Athens, told Al Jazeera. “That is where our power lies.”
Now, dock and port workers in 22 countries across five continents are holding a strike on Friday, which workers and researchers told Al Jazeera is expected to be “historic” in scale. The International Day of Action of Dockworkers and Port Workers – also called “Dockworkers do not work for war” – involves 110 ports and 25 trade unions.
“Every union will do what they choose, but be connected to the same principles and struggle,” Francesco Staccioli, the national secretary of transport and ports in Italy’s USB trade union, told Al Jazeera.
The unions’ main demand is “an immediate end to the genocide of the Palestinian people and all imperialist wars”.
Mohammed al-Attar, a dockworker who left Gaza in 2015 and is now based in Hamburg, Germany, said the workers “are the power”.
“We can save thousands of lives if we stop working just for two days,” he said.
Al-Attar feels hopeful about the global strike, but is “deeply disappointed” in his trade union Ver.di in Germany, which he accused of “incomprehensible silence” over Gaza.
What is the International Day of Action of Dockworkers and Port Workers?
In early 2025, dockworkers in the Mediterranean area came together to discuss how to concretely act “against privatisation, and against the genocide in Palestine”.
The original meeting included five unions organising in 20 ports across five countries, but continued to grow. The unions met several times, first in Athens, then in Genoa, and later in Istanbul. That was where unions from more than 35 ports published the Istanbul Declaration in May this year, and declared October 30 as their day of action.
In a statement, the unions called for the “recognition of an independent Palestinian state, recognised by the international community, within the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital”, and “an end to the US-Israeli wars of aggression in the Middle East and against Iran, and full solidarity with the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela and Sudan”.
“Refusing the war is giving humanity a chance to live better. This is what I’m really convinced about,” the USB’s Staccioli told Al Jazeera.
How many ports and unions are taking part?
More than 25 dockworkers’ trade unions, representing more than 110 ports in 22 countries and regions across five continents, are taking part. Most of the strikes will happen at regular working hours, but in France, Italy, India, Greece and Turkiye, 24-hour strikes have been called.
Strikes of up to two hours have also been announced in Morocco, Cyprus and other ports.
Organisers told Al Jazeera that workers and trade unions from other sectors have been called on to join with port workers, notably in Greece, while in Italy the USB has called for a general strike.
“It’s bigger than we thought,” Staccioli said. “This has spread all over the world.”
No Harbour for Genocide (NHG), a campaigning collective that researches weapon supply chains, supports the action. A spokesperson told Al Jazeera that maritime infrastructure was important in “facilitating military trade within the context of the genocide in Palestine”.
Dockworker unions in India, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay and the west coast of the United States have all pledged to take part, the spokesperson added.
The Palestinian labour movement endorsed the strike and called on more to join, urging unions to “escalate Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) pressure to end all state, corporate and institutional complicity in Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide.”
How are these ports involved in wars?
Of the ports participating, Genoa, Livorno and Gioia Tauro in Italy, Marseille in France, Piraeus in Greece, and Tangier in Morocco all have proven links to weapons shipments to Israel, according to No Harbour for Genocide.
The group said that between August 2025 and September 2026 it tracked 315 shipments of components for Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, moving through 56 commercial ports in 29 countries. All these 56 ports are expected to be on strike on October 30 , representing a major disruption, even if only for a day.
NHG said it expects that more than $2bn worth of cargo will sit idle on October 30 .
“Up to 95 percent of Israel’s imports and exports travel by sea, relying on port infrastructure across the Mediterranean,” the campaign’s spokesperson said. “Tangier, Piraeus, Gioia Tauro and Genoa, where the largest vessels unload containers onto smaller ships for the rest of the sea, are a few of the Mediterranean’s most frequently used transshipment hubs. All four are taking part on Friday.”
“The participating Mediterranean ports handle 63 percent of all container activity in the sea,” the spokesperson added, noting that “between southern France and Piraeus, the striking ports hold 74 percent of container activity. Worldwide, the ports taking part [in the strike] handle 13.5 percent of global shipping.”
Linda Maggiore, an Italian journalist and activist, said that she has discovered several examples of increasing weapons shipments from Italy’s major ports to Israel since the start of the war on Gaza.
“In Europe, a regulation on military mobility is about to be approved, which will make it even easier for arms to be transferred without scrutiny,” Maggiore told Al Jazeera. “Blockades are essential actions, because they make it clear that civil society does not wish to be complicit.”
From the Vietnam war to Iraq, the USB’s Staccioli said that “dockworkers have a long tradition of rallying against any imperialist war or aggression in the world.”
Are protest actions prosecuted?
In Greece, union leader Bekris is facing prosecution for a protest in which he and other workers blocked the loading of a container holding 21 tonnes of ammunition destined for Israel in October 2024.
“We carry forward the tradition of workers who refuse to load weapons against other people,” Bekris told Al Jazeera on the eve of the global strike. “Our hands get covered in grease and sweat every day. We refuse to let them be stained with the blood of other people.”
Public sector workers and teachers joined student protesters, amid growing youth-led demonstrations across Europe.
Published On 21 Oct 202621 Oct 2026
Thousands of students and teachers have rallied across cities in Greece, demanding more funding for education, including better facilities and smaller class sizes.
The demonstrations echo a wave of youth-led protests across Europe this month, including in France and Albania, where anger over rising costs and alleged corruption has led to clashes with police and major property damage.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Greek police said about 10,000 demonstrators, including school and university students, rallied peacefully in central Athens and the capital’s suburbs on Wednesday.
“From Greece to France, we want public, free education,” protesters chanted as they gathered outside Parliament, where students staged an overnight sit-in nearby before the rally.
Others joined the protests in Thessaloniki, Patras, Larissa and other cities across Greece in solidarity with growing demonstrations in France and elsewhere in Europe, where rallies demanding educational resources have morphed into angry demonstrations over soaring living costs.
Cost-of-living crisis
In Greece, the protests add pressure to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his centre-right government as the country prepares to hold elections in mid-2027 amid a weakening economy.
Greece struggled with a serious debt crisis from 2009 to 2018, during which the government agreed to spending cuts in exchange for three European Union and International Monetary Fund bailouts worth about 290 billion euros ($326bn).
But the measures have impacted Greek workers, who are among the poorest in Europe and struggle with stagnant wages, high rents and rising energy costs.
The average monthly salary of 1,500 euros ($1,685) sits at 2009 levels, with many young Greeks having been priced out of housing in cities by skyrocketing rents.
“Surviving here is very difficult; the rent is really high, the houses are really small. Our parents can’t make ends meet to pay for our rent, the electricity, for our life here,” university student Georgia Foukidou, 21, who joined the protest in Athens, told the Reuters news agency.
The protests on Wednesday included strikes by primary and secondary school teachers protesting low pay and staff shortages, while substitute teachers demanded permanent positions and reduced class sizes. Public sector workers and other unions also joined the demonstrations.
Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki said prior to the protests that she was listening to student demands, noting that the government was spending more than 733 million euros ($823m) on new student residences and facilities upgrades.
Mitsotakis’ government has also pledged about one billion euros ($1.12bn) in state subsidies and other benefits to offset increased energy costs for households and businesses due to the Iran war and inflation.
THE best hotels and resorts in Europe have been revealed and two in the UK have made the cut.
The annual World Travel Awards has named everything from beach resorts to city stays.
The Chancery Rosewood in London has been named Europe’s Leading New Hotel 2026Credit: Booking.comIt opened in September last year and has an underground swimming poolCredit: Booking.com
The good news for us Brits is that there are two in the UK – one in London and the second is a floating hotel in Edinburgh.
The Chancery Rosewood in London which opened its doors in September last year has been named Europe’s Leading New Hotel 2026.
Sign up for the Travel newsletter
Thank you!
The Grade II listed building is on Grosvenor Square and is considered one of the most expensive hotels in the country.
It has 144 suites, some of which even have steam rooms and two-person bathtubs.
On the roof are the two penthouses named Elizabeth and Charles which are 350sqm in size, and even come with private butler.
Start saving – they can cost £20,000 a night.
Otherwise the hotel has a whopping eight restaurants and bars, 24-hour in-room dining and a spa with a 25metre long swimmingpool and fitness studio.
The other hotel mentioned on the list is Fingal Hotel in Scotland which was named Europe’s Leading Boutique Hotel.
It’s unlike most others as the hotel is inside the Northern Lighthouse Board ship that is permanently docked in the Port of Leith.
It has 23 custom- designed cabins onboard with super-king beds, tartan textiles,and Art Deco styling with a sun terrace, restaurant and bar.
The Fingal Hotel in Scotland is onboard the Northern Lighthouse Board shipCredit: Booking.com
A one-night stay for two adults starts from £279.
When it comes to hotels abroad, Ikos Odisia in Greece is one to talk about – it’s won Europe’s Leading All-Inclusive Resort at the World Travel Awards for three years in a row.
The hotel in Corfu sits on the edge of Dasia Bay – it has Mediterranean-style rooms, 10 swimming pools and a private beach.
With its ‘All Inclusive Plus’ package, guests have unlimited access to all restaurants and bars, as well as beach and pool food and beverage service with drinks, cocktails and snacks.
There’s 24-hour complimentary room service, guests can also use the Local Discovery programme which includes the use of a Tesla for one full day during the stay.
It also includes free museum tickets (one museum ticket per person, per stay) and 30-minute complimentary beachside childcare for children four and up.
The Cullinan Belek in Turkey is the Leading Luxury All-Inclusive Resort this yearCredit: Booking.comIkos Osidia has a generous all-inclusive package including use of a TeslaCredit: Booking.com
Named as Europe’s Leading Luxury All-Inclusive Resort is Cullinan Belek in Turkey.
It’s been described as having true ‘glitz and glamour’ with 600 rooms in total some of which are private family villas or rooftop suites with Jacuzzis.
When one Sun Writer checked into the Cullinan Belek, she found her room came with its own pillow menu.
Her Superior Duplex room also had “top-of-the-range tech to control lights, curtains and air, plus divine Bvlgari toiletries in the two bathrooms.”
She added: “But the real treat is the swim-up infinity pool which lapped my second-floor terrace, overlooking the main resort.”
There’s a gym with a Pilates reformer stand, yoga room, Hyrox zone and the hotel has its own golf course.
Almar Lido Jesolo in Italy is right on the beach with incredible views from the roomsCredit: Booking.com Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas has won Europe’s Leading Beach ResortCredit: Unknown
Meanwhile, Almar Lido Jesolo in Italy has been named Europe’s Leading Beach Hotel.
Fifty minutes away from Venice, the hotel has 184 rooms as well as a 70metre pool heated to three different temperatures.
Even the gym overlooks the sea, otherwise head to the ocean as there is a path down to the private beach.
Another beach hotel that made it onto the award winners list is Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas which won Europe’s Leading Beach Resort.
It’s considered one of the most luxurious in Crete – the five-star resort has everything from five tenniscourts and a scuba diving centre, to a swimming pool and two private beaches.
There are lots of rooms to choose from but one of the most impressive is the Island Bungalow Waterfront which has direct access to the water.
When it comes to Europe’s Leading New Boutique Hotel, the Avali by Mar-Bella Collection in Corfu has been named the best.
The hotel is on the smaller side with 76 rooms and suites, some of which have private rooftop pools.
There’s an option to go all-inclusive (which comes with unlimited ice cream) as well as 30-minutes free use of a canoe and pedalo.
It’s not all about relaxing though, the awards even highlighted the best Theme Park Hotel in Europe which went to The Land Of Legends Kingdom Hotel in Turkey.
Avali by Mar-Bella Collection in Corfu is Europe’s Leading New Boutique HotelCredit: TUI Guests at the Kingdom Hotel get unlimited access to the Land of Legends theme parkCredit: Unknown
For any fan of the theme park its ideal as guests of the hotel get included and unlimited access to the attraction.
This includes its rollercoasters and Aqua Land waterpark, and a complimentary shuttle bus and access to the private beachfront.
Next door is the newly opened Nickelodeon Hotel which opened just last year – it has character meet-and-greets throughout the day with free gaming stations and a kids’ club.
Here are all the hotels and resorts in the Winners 2026 list…
Europe’s Leading Airport Hotel 2026 – NH Lyon Airport, France
Europe’s Leading All-Suite Hotel 2026 – THE VIEW Lugano, Switzerland
Europe’s Leading All-Inclusive Resort 2026 – Ikos Odisia, Greece
Europe’s Leading Beach Hotel 2026 – Almar Lido Jesolo, Italy
Europe’s Leading Beach Resort 2026 – Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas, Greece
Europe’s Leading Boutique Hotel 2026 – Fingal Hotel, Scotland
Europe’s Leading Boutique Resort 2026 – Collegio alla Querce, Auberge Resorts Collection, Italy
Europe’s Leading Casino Resort 2026 – City of Dreams Mediterranean, Cyprus
Europe’s Leading City Hotel 2026 – Conrad Istanbul Bosphorus, Türkiye
Europe’s Leading Design Hotel 2026 – 1908 Lisboa Hotel, Portugal
Europe’s Leading Entertainment Hotel 2026 – Seven Visions Resort & Places, The Dvin, Armenia
Europe’s Leading Family Resort 2026 – Sani Resort, Greece
Europe’s Leading Heritage Hotel 2026 – Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest
Europe’s Leading Hotel 2026 – Estoril Vintage Hotel, Portugal
Europe’s Leading Hotel & Spa 2026 – Almar Timi Ama Villasimius, Italy
Europe’s Leading Island Resort 2026 – Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa, Ireland
Europe’s Leading Landmark Hotel 2026 – The Phoenicia Malta
Europe’s Leading Leisure Resort 2026 – Domes Zeen Chania, a Luxury Collection Resort, Greece
Europe’s Leading Lifestyle Hotel 2026 – Hyatt Regency Vilamoura Algarve, Portugal
Athens, Greece – Tonia Katerini, a 69-year-old architect, leaned into her computer, scrolling through the property contracts that she said are remaking her neighbourhood.
Across Exarchia, the Athens district long known for its radical left-wing politics, flats are being bought up and turned into short-term rentals, pushing out the people who live there.
For months, Katerini and a group of neighbours have been digitally mapping foreign purchases using public records, marking them with red dots.
She zoomed out from her street on the map; it was a sea of red.
The balcony doors of her flat, where she has lived since 1986, were open and noise from the cafes below drifted in past the plants and stacks of architectural plans.
Her group says much of the money behind the rentals is Israeli; by their count, more than half of the area’s new company-run hotels and rentals .
In a neighbourhood where Palestinian flags hang from balconies and solidarity slogans cover the walls, that has caused friction.
On her own cobbled street, where the noise of arriving tourists rolling their suitcases wakes her in the morning, Israeli investors have bought two buildings, she said. The flat below hers belongs to one such company.
“They are nice guys we have downstairs,” she said. “It’s an Israeli company.”
Tonia Katerini in her flat in Exharchia in Athens [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]
A few streets away, a residential building is streaked with black paint.
“Airbnbs leave us homeless,” reads one slogan across its facade. “Zionists not welcome,” reads another.
Such buildings are easy to spot. Instead of residents’ names, the buzzer panels show only numbers and a keypad by the door releases keys for Airbnb guests.
Across the neighbourhood, activists have splattered keypads and facades with red paint.
They say short-term rentals are driving an aggressive gentrification that is pricing out locals and erasing the area’s identity.
Foreign money has poured into Greek property in recent years: non-residents invested a record 2.75 billion euros ($3.2bn) in Greek real estate in 2024, according to the Bank of Greece, before easing last year.
No official figures break down foreign buyers in Athens by nationality. But an annual survey of completed sales by the agency network RE/MAX Hellas found that Israelis were the largest group of foreign buyers in Attica, the region around the capital, ahead of buyers from Turkiye and Lebanon, reported the Greek weekly To Vima.
Exarchia’s political activism runs deep. In 1973, students at the nearby Athens Polytechnic rose up against the US-backed military government, which fell the following year.
In 2008, police shot dead Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old Greek student, in Exarchia, provoking protests that spread across the country. It came, Katerini said, like “fire on dry land”.
As Greece’s debt crisis deepened, that anger on the streets helped propel the left-wing Syriza party to power in 2015.
A protester confronts riot police in Athens, December 7, 2008 [John Kolesidis/Reuters]
‘Tenants displaced, apartment blocks emptied’
Chrysoulla Papageorgiou, a schoolteacher who has lived in Exarchia for 24 years, is a familiar face on its streets. Earnest and straight-talking, the 46-year-old remembers it as “a neighbourhood of solidarity”.
The change came slowly, then quickened. At first, small owners rented out a spare room. After the COVID-19 pandemic, companies began buying entire blocks.
“Overnight, tenants were displaced and apartment blocks emptied,” she said.
Bars opened, spilling tables and chairs across pavements on streets that had once been quiet.
Rents rose and migrants and low-income families, many living in basements and on the lower floors, were the first to go. Schools lost pupils and old bookshops, traditional cafes and grocers closed.
For years, Exarchia residents sheltered refugees in occupied buildings. Sitting on prime real estate, they were among the first buildings police emptied and then sold, Papageorgiou said.
“Half were squats,” she said. “Now we have only one.”
That last building is draped in painted sheets declaring solidarity with the families inside. Neighbours help make sure the children get to school.
The last building in Exarchia where migrants and refugees without housing can stay [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]
Since 2022, Exarchia Square, long the heart of the neighbourhood’s protests, has been a fenced-off construction site for a new metro station that many residents fought against. Riot police, Papageorgiou added, are now a daily presence.
The aim, she believed, is to turn central Athens into somewhere “purely touristic”.
In recent years, buyers have been “almost only Israeli”.
Riot police walk through Exarchia [File: Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]
Near the square hangs a large Palestinian flag. Tourists sometimes scrawl anti-Palestinian messages on its white stripe, and activists paint it white again.
Foreign buyers, Katerini said, see Greece as a safer place for their money than Israel itself, and in Athens “the government is very friendly with Israel”. In August, Athens signed a missile deal with Israel worth $3.5bn.
‘A very good opportunity’ for investors
Vagelis Lazaridis, a stocky real estate agent who heads a branch of the Athens-Attica Real Estate Agents’ Association, talks about his trade with passion. He said the reasons for the investments were purely practical.
Exarchia “was a run-down area” which made it “a very good opportunity”, he said.
It is beside the centre, close to the metro and to universities full of students from abroad. Unlike Plaka, beneath the Acropolis, it has few building restrictions.
Once a handful of buyers arrive, he said, others follow.
One of the many slogans criticising short-term rentals in Exarchia, Athens, Greece [File: Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]
Greece to become ‘far less appealing’ for Israeli buyers
The government is now trying to cool the market.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced last month that the transfer tax for homebuyers from outside the European Union would rise from 3 percent to 15 percent from next July.
“The party is over in Greece,” The Jerusalem Post wrote in a recent report. “The country, which in recent years has become a preferred destination for Israelis seeking real estate investments at reasonable prices and with attractive yields, is about to become far less appealing.”
Lazaridis said agents’ associations oppose the plan, which has yet to become law. It “may not take effect, or may be postponed”, he said.
Agents expect some non-EU buyers to speed up purchases before the deadline, reported the Greek news site in.gr.
A ‘tourists go home’ poster in Exarchia, October 10 2026 [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]
‘Fewer Airbnbs’
Not everyone in the trade sees an unstoppable tide.
Iryna Rondyak, who is originally from Ukraine, runs her own estate agency near Exarchia. She said that when Israeli buyers began arriving about a decade ago, they made up about 60 percent of her foreign clients, many buying whole office buildings to turn into hotels.
Until around 2024, foreigners accounted for about 70 percent of her sales, she said.
This year, it is about 30 percent, as state-backed mortgages for young Greeks, under a scheme called “Spiti mou” (My Home), attract local buyers back.
Iryna Rondyak in her office in Athens, October 10, 2026 [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]
She credits new rules for the turnaround.
No new short-term rental licences are being issued in central Athens, including Exarchia, and in September the freeze was extended to the end of 2027, reported To Vima.
Properties bought under Greece’s “golden visa” residency scheme can now only be let long-term. While a cheaper route into the scheme, at 250,000 euros ($280,000), rewards investors who convert empty office buildings into flats.
“Anyone living in Greece couldn’t find a home in the centre. Everything was on Airbnb,” she said. “Now there are far fewer.”
It is “a little better,” she said, but “the problem still exists”.
Rents remain high, at 10 to 15 euros ($12 to $17) per square metre, even in the southern suburbs, she said. Many flats sit empty because owners find renting them out is not worth the tax bill.
A building in Exarchia converted into Airbnb rentals has been pelted with paint by activists, October 10, 2026 [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]
Residents are less convinced.
The rental freeze is temporary, they say, and investors with enough money can still find ways in. Nor does it undo what has already happened: many of the neighbourhood’s buildings are already short-term rentals.
Back in Exarchia, Papageorgiou counts herself lucky.
Her landlady, whose family has lived in the area for generations, refuses to raise the rent as an “act of resistance”.
Papageorgiou said jokingly that her landlady’s accountant has told her she is ruining the market.
The work will take four months and see the airport shut over the festive period with local authorities and business owners urging the for the dates of the work to be changed
Chios Airport will be shut for four months for the upgrade
A Greek airport will close for four months as major runway upgrades are completed.
Chios Island National Airport in Greece will close between November 15, 2026 and March 15, 2027 for the work to take place.
The Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority say the project will extend the runway to 1,799 metres to accommodate larger aircraft ahead of the 2027 tourist season.
The work will see all commercial flights canceled. Emergency operations, including medical evacuations and search and rescue flights, however, will continue using helicopters operating from the parking apron.
As well as extending the runway to the north, the upgrades will also see an overall improvement of the airport’s operational infrastructure.
Originally the work was expected to take five months but it is now scheduled to only take four.
The plans have been strongly objected to by local authorities and business leaders, who see the winter closure as ‘economic strangulation’ for the small island.
They have come up with an alternative timeline that allows the airport to remain open during the Christmas and New Year Holiday.
The mayor of Chios, Giannis Malafis, said it was crucial the island’s airport remained open during the festive period.
He insisted that any decision on the future of the project should be taken in consultation with local bodies and Chios society.
Island representatives are still seeking clear answers on the duration of the shutdown and how this is expected to impact the local economy.
The contractor has pledged to make every effort to speed up the works, with the aim of getting the project done by 28 February.
However, this does not make any difference to the holiday season that is creating concerns for locals.
The HCAA notes that its goal is to limit the runway closure to the shortest possible period.
As I drove across the causeway which links the tiny fortress island of Monemvasia to the south-eastern coast of the Peloponnese, the Aegean sparkling on all sides, I recalled a line by Yiannis Ritsos, one of Greece’s greatest 20th-century poets. Ritsos lived in Monemvasia, in a house that is today a museum on a cobble-stretch by the tawny castle walls. A favourite passage goes: “The voyage is neither a leave-taking nor a home-coming – an ethereal bridge …”
The excuse for my trip to the Peloponnese’s deep south – Messinia, the Mani, and Laconia – fell between those two ideas. My mother has roots in the Peloponnese – a sort-of homecoming that I’ve long wanted to explore – and with the summer over and greedy for an adventure to myself, I set out by car, leaving Kalamata, the leafy port city and gateway to the area, on a coastal road circuit.
Autumn in the Peloponnese is another Greece. Forget the Cycladic white and blue; mountain valleys are carpeted in pine forests and wildflowers, a great stretch of green studded with rustic limestone houses. These villages, relieved by the end of a scorching summer, celebrate boisterous harvest festivals for wines, oranges and chestnuts in Laconia, figs in Messinia, and olives near Kalamata. This is the Greece the diaspora yearns for: the chorio – a word that snaps us back to our relatives and Greek rural life, villages where the air is healthy, eating depends on what is grown metres away, and tavernas are alive with locals rather than tourists. In the shoulder season, the weather is cool enough for long walks along the region’s spectacular trails but, at about 25C, is also still good for swimming.
The two-hour drive to Monemvasia began with the Taygetus pass, winding through villages and cliffside tunnels as golden eagles soared above the firs. On the far side of the Taygetus, the road opened to Mystras, an archaeological Byzantine site stacked up its hillside. I climbed to the Paleologian Palace and its chapels, then descended, hungry, to the village of Parori, where Taverna Ores was serving syglino, the local cured pork, and an okra stew. I practised my flimsy Greek with the waitress and her mother, who kept one eye on a television gameshow while stirring the stew pots.
The Byzantine Greek architecture of Monemvasia. Photograph: Kisa_Markiza/Getty Images/iStockphoto
After lunch I stopped at Sparta – site of the ancient city state and modern metropolis. Beneath the Taygetus, in the spectral hush of the olive groves, there is an acropolis, an agora and little else. Yet the air carries something over the ruins, and it’s a short but necessary stop. A statue of Leonidas, hero of Thermopylae, stands facing the new city with the ruins at his back.
This is still the Greece of the Spartans: locals remain fiercely attached to their ancient ancestry. Monemvasia has a thrilling connection: in AD600, a bishop is said to have led the Spartan population to the rock to fortify themselves against invading tribes. Set on to a slope inside the castle walls is a town of tight passages and medieval Orthodox churches. It is a vivid encounter with Byzantine Greek architecture, as well as traces of Venetian trade: the sweet, fortified wine malvasia was once a prized export. Even my guesthouse, Kelia (rooms from €70), began as a monks’ residence on the sea-facing Chryssafitissa Square.
Leaving Monemvasia, I took a detour south for the golden sand dune beaches in Elafonisos. Reaching this island requires taking a 10-minute ferry ride from Pounta. The turquoise waters of Simos beach are deserted in the off-season – a necessary respite before my hour drive north-west to spend a night in Gythio. This working harbour town has neoclassical pastel mansions and waterfront restaurants provisioned by local fishers. Here the Mani begins.
Simos beach is reached by ferry from Pounta. Photograph: Constantinos Iliopoulos/Alamy
“Victory or death” reads the Maniot banner, above the Spartan motto “With the shield, or on the shield”. The region has a reputation for a conservative way of life that might seem unfashionable in modern Greece, but I find it seductive. The Mani’s beauty comes partly from its insularity. Driving an hour to Vathia, rugged mountains are crowned by labyrinthine stone tower villages that Maniot clans built to protect themselves during periods of vendetta or skirmishes with the Ottomans. Some are now ghost towns. Others have been converted into guesthouses.
But it was in Gerolimenas that a Greek friend suggested I stay for a few nights. The seaside village is an easy base for touring both western and eastern coasts. Along the latter, I hiked to mainland Greece’s southernmost point, Cape Tainaron lighthouse and went for an impromptu dip. The Mani’s water is so gin-clear the boats appear to hover above the surface.
The Akroyiali hotel (doubles from €80 B&B) opened in the 1970s, before most of the region’s roads. It is built on Gerolimenas’s shore, so I dozed to the pulse of waves and chatter from the hotel’s taverna below, where owner Mr Theodorakakis and his family entertained guests.
Kardamyli, a popular village on the Mani that quietens in autumn. Photograph: Stephen Hughes/Alamy
“The Mani is changing at its own rhythm,” Theodorakakis told me. “This is a special place. We can’t keep hiding from the world.” Most Greeks prefer to visit off-season, he said. “You can actually explore the region without burning. But be careful of the north-eastern wind. It cuts through!”
Leaving Gerolimenas, I drove 30 minutes up the western coastal route, entering the busy town of Areopoli, where I shopped for hand-harvested sea salt and wild oregano. Pretty Limeni and Kardamyli – the home of British writer Patrick Leigh Fermor (who popularised the region) – get the Mani day-trip overspill from Kalamata. Regardless, it’s quieter in autumn. Every hairpin bend opens on to sea views, flowers and limestone.
I was lunching over one such view of a grassy cape when the taverna owner mentioned a woman in the village who knew miralogia. These are wailing Maniot lamentations sung at funerals, which are heard rarely these days. After two days of asking around, I found Kaiti Braimi in a small chapel where she agreed to sing. “In a way, they’re less necessary,” the octogenarian told me. “No more vendettas.”
The Polylimnio waterfalls in Messinia. Photograph: PitK/Alamy
The haunting rhythms of the miralogia were in mind as I left the Mani to enter Messinia – cutting through Kalamata again, but this time heading west. Here, the villagers were celebrating. Clarinets hummed in taverna gardens at Sunday family parties and relatives joined hands in circles to dance the kalamatianos. Passersby stood and clapped before being dragged in.
On the hour drive from Kalamata to Pylos – which would be my base – the Maniot mountains flattened into lush forests. Wildflowers bloomed on the roadside. Yet in Messinia’s expansive green are traces of ancient civilisations, including the bronze age palace of Nestor, north of Pylos.
My route sidetracked to the Polylimnio waterfalls. You can sidetrack easily in Messinia; there are unspoiled beaches (like Tsapi on the south coast, where mountains tumble into the sea), as well as areas for canyoning, cycling and kayaking. After a small hike, I bathed in clear pools surrounded by pines, alone mostly, apart from an Athenian couple. “We’re here for my birthday,” the man said. “Messinia is the best place in Greece for outdoor activities.” They pointed me to a canyoning trail north of the Bay of Navarino – a tip for my next visit.
That evening in Pylos’s port, only an hour from where I began my voyage in Kalamata, I paused for an ouzo at a kafenion. A group of lads were watching Greece play Germany at football on the television. They wailed their own miralogia with every missed shot, but when the game ended in a win the cafes along the harbour roared.
I thought back on my drive through the Peloponnese’s deep south, a journey that revealed a rural Greece I’d grown up romanticising from family, and believed was slowly disappearing. But not here. In the mountains and shores of Messinia, the Mani and Laconia, I found a Greece for all seasons.
The cultural exchange comes amid strengthening ties between the two countries.
Published On 14 Oct 202614 Oct 2026
Israel has returned 22 ancient artefacts stolen from Greece, a cultural exchange that comes as the two countries strengthen ties.
Greek and Israeli officials did not provide details on Tuesday on how the artefacts were discovered in Israel or the circumstances surrounding their illegal removal from Greece.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
The Israel Antiquities Authority’s Theft Prevention Unit had located the items, Pninat Yanay, Israel’s ambassador to Greece, said.
Greek Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni accepted the objects from the Israeli Antiquities Authority at a ceremony held at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
“It is the first time that Israel has returned antiquities to Greece, marking the starting point of closer cooperation between the two countries for the protection of cultural heritage,” Mendoni said.
“Every return of a cultural object to its place of origin has a broader symbolic and moral dimension.”
The collection includes 15 Attic vases, six Corinthian vases, and a bronze female statuette.
The objects are dated between 700 BC and 320 BC.
Yanay said the return of the antiquities created “the conditions for further strengthening cooperation between Greece and Israel”.
Greece-Israel relations
Greece and Israel have strengthened energy and defence ties in recent years.
In August, Israel signed a $3.5bn defence deal to build a multi-layered air defence system in Greece, called the Achilles Shield. It is the largest defence deal between the two countries, and one of the most significant export agreements in Israel’s recent history.
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, resigned on Tuesday after allegations of improper conduct but insisted she’ll “vigorously defend” herself.
Trump’s administration said earlier Tuesday it had asked Guilfoyle to leave her post after she faced severe criticism over allegations she engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens.
The announcement, after days of comments and speculation, came in response to a question to freshly minted White House press secretary Katie Zacharia at her first media briefing Tuesday morning. Zacharia said Guilfoyle “has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”
Guilfoyle’s departure comes after its possibility was previewed to the Associated Press over the weekend and Trump registered his unhappiness on Monday at reports about her alleged conduct.
“Well, we’re looking at it,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if he was considering firing Guilfoyle. “We’re not happy.”
Those comments came a day after the AP, citing a senior U.S. official, reported that Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are “extremely pissed off” by Guilfoyle’s reported conduct and would likely decide on her future this week.
In a series of stories dating to late last month, The Wall Street Journal has reported questionable conduct by Guilfoyle, including an alleged threat to a host country official, accepting improper gifts and services and offering to use her influence inside the Republican administration in return for the payment of a large credit card bill.
White House press secretary Katie Zacharia speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington.
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)
Guilfoyle addressed the allegations directly in a post on X, saying, “These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity.”
“I have dedicated my professional life to fighting for justice, standing up for what is right, and defending the values that make America exceptional,” she said. “I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service.”
In a statement released late Sunday, Guilfoyle’s lawyers denied she had done anything wrong and claimed that the money she was seeking from a Trump donor was payment for services — public appearances and speaking engagements that predate her ambassadorial nomination — that had not been paid.
The lawyers, David Schwartz and Jesse Binnall, also rejected allegations of impropriety related to Guilfoyle’s travel on private planes, saying that before every such trip she “sought, obtained and followed State Department guidance and followed the Department’s travel regulations.”
The allegations began surfacing weeks ago
After defending Guilfoyle following the first report, Rubio has declined to comment publicly on the growing allegations. Last week, Rubio said: “Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.”
But after another report appeared later, Rubio — speaking Thursday before leaving Athens — berated journalists for asking about the allegations. He said that he didn’t know if they were true and that he would not respond if he could not confirm them.
“You guys walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it’s the gospel. It’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel for me. That’s not the way we do things,” Rubio said at the foot of his plane as Guilfoyle, who was there to see him depart, looked on.
A second U.S. official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said the State Department’s inspector general was looking into the allegations, which first began surfacing in the Journal late last month and have since multiplied.
The second official could not say if a formal IG probe had begun. Inspectors general often conduct informal inquiries into complaints against staffers, and many times those inquiries do not result in a full-on investigation, which can result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
There was no immediate response to Zacharia’s statement from the Greek government or Cabinet members.
Ahead of Tuesday’s announcement, Greek opposition parties had called on the Foreign Ministry to summon Guilfoyle to respond to the allegations made against her. “This, most importantly, is an issue of national dignity,” Sia Anagnostopoulou, a former deputy foreign minister, said in parliament Friday. Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis responded that Guilfoyle had been treated “the same way as every other ambassador” and argued that an official summons had not been necessary.
Hours earlier, Guilfoyle had posted photos of her meeting this week with the Spanish ambassador to Athens as well as birthday wishes for Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, accompanied by Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night,” from the 2023 soundtrack of the movie “Barbie.”
Democrats call for an investigation
The top two Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, as well as the ranking member on the House Committee for Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., have already called for an investigation into Guilfoyle.
Since late September, the Journal has detailed numerous accounts of questionable conduct by Guilfoyle. Its first report said that she had told guests at a reception that the United States could undermine the Greek government if it chose to, promoted the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company and allowed its lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings.
While Rubio was in Athens, the Journal reported — citing text messages — that Guilfoyle had asked a Trump donor and supporter to pay a $100,000 credit card bill just before her confirmation hearing, promising him access to administration officials if he did.
The Journal then reported that Guilfoyle had been enraged about not being invited to a Greek-themed event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year and demanded to attend while boasting about luxury travel to France with energy company executives.
Another report, from the British tabloid The Daily Mail, said that Guilfoyle had alienated staff at the U.S. Embassy in Athens and had pushed the bounds of behavior appropriate for the top representative of the U.S. government to Greece.
Guilfoyle is a former Fox News Channel host and California prosecutor who was once married to California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and was engaged to Trump’s son Donald Jr.
Lee writes for the Associated Press. AP journalist Derek Gatapoulos in Athens contributed to this report.
Kimberly Guilfoyle has faced mounting allegations, including offering access to Trump officials in exchange for money.
Published On 13 Oct 202613 Oct 2026
United States President Donald Trump’s administration has asked the US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, to resign following a series of allegations of misconduct, including claims that she offered a political donor access to senior administration officials in exchange for money.
“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” White House press secretary Katie Zacharia told reporters on Tuesday. “She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The announcement comes after weeks of damaging reports about Guilfoyle’s conduct.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to cover a $100,000 credit card bill shortly before her congressional confirmation hearing, promising him access to administration officials in return.
The newspaper also reported that she told guests at a reception that she could use US influence to undermine the Greek government, promoted the interests of a Greek construction and energy company and allowed one of its lobbyists to attend private diplomatic meetings.
Guilfoyle’s lawyers have denied any wrongdoing, saying the money she sought was payment for previous speaking engagements and public appearances that she had not received.
Trump had signalled on Monday that he was considering removing her from the post.
“Well, we’re looking at it,” he told reporters. “We’re not happy.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially defended Guilfoyle, calling her a “strong ambassador,” but later declined to comment on the allegations and criticised reporters for asking about them.
Guilfoyle is a former Fox News host and California prosecutor. She is the former wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom and was previously engaged to Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
A woman has been badly injured after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony while celebrating her 30th birthday on a dream holiday in Greece. Denby McLaren suffered a broken vertebra, multiple broken bones in her foot and other injuries in the fall.
She his now in hospital in Greece, with her family desperate to bring her home to Larkhall, South Lanarkshire. Denby had been enjoying a birthday getaway with her mum.
A fundraiser set up to help get her home said: “No family should ever have to experience something like this, and never in a million years did we imagine we would find ourselves in this position. Denby was on holiday in Greece with her mum, celebrating what should have been a very special milestone – her 30th birthday.
“What should have been a happy time filled with memories has turned into every family’s worst nightmare.”
The fall left Denby with serious injuries and facing a long road to recovery far from home and her loved ones.
The fundraiser adds: “Denby has now spent four days in hospital in Greece, far away from home, her family and the people who love her most. It is impossible to put into words the fear, heartbreak and uncertainty that Denby and our family are experiencing right now.
“In a matter of moments, everything changed, and we are now facing a situation none of us could ever have prepared for. Our biggest wish is simple: we just want to bring Denby home.”
Denby requires specialist repatriation by air ambulance, travelling on a stretcher with medical assistance throughout the journey. But the cost has added further strain to the situation.
The fundraiser said: “We want nothing more than for Denby to be back on home soil, surrounded by her family, where she can receive the ongoing medical care and treatment she needs and begin the long road to recovery with her loved ones by her side.
“Right now, being able to get her home safely is our greatest priority. No one ever expects something like this to happen to someone they love, and the emotional and financial strain has been overwhelming.”
ATHENS, Greece — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio flatly refused to comment on a new report alleging that U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before taking up her post.
Rubio told reporters that he would not discuss the allegations contained in a Wall Street Journal story that said Guilfoyle had asked a donor and supporter of President Trump to pay a $100,000 credit card bill just before her confirmation hearing, promising him access to administration officials if he did.
He spoke before leaving Greece, where he delivered a speech calling for European countries to return to what he described as their civilizational roots.
Rubio said he was aware of The Wall Street Journal’s report, which was published late Wednesday, but had no idea if it was true and he would not address it.
“You guys walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it’s the gospel. It’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel for me. That’s not the way we do things,” he said at the foot of his plane as Guilfoyle, who was there to see him depart Greece, looked on.
At a joint news conference with the Greek foreign minister on Wednesday, Rubio said he would not address the allegations while visiting a foreign country, but added, “Suffice it to say our embassy here is doing a great job. Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.”
The top two Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees have called for an investigation into Guilfoyle, but Rubio would not say if he was prepared to open one.
Congressional Democrats already were looking into claims reported last month by the Wall Street Journal that Guilfoyle acted improperly while serving as the top U.S. envoy to Greece.
The Journal reported that Guilfoyle told guests at a reception that the U.S. could undermine the Greek government if it chose to, promoted the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company, and allowed its lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings.
Guilfoyle, a former Fox News Channel host and California prosecutor who was once engaged to Trump’s son Donald Jr., has denied any wrongdoing and Rubio has defended her before.
A British couple were left with a massive £28,000 bill while holidaying in a beautiful Greek island
A mother has vowed never to go abroad on holiday again after massive accident (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
A mother has said she will never go abroad on holiday again after being handed a £28,000 bill. Diane Steadman, 61, was on holiday on the Greek island of Skiathoson September 11 when disaster struck.
To get between the beaches on their £2,200 holiday, Diane and partner Mick Raftery had used quadbikes they’d rented. However, during one short journey between two beaches, the pair claim they were hit by a local car.
The impact from the rear sent both Diane and Mick flying off the road. While Mick came away with a few cuts and bruises, Diane landed heavily, breaking two vertebrae in her back. Diane recalled: “I felt a jump in my back and I don’t remember anything else.”
She added: “All I remember is waking up on the road. He [the car diver] wasn’t watching the road and didn’t have time to slow down. I was in and out of consciousness, I didn’t have the energy to speak to anybody when I woke up. I tried to be strong but I’m so frightened, I feel like I’m going to die.
After being moved by ambulance to a local medical centre Diane, a mother-of-two, was rushed to the mainland for further treatment, all under the belief the whole incident would be covered by her travel insurance.
However, she was shocked to find out that quadbikes weren’t covered by her policy.
What’s more, although she was under intense pain relief, she was unable to afford a £40,000 operation, so had to borrow a massive £28,000 to fly back to the UK via air ambulance on September 30.
As she waits for an operation to fix her back, Diane has paid tribute to her partner but also admitted she does not intend to go abroad again.
She said: “It’s just been one thing after another, I will not be going abroad again, no way. Mick has been brave and tried to put a smile on my face. I’m scared of the operation, everyone is telling me it’s going to be okay.”
Meanwhile Mick has issued a warning of his own pleading with people to make sure they check the small print of their insurance policies so they know what is and isn’t covered to avoid something similar happening to him and Diane.
He added: “Check your insurance before you rent a quad bike. We were mistaken in thinking insurance covered quad bikes too.”
As well as asking people to check their policies, Mick has also set up a GoFundMe to help him and Diane cover some of their costs following the disaster.
TORN on where to go on holiday next year? You’re in luck – the cool new places have been revealed.
Skyscanner’s Travel Trends 2027 report has looked at which destinations are seeing the biggest year-on-year searches.
This means these are the destinations which are seeing a boom in interest in demand, and much higher than the year before.
Skyscanner boss Bryan Batista said: “Travel is entering a new era.
Sign up for the Travel newsletter
Thank you!
“As people become more intentional about how they spend their time and money, they’re making different choices about where they go, how they book and what creates lasting value.”
So here are the top 10 destinations set to be the next big thing for Brits next year.
Yet the beach city of Da Nang has seen searches increase by 68 per cent according to Skyscanner (just after it was named a top 2027 holiday destination by Lonely Planet too).
There’s white sand beaches, but it is also, bizarrely, famous for its two beaches – Golden Beach, which is held between two huge stone hands, or Dragon Bridge which is shaped like the creature itself.
To get there, it is best to fly via places like Singapore or Bangkok, or a short domestic flight from other cities in Vietnam.
8. Sal, Cape Verde
Cape Verde’s Sal is great for no jet lag but hot wintersCredit: Alamy
Cape Verde remains a popular winter sun destination for Brits.
And a 67 per cent increase in searches to Sal means it is getting even more popular.
Hot weather all year round, no jet lag and short direct flights – all you’d need from a warm break from the UK
Flights to the African island are direct, with tour operators like TUI offering affordable package holidays.
9. Kittilä, Finland
Lapland is the best in Christmas, so try KittilaCredit: Alamy
If you want the ideal Christmas break, where better than Lapaland?
With searches up 65 per cent, Kittilä in Finland has it all husky sledding, reindeer safaris and and Northern Lights.
You an even head over to Levi for some fantastic skiing too.
EasyJet fly direct, and they start from £28.99.
10. Guatemala City, Guatemala
Volcanoes and fantastic food is all you need in Guatemala CityCredit: Alamy
The last trending destination on the list is Guatemala City which has seen searches increase 63 per cent.
It is actually the biggest capital in Central America, with everything you could want – fantastic coffee scene and historic museums.
The scenery is pretty stunning two, with a number of volcanoes being the backdrop.
Guatemala’s tourism minister suggested earlier this year that more flights from Europe could connect to the city – but until then, you’ll have to fly via Madrid with Iberia.
ATHENS — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for the nations of the West to return to their civilizational roots and restore the values that drove the rise of Europe and North America to global dominance for centuries.
In Athens to discuss deepening economic, energy and security cooperation with Greece, Rubio delivered a speech later Wednesday near the ruins of the Acropolis, a widely recognizable symbol of the city’s ancient civilization associated with the creation of popular participatory government and the social contract.
Rubio aimed to remind listeners of qualities he says were born in Greece and later defined the West, such as curiosity, courage, ambition, a restless spirit of exploration and a drive to discover the unknown.
“It has become fashionable today to believe that enlightened foreign policy means prioritizing the ‘global community’ over one’s own people. And I think here, too, we have much more to learn from the men of Ancient Greece. They knew that there was nothing selfish or wrong about loyalty to your nation, nor anything selfish or wrong about fighting to defend its interests above all else,” Rubio said.
Rubio urges Europe to uphold its traditional values
“Today, we find ourselves at a crossroads,” he said. “The next decade will write the story of the next century. The course we take will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world, or resigns itself to a future of atrophy, and servitude, and decline. We will either choose to act now or lose the choice to act at all.”
Rubio is seen by many as the gentle face of the Trump administration and has been frequently dispatched to clarify or otherwise address concerns about the president’s frequently undiplomatic statements.
Rubio, along with Vice President JD Vance, is seen as one of the leading contenders to assume Trump’s mantle at the top of the Republican Party, which faces stiff challenges in next month’s congressional midterm elections. Republican Party, which faces stiff challenges in next month’s congressional midterm elections.
The Trump administration has repeatedly accused countries in Europe of backsliding on their traditional values and democratic principles by stifling the free speech of conservatives and falling short on commitments to international partners like the United States.
Many of those countries have rejected the complaints and accused the U.S. under Trump of being guilty of similar behavior and worse with its staunch anti-immigration stance that some believe is racist.
Left-wing groups protest across Greece
Ahead of his visit to Athens, about 1,500 people gathered to protest Rubio’s presence and the war in Iran, chanting “American killers!”
The demonstration was organized by a communist labor union and other left-wing groups and was held ahead of extensive road closures planned in Athens. Organizers said similar protests were held in at least 12 other Greek cities. Police banned public demonstrations Wednesday in central.
Rubio seeks to reassure NATO allies
Rubio is on the second leg of a three-nation tour of NATO allies that has already taken him to Iceland and will end in Portugal on Thursday. The trip is aimed at reassuring U.S. partners that the Trump administration is committed to their success and security despite what has been an often brusque and sometimes rude approach to traditional friends that has stirred unease.
Rubio began emphasizing historical themes on Thursday, when he met Iceland’s foreign minister at the site of the landmark 1986 summit between former President Ronald Reagan and then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a meeting that many believe marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War and was a catalyst for the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union.
It remains unclear what impact Rubio’s visits will have, although on Tuesday in Reykjavik, he sought to reassure Iceland that President Trump’s administration has no designs on the island. Rather, he said the U.S. shares Iceland’s deep concerns about Arctic security as tensions between the U.S. and Russia rise in the High North and elsewhere.
Iceland has been uneasy about Trump’s intentions toward it after he posted a map showing the colors of the U.S. flag sprawling across all of North America and extending to Iceland and Greenland. That wariness has persisted despite an agreement last month to increase the U.S. presence in the neighboring Danish territory of Greenland that appears to have ended Trump’s demands for the U.S. to take full control of the island.
But after Rubio’s talks in Reykjavik, those tensions appeared to be on the wane. Rubio said the United States would not do anything in Iceland without Iceland’s consent.
Visit follows allegations of misconduct by U.S. ambassador
Before delivering his speech in Athens, Rubio declined to comment when he was asked about allegations of misconduct leveled at U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle.
At a joint news conference with the Greek foreign minister, Rubio said he would not address the matter while visiting a foreign country, but added: “Suffice it to say our embassy here is doing a great job. Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.”
The top Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Gregory Meeks, have initiated probes into claims reported last month by the Wall Street Journal that Guilfoyle acted improperly while serving as the top U.S. envoy to Greece.
The Journal reported that Guilfoyle told guests at a reception that the U.S. could undermine the Greek government if it chose to, promoted the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company, and allowed its lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings.
Guilfoyle, a former Fox News Channel host and California prosecutor who was once engaged to Trump’s son Donald Jr., has denied any wrongdoing, and Rubio has defended her before.
Lee writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed to this report.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland, for the first leg of a four-day European tour in which he will also visit Greece and Portugal.
“Economic and security collaboration” top the agenda for his talks on Monday with Icelandic officials, according to a statement from the Department of State.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Ahead of his departure, he told reporters he would not directly tie the United States’ decision to remove its B-1 bombers from the British base of Fairford to last week’s incident.
“I wouldn’t just directly tie that to the move that was made,” Rubio told reporters, adding that “the Department of War is constantly reallocating resources where they need to be”.
Rubio asserted confidence in the security of all US bases and praised United Kingdom authorities’ cooperation.
Five British men were arrested near the British airbase at Fairford on suspicion of preparing “terrorist acts”, and were later released on bail. A sixth man, a dual UK-Iranian national arrested separately in London, has also been released on bail.
B-1 bombers were returned to the US. They had been used for strikes on Iran.
A NATO military source had, however, said: “It is still believed that Iran poses an acute threat to US assets in the UK”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards previously said the Fairford base was a legitimate target, but Tehran denied any links to last week’s incident.
Rubio is also visiting Greece to lead the US delegation for the sixth US-Greece Strategic Dialogue, focusing on defence cooperation and regional and energy security, and will wrap up his tour in Lisbon, where he will discuss defence, economic and technology cooperation.
The emperor is a symbol of Bulgarian national identity whose repatriation stoked tensions with Greece.
Published On 3 Oct 20263 Oct 2026
More than 1,000 years after his death, the remains of medieval ruler Czar Samuel have arrived in Bulgaria.
A symbol of Bulgarian national identity, Samuel was a warrior emperor who battled the Byzantine Empire to expand his kingdom before suffering defeat and dying soon after in 1014. His supposed remains were discovered in a Greek border area in the 1960s.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The coffin and remains were flown on Saturday to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, on board a military aircraft that was surrounded by air force fighter jets.
Thousands of people poured into a public square to honour the czar’s arrival, which capped years of fraught negotiations between Bulgaria and Greece until an accord was reached this week.
Bulgarian politicians across the spectrum paid tribute to the medieval ruler, listening to the national anthem and a 21-gun salute.
“Today, we Europeans are learning to read history with a desire to belong not only to our homeland, but also to the culture that unites us across the entire European continent,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.
“That is why Europe must not reopen old wounds but must work for peace as the supreme good,” Radev continued, referring to the centuries-old rivalry between neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria.
Crowds cheered as fighter jets performed a flypast.
Martin Nestorov, a 42-year-old software engineer, told the AFP news agency he attended the ceremony “to welcome Czar Samuel back to Bulgaria, where he belongs”.
“I am here because I am Bulgarian, and a Bulgarian is returning to his homeland,” added Tsanka Zlatkova, 65, a retired art historian.
A procession brought the remains to be laid in the Church of Saint Sofia, a sixth-century basilica that is the capital’s namesake and where church officials say Samuel was baptised.
The remains of medieval ruler Czar Samuel inside a coffin Saturday, October 3, 2026 [Giannis Papanikos/AP]
Competing claims
The handover of Samuel’s remains is part of a broader accord between the Greek and Bulgarian culture ministers.
In exchange, Greece is slated to receive 48 objects that Bulgarian troops pillaged from churches and monasteries in Greece during World War I.
Speaking before the handover, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he hoped the ceremony would boost Greece’s campaign to repatriate the Parthenon Marbles, a collection of 2,500-year-old marble sculptures taken from the Acropolis in Athens and later displayed in the British Museum.
“The global community is essentially re-evaluating its longstanding stance on protecting cultural heritage,” Mitsotakis said, adding that historical heirlooms “cannot be treated as the spoils of war”.
Bulgaria is not the only country to have claims on Samuel. A huge statue of the czar stands in the North Macedonian capital of Skopje, with Macedonians claiming him as “their” ruler.
In 2022, a bilateral commission recommended presenting Samuel as the head of a state that “most contemporary historiographers consider to be the Bulgarian Empire”, based in what is currently North Macedonia.
