Meanwhile: They could have sworn it was Putin's daughter

Lynn Berry International Herald Tribune

WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2005

OIA, Greece Men in years past went to the barbershop for the latest news and gossip, so I suppose I should not be too embarrassed to say that I first heard the story while getting a pedicure in this Santorini island town.

Learning that I was from Moscow, the Greek-Australian woman doing the pedicure said, "Oh, President Putin's daughter got married here a couple of weeks ago."

I remembered stories in the tabloids Zhizn and Moskovsky Komsomolets in early June that said a Greek television station was reporting that one of Vladimir Putin's two daughters was getting married on Santorini. It did not say which - the older, Maria, is about 20, and Katerina is a year younger.

The report was never confirmed, but since I was on Santorini and a seemingly sensible woman was telling me that the wedding had actually taken place, I decided to ask around.

Hotel owners told me it was true: Putin's daughter had been married on June 11 in the Orthodox cathedral in Fira, the capital of Santorini.

A restaurant manager said Putin's daughter had come by in the spring to check out the restaurant's roof garden as a possible site for the reception, but found it too small.

A waiter told me where the reception had been held in the end. I asked how he knew. "Everybody was talking about it," was the answer.

The crescent-shaped Santorini is a fairy-tale Greek island of whitewashed houses and churches with blue domes. In Fira and Oia, houses and hotels are dug into the sides of high cliffs overlooking the deep blue waters of a caldera, a crater formed by a great volcanic eruption thousands of years ago.

The island is a popular place for weddings and honeymoons, with the privacy and seclusion of its cliffside hotels making it a favorite of celebrities and others seeking to avoid the paparazzi.

Fewer than 10,000 people live on the entire island, and only about 1,000 in Oia, and most of them are tied into the hotel and restaurant business or other aspects of the tourist industry, so it is understandable that they would pay particular attention to who was holding a wedding where.

But why would Putin's daughter get married in secret?

I called the press counselor of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, George Hatziioannou. He had an answer to the mystery. That morning, he said, a Greek tabloid, Espresso, was carrying a story that a Russian businessman did get married on Santorini in grand style on June 11 - but not to the president's daughter.

Espresso credited a Russian-language paper called Russkaya Mysl with straightening out the confusion. The Russian paper had published a photograph of a bride and groom under the headline, "Who Got Married on Santorini Instead of Putin's Daughter?"

The story was this: Two planes took off from Moscow at the same time. One was Putin's and the other was chartered by Georgy Trefilov, a Moscow businessman who was flying about 80 guests to Santorini for his wedding.

So the story went out that Putin's daughter had come to be married on Santorini. The Greek paper blamed the confusion on Russian journalists, though I suspect someone here might have used Greek reporters to try to attract more rich Russians to Santorini.

Once the story got started, it quickly took on a life of its own. Some of the people I spoke with said they had learned about the wedding of Putin's daughter's from Antenna television, a respected national channel.

With the Espresso story in hand, I went back to the restaurant where Putin's daughter supposedly had wanted to hold her reception.

Glancing at the paper, Eleni Economou, the reservations manager, said the dark-haired bride in the photograph was not the woman she met. The woman she had met had blond hair and looked to be about 20. In fact, she could have been the girl in the other photograph printed in Espresso that day - of Putin and his daughters by the sea, though it was hard to tell because both girls had their backs to the camera.

Economou still insisted that Putin's daughter had gotten married on Santorini. Journalists had called, asking to get on the guest list, she said, so they moved the reception to the opposite side of the island, to Vlychada, and kept the wedding a secret. "They said they weren't getting married here, but they did," Economou said.

Maybe I'll sort it out at my next pedicure on Santorini.

(Lynn Berry is the editor of The Moscow Times.)

OIA, Greece Men in years past went to the barbershop for the latest news and gossip, so I suppose I should not be too embarrassed to say that I first heard the story while getting a pedicure in this Santorini island town.

Learning that I was from Moscow, the Greek-Australian woman doing the pedicure said, "Oh, President Putin's daughter got married here a couple of weeks ago."

I remembered stories in the tabloids Zhizn and Moskovsky Komsomolets in early June that said a Greek television station was reporting that one of Vladimir Putin's two daughters was getting married on Santorini. It did not say which - the older, Maria, is about 20, and Katerina is a year younger.

The report was never confirmed, but since I was on Santorini and a seemingly sensible woman was telling me that the wedding had actually taken place, I decided to ask around.

Hotel owners told me it was true: Putin's daughter had been married on June 11 in the Orthodox cathedral in Fira, the capital of Santorini.

A restaurant manager said Putin's daughter had come by in the spring to check out the restaurant's roof garden as a possible site for the reception, but found it too small.

A waiter told me where the reception had been held in the end. I asked how he knew. "Everybody was talking about it," was the answer.

The crescent-shaped Santorini is a fairy-tale Greek island of whitewashed houses and churches with blue domes. In Fira and Oia, houses and hotels are dug into the sides of high cliffs overlooking the deep blue waters of a caldera, a crater formed by a great volcanic eruption thousands of years ago.

The island is a popular place for weddings and honeymoons, with the privacy and seclusion of its cliffside hotels making it a favorite of celebrities and others seeking to avoid the paparazzi.

Fewer than 10,000 people live on the entire island, and only about 1,000 in Oia, and most of them are tied into the hotel and restaurant business or other aspects of the tourist industry, so it is understandable that they would pay particular attention to who was holding a wedding where.

But why would Putin's daughter get married in secret? I called the press counselor of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, George Hatziioannou. He had an answer to the mystery. That morning, he said, a Greek tabloid, Espresso, was carrying a story that a Russian businessman did get married on Santorini in grand style on June 11 - but not to the president's daughter. Espresso credited a Russian-language paper called Russkaya Mysl with straightening out the confusion. The Russian paper had published a photograph of a bride and groom under the headline, "Who Got Married on Santorini Instead of Putin's Daughter?" The story was this: Two planes took off from Moscow at the same time. One was Putin's and the other was chartered by Georgy Trefilov, a Moscow businessman who was flying about 80 guests to Santorini for his wedding. So the story went out that Putin's daughter had come to be married on Santorini. The Greek paper blamed the confusion on Russian journalists, though I suspect someone here might have used Greek reporters to try to attract more rich Russians to Santorini. Once the story got started, it quickly took on a life of its own. Some of the people I spoke with said they had learned about the wedding of Putin's daughter's from Antenna television, a respected national channel. With the Espresso story in hand, I went back to the restaurant where Putin's daughter supposedly had wanted to hold her reception. Glancing at the paper, Eleni Economou, the reservations manager, said the dark-haired bride in the photograph was not the woman she met. The woman she had met had blond hair and looked to be about 20. In fact, she could have been the girl in the other photograph printed in Espresso that day - of Putin and his daughters by the sea, though it was hard to tell because both girls had their backs to the camera. Economou still insisted that Putin's daughter had gotten married on Santorini. Journalists had called, asking to get on the guest list, she said, so they moved the reception to the opposite side of the island, to Vlychada, and kept the wedding a secret. "They said they weren't getting married here, but they did," Economou said. Maybe I'll sort it out at my next pedicure on Santorini. (Lynn Berry is the editor of The Moscow Times.) OIA, Greece Men in years past went to the barbershop for the latest news and gossip, so I suppose I should not be too embarrassed to say that I first heard the story while getting a pedicure in this Santorini island town. Learning that I was from Moscow, the Greek-Australian woman doing the pedicure said, "Oh, President Putin's daughter got married here a couple of weeks ago." I remembered stories in the tabloids Zhizn and Moskovsky Komsomolets in early June that said a Greek television station was reporting that one of Vladimir Putin's two daughters was getting married on Santorini. It did not say which - the older, Maria, is about 20, and Katerina is a year younger. The report was never confirmed, but since I was on Santorini and a seemingly sensible woman was telling me that the wedding had actually taken place, I decided to ask around. Hotel owners told me it was true: Putin's daughter had been married on June 11 in the Orthodox cathedral in Fira, the capital of Santorini. A restaurant manager said Putin's daughter had come by in the spring to check out the restaurant's roof garden as a possible site for the reception, but found it too small. A waiter told me where the reception had been held in the end. I asked how he knew. "Everybody was talking about it," was the answer. The crescent-shaped Santorini is a fairy-tale Greek island of whitewashed houses and churches with blue domes. In Fira and Oia, houses and hotels are dug into the sides of high cliffs overlooking the deep blue waters of a caldera, a crater formed by a great volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. The island is a popular place for weddings and honeymoons, with the privacy and seclusion of its cliffside hotels making it a favorite of celebrities and others seeking to avoid the paparazzi. Fewer than 10,000 people live on the entire island, and only about 1,000 in Oia, and most of them are tied into the hotel and restaurant business or other aspects of the tourist industry, so it is understandable that they would pay particular attention to who was holding a wedding where. But why would Putin's daughter get married in secret? I called the press counselor of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, George Hatziioannou. He had an answer to the mystery. That morning, he said, a Greek tabloid, Espresso, was carrying a story that a Russian businessman did get married on Santorini in grand style on June 11 - but not to the president's daughter. Espresso credited a Russian-language paper called Russkaya Mysl with straightening out the confusion. The Russian paper had published a photograph of a bride and groom under the headline, "Who Got Married on Santorini Instead of Putin's Daughter?" The story was this: Two planes took off from Moscow at the same time. One was Putin's and the other was chartered by Georgy Trefilov, a Moscow businessman who was flying about 80 guests to Santorini for his wedding. So the story went out that Putin's daughter had come to be married on Santorini. The Greek paper blamed the confusion on Russian journalists, though I suspect someone here might have used Greek reporters to try to attract more rich Russians to Santorini. Once the story got started, it quickly took on a life of its own. Some of the people I spoke with said they had learned about the wedding of Putin's daughter's from Antenna television, a respected national channel. With the Espresso story in hand, I went back to the restaurant where Putin's daughter supposedly had wanted to hold her reception. Glancing at the paper, Eleni Economou, the reservations manager, said the dark-haired bride in the photograph was not the woman she met. The woman she had met had blond hair and looked to be about 20. In fact, she could have been the girl in the other photograph printed in Espresso that day - of Putin and his daughters by the sea, though it was hard to tell because both girls had their backs to the camera. Economou still insisted that Putin's daughter had gotten married on Santorini. Journalists had called, asking to get on the guest list, she said, so they moved the reception to the opposite side of the island, to Vlychada, and kept the wedding a secret. "They said they weren't getting married here, but they did," Economou said. Maybe I'll sort it out at my next pedicure on Santorini. (Lynn Berry is the editor of The Moscow Times.) OIA, Greece Men in years past went to the barbershop for the latest news and gossip, so I suppose I should not be too embarrassed to say that I first heard the story while getting a pedicure in this Santorini island town. Learning that I was from Moscow, the Greek-Australian woman doing the pedicure said, "Oh, President Putin's daughter got married here a couple of weeks ago." I remembered stories in the tabloids Zhizn and Moskovsky Komsomolets in early June that said a Greek television station was reporting that one of Vladimir Putin's two daughters was getting married on Santorini. It did not say which - the older, Maria, is about 20, and Katerina is a year younger. The report was never confirmed, but since I was on Santorini and a seemingly sensible woman was telling me that the wedding had actually taken place, I decided to ask around. Hotel owners told me it was true: Putin's daughter had been married on June 11 in the Orthodox cathedral in Fira, the capital of Santorini. A restaurant manager said Putin's daughter had come by in the spring to check out the restaurant's roof garden as a possible site for the reception, but found it too small. A waiter told me where the reception had been held in the end. I asked how he knew. "Everybody was talking about it," was the answer. The crescent-shaped Santorini is a fairy-tale Greek island of whitewashed houses and churches with blue domes. In Fira and Oia, houses and hotels are dug into the sides of high cliffs overlooking the deep blue waters of a caldera, a crater formed by a great volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. The island is a popular place for weddings and honeymoons, with the privacy and seclusion of its cliffside hotels making it a favorite of celebrities and others seeking to avoid the paparazzi. Fewer than 10,000 people live on the entire island, and only about 1,000 in Oia, and most of them are tied into the hotel and restaurant business or other aspects of the tourist industry, so it is understandable that they would pay particular attention to who was holding a wedding where. But why would Putin's daughter get married in secret? I called the press counselor of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, George Hatziioannou. He had an answer to the mystery. That morning, he said, a Greek tabloid, Espresso, was carrying a story that a Russian businessman did get married on Santorini in grand style on June 11 - but not to the president's daughter. Espresso credited a Russian-language paper called Russkaya Mysl with straightening out the confusion. The Russian paper had published a photograph of a bride and groom under the headline, "Who Got Married on Santorini Instead of Putin's Daughter?" The story was this: Two planes took off from Moscow at the same time. One was Putin's and the other was chartered by Georgy Trefilov, a Moscow businessman who was flying about 80 guests to Santorini for his wedding. So the story went out that Putin's daughter had come to be married on Santorini. The Greek paper blamed the confusion on Russian journalists, though I suspect someone here might have used Greek reporters to try to attract more rich Russians to Santorini. Once the story got started, it quickly took on a life of its own. Some of the people I spoke with said they had learned about the wedding of Putin's daughter's from Antenna television, a respected national channel. With the Espresso story in hand, I went back to the restaurant where Putin's daughter supposedly had wanted to hold her reception. Glancing at the paper, Eleni Economou, the reservations manager, said the dark-haired bride in the photograph was not the woman she met. The woman she had met had blond hair and looked to be about 20. In fact, she could have been the girl in the other photograph printed in Espresso that day - of Putin and his daughters by the sea, though it was hard to tell because both girls had their backs to the camera. Economou still insisted that Putin's daughter had gotten married on Santorini. Journalists had called, asking to get on the guest list, she said, so they moved the reception to the opposite side of the island, to Vlychada, and kept the wedding a secret. "They said they weren't getting married here, but they did," Economou said. Maybe I'll sort it out at my next pedicure on Santorini. (Lynn Berry is the editor of The Moscow Times.) OIA, Greece Men in years past went to the barbershop for the latest news and gossip, so I suppose I should not be too embarrassed to say that I first heard the story while getting a pedicure in this Santorini island town. Learning that I was from Moscow, the Greek-Australian woman doing the pedicure said, "Oh, President Putin's daughter got married here a couple of weeks ago." I remembered stories in the tabloids Zhizn and Moskovsky Komsomolets in early June that said a Greek television station was reporting that one of Vladimir Putin's two daughters was getting married on Santorini. It did not say which - the older, Maria, is about 20, and Katerina is a year younger. The report was never confirmed, but since I was on Santorini and a seemingly sensible woman was telling me that the wedding had actually taken place, I decided to ask around. Hotel owners told me it was true: Putin's daughter had been married on June 11 in the Orthodox cathedral in Fira, the capital of Santorini. A restaurant manager said Putin's daughter had come by in the spring to check out the restaurant's roof garden as a possible site for the reception, but found it too small. A waiter told me where the reception had been held in the end. I asked how he knew. "Everybody was talking about it," was the answer. The crescent-shaped Santorini is a fairy-tale Greek island of whitewashed houses and churches with blue domes. In Fira and Oia, houses and hotels are dug into the sides of high cliffs overlooking the deep blue waters of a caldera, a crater formed by a great volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. The island is a popular place for weddings and honeymoons, with the privacy and seclusion of its cliffside hotels making it a favorite of celebrities and others seeking to avoid the paparazzi. Fewer than 10,000 people live on the entire island, and only about 1,000 in Oia, and most of them are tied into the hotel and restaurant business or other aspects of the tourist industry, so it is understandable that they would pay particular attention to who was holding a wedding where. But why would Putin's daughter get married in secret? I called the press counselor of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, George Hatziioannou. He had an answer to the mystery. That morning, he said, a Greek tabloid, Espresso, was carrying a story that a Russian businessman did get married on Santorini in grand style on June 11 - but not to the president's daughter. Espresso credited a Russian-language paper called Russkaya Mysl with straightening out the confusion. The Russian paper had published a photograph of a bride and groom under the headline, "Who Got Married on Santorini Instead of Putin's Daughter?" The story was this: Two planes took off from Moscow at the same time. One was Putin's and the other was chartered by Georgy Trefilov, a Moscow businessman who was flying about 80 guests to Santorini for his wedding. So the story went out that Putin's daughter had come to be married on Santorini. The Greek paper blamed the confusion on Russian journalists, though I suspect someone here might have used Greek reporters to try to attract more rich Russians to Santorini. Once the story got started, it quickly took on a life of its own. Some of the people I spoke with said they had learned about the wedding of Putin's daughter's from Antenna television, a respected national channel. With the Espresso story in hand, I went back to the restaurant where Putin's daughter supposedly had wanted to hold her reception. Glancing at the paper, Eleni Economou, the reservations manager, said the dark-haired bride in the photograph was not the woman she met. The woman she had met had blond hair and looked to be about 20. In fact, she could have been the girl in the other photograph printed in Espresso that day - of Putin and his daughters by the sea, though it was hard to tell because both girls had their backs to the camera. Economou still insisted that Putin's daughter had gotten married on Santorini. Journalists had called, asking to get on the guest list, she said, so they moved the reception to the opposite side of the island, to Vlychada, and kept the wedding a secret. "They said they weren't getting married here, but they did," Economou said. Maybe I'll sort it out at my next pedicure on Santorini. (Lynn Berry is the editor of The Moscow Times.) OIA, Greece Men in years past went to the barbershop for the latest news and gossip, so I suppose I should not be too embarrassed to say that I first heard the story while getting a pedicure in this Santorini island town. Learning that I was from Moscow, the Greek-Australian woman doing the pedicure said, "Oh, President Putin's daughter got married here a couple of weeks ago." I remembered stories in the tabloids Zhizn and Moskovsky Komsomolets in early June that said a Greek television station was reporting that one of Vladimir Putin's two daughters was getting married on Santorini. It did not say which - the older, Maria, is about 20, and Katerina is a year younger. The report was never confirmed, but since I was on Santorini and a seemingly sensible woman was telling me that the wedding had actually taken place, I decided to ask around. Hotel owners told me it was true: Putin's daughter had been married on June 11 in the Orthodox cathedral in Fira, the capital of Santorini. A restaurant manager said Putin's daughter had come by in the spring to check out the restaurant's roof garden as a possible site for the reception, but found it too small. A waiter told me where the reception had been held in the end. I asked how he knew. "Everybody was talking about it," was the answer. The crescent-shaped Santorini is a fairy-tale Greek island of whitewashed houses and churches with blue domes. In Fira and Oia, houses and hotels are dug into the sides of high cliffs overlooking the deep blue waters of a caldera, a crater formed by a great volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. The island is a popular place for weddings and honeymoons, with the privacy and seclusion of its cliffside hotels making it a favorite of celebrities and others seeking to avoid the paparazzi. Fewer than 10,000 people live on the entire island, and only about 1,000 in Oia, and most of them are tied into the hotel and restaurant business or other aspects of the tourist industry, so it is understandable that they would pay particular attention to who was holding a wedding where. But why would Putin's daughter get married in secret? I called the press counselor of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, George Hatziioannou. He had an answer to the mystery. That morning, he said, a Greek tabloid, Espresso, was carrying a story that a Russian businessman did get married on Santorini in grand style on June 11 - but not to the president's daughter. Espresso credited a Russian-language paper called Russkaya Mysl with straightening out the confusion. The Russian paper had published a photograph of a bride and groom under the headline, "Who Got Married on Santorini Instead of Putin's Daughter?" The story was this: Two planes took off from Moscow at the same time. One was Putin's and the other was chartered by Georgy Trefilov, a Moscow businessman who was flying about 80 guests to Santorini for his wedding. So the story went out that Putin's daughter had come to be married on Santorini. The Greek paper blamed the confusion on Russian journalists, though I suspect someone here might have used Greek reporters to try to attract more rich Russians to Santorini. Once the story got started, it quickly took on a life of its own. Some of the people I spoke with said they had learned about the wedding of Putin's OIA, Greece Men in years past went to the barbershop for the latest news and gossip, so I suppose I should not be too embarrassed to say that I first heard the story while getting a pedicure in this Santorini island town. Learning that I was from Moscow, the Greek-Australian woman doing the pedicure said, "Oh, President Putin's daughter got married here a couple of weeks ago." I remembered stories in the tabloids Zhizn and Moskovsky Komsomolets in early June that said a Greek television station was reporting that one of Vladimir Putin's two daughters was getting married on Santorini. It did not say which - the older, Maria, is about 20, and Katerina is a year younger. The report was never confirmed, but since I was on Santorini and a seemingly sensible woman was telling me that the wedding had actually taken place, I decided to ask around. Hotel owners told me it was true: Putin's daughter had been married on June 11 in the Orthodox cathedral in Fira, the capital of Santorini. A restaurant manager said Putin's daughter had come by in the spring to check out the restaurant's roof garden as a possible site for the reception, but found it too small. A waiter told me where the reception had been held in the end. I asked how he knew. "Everybody was talking about it," was the answer. The crescent-shaped Santorini is a fairy-tale Greek island of whitewashed houses and churches with blue domes. In Fira and Oia, houses and hotels are dug into the sides of high cliffs overlooking the deep blue waters of a caldera, a crater formed by a great volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. The island is a popular place for weddings and honeymoons, with the privacy and seclusion of its cliffside hotels making it a favorite of celebrities and others seeking to avoid the paparazzi. Fewer than 10,000 people live on the entire island, and only about 1,000 in Oia, and most of them are tied into the hotel and restaurant business or other aspects of the tourist industry, so it is understandable that they would pay particular attention to who was holding a wedding where. But why would Putin's daughter get married in secret? I called the press counselor of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, George Hatziioannou. He had an answer to the mystery. That morning, he said, a Greek tabloid, Espresso, was carrying a story that a Russian businessman did get married on Santorini in grand style on June 11 - but not to the president's daughter. Espresso credited a Russian-language paper called Russkaya Mysl with straightening out the confusion. The Russian paper had published a photograph of a bride and groom under the headline, "Who Got Married on Santorini Instead of Putin's Daughter?" The story was this: Two planes took off from Moscow at the same time. One was Putin's and the other was chartered by Georgy Trefilov, a Moscow businessman who was flying about 80 guests to Santorini for his wedding. So the story went out that Putin's daughter had come to be married on Santorini. The Greek paper blamed the confusion on Russian journalists, though I suspect someone here might have used Greek reporters to try to attract more rich Russians to Santorini. Once the story got started, it quickly took on a life of its own. Some of the people I spoke with said they had learned about the wedding of Putin's daughter's from Antenna television, a respected national channel. With the Espresso story in hand, I went back to the restaurant where Putin's daughter supposedly had wanted to hold her reception. Glancing at the paper, Eleni Economou, the reservations manager, said the dark-haired bride in the photograph was not the woman she met. The woman she had met had blond hair and looked to be about 20. In fact, she could have been the girl in the other photograph printed in Espresso that day - of Putin and his daughters by the sea, though it was hard to tell because both girls had their backs to the camera. Economou still insisted that Putin's daughter had gotten married on Santorini. Journalists had called, asking to get on the guest list, she said, so they moved the reception to the opposite side of the island, to Vlychada, and kept the wedding a secret. "They said they weren't getting married here, but they did," Economou said. Maybe I'll sort it out at my next pedicure on Santorini. (Lynn Berry is the editor of The Moscow Times.) OIA, Greece Men in years past went to the barbershop for the latest news and gossip, so I suppose I should not be too embarrassed to say that I first heard the story while getting a pedicure in this Santorini island town. Learning that I was from Moscow, the Greek-Australian woman doing the pedicure said, "Oh, President Putin's daughter got married here a couple of weeks ago." I remembered stories in the tabloids Zhizn and Moskovsky Komsomolets in early June that said a Greek television station was reporting that one of Vladimir Putin's two daughters was getting married on Santorini. It did not say which - the older, Maria, is about 20, and Katerina is a year younger. The report was never confirmed, but since I was on Santorini and a seemingly sensible woman was telling me that the wedding had actually taken place, I decided to ask around. Hotel owners told me it was true: Putin's daughter had been married on June 11 in the Orthodox cathedral in Fira, the capital of Santorini. A restaurant manager said Putin's daughter had come by in the spring to check out the restaurant's roof garden as a possible site for the reception, but found it too small. A waiter told me where the reception had been held in the end. I asked how he knew. "Everybody was talking about it," was the answer. The crescent-shaped Santorini is a fairy-tale Greek island of whitewashed houses and churches with blue domes. In Fira and Oia, houses and hotels are dug into the sides of high cliffs overlooking the deep blue waters of a caldera, a crater formed by a great volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. The island is a popular place for weddings and honeymoons, with the privacy and seclusion of its cliffside hotels making it a favorite of celebrities and others seeking to avoid the paparazzi. Fewer than 10,000 people live on the entire island, and only about 1,000 in Oia, and most of them are tied into the hotel and restaurant business or other aspects of the tourist industry, so it is understandable that they would pay particular attention to who was holding a wedding where. But why would Putin's daughter get married in secret? I called the press counselor of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, George Hatziioannou. He had an answer to the mystery. That morning, he said, a Greek tabloid, Espresso, was carrying a story that a Russian businessman did get married on Santorini in grand style on June 11 - but not to the president's daughter. Espresso credited a Russian-language paper called Russkaya Mysl with straightening out the confusion. The Russian paper had published a photograph of a bride and groom under the headline, "Who Got Married on Santorini Instead of Putin's Daughter?" The story was this: Two planes took off from Moscow at the same time. One was Putin's and the other was chartered by Georgy Trefilov, a Moscow businessman who was flying about 80 guests to Santorini for his wedding. So the story went out that Putin's daughter had come to be married on Santorini. The Greek paper blamed the confusion on Russian journalists, though I suspect someone here might have used Greek reporters to try to attract more rich Russians to Santorini. Once the story got started, it quickly took on a life of its own. Some of the people I spoke with said they had learned about the wedding of Putin's daughter's from Antenna television, a respected national channel. With the Espresso story in hand, I went back to the restaurant where Putin's daughter supposedly had wanted to hold her reception. Glancing at the paper, Eleni Economou, the reservations manager, said the dark-haired bride in the photograph was not the woman she met. The woman she had met had blond hair and looked to be about 20. In fact, she could have been the girl in the other photograph printed in Espresso that day - of Putin and his daughters by the sea, though it was hard to tell because both girls had their backs to the camera. Economou still insisted that Putin's daughter had gotten married on Santorini. Journalists had called, asking to get on the guest list, she said, so they moved the reception to the opposite side of the island, to Vlychada, and kept the wedding a secret. "They said they weren't getting married here, but they did," Economou said. Maybe I'll sort it out at my next pedicure on Santorini. (Lynn Berry is the editor of The Moscow Times.) OIA, Greece Men in years past went to the barbershop for the latest news and gossip, so I suppose I should not be too embarrassed to say that I first heard the story while getting a pedicure in this Santorini island town. Learning that I was from Moscow, the Greek-Australian woman doing the pedicure said, "Oh, President Putin's daughter got married here a couple of weeks ago." I remembered stories in the tabloids Zhizn and Moskovsky Komsomolets in early June that said a Greek television station was reporting that one of Vladimir Putin's two daughters was getting married on Santorini. It did not say which - the older, Maria, is about 20, and Katerina is a year younger. The report was never confirmed, but since I was on Santorini and a seemingly sensible woman was telling me that the wedding had actually taken place, I decided to ask around. Hotel owners told me it was true: Putin's daughter had been married on June 11 in the Orthodox cathedral in Fira, the capital of Santorini. A restaurant manager said Putin's daughter had come by in the spring to check out the restaurant's roof garden as a possible site for the reception, but found it too small. A waiter told me where the reception had been held in the end. I asked how he knew. "Everybody was talking about it," was the answer. The crescent-shaped Santorini is a fairy-tale Greek island of whitewashed houses and churches with blue domes. In Fira and Oia, houses and hotels are dug into the sides of high cliffs overlooking the deep blue waters of a caldera, a crater formed by a great volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. The island is a popular place for weddings and honeymoons, with the privacy and seclusion of its cliffside hotels making it a favorite of celebrities and others seeking to avoid the paparazzi. Fewer than 10,000 people live on the entire island, and only about 1,000 in Oia, and most of them are tied into the hotel and restaurant business or other aspects of the tourist industry, so it is understandable that they would pay particular attention to who was holding a wedding where. But why would Putin's daughter get married in secret? I called the press counselor of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, George Hatziioannou. He had an answer to the mystery. That morning, he said, a Greek tabloid, Espresso, was carrying a story that a Russian businessman did get married on Santorini in grand style on June 11 - but not to the president's daughter. Espresso credited a Russian-language paper called Russkaya Mysl with straightening out the confusion. The Russian paper had published a photograph of a bride and groom under the headline, "Who Got Married on Santorini Instead of Putin's Daughter?" The story was this: Two planes took off from Moscow at the same time. One was Putin's and the other was chartered by Georgy Trefilov, a Moscow businessman who was flying about 80 guests to Santorini for his wedding. So the story went out that Putin's daughter had come to be married on Santorini. The Greek paper blamed the confusion on Russian journalists, though I suspect someone here might have used Greek reporters to try to attract more rich Russians to Santorini. Once the story got started, it quickly took on a life of its own. Some of the people I spoke with said they had learned about the wedding of Putin's daughter's from Antenna television, a respected national channel. With the Espresso story in hand, I went back to the restaurant where Putin's daughter supposedly had wanted to hold her reception. Glancing at the paper, Eleni Economou, the reservations manager, said the dark-haired bride in the photograph was not the woman she met. The woman she had met had blond hair and looked to be about 20. In fact, she could have been the girl in the other photograph printed in Espresso that day - of Putin and his daughters by the sea, though it was hard to tell because both girls had their backs to the camera. Economou still insisted that Putin's daughter had gotten married on Santorini. Journalists had called, asking to get on the guest list, she said, so they moved the reception to the opposite side of the island, to Vlychada, and kept the wedding a secret. "They said they weren't getting married here, but they did," Economou said. Maybe I'll sort it out at my next pedicure on Santorini. (Lynn Berry is the editor of The Moscow Times.)