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Anastasia Balezdrova 

In the beginning were the Spaniards on Puerta del Sol Square in Madrid. Then, the Discontented on Syntagma Square in Athens followed. Protests are increasingly taking place in different European countries and even a pan-European movement has been established, opposing the stringent economic measures of governments that reduce wages and leave more people without work. In the summer, social protests even swept Israel, where people went out in the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the high cost of housing, goods and services. Despite the authorities' efforts to crush the movement Occupy Wall Street in New York, it is growing. Its participants protest against the way that banks and financial markets operate. Similar protests are held in London and other British cities. A movement has originated there, which calls for the occupation of the City of London.

However, long before them, two years ago, a lone Frenchman of Polish origin decided to set off on a journey across Europe, on foot and without any means, to protest against the global economic crisis.

"In 2008, when the crisis started, I lost my job. I was working with children. Then, I decided to walk across Europe as a sign of protest against what is happening in the world today. Everyone is so greedy and wants more and more, while for ordinary people life is harder. Therefore, I decided to encourage the young people in these difficult times. I decided to prove that they are able to tour Europe with no money in their pocket," said the 42-year-old Frenchman Olivier Piezonka whom I met by chance in one of the main streets in central Athens.

He had been to the Catholic Church to ask to spend the night there, but found its doors closed. With a backpack for the most needed of his belongings and a small notebook, Olivier has been around European countries for the second year now. "Because it is cold in the north, I will spend the winter in Greece, Italy and Spain. In spring, I will go to the capitals of northern countries and will be back in France next year at that time."

Since the beginning of his journey on 11 July 2009, Olivier has walked 23,000 km. He walks 40 km a day, sleeps in the open and in churches, monasteries and even in hotels if their managers decide to accommodate him for free. Olivier unfolds before me a sheet with stamps of all the religious sites he has visited. "I find support from people. I travelled for free by ferry from Italy to Greece, and the fire service in Lisbon sheltered me. I have been to Bulgaria, in Plovdiv. There, I spent the night in the Catholic Church."
 
Olivier arrived in Athens on November 17 - the commemoration day of the 38th anniversary of the events at the Athens Polytechnic University. "This is my second time in Athens. Last year I was here during the summer. It is quite different now. I have seen people who were about to make a procession against the Greek government policy and the stringent economic measures imposed by Europe. I think things have begun to change around the world and the revolution that will change this disastrous course of mankind is very close. You see the protests in America and Europe, don't you?"

"I set off from Nice, went through Portugal, Spain, came to Gibraltar and from there, I went back up and passed through all of southern France. From there, I went to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania. I crossed Hungary and Slovakia for three days." In Poland, Olivier met his relatives, with whom he had not been in touch for 30 years. "It was a very pleasant surprise. A Polish newspaper published an article about me. They wrote my phone number and one of my cousins called me," he says.

"I am the first and only one in the world to take such a tour on foot and without any means. My goal is to go to 26 countries and walk 30,000 km."

After exhausting hours of walking, 10 a day, Olivier is writing a book. In it, he is describing his experiences and he has even found a publishing house that will print it. Until then, he will keep walking.