Although most of Athens remained riveted by the political upheaval, the city hosted one of its oldest traditions: the lighting of the Olympic torch for the 2012 games. The torch was lit Thursday in Olympia, before it will travel 8,000 miles—most of it throughout Britain—before arriving in London on July 27. As per tradition, the torch was lit by solar power, using a parabolic mirror to redirect the sunlight and therefore lighting the flame with the purest light available.
