Prime Minister Stephen Harper took time out from discussing Greece's economic woes on Sunday to tour a site of great significance to the Greek people -- as well as his own spokesperson.

Harper on Sunday visited Kalavryta, a small town of some 2,000 people known as the birthplace of modern Greek independence and as the site of a massacre by Nazi forces during the Second World War.

The mountain town is also the birthplace of the mother of his director of communications, Dimitri Soudas, whose grandfather was among the 498 men and boys rounded up and killed by the Germans in 1943. Two hundred more from the surrounding region were also killed.

"It's not very common or typical for a foreign leader to come by this town," said CTV's Daniele Hamamdjian, on the road with the prime minister. "If you follow Prime Minister Harper on international trips, it's most of the time a lot of hard work with no down-time, but he spent several hours there."

Harper, his wife Laureen and the Greek prime minister arrived in the town via helicopter. Hundreds lined the streets to watch Harper and his entourage make their way through the town, cheering and applauding as he arrived at the monastery, where he toured the chapel and small museum.

The locals obviously took pride in their direct link to the Canadian government.

At a museum to the massacre, known locally as the Holocaust of Kalavryta, the guide showing Harper around took a moment to point out the portrait of Soudas's grandfather, hanging among dozens of others on a memorial wall. Harper also took part in a wreath-laying ceremony.

"These are things we must never forget even as we move forward together," Harper said.

Soudas wrote in an email to The Canadian Press it was "almost hard to believe" that the prime minister visited the same town "where as a young boy, each summer, I would visit my grandmother who would tell me all about what happened during the massacre of 1943 and how she still managed in the most unimaginably difficult times to raise on her own her three daughters, including my late mother."

The town is also known as the birthplace of modern Greek independence. A revolt that began at the town's Agia Lavra monastery in 1821 eventually led to independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Harper is in Greece to discuss the country's dire economic straights with Prime Minister George Papandreou.

Harper on Saturday advised the Greek prime minister to stick with his controversial austerity plan to salvage the country's economy despite failing to win support from the opposition parties. Greece is currently dependent on billions of dollars in financing from international institutions.

"Harper said he has experience with opposition parties not co-operating with the government but, at the end of the day, a government has to do what a government has to do, and that means doing what's in the best interest of the country," said Hamamdjian.

"That's certainly a boost for the prime minister here," she added.

With files from Canadian Press