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Friday, 05 June 2015 10:16
A Weekend Outside Of Athens
As with many of us, as the temperature continues to climb, my ‘week in Athens’ often ends up as my ‘weekend out of Athens’. And why not – with so much to see and do within a short drive of the city, you could do much worse than a weekend away. And certainly when a long weekend comes along, “I’m outa here”, as they say…
I wasn’t sure where to go, but I did know that I wanted to spend a relaxing few days with nothing to do but chill out on a beach – no site-seeing, no roadtrips, no late night parties, nothing but sea and sand. So, after a scan of Groupon for a hotel deal, and with my young nephew in tow, we headed for Euboia to a place called ‘Nea Styra.’ Never heard of it? Neither had I.
Evia is the second largest Greek island after Crete. Most people know it if you say ‘Xalkida’, the well-known city for day-trippers from Athens. Evia is a large island, with lots of off-the-beaten-track spots for sleeping and swimming. Nea Styra is a little coastal town along the southwestern coastline, a stone’s throw from the mainland.
We made the quick drive to Agia Marina, a tiny mainland port towards Marathon, and boarded the ferry for the 45 minute trip across the bay. Ferry tickets were €4 per adult and €16 for the car. Once on the other side, you find yourself in a seaside town, where the main activity is, clearly, ‘relaxing’. Nea Styra is a family-oriented town, with a seaside strip of lovely beaches, cafes, tavernas and a very relaxed, ‘low-glam’ feeling. This is a place to wake up, step outside onto the sand, and pretty much do nothing all day… And, evidently, this place is no secret to Athenians, since there are numerous ferries all day long, and the place was buzzing with weekend visitors.
If the ‘do nothing’ plan isn’t enough for you, I was told that there are ancient megalithic structures nearby, dated to around 4,500 years old, called Drakospita (Dragon Houses). Maybe worth a visit. But I wouldn’t know!
So, the weekend passed by with feet in the sand, throwing rocks in the water with my nephew. Nothing special. And totally special.
One of these weekends, I encourage you to jump in the car, point to a random place on the map (preferably along the coast) and just ‘go’. You can thank me later.
Until next week,
Jack
Published in
My Week In Athens
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Thursday, 04 June 2015 10:36
Art Among The Ruins: Can A Sculpture Show In Athens Offer Greece New Hope?
A group of artists stand chatting on the terrace of a grand mansion in the centre of Athens. In the distance lie the ruins of the Acropolis. The view towards it, across the sprawl of the grand gardens, is interrupted by a series of large sculptures. A contorted bronze statue by Sarah Lucas sits over there – it’s her contemporary vision of a Greek goddess.
Nearby, a wall-mounted text sculpture by Richard Long charts the evolution of technological power alongside animal extinction. A huge hippo by Allora & Calzadilla lounges under the trees, while a pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama sits quietly in the grass.
This is Terrapolis, a group show curated by the Whitechapel Gallery director Iwona Blazwick, which brings together Athenian artists and an assembly of international heavyweights, all in the shadow of the ancient – and modern – ruins of Athens.
The curation is typical of Blazwick’s forward-thinking vision. Located in the district of Kolonaki, which is populated by contemporary art galleries, including the game-changing 3137 and State of Concept, the show also borders the once-anarchist area of Exarchia, which is home to many artists’ studios. The location is testament to the recent renaissance of Athens’s contemporary art scene.
Blazwick’s aim is to provide an alternative perspective on Greece. “We hope to counter the grounding down of the Greek economy,” she said. “It’s a reductive stereotype. We’re saying: Athens is alive, dynamic, and as important as it ever was.”
Dimitris Daskalopoulos, founder of the non-profit cultural organisation Neon, who initiated the show, hopes Terrapolis will move Greek society forwards. “Art can stimulate our collective consciousness. It can help us find new direction.”
Elina Kountouri, the director of Neon agreed. “I don’t know what art historians will call this movement in the future, but there is a movement here. Everyone is looking to Greece now. We’re saying: listen to the creative community, it could be as effective as protest. This is how societies change.”
To read more, please visit: The Guardian
For details about this exhibiton, please visit: NEON And The Whitechapel Gallery Present Terrapolis
Published in
Greek Language & Culture
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Wednesday, 03 June 2015 13:24
Tassos Boulmetis Travels Back To 1960s For His New Film ‘Notias’
At first glance, the Lazaridis leather goods store in the arcade at 69 Academias Street in downtown Athens seems perfectly normal, with elegant leather purses and suitcases displayed in its window. When the shopkeeper and the customer start talking, though, it becomes apparent that we are not in the present day, as the potential buyer explains that he is planning to travel to Frankfurt by coach and would like to buy the red suitcase in the display window, which is just like the one shipping tycoon Ari Onassis is holding in a photograph displayed beside it. The shopkeeper warns him that it’s expensive at 400 drachmas but he’s willing to knock something off the price.
Outside the shop, the arcade is bustling with elegant ladies with well-coiffed hair, a young man delivering coffees on a traditional metal tray and another man carrying large film reels. While the weather and traffic outside tell us that its the spring of 2015, in the arcade, the clock has gone back to 1968 for the filming of Tassos Boulmetis’s latest project, “Notias” (likely to be titled “South Wind” in English, according to the director).
Boulmetis sits in his director’s chair and orders the “shopkeeper” (played by Taxiarhis Hanos) and the “customer” (Errikos Litsis) to repeat the scene again and again so that he can get the perfect take. In parts of the arcade, the production team has created convincing scenes depicting Athens as it was in the 1960s and 70s.
Boulmetis is joined behind the camera by his assistant Margarita Manta, an acclaimed filmmaker in her own right, veteran sound mixer Marinos Athanasopoulos and costume designer Eva Nathena, who reigns over the fifth floor of the arcade, where the costume department has been set up.
In the entrance, the extras, dressed, coiffed and made up to the tiniest last detail, wait to be called for a scene that they have to repeat more than 20 times. Before the crisis, the standard wage for a film extra was 50 euros a day. Now they’re being paid half that.
My conversation with Boulmetis happens in fits and starts, between takes. “Notias” is Boulmetis’s third feature-length film after “The Dream Factory” (1990) and “A Touch of Spice” (2003) and tells the story of a boy (played by Giannis Niaros) growing up in the turbulent and promising 1960s and 70s and his journey from adolescence to adulthood as he tries to make his dreams come true.
To read more, please visit: Ekathimerini
by Maria Katsounaki
Published in
Local News
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Thursday, 04 June 2015 07:00
Top Museum Restaurants And Cafes In Athens
Refresh yourself culturally and internally at one of Athens' world-class museums, many of which have delightful restaurants. Here are some of the best ones.
The restaurant of the magnificent Acropolis Museum is located on the second floor and provides a spectacular panorama of the legendary Acropolis itself, a stunning testament to the glories of the ancient civilisation. Here you can have a quiet drink or a full meal based on fresh local produce, all the while drinking in the most amazing view. On Fridays the restaurant is open until midnight.
On the second floor of the renowned Benaki Museum is a café-restaurant which extends to the terrace of this delightful neo-classical building. From there you have panoramic views of the Parliament buildings, the National Gardens and Syntagma Square. Sip a coffee, nibble a snack or really take your time with a full three-course meal. On Thursdays the museum is open until midnight.
In the heart of Kerameikos, a section of the old city of Athens, is the Benaki’s wonderful Islamic art complex. Displaying more than 8,000 exhibits it explores the astonishing richness and diversity of Islamic culture from its birth up to the Mogul and Ottoman empires. And it also houses a delightful traditional coffee shop that offers sweeping views from the Acropolis and the Pnyx to the Kerameikos cemetery and Piraeus.
A welcome retreat from the bustle of a big city can be found in the atrium of the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art. Here an elegant and airy little café provides light refreshments with an authentic Mediterranean flavour at tables arranged around a fountain inspired by Cycladic art.
For those exploring the Greek capital with children in tow, the café-restaurant of the Natural History Museum is a godsend. Serving light snacks or full meals this little oasis set in the Gaia Centre has a friendly yet discreet atmosphere and is particularly welcoming to children. The museum is located in the wonderfully leafy centre of the Kifissia suburb, an attraction in itself.
A welcome retreat from the bustle of a big city can be found in the atrium of the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art. Here an elegant and airy little café provides light refreshments with an authentic Mediterranean flavour at tables arranged around a fountain inspired by Cycladic art.
For those exploring the Greek capital with children in tow, the café-restaurant of the Natural History Museum is a godsend. Serving light snacks or full meals this little oasis set in the Gaia Centre has a friendly yet discreet atmosphere and is particularly welcoming to children. The museum is located in the wonderfully leafy centre of the Kifissia suburb, an attraction in itself.
To read this article in full, please visit: The Daily Telegraph
by David Thornton
Published in
Restaurants In Athens
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Thursday, 04 June 2015 07:00
Year Round Tourism For Greece
Greece has a goal to extend the Greek tourism season to 12 months a year. The GTP recently reported that the Greek Ministry of Tourism is focusing on new tourism markets including China, Brazil, Canada, Korea and the Middle East.
Year Round Tourism for Greece
The Greek Travel Pages (GTP) article stated that action has been taken already to stretch Greece’s tourism season. According to the Alternate Minister of Tourism Elena Kountoura, Greece’s top tour operators increased the amount of vacation days they offer to tourists from 185 days to 210 days.
Kountoura expressed her plans during an economics forum in Athens late last month. “Greece aims to be among the top five most popular countries in the world,” she said. “We want tourism 12 months a year.” The minister said that in the past one barrier to reaching Greece’s year-round tourism goals was a lack of investment.
Niches to Defy Seasonality
Niches to Defy Seasonality
The longer the tourist season, the longer the window of time a country has to gain tourism revenue. School vacation periods and warm weather seasons remain to be the most popular times of the year for tourists to travel anywhere. Advocates for year-round tourism argue that if a destination was worth a visit in the summer, it would also be worth a visit come winter. There must be a decent balance.
Investments can be used to promote a destination in the traditional off-season. The development of tourism niches can entice visitors who wish to return and discover even more of Greece’s landscape and countryside in the non-summer months. Sports activities, cooking classes and special aviation tours should be promoted. Culture and health tourism packages can also be offered any time of the year. For example in France’s Les Deux Alpes, hiking is highly promoted during the summer months to balance out the extremely busy ski season. Combined with its world renowned gastronomy, Greece is a special tourist destination that is rich in archeology sights, beautiful stretches of coastline and mountainous villages that are perfect destinations for cooler months.
To read more, please visit: All About Aviation
Published in
Greece In The News
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Thursday, 29 December 2016 07:00
The Ancient Greeks’ Six Words For Love
Looking for an antidote to modern culture's emphasis on romantic love? Perhaps we can learn from the diverse forms of emotional attachment prized by the ancient Greeks.
Today's coffee culture has an incredibly sophisticated vocabulary. Do you want a cappuccino, an espresso, a skinny latte, or maybe an iced caramel macchiato?
Today's coffee culture has an incredibly sophisticated vocabulary. Do you want a cappuccino, an espresso, a skinny latte, or maybe an iced caramel macchiato?
The ancient Greeks were just as sophisticated in the way they talked about love, recognizing six different varieties. They would have been shocked by our crudeness in using a single word both to whisper 'l love you' over a candlelit meal and to casually sign an email 'lots of love.'
So what were the six loves known to the Greeks? And how can they inspire us to move beyond our current addiction to romantic love, which has 94 percent of young people hoping—but often failing—to find a unique soul mate who can satisfy all their emotional needs?
1. Eros, or sexual passion
So what were the six loves known to the Greeks? And how can they inspire us to move beyond our current addiction to romantic love, which has 94 percent of young people hoping—but often failing—to find a unique soul mate who can satisfy all their emotional needs?
1. Eros, or sexual passion
The first kind of love was eros, named after the Greek god of fertility, and it represented the idea of sexual passion and desire. But the Greeks didn't always think of it as something positive, as we tend to do today. In fact, eros was viewed as a dangerous, fiery, and irrational form of love that could take hold of you and possess you—an attitude shared by many later spiritual thinkers, such as the Christian writer C.S. Lewis.
Eros involved a loss of control that frightened the Greeks, which is odd, because losing control is precisely what many people now seek in a relationship. Don't we all hope to fall 'madly' in love?
2. Philia, or deep friendship
The second variety of love was philia or friendship, which the Greeks valued far more than the base sexuality of eros. Philia concerned the deep comradely friendship that developed between brothers in arms who had fought side by side on the battlefield. It was about showing loyalty to your friends, sacrificing for them, as well as sharing your emotions with them. Another kind of philia, sometimes called storge, embodied the love between parents and their children.
We can all ask ourselves how much of this comradely philia we have in our lives. It's an important question in an age when we attempt to amass friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter—achievements that would have hardly impressed the Greeks.
3. Ludus, or playful love
This was the Greeks' idea of playful love, which referred to the affection between children or young lovers. We've all had a taste of it in the flirting and teasing stages of a relationship, but we also live out our ludus when we sit around in a bar bantering and laughing with friends, or when we go out dancing.
3. Ludus, or playful love
This was the Greeks' idea of playful love, which referred to the affection between children or young lovers. We've all had a taste of it in the flirting and teasing stages of a relationship, but we also live out our ludus when we sit around in a bar bantering and laughing with friends, or when we go out dancing.
Dancing with strangers may be the ultimate ludic activity, almost a playful substitute for sex itself. Social norms may frown on this kind of adult frivolity, but a little more ludus might be just what we need to spice up our love lives.
4. Agape, or love for everyone
The fourth love, and perhaps the most radical, was agape or selfless love. This was a love that you extended to all people, whether family members or distant strangers. Agape was later translated into Latin as caritas, which is the origin of our word 'charity.'
C.S. Lewis referred to it as 'gift love,' the highest form of Christian love. But it also appears in other religious traditions, such as the idea of mettā or 'universal loving kindness" in Theravāda Buddhism.
There is growing evidence that agape is in a dangerous decline in many countries. Empathy levels in the U.S. have declined sharply over the past 40 years, with the steepest fall occurring in the past decade. We urgently need to revive our capacity to care about strangers.
To read this article in full, please visit: Yes Magazine
4. Agape, or love for everyone
The fourth love, and perhaps the most radical, was agape or selfless love. This was a love that you extended to all people, whether family members or distant strangers. Agape was later translated into Latin as caritas, which is the origin of our word 'charity.'
C.S. Lewis referred to it as 'gift love,' the highest form of Christian love. But it also appears in other religious traditions, such as the idea of mettā or 'universal loving kindness" in Theravāda Buddhism.
There is growing evidence that agape is in a dangerous decline in many countries. Empathy levels in the U.S. have declined sharply over the past 40 years, with the steepest fall occurring in the past decade. We urgently need to revive our capacity to care about strangers.
To read this article in full, please visit: Yes Magazine
Published in
Greek Language & Culture
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Monday, 30 May 2016 07:00
Five Top Kid Friendly Islands Close To Athens
Kids Love Greece blogger Anastasia Valti-Spanopoulou writes about the top 5 kid friendly islands close to the city of Athens!
If you haven’t been to the Argosaronikos Islands and Kea, you’re definitely missing out on a truly unique family holiday, especially as you don’t need to travel far from Athens to find the true beauty of the Greek islands.
If you haven’t been to the Argosaronikos Islands and Kea, you’re definitely missing out on a truly unique family holiday, especially as you don’t need to travel far from Athens to find the true beauty of the Greek islands.
The islands of Argosaronikos and Kea (part of Cyclades) are definitely at the top of an ‘islands to visit with kids’ list. Why? First of all, they are conveniently located next to Athens which means less stress on the journey to and from. What’s more, on some of those islands, such as Hydra, cars, motorbikes and even bicycles are forbidden. This means you can feel assured that your children will be perfectly safe playing around while you can sit back and enjoy your holiday. Also, the islands are small and therefore can easily be explored with the family. You’ll come across several isolated bays that have crystal clear water. If you can rent a boat and do a mini family cruise, then do so, as some of the beaches are only accessible by boat.
The tiny island of Agistri has some of the cleanest and most unspoilt beaches in Greece. At the port of Skala you will find Copa Cabana Café, popular for its good quality food and snacks that are suitable for kids. It also has free Wi-Fi, as well as and sunbeds for a relaxed day at the beach.
Aegina is known for its picturesque villages and its delicious pistachios and olives. Make sure you visit the stunning ancient Greek temple of Aphaia with its breathtaking view of the Saronic Gulf, as well as St. Nectarios church, one of the biggest Greek Byzantine churches in the world.
The kids will love Hydra as the only permitted means of transport, other than your own two legs, is by donkey. No wonder UNESCO has declared it as being the best preserved Mediterranean island! Choose Cotommatae 1810 Boutique Hotel for a quiet stay, and the bonus of a freshly baked breakfast. Play hide and seek in the whitewashed alleyways before you wind up at Paradosiako for a lovely family dinner.
To read more, please visit: Kids Love Greece
Published in
Kids Life
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Monday, 01 June 2015 07:00
Greece's Bathing Waters Of Excellent Quality
"The quality of water in Greece's seas and lakes is known and constitutes a competitive advantage of the country," Alternate Environment Minister Yiannis Tsironis said.
Of the 1540 bathing waters, 1518 were assessed, as 22 points were monitored for the first time in 2014. The new points have not been evaluated for 2014 since the minimum number of samples required by the Directive has not yet been collected. However, from the initial results of 2014 it is evident that the concentrations of microbiological parameters remain below the respective criteria values of excellent quality.
For the remaining 1518 bathing waters, the classification results are the following report: 1495 bathing waters are classified as “excellent quality”. One of them are located in inland waters and the 1494 in coastal waters. 23 bathing waters are classified as “good quality”, one of which is located in inland waters and 22 in coastal waters. None of bathing waters have been classified as “sufficient" or "poor quality”.
"It is everyone's care and obligation - the state and the citizens - to continuously protect our seas and coasts in the best possible way. It is up to us to maintain the quality of our waters forever," Tsironis added.
To read more, please visit: ANA-MPA
Published in
Local News
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Monday, 01 June 2015 07:00
Wines That Greece Can Bank On
The country may be in a difficult state of affairs, but Greece has an export business with a very bright future—its wines.
You may think that someone who spends their professional life tasting dozens of wines a week will have sipped just about everything the world has to offer. It’s true—to a point. But like the art critic who stumbles across a rare masterpiece at auction or the literary critic who discovers the next big thing, there are times when a wine knocks even a critic sideways, surprising with both its flavor and its quality.
This happened to me a few weeks ago. I was handed a white wine at a tasting, and its pale yellow color, floral aroma, cushion-soft texture and crisp, refreshing, salty tang left me in raptures.
It wasn’t that it was the best wine I had ever tasted; it was just that it had a particularly unusual and enjoyable flavor. And it was from Greece. Not that this should have made any difference, but given the current state of affairs in the country, it caught my attention. As I took a second sip, it occurred to me that if Greece can keep producing wines of this quality, there will be at least one export business with a bright future.
The wine in question was an Assyrtiko from Santorini. When its identity was revealed, I nearly dropped my glass. Not long afterward I bumped into Mark Squires, who covers the wines of Greece for Robert Parker’s consumer newsletter, the Wine Advocate, and I told him about my experience. “It’s a sleeper,” he said. “No doubt about it. Greece is your classic emerging region. When you look at what is happening in Greece, this is a country that is simply a great wine-producing region—they just don’t have much to prove it with yet.”
The wine in question was an Assyrtiko from Santorini. When its identity was revealed, I nearly dropped my glass. Not long afterward I bumped into Mark Squires, who covers the wines of Greece for Robert Parker’s consumer newsletter, the Wine Advocate, and I told him about my experience. “It’s a sleeper,” he said. “No doubt about it. Greece is your classic emerging region. When you look at what is happening in Greece, this is a country that is simply a great wine-producing region—they just don’t have much to prove it with yet.”
The country has hundreds of grape varieties, and some, like Assyrtiko, may have the potential to become truly world-class. But few wine lovers have discovered them. That’s Greece’s first problem: unfamiliarity. After all, Malagousia, Xinomavro and Limnio hardly roll off the tongue like Chardonnay and Merlot.
But for anyone with just a passing interest in wine, Greece is a fascinating country to explore. Where to start? Well, the main grape varieties for red are Agiorgitiko, which is widely planted and makes full-bodied, smooth, easy-drinking reds; Limnio, which is often blended but on its own produces distinctly herbaceous wines with high-alcohol content; and Xinomavro, which is planted in the north, where it makes wines with high acidity and an appealing savory character. There are also plantings of French varieties like Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
To read more, please visit The Wall Street Journal
By: Will Lyons
By: Will Lyons
Published in
Greece In The News
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Friday, 29 May 2015 16:10
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Uncategorised
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