While we’re all about the big museums and historical sites in Athens, we also love to go off the beaten path and find something a little unusual. Fortunately, there are plenty of options. If you’re a jewellery lover, you can’t miss the Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum. To learn more about musical instruments in Greece, including the bouzouki, you can head to the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments. And to get a better understanding of modern Greece’s political history, try the Political Exile Museum. 

Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments

Music has shaped Greece’s cultural heritage almost as much as marble. This melodic museum contains about half of the 1200 musical instruments amassed over decades by its founder, Fivos Anoyanakis. They’re tucked away in a glorious mansion in Plaka’s backstreets, with a garden inhabited by two colossal tortoises. Inside, you’ll find unexpected additions like the semantron, a long plank accompanied by wooden hammers or bells to call monks to prayer. By pressing a button, you can hear the instruments played through headphones. Upstairs is Greece’s most famous instrument: the bouzouki, which played a starring role in the works of legendary composers Mikis Theodorakis and Vassilis Tsitsanis. The bouzouki still thrills modern-day audiences at the city’s many rebetiko joints, usually accompanied by amplified beats, trays of gardenias to fling in appreciation at the players and singers, and copious amounts of whisky.

Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum

The perfect museum for those who prefer their history lessons to sparkle. In a handsome building that once served as the workshop of Ilias Lalaounis, a Greek jeweler to the stars, this museum tells the story of adornment through the ages. The glittering collections are based on motifs and artifacts from the Stone Age, the Minoan civilization, and Byzantium, all the way to the 20th century. The most eye-catching items are the massive gold pieces, almost like armor, displayed on life-sized mannequins: huge circular plates dripping with gold discs, and a thick serpent twined from neck to breast. But it’s in the foyer that you’ll find this museum’s rarest showing: a fully functioning artists’ studio, where resident goldsmiths and silversmiths follow traditional techniques, including Lalaounis’ trademark practices of hand-hammering, hand-weaving, filigree ‘embroidery’ and granulation.

Hellenic Motor Museum

Not renowned for its automotive tradition, Greece might seem an odd place for a motor museum. But there are many super-car collectors in Greece, many of them ship-owners with a penchant for sleek, fast-moving machines. One such magnate is Theodore Haragionis, whose car collection got so out of control that he created a museum to house it. Parked on three levels is a rotating display from his 300-strong collection, divided into antique, veteran, vintage, classic, and contemporary. Everything from horseless carriages and a Model T Ford (the first ‘real’ car) to a fleet of flame-red Ferraris. There’s also a small section devoted to models from the little-known and short-lived Greek car industry. Petrolheads of all ages will love it.

To read this article in full and discover even more unique museums in Athens, please visit: thisisathens.org

 

On July 22nd the grand historical exhibition "1974 & 1944: Athens Celebrates Its Freedom" was presented for the first time to journalists, in the presence of the Mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas. This unique exhibition honors both landmark anniversaries for the city and the country: the 50 years since the restoration of democracy in 1974 and the 80 years since the liberation of Athens from Nazi occupation in 1944.



Designed and implemented by the Technopolis City of Athens in collaboration with the Contemporary Social History Archives (ASKI), the General State Archives, and the Historical Archive of the City of Athens, the exhibition is hosted in a space of particular historical significance, in the heart of Athens. The Arts Center of the Culture, Sports & Youth Organization of the City of Athens (OPANDA) at Parko Eleftherias is located in the monumental area of the old detention centers of the EAT-ESA Administration, and now serves as an important cultural space, a hub of free speech, creativity, and cultural renaissance.

In his greeting, Mayor Haris Doukas emphasized, "Every discussion about the past concerns the present and cares for the future. This saying of historians is the starting point for the rich activities and events organized by the City of Athens on the occasion of two landmark anniversaries: 80 years since the liberation of Athens from Nazi occupation and 50 years since the restoration of democracy in 1974. We want Athens to celebrate, remember, learn, reflect, look at its history, and especially consider the future. Defending our democracy is everyone's business. I think we need to take from this year's anniversary the need for a collective effort to safeguard what has been achieved."



Conveying messages of optimism, the exhibition focuses on the feelings of joy and hope that these two great moments for Democracy and Freedom generated among Athenians, while also serving as the centerpiece of the rich program of anniversary events organized by the City of Athens throughout the city until November.

Mayor Haris Doukas and the attendees had the opportunity to tour the two main sections of the exhibition: "A Brief Breath of Freedom" and "The Great Moment of Democracy." Dedicated to the events of 1944 and 1974 respectively, they include more than 500 exhibits, including rare photographs, artworks, period newspapers, posters, proclamations, personal items, newsreels, and rich audiovisual archival material. The tour was conducted by Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Athens and scientific director of the exhibition, Vangelis Karamanolakis, who provided a lively and narrative approach to the historical context of the two anniversaries, highlighting the details, aspects, and emotions that stem from the rare exhibits of the exhibition.

Mr. Karamanolakis stated, "The exhibition is dedicated to two unique moments in the 20th-century Greek history. Two moments in which Athens was at the center of developments and celebrations. Without conflating the two anniversaries, of 1944 and 1974, the exhibition seeks to highlight the common elements that characterized them, as well as to reflect on each historical context and the different burdens each carried, leading in one case to civil conflict and in the other to the foundation of the Third Hellenic Republic. A tribute to those who fought for freedom, a libation to the joy and hopes born from the days of the fall of Nazi Occupation and the seven-year dictatorship."




The exhibition "1974 & 1944: Athens Celebrates Its Freedom" is open to the public from July 23 to October 28, 2024, with free admission.

The City of Athens honors these two significant milestones for the country's free and democratic course as well as the struggles of the Greek people for national independence, freedom, and democracy, organizing a rich program of events. Through various performances, artistic and educational activities spread across many landmarks of Athens and its numerous neighborhoods until next November, with free admission for most of them, the City highlights the living historical memory of the city while opening a necessary dialogue with our recent history.

Starting in September, the activities include lectures, discussions, screenings, guided tours for adults, special guided tours by the exhibition curators, educational programs, and an insert of contemporary dance and dance performances.

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You can see the full program of anniversary events organized by the City of Athens, in Greek, HERE!

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The Byzantine emperors, it is said, regularly exiled dissident members of their court to Kastoria. Like Ochrid to the north, half-way across the breadth of the Balkans on an artery reaching from Constantinople to the Adriatic Sea, evidently exile in this little Greek lakeside resort was meant to be a chastening punishment.

Today, such punishment is a rare pleasure. Kastoria boasts a Byzantine heritage that seems second to Constantinople. But, unlike Istanbul, this little town in summertime enjoys a captivating serenity. In wintertime, I should add, it is entirely different, so they say. For this is the fur capital of Greece, a status it owes to its ancient heritage of trapping beaver (beaver in Greek being kastori, with the plural being kastoria) in Lake Orestiadha. An inexplicable number of shops fit out Greece’s best-dressed women in bulky coats as well as tight leather, risking political incorrectness in most other European countries.

Lake Orestiadha is graced by pelicans. These bewitchingly beautiful birds circle around the lakeside like jumbo jets before effortlessly descending, twisting then gliding to plop onto the water close to shore alongside the ungainly but distinctive watercraft here. The restless pelicans catch your eye as you enter the town, which has colonised the isthmus of a steep and bulbous promontory reaching out into the northern part of the lake. Refurbished Roman fortifications belonging to ancient Celetrum were probably first renovated in the 6th century AD when this had become Justinianopolis. These were strengthened again with 13th century bastions by the Epirot Despots. The unevenly restored walls extend across the narrow neck, in front of which is the daily market of local farmers, men and women from the slopes of the Grammos mountains, wizened by long summers. Rising steeply behind the walls is the modern town with its roots in Byzantium and the Ottoman age. Along the west-facing shoreline is a string of bright cafés; this is the heart of the present city. By contrast, the east-facing shoreline, tracked by a promenade, is shaded by planes and has an elegiac air. Here the discrete sense of serenity is profound as the trees drift past the excellent Kastoria Hotel into the thicker woodland that shrouds the narrow sylvan track that winds around the promontory a distance of some six miles.

Microsoft announced today that it has acquired the big-data focused company Metanautix, an innovative startup founded by Theo Vasilakis three years ago. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Vassilakis, who was an engineer at Google before becoming an entrepreneur, was able to get $7 million in capital to start Metanautix, including cash from well-known venture firm Sequoia. 

“I am excited to announce that Metanautix has been acquired by Microsoft,” Metanautix CEO Theo Vasilakis wrote today in a statement. 

“Three years in, we can take this work to the next level by joining forces with Microsoft. We look forward to being part of Microsoft’s important efforts with Azure and SQL Server to give enterprise customers a unified view of all of their data across cloud and on-premises systems.”

To read more, please visit: Greek Reporter

When I moved to Greece in 2012, I imagined I would be fluent in Greek within a year. I’m not sure why I thought that was possible, but this dream has proved to be one of life’s big disappointments. It’s been four years, and my Greek continues to be appalling. This is not for a lack of honest effort. I’ve attended almost every Greek school in Athens, I’ve had private tutors, I’ve read books, I’ve watched cartoons, I’ve tried nearly everything. It seems, in the end, I am not good at foreign languages—a devastating realization. But the one thing that is helping me turn the corner was the day YouTube decided I should learn Greek.

It began simply enough. I am a big fan of Monsieur Minimal and while I was working on my book, I would listen to his new album in the background on YouTube. Until one day, the album ended, I forgot to press replay, and YouTube decided what I would listen to next: 9 μήνες.

9 μήνες is a Greek soap opera based mainly in Cyprus. I’m not sure why YouTube decided to link a Greek musician to a Cypriot soap opera, but the Universe has its own method… 🙂 It took me about 30 minutes to notice I wasn’t listening to music, but when I realized what I was listening to, I was immediately sucked in. And so it began. Each day I would listen to more.

To read Lynn’s article in full, please visit: LynnRoulo.com

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Lynn is an American Kundalini yoga and Enneagram instructor teaching a unique combination of the two systems, combining the physical benefits of Kundalini yoga with the psychological growth tools of the Enneagram.

Most of her adult life has been as a Certified Public Accountant (US CPA) working in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco technology start up and venture capital industries. In 2012, she decided to move to Athens, Greece for purely intuitive reasons.  She's not Greek by heritage, she did not have a job here, she didn’t speak any Greek (at the time), and there wasn't a Greek man in the picture either! She simply had a really clear feeling that she should go to Greece. And so she did.

 

“I remember getting on the plane to leave San Francisco. My dog and two cats were in cargo below and I had packed a suitcase full of clothes. Almost everything else I had sold or given away. There wasn’t anyone to meet me in Athens because I didn’t know anyone. But it was one of the calmest moments of my life. I was totally sure I was making the right choice.  And I haven’t regretted it at all. I love Greece.”

To learn more about Lynn and all the great things she does in Athens please visit her webiste: