With cooler weather on the approach, and a decidedly ‘autumn’ vibe in the air (yes, some people are already wearing hats and gloves), dining out starts to move more and more towards the ‘indoors’. Of course, the heaters are turned up high on most patios, so there is no actual need to be inside, but there is something comfy and warm about sitting indoors on a crisp autumn night.

 

I am a great fan of sushi. Somehow, a meal of ‘chunks of raw fish with a side of white rice’ really makes me happy. There are more and more options in Athens for sushi – some better than others. Always on the hunt for new sushi, I was thrilled to notice Sushimou, a tiny little sushi bar on Skoufou, in Plaka towards Syntagma.

 

This is a tiny space, with exactly 11 chairs lining a tall bar. The design is deliberately simple, elegant, with origami-style birds dotting the walls, potted lilies, and even a Japanese-Greek dictionary on the shelf behind the bar. The opera playing in the background adds an elegant touch to an already elegant experience...

 

Owner/chef Antonis has poured his heart and soul into this tiny treasure, a fact which is evident the moment you walk in the door. This is Japanese simplicity at its best. Antonis is a qualified chef who spent several months training in Tokyo on traditional sushi techniques. He returned to Athens with the dream of opening an authentic sushi bar, where he could create elegant maki and perfect sashimi in front of your eyes.

 

Anyone who has visited Japan can confirm that Sushimou is decidedly authentic, both in style and substance. This is not a see-and-be-seen spot; it is, rather, a place to escape Athens and enjoy a taste of Japanese simplicity. This is fresh, delicious, impeccable sushi. Nothing more and definitely nothing less. It’s the kind of place where you are encouraged to eat your nigiri with your fingers, in one gulp. A place where the friendly Greek server is also perfectly fluent in Japanese. The emphasis here is on quality and authenticity vs. trend and self-promotion.

 

Open Tuesday-Saturday for dinner, the 11 chairs means that reservations are difficult, so waiting for a spot on the weekend might be required.

 

A must-visit for all serious fans of real sushi.

 

Until next week,


Jack

 

Skoufou 6, Plaka

+30 211 407 8457

 

http://sushimou.gr/  (blog)

Ever wondered what Odysseus ate on his long journey back to his native Ithaca or what bread made from a 2,500-year-old recipe might taste like? The flavors of the ancient Greek world are being rekindled in London at the moment, in pop-up dining fashion.

Prepared by The Philosopher’s Stove team, the meals are based on recipes found in ancient manuscripts or fusions of old and contemporary culinary traditions. The ad hoc dinners began in May this year, with an emphasis on venues located in the British capital’s northeast.

“Given that we cannot re-enact the ancient Greek flavor palette, our project is an attempt to interpret the recipes through today’s contemporary reality, based on our own flavor horizon,” noted Stathis Georgiadis, a historian and co-founder of The Philosopher’s Stove. “We try to be as faithful as possible to recipes and references we come across to during our research, always working with the ingredients used back then. The feedback we get from those tasting our dishes is that the food is tasty, special and kind of off-the-beaten-culinary track.”

So far diners have been savoring a collection of antiquity-inspired dishes, including Dionysus’ Finger Food, a platter of vine leaves stuffed with minced pork and fried shrimps in a sour honey dipping sauce, Circe’s Pig, triple smoked pork cooked in wine, white grape juice, honey and spices – a recipe found in a papyrus at ancient Oxyrhynchus – and Cicero’s Burger, a vegetarian mix of chickpeas, walnuts, onions and spices, served with a smoked yogurt sauce and fresh coriander.

Ancient Greek poet Archestratus is widely considered to have laid the foundations for the art of gastronomy in 4th century BC Syracuse. His culinary laws included the use of quality ingredients in harmonious combinations, light sauces and a touch of spice.

The culinary spine of ancient Greek nutrition, says Georgiadis, was based on cereals, bread, fish, dairy products, cheese, eggs, honey, legumes and certain fruits – at the banquet table these were frequently accompanied by watered wine.

Have contemporary Greeks kept anything from the nutritional teachings of their ancestors?

“They certainly have. Above all, the high quality of raw materials produced on Greek soil and the purity of a number of ingredients which are intrinsically linked to Greek cuisine, such as olive oil,” noted Georgiadis. “It’s also about a certain balance and a sense of gastronomic wealth – this kind of cuisine includes almost everything. Another major factor is the notion of gathering around a table as a means of socialization. The way we get together to eat and share our food, the transformation of ancient Greek symposia, and their importance for individuals and society as a whole.”

To read more, please visit: ekathimerini

by

Elis Kiss and Christine Sturmey

Google is aiming this year to educate over 30,000 Greek tourism professionals on the sales potential of the Internet through its ambitious Grow Greek Tourism Online initiative

In its third year, the Google training project, aims to boost the online presence of Greek tourism professionals and their businesses through ongoing training in the use of online technology and help attract visitors all year round.

In 2014 and 2015, over 10,000 Greek SMEs developed their digital skills through Google’s special seminars and online training sessions.

Google’s Grow Greek Tourism Online initiative runs in cooperation with the Tourism Ministry, the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) and the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE).

To read more and to learn how you can benefit, please visit: GreekTravelPages

Who said that sushi was a luxurious option only for people with large wallets? It's not anymore! You can now enjoy favourites such as maki, rolls & nigiri without breaking the bank.

Price Point: $$-$$$
Dress Code: Casual

Kazoku

Kazoku in Japanese means family and this is how you're going to feel there, just like family in a warm and friendly environment. It is small place, but it has great value for your money. It opened about a year ago in Glyfada and it welcomed the lovers of Japanese cuisine just a few meters from Kyprou square. Patrons will have the chance to try the excellent and fresh rolls like the dragon, but also the spicy salmon, rainbow, tiger tempura and the amazing duck salad. Prices range from 17€ per person.

Location: 11 Foivis, Glifada
Telephone: 210 8944549

Price Point: $$
Dress Code: Casual

Shisan Sushi Bar

This new affordable Sushi place in Holargos is a small and friendly spot where you will eat a lot and the prices are great! You may start with salmon or tuna tutaki and may continue with excellent and fresh shisan rolls. You can't leave without trying the Mochi Chocolate, a cream made from rice with a chocolate flavour. They also have take away meals and a delivery service. Prices range from 12€ per person.

Location: 24 Mesogeion, Holargos
Telephone: 210 6510011

Price Point: $$
Dress Code: Casual

Yoshi Sushi Bar

Yoshi Sushi has managed to attract people from all over Athens. Hidden within the Plaza shopping mall, it is a modern place that promises to teach us the secrets of the Japanese cuisine. The best selling dishes are the sushi combos (from 12€), which include a taste from each category of the menu. Ask the waitor about the dish of the day as the restaurant offers something new everyday.

Location: 7 Platonos, Halandri
Telephone: 216 7006857

Price Point: $$-$$$
Dress Code: Casual

The Clumsies has been named one of the 50 best bars in the world for the 5th year in a row! According to The World's 50 Best Bars, an acclaimed organization in the bar and drinks industry, The Clumsies has been voted the 6th best bar in the world due to its ambiance, hospitality, and excellent cocktails.

"Whether for the high-class cocktails, homely food, open-armed Greek hospitality, or charming ambiance, The Clumsies is a place in which everyone feels at home. Set in a townhouse in downtown Athens, The Clumsies freely flows through the ground floor, from the statement bar at the front to the quieter back room and terrace where you’ll find a wide staircase that climbs to a private bar and billiard table. If the provision of homely hospitality has been fundamental to the success of The Clumsies, its latest menu narrows in on the customer further. The Clumsies Revisited is a compilation of the bar’s greatest hits, with simplified methodologies for guests to recreate the cocktail magic at home. A bar launched on a tight budget in a recession by two aspiring young bartenders – Vasilis Kyritsis and Nikos Bakoulis – The Clumsies was a smash from the start with locals and international travellers alike. For the past five years it’s been able to call The World’s 50 Best Bars its home too"

 

---

Click Here To Read More About The Clumsies And Other Great Cocktail Bars In Athens

---

The heart of sports tourism strikes at Cyclades Group.

The top sports tourism event “Santorini Experience” is only a few days away. Between October 6th and 8th 2017, running and swimming races will be held for a 3rd consecutive year at the enchanting island of Cyclades.

“Santorini Experience” continues this year full of surprises!

The established meet & greet event will take place on Friday October 6th at noon (12:00pm) at the store of the sponsor Alafouzos Sport in Fira. The event will be attended by the Greek-American ultramarathon Dean Karnazes, who visits the island and the event for the first time and will run in the 15km race. Everyone attending the meet & greet will have the opportunity to get autographs from the athlete-phenomenon who will sign his latest book “The Road to Sparta” by Key Books.

Top professional athletes, as well as lots of amateur swimmers and runners, will give a dynamic “presence” at the event, as registrations have already broken any previous record!

One of the athletes who have participated in all the events so far in the waters of Santorini is the Greek open water champion, Kelly Araouzou. Along with her, several members of the National Team will also be present, such as Antonis Fokaidis, Giorgos Arniakos and Dimitris Negris and for the first time in an open water race, more than 10 Greek swimming champions will participate.

Another great athlete who will have his initial participation in the event, is the Hungarian swimmer Attila Manyoki. The 44-year-old distinguished athlete in open water swimming, with a great number of successes, belongs to the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (IMSHOF). Manyoki has completed hundreds of marathon swimming races and has twice covered the 90km distance. In 2008, he swam 79.6km along Lake Balaton between Balatonkenese and Keszthely in 25 hours and 32 minutes.

For the best service and transfer of the participants in Santorini Experience at the starting points of the running routes on Saturday 07/10 in Oia and the swimming route on Sunday 08/10 at the old port of Fira, the event will arrange the following bus services: On Saturday October 7, 2017, there will be two services by bus (from 06:30am and 08:30am) from Fira (Bus station) to Oia (desalination plant) that will serve the participants wishing to be at the starting point of the running routes. Accordingly, the return of the participants will take place on another route at 12:30am, from Oia to Fira.

In addition, those wishing to move on Sunday, October 8, 2017, from Oia to the old port of Fira, will be served by the bus that will start from Passagio Santorini Oia at 08:30 in the morning. Please note that the transfer of swimmers to the volcano starts at 09:30, from the old port.

Click HERE to find the detailed schedule of the event.

Online registrations for swimming and running have closed and registrations will only be made at the store of Alafouzos Sport, the event’s official sponsor, from Thursday October 5th.

From Thursday, October 5 to Saturday, October 7, 2017, all participants will be able to receive their numbers from Alafouzos Sport store (hours: 09:00-21:00). Alternatively the running participants may also receive their numbers one hour before the start of their route on Saturday October 7, 2017, from the desalination plant in Oia while the swimming participants may also receive their numbers one hour before their start on Sunday October 8, 2017, from the old port in Fira.

All of the above would not have been realized if major sponsors had not stood on the side of the event since the first day of “Santorini Experience”.

Ryanair is for one more year the official airline partner of the event. Blue Star Ferries, Alafouzos Sport and Athina Luxury Suites are the official sponsors while Samsung is the official technology partner. For the third consecutive year, ambassadors and organizers will move with the safety and efficient engines of the cars of Ford Motor Hellas, the official supporter of “Santorini Experience”. "Vikos" for the third consecutive year will offer to the athletes who will take part the opportunity to quench their thirst with the Natural Mineral Water “Vikos” that contributes to the good functioning of the body during sports. Official supporters include Avance, Aqua Vista Hotels, Santo Maris Oia Luxury Suites & Spa, ΕΚΟ, GoPro, Wyndham Grand Athens and Santorini Boatmen Union.

The hospitality sponsors supporting the event are: Santorini Hoteliers Association, Meltemi Hotels & Resorts, Aqua Vista Hotels, Athina Luxury Suites, Santo Maris Oia Luxury Suites & Spa, Aegean Plaza Hotel, Andronis Concept, Vedema A Luxury Collection Resort Santorini, Canaves Oia, West East Suites, Desiterra Luxury Suites & Villas, 270 Oia's View, Central Fira Hotel, Memories Hotel, Loizos Stylish Residencies, Fanouris Condo, Monolithia Hotel, Esperas Santorini, Sienna Residencies, Hotel Rivari Santorini, White Pearl Villas, Caldera Collection.

“Santorini Experience” will take place under the auspices of the Greek National Tourism Organization and the Hellenic Swimming Federation with the co-organization of the Municipality of Santorini, DAPPOS and Active Media Group

Official Hashtag: #SantoriniExperience

Official Airline Partner: Ryanair

Official Sponsors: Blue Star Ferries, Alafouzos Sport, Athina Luxury Suites

Official Technology Partner: Samsung

Official Supporters: Ford Motor Hellas, “Vikos” Natural Mineral Water, Avance Rent A Car, Aqua Vista Hotels, Santo Maris Oia Luxury Suites & Spa, ΕΚΟ, GoPro, Wyndham Grand Athens, Santorini Boatmen Union

Hospitality Sponsors: Santorini Hoteliers Association, Meltemi Hotels & Resorts, Aqua Vista Hotels, Athina Luxury Suites, Santo Maris Oia Luxury Suites & Spa, Aegean Plaza Hotel, Andronis Concept, Vedema A Luxury Collection Resort Santorini, Canaves Oia, West East Suites, Desiterra Luxury Suites & Villas, 270 Oia's View, Central Fira Hotel, Memories Hotel, Loizos Stylish Residencies, Fanouris Condo, Monolithia Hotel, Esperas Santorini, Sienna Residencies, Hotel Rivari Santorini, White Pearl Villas, Caldera Collection

Assisted by: Sunset Oia Sailing Cruises, Alios Ilios, Assyrtico Wine Restaurant Café, Lifeguard Patrol, Voluntary Lifeguards of Santorini, Aegean Divers

Official Travel Agent: VitaNTravel

Website
Facebook 
Twitter 
YouTube 
Instagram 

Greece is a wonderful place to visit... and not just in the summer! Learn why, through a fascinating award winning tourism film and by pesenting you one of the best winter road trips you can take, just two hours away from Athens!

Greeks are famous for their hospitality toward guests, visitors, family, and friends. They are renowned for being philoxenoi, as if it is written in their DNA. Anthropologist Sofia Zinovieff, first lived in Nafplio, Greece in the late 80s as a postgraduate student researching modern Greek identity and tourism. Her article gives in-depth insight into the hidden aspects of Greek hospitality.

 

No matter how graceful Greek hospitality is, anthropologists argue there's more to the phenomenon than free-floating kindness. In essence, it's part of a system. In many pre-industrial societies, you automatically give a stranger a meal or a bed for the night, knowing that someone will do the same for you or your loved ones. Some degree of reciprocity is implied, even if it is not implemented. These habits become deeply rooted.

Another very significant factor is the way hospitality contributes to social standing. Many of us may have witnessed Greek "big men" paying for everyone on an evening out or offering large feast in their homes to recognize the processes described above. The Harvard anthropologist Professor Michael Herzfeld believes that, on the island of Crete, hospitality creates a symbolic reversal of power relations. As Herzfeld writes, "At the level of collective representations… [hospitality] signifies the moral and conceptual subordination of guest to host."

After finishing her PhD, Sofia Zinovieff, returned to Greece with her Greek husband and 2 daughters. She writes, "In Athens, I soon saw that aspects of traditional hospitality and generosity have survived, even if circumstances have changed. The reality of millions of tourists visiting each year makes it harder to find the random acts of kindness encountered by earlier travelers. And while many Greeks have been inspiringly hospitable and openhearted towards refugees and migrants (whose mass arrivals coincided with the country's own recent economic crisis), we have also witnessed philoxenia's ugly opposite – xenophobia. Nevertheless, the tendency to maintain social ties and rules of hospitality within the city is still reminiscent of earlier times in more rural communities." "When you treat someone to a coffee or a meal or invite them into your home, you bind them to you in a fluid, open-ended debt that may never be repaid but that may help you in some way in the future. This is the village within the city."

However, the potential for self-interest does not diminish the positive impact of hospitality which creates a "virtuous circle". Hospitality remains hardwired in Greece, if fact you rarely come into someone's home without being offered a glass of water, sweets, and much more. Despite anthropologists' arguments, the potential compensations of hospitality are unlikely to be a concious motive of the giver or the receiver.

Even though Greece society has changed drastically in the recent decades, the self-worth and honor of an individual, their philotimo as it is called in Greece, is still reflected on the way they treat a guest.


To read this article in full, please visit: Greece-is.com

Greece is among the world’s most searched-for destinations for post-Covid-19 travel, ranking third on the list provided by ESTA, a US electronic system for travel authorization.

Esta-america.com has analyzed Google search volume data to reveal the global searches for destinations around the world and the countries that people are most looking forward to visiting when the travel gates finally open fully.

Greece is in third place with 108,780 searches per month. The Maldives, with 130,970 average monthly searches, are first place while India takes the second spot with 130,750 monthly average searches.

Out of the top 10 most-searched-for countries, Asia is the continent that features the most, with four (five including Turkey) countries within it taking the top spots.

Hotspots such as Thailand, the Maldives, and India are clearly grabbing the attention of aspirational wanderers with their golden beaches, scorching weather, and bustling cultures.

There are some well-known holiday destinations that travelers aren’t as excited to visit again post-Covid, such as Morocco with just 14,840 average monthly searches, the United Arab Emirates with 13,700 searches, and popular travel hotspot Laos with just 2,890 searches.

The survey also reveals that travel aspirations have changed over the past year. In August 2020, Italy was the country that travelers wanted to visit the most. It has now dropped down to the 13th spot. Following this, Mexico and Thailand have both been bumped down the list this year, too.

To read this article in full, please visit: news.gtp.gr