A popular travel website, AFAR, recently named the 13 most charming villages in Europe and Greece made the list! Ano Mera is a quiet and colorful Cycladic village in Mykonos and is actually one of the oldest villages of the island. Visitors often explore the Panagia Tourliani church and the Paleokastro Monastery, which are centuries old. In addition, there are graves of the ancient Geometric era of Greece in Ano Mera.

To name a few, AFAR's list also included Les Bateliers in France, Glen Country House in Cork, and Vernazza on the stunning Amalfi Coast. Mykonos came in at number 4.

To read this article in full, please visit: AFAR

Located along the thriving bar strip of Kolokotroni St, Barley Cargo is geared towards tasting and exploring boutique beers and it taps into the growing trend of craft beer. Barley Cargo offers a beer tasting experience in central Athens with more than 230 international beers including 70 Greek beers and 17 on tap varieties. Established in 2012 by Marios Mantzoukis and Nectarios Kefalas, Barley Cargo is the perfect place to get acquainted with Greek beers, which are winning awards all around the world.

Popular with locals and visitors to Athens, there is a delicious tasting menu to compliment the beer list, which changes according to the season. Produce is local and fresh. The friendly staff at Barley Cargo are eager to share something distinctive about each of the beers and the three litre pouring canisters are a popular choice for groups or to settle in with for a lazy afternoon.

Where: 6 Kolokotroni St.
Telephone: 210 323 0445
Opening Hours: Open Monday through Saturday from 11:00 to 03:00 and Sunday from 19:00 to 03:00.

To read this article in full, please visit: Why Athens

A dilapidated, abandoned building in the dreary streets on the corner of 52 Konstantinou Paleologou, and Samou St. in Athens, Attica presented the perfect canvas for a street artist to express his creativity. The graffiti, inspired by Jimmy Hendrix’s “Knowledge Speaks-Wisdom Listens”, was created by famous street artist ‘WD’ in the framework of the Athens Municipality’s Petit Paris d’ Athènes festival and has drawn the admiration of the internet community and Reddit.

The owl symbolizes wisdom and the goddess Athena. The artist said on his Facebook page, ‘Knowledge speaks – Wisdom listens.’

To read this article in full, please visit: Tornos News

Greece is known for its heart healthy, delicious Mediterranean cuisine and some of the best restaurants in the world. After analyzing user reviews and ratings, TripAdvisor released a list of the ’top 10’ restaurants in Greece, highlighting all the favorites from an upscale modern restaurant in Athens to a beachside cafe in Santorini.

 

Where:13 Paramithias Street and Salaminos, Keramikos

Telephone: 210 524 2727

Where: 4 Dexamenis, Kifisia

Telephone: 210 620 0005

Where: Main Beach Rd, Pefkos

Telephone: 224 404 8213

Where: Imerovigli

Telephone: 228 602 5649

Where: Agios Georgios Beach, Perivolos

Telephone: 228 608 2801

Where: Lindos, Rhodes

Telephone: 224 403 2222

Where: 10 Kalogera, Mykonos Town

Telephone: 228 907 8550

Where: 1 Vasileos Georgiou A_ Str., Syntagma Square

Telephone: 210 333 0766

Where: Kotronia Skiathos Island

Telephone: 242 702 4550
Website

Where: 52 Akti Koumoundourou, Piraeus

Telephone: 210 522 8400

Website

Source: TripAdvisor

Worshipped in temples, theaters, public festivals and private parties, Dionysus brought joy and relief to ancient Greek life.

Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine, often seems a familiar, likable figure, perhaps because wine and its associated rituals are such a characteristic ingredient of our own modern-day existence. Like other deities, Dionysus appears in human form and is credited with divine powers; yet thanks to his love of drinking, dancing, music and uninhibited merry-making with free-spirited friends, he offers an even more evocative reflection of the human condition and represented a favorite figure in ancient Greek religion and art.

Dionysus was the son of Zeus, ruler of the Olympian gods, and Semele, a Theban princess and daughter of King Cadmus. After his mother was tricked and killed by Hera (Zeus’ vengeful wife), Dionysus was rescued from Semele’s womb by his father and implanted in his thigh. On his son’s birth, Zeus placed Dionysus in the care of nymphs who inhabited the mythical mountain Nysa – variously located by mythologists somewhere to the east, perhaps even in distant India. As he matured, Dionysus took up wandering from land to land, accompanied by an entourage that included his tutor, Silenus, satyrs, maenads and the lustful god Pan, a human-like figure with the horns and legs of a goat.

Dionysus was considered a latecomer to the Greek pantheon and an exotic, somewhat foreign divinity.

Athenians honored Dionysus in a series of annual festivals, celebrated at three key spots sacred to the god: the “Lenaeum” (location unknown); the sanctuary “In the Marshes” (location unknown); and at his temple on the south slope of the Acropolis, adjacent to the Theater of Dionysus.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greece Is

Greek craft workers may have helped inspire the most famous Chinese sculptures ever made – the 8,000 warriors of the Terracotta Army who have been watching over the tomb of the first emperor of China for more than 2,000 years.

Archaeologists and historians working on the warriors say they now believe that the figures’ startlingly lifelike appearance could have been influenced by the arrival in China of ancient Greek sculptures, and even that Greek sculptors made their way there to teach their designs.

Li Xiuzhen, a senior archaeologist at the site says, “We now have evidence that close contact existed between the first emperor’s China and the west before the formal opening of the Silk Road. This is far earlier than we formerly thought,” she said. “We now think the Terracotta Army, the acrobats and the bronze sculptures found on site, have been inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art.”

To read this article in full, please visit: The Guardian

On October 5, 2016 Athens From Beneath, an insightful documentary about Greece’s unemployed, will premiere in the U.S. at the New York City Greek Film Festival, an extraordinary feat for the man behind the lens Takis Bardakos, who directed, produced, and wrote the film while he too was struggling with his own economic crisis, one that left him and his family homeless and unemployed.

Takis Bardakos, 59, who has a quiet, gentle presence but an endearing strength behind his voice, would rather talk about the plight of his fellow Greeks than about his own struggles. The only way in is to discuss his passion for film, especially his new documentary that holds true for far too many Greeks.

“Even though I was unemployed [and had no cash flow], I decided to start filming,” says Takis. “I found myself one morning outside church in a middle-class area with wealthy people and saw more than 150 people with bowed heads, waiting patiently to receive food. I never expected that in a parish with well-to-do residents, there would be so many people who didn’t even have food to eat. I met my colleague, and he comes out with food for his family.”

“I have to do something about it,” he says about the “new poor” in Greece, a country not used to seeing homelessness. Athens From Beneath was Takis’ solution to the growing problem, a way to cultivate social awareness. “I saw people sleeping in ruins, many living under bridges, sleeping in abandoned cars, other people, sick, and sleeping in cardboard boxes to protect themselves from the cold. I saw many looking in the trash and decided to start shooting, without a budget, but determined to get to the end.”

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek TV

With summer all but a memory, I ventured out on this beautiful Sunday to find that, in fact, summer seems to have decided to stick around a while longer…

But sunny skies notwithstanding, the autumn headlines have been leaving me with a less-than-sunny disposition.

Torrential downpours and floods around Greece…

Provocative statements from the Turkish president about ‘unjust’ national borders…

An election in the US that is leaving most of us dumbfounded and disappointed…

Refugees continuing to make the perilous journey to a questionable future…

Conflict in the Middle East that doesn’t seem to end…

An economy here at home that actually seems to be getting worse…

A ‘black hole’ of leadership in all corners…

…and that was just Saturday!

Despite it all, Athens feels alive – seemingly more than ever. Sunday was jam-packed with locals and tourists around town, enjoying a sunny respite from the downpours of Saturday. It seems like the city is becoming a real ‘city break’ destination, filling up over the weekend with smiling visitors, a weekend getaway from other European cities. Packed tavernas, overflowing cafes, lineups at the sites – maybe I’m imagining this, but it seems to me that the start of autumn has brought a distinct buzz to the city. Of course, the headlines say something else – but who believes headlines anymore? (!)

And then there is the rock – the Acropolis - always present, always watching, as if it has seen it all before and nothing can shake its resolve. Maybe after all this is the real symbol of Athens, beyond the old marble, it’s the resolve and immovable strength of the city that has enabled it to endure centuries and civilizations – and the day’s headlines. Maybe, in the end, this is who we are.

And in case you want to contemplate all of these over a coffee or a cocktail, with a rooftop view of the ancient rock, here is a list of ‘don’t miss’ city centre bars that fit the bill…!!

The Zillers - Mitropoleos 54, 210 322 2277

Bios - Peiraios 84, 210 342 5335

A for Athens - Miaouli 2-4, Monastiraki, 210 324 4244

Loukoumi - Abyssinias Square 3, Monastiraki, 210 323 4814

Couleur Locale - Normanou 3, Monastiraki, 216 700 4917

Chocolat - Apostolou Pavlou 27, Thiseio, 210 346 9077

La Vista Optimista - Ermou 95, Monastiraki, 210 325 0242

Status Sky Bar - Petraki 28, 210 33 1478

Until next week,

Jack