Greece, like most countries of the European South, is blessed with a wealth of unique agricultural products beneficial for human health and life longevity. These products also form the base of Greek cuisine and at the same time an important part of the country’s export goods. Discover 10 of the most popular Greek products from Greek TV!

The mastic comes from a short and evergreen shrub called schinus. The schinus thrives all over the Mediterranean, but the mastic is only collected from a special variety of schinus in the southern villages of Chios, the so-called Mastichohoria.

The crocus is a plant from which one of the world’s most expensive spices is produced and is called saffron. Saffron comes from the female part of the plant from inside its flower. It is used for confectionery, culinary and bakery purposes, it has medical properties, and it also functions as an aphrodisiac.

The apples of Zagora in the region of Pelion, are recognized by the EU with the Protected Designation of Origin label which travels all over the world. Zagorin apples are high quality apples that are planted, pruned and collected in the most traditional way, therefore by hand.

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

Greek airline carrier Aegean was honored in the Condé Nast Traveler 2017 Readers’ Choice Awards as one of the 20 Best Airlines in the World!

The airline ranked 9th “for flying a modern fleet of narrow-body Airbus planes and its professional, friendly staff,” according to the Condé Nast Traveler.

In this year’s Readers’ Choice Awards survey, travelers voted on the world’s best airlines (outside the U.S.), with several Middle Eastern and Asian carriers getting top marks for their long-haul flights around the globe. The number one airline is Air New Zealand, followed by Qatar Airways in second place and Singapore Airlines in third place.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

The airlines of the Lufthansa Group – Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings – this winter (2017/18) will be connecting 288 destinations in 106 countries with 24,922 weekly flights.

The winter flight schedule of the individual group airlines will come into force on Sunday October 29, 2017, and will be valid until Saturday March 24, 2018.

From the end of October, Lufthansa will start operating flights from Frankfurt to many new winter destinations, including Pamplona, Genoa, Bari, Catania, Kuusamo in Finland, Cluj and Timișoara in Romania, Santiago de Compostela, Reykjavik, Palermo and Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia.

To read this article in full and to see the full winter schedule, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

The Greek government and Merchant Marine Minister, Panagiotis Kouroumplis, have declared the area of Paleo Faliro oil-free and that the other areas affected will be clean within days. The local mayor has stated that people should wait for results of water quality tests before removing signs that ban swimming.

All opposition parties have strongly criticised the government for making the “premature” announcement, claiming that while the sea surface may be clean, the sea bottom was still heavily infected.

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

Leros is ideal if you want to visit an island that is small, green, laid back, but full of history and cultural traces from different eras. It is also an ideal island to visit if you are travelling on a small motor or sailing boat, since it has a great marina and lots of natural harbors. Whether you visit now or later, Greek TV shares their perfect 48-hour itinerary!

Take your first swim in Porcelana beach, a small hidden beach near the exit of Lakki harbor. The harbor of Lakki is the second biggest in the Mediterranean, it really makes you think you are around a lake. That is why it was given the name Portolago during the Italian occupation.

Did you know that the movie “The Guns of Navarone” waw inspired by the battle of Leros? After the early swim you can visit the Leros War museum in Merikia. The museum is hosted inside a tunnel constructed for defense purposes by the Italian army during WWII and it is a very interesting exhibit by itself.

Don’t miss fresh seafood plates in the Fish Taverna. You can sea local fishermen bringing in the food you will have in your plate half an hour later.

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

The Greek government has announced that development and renovation work on the country’s 14 regional airports will begin in November 2017.

More than 400 million euros are expected to have been invested in the development and upgrade works at the airports the German-Greek consortium Fraport Greece, by 2021.

Traffic at the 14 Fraport-run airports grew by 11.4 percent to some 4.2 million passengers in September 2017.

Fraport Greece is managing the airports at 14 regions across Greece that include three mainland gateways (Thessaloniki, Aktion, and Kavala) and 11 airports on Greek islands (Chania on Crete, Kefalonia, Kos, Mykonos, Lesvos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos and Zakynthos).

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek City Times

The up-market suburb of Kifissia lies just a few kilometers north of the city centre, and it is home to an outstanding number of great shops, local artisans, cafes and restaurants. This trendy neighbourhood gives locals and visitors the opportunity to enjoy unique local and international fashion and delicious food. Here are 5 places to go, as recommended by the NY Times.

“Athenians come in the morning to get their fix of Greek coffee, which is traditionally served black and so strong that a glass of water accompanies each cup to help cleanse the palate.”

Address: 15 Kiriakou Diomidi

Telephone: 210 623 3769

“This airy family-run bakery, dating to the late 19th century, is a wonderland for Greek food souvenirs.”

Address: 5 Kassaveti

Telephone: 210 801 2472

“The country’s artisans, who painstakingly produce handmade goods, are an endangered breed because of an increasing reliance on machine-made products.”

Address: 10 Agion Theodoron

Telephone: 210 801 2044

To read this article in full, please visit: The New York Times

The impressive animated full-length painted film called ‘Loving Vincent’ is finally complete after 6 years. The first of its kind, the film tells the story of Vincent van Gogh’s life and the mysteries surrounding his death. The co-directors are British animator, Hugh Welchman, and his Polish-born wife Dorota Kobiela. After they met and married, the idea they had started to come to life.

“In essence, the idea was simple: an artist would render a full oil-on-canvas image. ‘That could take between half a day and three days,’ says Welchman, ‘and then for twelve times for every second [of the film], you’re moving the paint.’”

Quite a tedious process, Welchman and Kobiela used 125 artists to paint 65,000 individual frames. Of those 125, twenty were Greek oil painters from StudioBauhaus.

“There were a lot of challenges,” says artist Alexandra Bari.

“In the beginning we had to understand and study his painting style [Vincent van Gogh], and learn his technique and combine them into our work,” says artist Nikos Koniaris to Euronews. “It was very very difficult to imitate such a great master.”

To learn more about this incredible film, visit: The Independent and Euronews

Watch the trailer here!

Incoming traffic to Greece by road, air and sea is increasingly paving the way for improved figures in 2017, the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) said recently.

The number of international arrivals at major airports across Greece grew by 5.9 percent in August and by 8 percent from the start of the year, with regional airports reporting an increase of 5.4 percent and Athens airport by 8.3 percent in the same month.

Inbound road travel was up by 14.5 percent in August and by 10 percent from the start of 2017. Sea travel, particularly from Italy, grew by 14 percent in June and by 12.4 percent from the beginning of the year.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

As you arrive on the corner of Vyzantiou street in Koukaki, there is a new cocktail bar quite a bit different that a lot of people are talking about. 

As you walk into this cocktail bar, you will notice that the bartenders are dressed as if they are ready to go on a safari. The decoration resembles a tropical climate and all guests are holding colorful cocktails in their hands. On the walls, the television is playing documentaries with small, cute animals that you can't stop staring at. They are called Meerkats, they live in the dessert and all people in the bar are talking about them. 

Once upon a time there was boy named Romain who lived in Paris, France. His passion was to mix drinks, make alchemies and create dream drinks that people could drink. He studied at the Lycée Hôtelier de Marseille Bonneveine and soon found himself conducting some of the world's finest cocktails bars such as the Experimental Cocktail Club, Little Red Door, Conserverie in Paris, Ritz in London, Carlton in Cannes.

Suddenly though, he fell in love with Christina, who is half Greek. So from the city of light, he came to the city of the sun and decided he did not want to return to Paris again. The two of them, together with Andrea Vernikos, opened the Meerkat, a cocktail bar in the most vibrant neighborhood of the city center today: Koukaki.

You can visit the Meerkat from 10am for a nice coffee, grab a bite of innovative toasts or drink (from the morning if you want) Romain's cocktails that every passing day are becoming more and more famous in our city!

Address: Vizantiou 7, Athina 117 41
Tel: 21 3045 3390
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Originally posted on AthensVoice
Translated by XpatAthens