LIFE & CULTURE
XpatAthens
Thursday, 04 February 2016 07:00
Top Restaurants In Athens
New restaurants and cafes pop up every day in Athens, it can be hard to decide where to go. Here, our friends at Greece by a Greek provide us with their top choices of restaurants that offer not only gourmet dishes, but also an experience to remember.
1) Eleas Gi - Meaning: Earth’s Olive Oil – A travel in time experienceWebsite: http://www.eleasgi.gr/en
Why: Classy atmosphere – delicious, premium quality food – great views.
What: Authentic Greek cuisine cooked with extra virgin olive oil – 2 menus to choose, 14 or 24 different tastes – more than tasty and very well presented dishes – excellent value for money.
2) Funky Gourmet - Creative dinner over 17 molecular courses
Where: 13 Paramithias st. & Salaminos, Keramikos
Website: http://www.funkygourmet.com/en/photos
Why: Creative cuisine with a twist, presentation and imagination – beautiful and chic surroundings – unique experience – great service.
What: Amusing avant-garde cuisine – unbelievable flavors’ combinations – exquisite and delightful presentation of dishes.
3) Galazia Hytra - Part of the Astir Palace Complex
Where: 40 Apollonos Street, Astir Palace Complex, Vouliagmeni
Website: http://www.westinathens.com/en/galazia-hytra
Why: Unforgettable sunset views of the Saronic Gulf – creative Greek cuisine – palatable experience.
What: Creative and unique recipes – fascinating flavors and aromas – fresh local Greek ingredients – Greek wine – pricey but it is worth it.
Why: Unforgettable sunset views of the Saronic Gulf – creative Greek cuisine – palatable experience.
What: Creative and unique recipes – fascinating flavors and aromas – fresh local Greek ingredients – Greek wine – pricey but it is worth it.
To read more, please visit: Greece by a Greek
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Restaurants In Athens
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Thursday, 04 February 2016 07:00
Archaeologists Make Exciting Discovery At Aptera In Crete
Archaeologists excavating the site of Ancient Aptera in Iraklio, Crete recently announced the discovery of two small yet spectacular statues depicting the gods Artemis and Apollo.
The two statues, which are believed to be a pair, have a height of about half a meter, including their pedestals, and are believed to date to the second half of the 1st century or early 2nd century AD.
That of Artemis, the hunting goddess worshiped in Aptera, is cast in bronze, while her brother Apollo is carved from marble.
The goddess, standing on an ornate base also of bronze, is in an excellent state of preservation, the head of the excavation, Vanna Niniou-Kindeli, said, with all of her limbs intact and posed as though ready to shoot an arrow.
To read more, pelase visit: ekathimerini
To read more, pelase visit: ekathimerini
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Greece In The News
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Wednesday, 03 February 2016 07:00
Hundreds Of Greek Hotels Up For Sale
Hundreds of hotel owners have recently resorted to trying to sell their units, research by Kathimerini has found, with at least 5 percent of Greek hoteliers having placed ads in popular specialized websites over the last 40 days to sell their assets.
The number of sellers is far greater when taking into account ads published earlier last year, while many other hoteliers are choosing different means to promote their hotels for sale.
This trend highlights the flip side of Greek tourism: While there was an all-time record in arrivals from abroad last year – benefitting specific tourism destinations and hotels – there is also a great number of mainly small and medium-sized hotels that face serious sustainability issues.
To read more, please visit: ekathimerini
To read more, please visit: ekathimerini
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Local News
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Monday, 01 February 2016 07:00
Mountain Sports: Popular Destinations In Greece
For mountain sports enthusiasts, Greece is the ideal setting for your athletic adventures. Ski centres with pistes of high standads and hospitable facilites, rock climbing in majestic landscapes that will take you all the way to the heavens, dirt roads and mountain forests perfect for mountain biking. What are the most popular destinations in Greece for mountain sports?
Skiing in Greece: Popular pistes
1. Parnassos: The largest and best-equipped ski resort in Greece, near cosmopolitan Arahova and Livadi, at an altitude of 1,600-2,300m. It boasts 19 trails totalling 36km, while the Vakhos and Iniochos pistes are certified by the International Ski Federation (FIS), for the organisation of meets and competitions. In addition, there are seven more snow trails and 8 connecting paths that lead to the black pistes.
2. 3-5 Pigadia: 3-5 Pigadia can be found on the eastern side of Mt Vermio, at an altitude of 1,430-2,005m and surrounded by green forest. It’s famous for its piste named Filippos, the best black run (of extreme difficulty) in Greece, while Aristotelis, at 2,000m long, is certified by the International Ski Federation (FIS) for the Pan-European and World Championships. It also has a separate snowboard park, for snowboarding and freeriding.
3. Karpenisi: One of the largest and most impressive ski centres in Greece can be found at the Velouhi plateau in Karpenissi. Spread over 5,500 sq m, at an altitude of 1,850-2,000m, it boasts 18 slopes. Of these, there is one black slope for experienced skiers and snowboarders.
4. Vasilitsa: The ski resort at Vasilitsa is one of the most famous and popular in Greece, and is located in the heart of the Pindos Mountains, in a majestic landscape (2,150m). It has 18 pistes which total 24km in length, as well as a snowboard park.
Rock climbing in Greece: Popular destinations
1. Meteora: Climbing the Meteora pillars is a truly singular experience. These are long ascents without surplus safeties using natural holds which are good for relative beginners. You’ll be thrilled to discover the ruins of abandoned monasteries and hermits’ shelters in protected niches.
2. Sykia, Ghiona: An impressively sheer slope rises above the village of Sykia, posing its challenge. The object of many a climber’s desire is the vertical rock face from 1,000-2,500m, the Slab of Sykia, which is an excellent test of their skills.
Trekking in Greece: Popular routes
1. Mytikas, Mt Olympus: The classic ascent to the top of Mt Olympus starts from the Prionia refuge at 1,100m. This is the highest spot that you can drive to and if you’re hiking on the E4, you’ll also pass through here from Litochoro and the Epineas Gorge, before continuing up the mountain.
2. Vikos Gorge: One of Europe’s deepest and longest gorges, this is a must for nature lovers. The descent from Monodendri and the ascent to Vikos is steep, but the walk above the Aoos River in the heart of the Vikos-Aoos National Park is fairly even and not too demanding. The six-hour trek is mostly shaded. Ravishing flowers cover the slopes until late spring, and you can even take a dip in icy waters if you’re truly brave.
Mountain biking in Greece: Popular rides
1. Varybobi: On the outskirts of Athens is a mountain bike paradise. Above the former royal estate at an altitude of 320-850m is a perfect pine forest for your thrills and, hopefully, a few, spills.
2. Asopos canal: A canal brings water from the Mornos River to the Asopos River valley. The canal is open and the road by it lays out an attractive and easy bike route.
To read this article in full, please visit: Discover Greece
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Travel Greece
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Monday, 01 February 2016 07:00
Greek Olive Oil Finally Gains Recognition
The local reputation of this premium product is travelling beyond the country's borders.
Slowly but surely, thanks to the great efforts of passionate people to overcome numerous obstacles, Greek olive oil is at last getting the recognition it deserves. While locals have long claimed that Greece produces the best olive oil in the world, it’s now being recognized as a premium product beyond the country’s borders. For a number of years now, Greek olive oil has been venturing out into the world in artfully designed packaging that almost makes you regret opening it, and presented as a precious elixir, all the time winning new fans.
Gaea is a champion in exporting packaged olive oil, which constitutes 50 percent of its sales. This year the company launched its latest product in the US, an extra-virgin olive oil from the Koroneiki variety that does not come into contact with light or air from the time of pressing to the moment the bottle is opened, which has met with great success. The neck of the bottle is filled with nitrogen “to ensure that the product retains all its excellent characteristics until the moment of consumption,” says Gaea CEO Aris Kefalogiannis.
The Greek capital controls briefly held up the Japanese launch of George Koropoulis’s Maleas olive oil, made with organically grown olives from Laconia, cold pressed with very low acidity and a distinctive taste, also stocked by Harrods. But this was his year and he reaped the rewards: a gold medal in the Olive Japan 2015 competition, gold for taste and silver for packaging in the Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition, and a Gold Medal in the Premio Biol 2015 in Apulia, Italy. In Greece, Maleas also received the olive oil production award for 2015 from Gastronomos magazine.
To read more, please visit: Greece Is
To read more, please visit: Greece Is
by
Tania Georgiopoulou
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Greece In The News
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Monday, 01 February 2016 07:00
British Consular Services Survey - Greece
An Online Survey helping you get the most out of living in Greece.
The British Consulate in Greece would like to hear from British nationals about your experiences of living in Greece. They are updating their guides, planning their communications with central government and local authorities and developing our social media presence in Greece. By telling them about the issues you have encountered, either getting a registration certificate, planning/obtaining healthcare, learning Greek and more, will help the Consulate to tailor their information services to your needs in the best possible way to be useful for all British nationals in Greece.
The online survey will run until 29/02/2016.
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Local News
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Friday, 29 January 2016 07:00
Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Sets Up Studio On Lesvos - Highlights Plights Of Refugees
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has set up a studio on the Greek island of Lesbos to highlight the plight of refugees.
The island has been the main point of entry into the EU for hundreds of thousands of refugees over the past year and the studio would produce several projects with themes related to the refugee crisis from him and his students, Ai told reporters.
“As an artist, I have to relate to humanity’s struggles... I never separate these situations from my art,” he said. The artist is as well-known for his clashes with the Chinese authorities as for his work.
Ai praised the people of Lesbos for having a “very good understanding” of the refugees’ plight,their needs and for being “very helpful and very tolerant”, but emphasised they had limited resources to deal with the issue.
To read more, please visit: ekathimerini
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People
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Thursday, 28 January 2016 07:00
What You Need To Know About Greek Raki (Tsikoudia)
If you’ve ever been to the Greek island of Crete, or if you have ancestors that are from the island, chances are pretty good that you’ve had a spirit called Raki. In other parts of Greece, it’s known as Tsikoudia or Tsipouro. In Italy it’s called Grappa, in Spain it’s referred to as Oruja, and in the country of Georgia it’s called Chacha. To Americans, it’s often considered a form of moonshine, especially when they learn how it’s made.
Though it isn’t readily available in the United States, Greeks are eager to send travelers home with their homemade Raki. They usually put it in clear water bottles so that it can be easily transported. So, what is Raki exactly and why are Cretans so proud of it?
Raki comes from grapes
Simply put, Raki comes from byproducts created from the wine making process. After the grapes are pressed and the juice is stored so that it can begin fermenting, there’s a lot of leftover plant material. Greeks are resourceful people and they don’t let anything go to waste!
The resulting skins, twigs, and mash, which is referred to as pomace, is stored for around six weeks before it’s distilled into Raki. In fact, as long as the plant material is edible, it can eventually be distilled into Raki. Pictured here is an old fashioned distiller that is still used today to make this alcoholic beverage in many parts of Greece.
To read more, please visit: Greek Boston
Raki comes from grapes
Simply put, Raki comes from byproducts created from the wine making process. After the grapes are pressed and the juice is stored so that it can begin fermenting, there’s a lot of leftover plant material. Greeks are resourceful people and they don’t let anything go to waste!
The resulting skins, twigs, and mash, which is referred to as pomace, is stored for around six weeks before it’s distilled into Raki. In fact, as long as the plant material is edible, it can eventually be distilled into Raki. Pictured here is an old fashioned distiller that is still used today to make this alcoholic beverage in many parts of Greece.
To read more, please visit: Greek Boston
Published in
Greek Food & Diet
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Thursday, 28 January 2016 07:00
Refugees Turn Life Vests Into Handbags On Lesvos
They are a poignant symbol of Europe’s refugee crisis: Mountains of life vests strewn on the beaches of Lesvos, and piled high at dumps on the Greek island that doesn’t know what to do with them.
Now some of those refugees are working on a solution.
A group of volunteers at a refugee shelter on the island has launched a project to make handbags, totes, and messenger bags out of the brightly colored vests, hoping to raise money for charity efforts on the island.
At a tiny makeshift workshop, Afghan tailor Yasin Samadi works with a sewing machine to make a small orange dispatch bag, as children and other curious onlookers wander in and out, drawn by the bursts of noise from the machine.
"If there’s work here, I will stay here," says the 27-year-old from Kabul, who’s been living with his family at the shelter, known as the PIKPA camp, for 18 months. "If not, we'll need to leave."
Lesvos has been at the center of the refugee crisis that escalated dramatically last year. More than 500,000 refugees and other migrants arrived to the island in 2015, nearly half the total number of people who traveled to Europe.
To read more, please visit: ekathimerini
To read more, please visit: ekathimerini
Published in
Greece In The News
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Wednesday, 27 January 2016 09:05
Vote For Athens As The ‘European Best Destination 2016′
For 7 years running, you have been invited to select the best European destination. From Amsterdam to Zadar, select which tourist destinations you'd like to be featured the most in 2016!
After Bordeaux in 2015, we encourage you to select your favourite European destination for 2016. The process is simple. There is no need to register ~ with just one click, your vote is in!
The European Best Destination 2016 is an event organised by the European organisation "European Best Destinations".
VOTE FOR ATHENS HERE!
http://www.europeanbestdestinations.com/best-of-europe/european-best-destinations-2016/
http://www.europeanbestdestinations.com/best-of-europe/european-best-destinations-2016/
Birthplace of philosophy, democracy and drama, the city of Athens is not only an open-air museum of world-class cultural heritage attractions but also a contemporary metropolis with an urban personality. Named after the most benevolent Greek Goddess, Athena, the goddess of wisdom and inspiration, Athens has always been at the cultural fore.
With equal measures of grunge and grace, Athens merges the past with the present in the most slender way! A city of paradoxes and great contrasts, in the country that first invented the courtesy and generosity towards people who are far from their home, hospitality (xenia).
An intellectual beacon of the ancient world with spectacular Mediterranean landscapes bathed in the renowned light, Athens is a sophisticated cosmopolitan hub with delicious gastronomic delights, electrifying nightlife, creative vibes and a booming art scene.
From the iconic Acropolis, rising above the city, to charming up and coming neighborhoods and contemporary art galleries, the city of the Classic Marathon and the Olympic Games is a majestically quirky clash of past and present.
One of the world's oldest cities with a recorded history of 3,500 years, the Greek capital is constantly undergoing urban renewals to keep up with the evolution of time. Athens lives up to all the hype!
VOTE FOR ATHENS HERE!
http://www.europeanbestdestinations.com/best-of-europe/european-best-destinations-2016/
http://www.europeanbestdestinations.com/best-of-europe/european-best-destinations-2016/
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Local News
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