Just a few metres away from Syntagma metro station and right next to the Greek parliament lies the national garden which, together with the Zappion hall garden, covers 24 hectares full of vegetation, rare plants, saplings and birds.

The garden is accessible from seven entrances. The central entrance on Amalias Avenue, one on Vasilissis Sophias Avenue, three on Irodou Attikou Street and two more in the area of Zappeion park.

Before it was renamed “National”, the garden was called “royal” or “the garden of Amalia” the queen to whom it owes its rare existence. The interest of Queen Amalia, wife of King Otto, in the Garden was such that she is said to have spent at least three hours a day personally taking care of it. She herself also planted the iconic 25-metre-high Washingtonia palm trees which grab the attention  when one enters the garden from the gate on Vasilissis Amalias Avenue.

Next to the gate on Amalias Avenue, there’s always a street vendor supplying passers-by and visitors with traditional “koulouri Thessalonikis”, bread rings covered in sesame seeds, people are crowded at the bus stop and the kiosks are stocked for every contingency.  A few steps  into the garden allows you to escape the hurly burly of the city. Shaded by eucalyptus trees, its benches make an ideal spot to bury yourself in a book , make new acquaintances or perhaps even start a romance. There are also many Athenians who prefer the National Garden for their exercise and every now and again you will spot people jogging through this luxuriant city paradise.

To read more, please visit: Discover Greece

After a year of restoration works, the grand Rotunda of Thessaloniki, also known as the Church of Agios Georgios, reopened its doors on Friday 18th December 2015, with a concert to mark the much-awaited occasion.

The building, included on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1988, is one of the most important Roman monuments in the city and stands next to the Arch of Galerius.

This cylindrical structure was commissioned by Roman Emperor Galerius in 306 AD, who had planned for the structure to be his grave. Through its turbulent history, it served first as a Roman mausoleum, then as a Christian church and during the Ottoman era, as a mosque.

From 1920 until the end of WWII, the Rotunda housed the city's archeological treasures by serving as a museum.

To read more, please visit: Greek Reporter and ANA MPA

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

Greeks ring in the new year with as much celebration as everyone else, except that New Year's Day in Greece is a big day for another reason too.

 

January 1st is the name day of Saint Basil or Agios Vasilios, one of the forefathers of the Greek Orthodox Church, making this holiday one with many traditions to enjoy. Here are a few of our favorites:

 

Exchanging Gifts 
Although Christmas has recently brought Santa Claus and the giving of gifts, traditional Greek homes celebrate gift-giving on the name day of Agios Vasilios - presents are left under the tree on the morning of New Year's Day.

Playing Cards

Luck plays a big part in the new year celebration in Greece. A win at cards could signal a whole year of good luck, so playing card games, rolling dice, and other games of chance play a big part in Greek celebrations at this time of year. Games are often played in tavernas, kafenion, and homes across the country. Even the state lottery is played with much enthusiasm at this time of year.

The "Podariko" Tradition

On New Year's Day, a common tradition called 'kalo podariko' or first footing, is that the first person to enter a Greek house on New Year's Day will bring luck in with them. Typically before midnight, the 'first footer' is chosen to step through the doorway and back into the house in an attempt to bring good luck to the home. It is said that luck is only brought by someone with a kind, loving, and honest heart, so children are commonly chosen to usher in the new year in this way.

Vasilopita

New Years Day also brings the traditional 'Vasilopita' cake, a round sweet cake that is ceremonially cut with a slice for each member of the family and additional special slices for the home, Agios Vasilios, and any other religious figures the family wishes to cut for. Slices are handed out to each family member from oldest to youngest - whoever receives the lucky slice, the piece containing a hidden coin, is said to receive good luck for the whole year.

Gouri - New Year's Charms
Good luck charms, or 'gouria' in Greek, are also very popular at this time of year. The Gouri is a traditional Greek New Year’s gift that you give to loved ones in order to bring them luck for the year to come. Designs and materials may vary, just like their prices, but a gouri is a very popular symbol of love and protection for the new year.

Other New Years' Traditions Around Greece

In the Cyclades, villagers believe a north wind on New Year's Day to be a very good omen for the year. Also, if a dove should land in the yard that day, the family will have an extra lucky year, but if a crow flies over the house, then all luck will be lost.

In Crete, the tradition of hanging wild sea onions, or 'squill' is still practiced in some homes. The Cretan wild onion is actually poisonous and may cause a skin rash, but when uprooted, it flowers and grows new leaves. Cretans consider this rare quality a very good omen and hang the wild onions in their homes on New Year's Day in a tradition that goes back to the 6th century BC.

Temperatures are expected to drop during the last two days of the year in Greece, raising hopes that some mountainous and northern regions might enjoy some snow.

Greece has experienced an exceptionally mild winter so far, with clear blue skies and temperatures reaching 15 degrees during the day, including Christmas day.

Clouds and rain are expected on Wednesday (Dec. 30) throughout Greece while snow is forecast for the mountainous area in central and northern parts of the country. Temperatures will drop as low as 2 degrees Celcius.

On New Year’s Eve, sleet is forecast for many regions of the country. Mountainous areas as well as in the lowlands of central and northern Greece will have winds reaching 7 Beaufort. Temperatures will drop to -1 in many regions. Temperatures will drop another degree on New Year’s day with sleet, rain and clouds expected for most of the country.

Source: ANA-MPA

Vasilopita is a traditional Greek cake or bread served on New Year's to celebrate the life of Saint Basil. After baking the cake, a coin is inserted though the base and when cut, the person who finds the coin is said to be granted luck for the rest of the year.  

Vasilopita is made of a variety of doughs, depending on the region of Greece and almost every family has its own recipe. The most popular vasilopita recipes are made either with tsoureki dough or like a cake. Here, My Greek Dish shares with us their family's recipe which has been enjoyed for over 30 years.

 

To find out important tips on how to prepare the Vasilopita, please visit: My Greek Dish

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History Behind The Tradition

The Vasilopita is made in honor of St. Basil (Agios Vasilios) and a heavy tax burden. It is said that one year, during a time of famine, the emperor levied an excessive tax on the people of Caesarea. The tax was such a heavy burden on the already poverty-stricken people that to avoid debtors’ prison, each family had to give up its few remaining coins and pieces of jewelry, including precious family heirlooms.

Learning of this injustice, St. Basil, who was the archbishop of Caesarea, took up his bishop’s staff and the book of the Gospels and came to his people’s defense by calling the emperor to repentance. The emperor listened! He canceled the tax and instructed his tax collectors to turn over to St. Basil all of the chests containing the coins and jewelry which had been paid as taxes by the people of Caesarea.

St. Basil was then faced with the daunting and impossible task of returning the thousands of coins and pieces of jewelry to their rightful owners. After praying for a long time, St. Basil had the idea to bake the treasures into one huge pita (bread). He then called all the townspeople to prayer at the cathedral. After the church service, he blessed and cut the pita, giving a piece to each person.

The people all joyfully returned home, giving thanks to the bishop St. Basil the Great! In remembrance of this act, Orthodox Christians observe the tradition of the Vasilopita each year on January 1st.

Main image: @polikalablog

Walking the cobblestone pathway of Europe's largest archaeological park in Athens is a rewarding history lesson in the world's grandest open-air university.

There are no fees, no professors, no homework. You don't even have to attend everyday, just as and when there's an itch of intrigue.

Like Rome, Athens surrounds you with the ancient: the Acropolis, the Theatre of Dionysus, Herodes Atticus, Arch of Hadrian and the Athennian Trilogy.  It's the crumbling Meccano kit of empires built and empires destroyed.

No other country can boast such a hard-bastard dynasty of athletes, Titans and Gigantes.  And it's the Greek history and landscapes, even more than empirical brick-and-mortar that jointly built the modern Greece we know today.

Here is a country routed in our consciousness, whether we've visited it or not.  The names of ancient Gods and Goddesses are taught to us at an early age, and the epistemology of their philosophers still widely referenced in society today.

Those of you with a loathsome memory of school Maths will recall Pythagoras's Theorem, the Trigonometry thorn that created hatred ina ll exam-sitters for Greek mathematicians.  Then, there are the philosopheres and the poets - the scholars.  Greek mythology and Greek tragedies.  We think of the Olympics, we think of Greece.  Even their yoghurts are famous.

To read more, please visit: Daily Mail Online

by

David Constable

In a modern high-tech office, two software engineers are busy directing an army of young engineers as they work on upgrades for their three-year-old cloud-based recruiting software company, Workable.com, which already has 3,500 customers in 50 countries and has attracted more than $34 million in venture capital. 

It would be just another Silicon Valley success story if it weren't for the company's home base: Greece, a country that is the basket case in the euro zone because of economic mismanagement, public sector corruption and a youth unemployment rate that's a staggering 60 percent. The situation is so dire, suicide rates are on the rise, and there is an exodus of talent looking for opportunities abroad.

Despite the bleak outlook, there is a growing cadre of Greek entrepreneurs determined to defy the odds and build high-tech businesses that can thrive, providing a glimmer of hope for the economy. These trailblazers are patriots. As the most highly educated generation in the nation's history, they are determined to grow their ideas on home soil even as Greece grapples with budget austerity, and regulatory changes that are undermining the middle class and threatening national sovereignty.

"The crisis has pushed people into survival mode, and they are looking for opportunities," according to Stavros Messinis, CEO and founder of The Cube, a start-up incubator in Athens.  "At this point, there isn't much for them to lose."

Most are tired of an unstable political system unable to put the country back on its feet. Since the start of the economic crisis in 2009, Greece has lost more than 25 percent of its GDP, and thousands of enterprises have gone bust under the pressure of a deepening recession. This summer the country defaulted on more than $280 billion of debt, and capital controls were issued to prevent a run on the banks. 


As Messinis explained, "Up until now, 70 percent of Greeks were employed by the public sector. But that is now crumbling. Now we need to develop a high-tech sector that can produce value-added products and services to turn the economy around." 

To read more, please visit: CNBC

Christmas is the most important – and perhaps the most treasured – celebration of Christianity filled with joy and love. Countries around the world celebrate with different customs that have deep roots within history and tradition. In Greek tradition, there are a variety of similarities in the commemoration of the birth of Christ and Dionysus, thus between ancient and contemporary Greece.

In December, the ancient Greeks celebrated the birth of Dionysus, calling him “savior” and “divine infant.” According to Greek mythology, his mother, Semele, was a mortal woman and his father was Zeus, the king of all Gods. The priest of Dionysus held a pastoral staff as did the Good Shepherd. On December 30, ancient Greeks commemorated his rebirth.

The most well-known custom throughout the Christian world are the Christmas carols, songs dedicated to the occasion. Also in ancient Greece there were specific “carols” for the rebirth of Dionysus. Specifically, Homer — during his stay on the island of Samos, along with a group of children, composed carols. In ancient Greece, carols symbolized joy, wealth and peace, and the children sang the carols only in the homes of the rich. Children would go from house to house, holding an olive or a laurel branch adorned with wool (a symbol of health and beauty) and different kinds of fruits. The children brought the olive branch to their homes and hung it on the doors where it remained for the rest of the year.

A New Year’s cake, which since early Christian times has been called Vasilopita, or St. Basil’s cake, also resembles an ancient Greek custom, as ancient Greeks used to offer Gods a “festive bread” during rural festivals, such as the Thalysia or the Thesmophoria.

 

To learn more and view this article in full, please visit: Greek Reporter

Located in the heart of the National Gardens next to the stately neoclassical Zappeio landmark, you’ll find Aegli Cafe. There are dozens of tables both inside and outside. I think it’s really much nicer to sit outside in the open café space where you can have a view of the park or Mt. Lycabettus hill. There are also some outdoor heated spaces. However, if the weather is too cold for you, the inside space is wonderfully smoke free! There’s a large menu of snacks, sweets and all the typical coffees and teas you desire. Take a walk around the beautiful park afterwards. The outdoor cinema is a favorite in the summer months.