Greece is the most popular luxury travel destintion in the world, according to an index for 2015 drawn up by global booking engine Switchfly.

According to the booking engine, the country ranks as the most popular with three cities in the top 15: Athens, coming in at the fourth most popular luxury travel destination, whilst Crete and Mykonos come in at numbers 12 and 13 respectively.
 

Switchfly notes that Greece's popularity is no doubt due to its dramatic isles and historical interest, but also to the economic crisis that, whilst creating hardship for local people, "also made travel to the country more affordable - extending the opportunity for luxury travel to those travelers who might otherwise go economy, and incentivizing luxury travelers who like to save a buck."

To read more, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

Here, we examine the Daily Telegraph's pick of the top 10 food and drink holidays in Greece for 2015, including wine tasting, olive harvest and traditional Greek cookery courses, in destinations such as Santorini, Paros, Crete and the Cyclades Islands.

Sífnos in the Cyclades has one of the more distinctive, scrumptious island cuisines, and was the birthplace of Nikolaos Tselementes (1878–1958), author of the first Greek cookbook and Greece’s answer to Mrs Beeton. He documented such local dishes as revytháda (baked chickpea stew), mastélo (lamb and red wine clay-pot casserole), and kókoras krasáto (cockerel in wine sauce). Course participants will get to grips with these and other recipes as well as mastering a repertoire of local herbs. Courses can be booked on the spot through the concierge service of the comfy Verina Suites in Platys Gialós or the equally cutting-edge Verina Astra just outside Artemónas. 

Courses: £16 per day including ingredients and lunch. Verina Suites and Verina Astra from £80 a night

Santorini is the other Cyclade with a notable local cuisine, relying on indigenous white eggplants, fava (split yellow peas, not the sound-alike broad bean), baby tomatoes, caper greens, cheeses and sausages from neighbouring islands.  Yiorgos Hatziyannakis, head chef at Pyrgos village's acclaimed Selene Restaurant and Bisto, has been instrumental in the revival and promotion of traditional island cooking.  Selene offers three foodie experiences. The most popular is the guided folklore museum visit, short cooking demonstration and set bistro menu.  There is also a one-day hands-on cooking course (every Thursday from 10:30am) at the upstairs restaurant.  And the three-day course, which includes winery and cheese-factory visits, a fishing trip and various meals, is available for groups only by pre-arrangement.

Museum visit/cooking demonstration£35, drinks extra; one-day course £65 or £110 with gourment meal; three-day course from £275

Cooking courses on the Cycladic island of Tínos, famous for its dovecotes and marble relief sculpture, or in the historic Thessalian hill-town of Ambelákia with its ornate mansions are offered by Cooking Lessons Greece. Tínos is a short ferry ride from either Piraeus or Rafína (the latter close to Athens airport). Ambelákia, 150km south of Thessaloníki and 350km north of Athens, is best accessed with a hire car as part of an extended mainland trip. The one-day (10am–5pm) Tínos lesson involves ingredient-shopping for a three-course lunch and then preparing it.

The two-day course includes a tour of a local winery or the local Nisos brewery (same group size, price €290–350).
The one-day Ambelákia course (9am–5pm) is similar (same group sizes and prices) but includes breakfast.
The two-day course throws in a winery visit. 

One-day courses from £120, two-day courses from £230

Since the 1990s, Crete has been a leader in the promotion and revival of traditional Greek cooking and ingredients. With its long growing season and established pastoral culture, the island was a natural for the role. The bistro-deli Bakaliko, in the central square of Arhánes village 14km south of Heraklion, offers light sit-down menus as well as local products to take home – wine, raki, the rusks much loved across Greece, olive oil and paste, carob products, cheese, charcuterie and more. It also runs single-day cooking courses (9.30am–3pm) each Tuesday from May to October inclusive. After a welcome snack and pitches by local producers, the lesson begins in earnest with five pan-Hellenic recipes given a unique Bakaliko twist, ending with participants consuming the feast produced.
 

£85 a head for 4–5 people, otherwise £70, to a maximum of 12

The luxurious Kinsterna Hotel, 7km south-west of fortified Monemvasiá, opened in 2010 in a painstakingly restored 17th-century mansion. Its spa, rooms, suites and “residences” have since set a new quality benchmark for the Peloponnese. Kinsterna hosts short demo courses run by its head chef. In Session I, participants select fresh ingredients from the gardens, which find their way into hearty filo-pastry pies. There’s a fish dish to tackle too. Session II focuses on spoon sweets, marmalades and a sweet tart. 

Rooms from £170, lessons from £60

To read more, please visit: The Daily Telegraph

For over a decade Steve Kriaris, and his company Kolonaki Group, has been promoting the modern wines of Greece in Canada in the most innovative of ways.

Much of Steve’s emphasis has been the lobbying and educating of Canada’s Liquor Control Boards, which control the sale of wines and spirits in teh country (or LCBs) and most notably the LCBO, in his home province of Ontario. Largely as a result of Steve’s efforts, the LCBO has selected Greece as the flagship country in its new “Products of the World” campaign at the LCBO shop located at 200 Danforth Avenue.

The massive exposure that Greek wines will receive is critical for a country and an industry that is reeling from years of recession and financial crisis and the fact that its happening in one of the biggest cities in North America is a huge push for Greek wineries.

Consumers will now be able to find over 90 wines and spirits from all over Greece, creating the largest selection of Greek wines available in one store outside of Greece.

To read this article in full, please visit: PappasPost

More than 140 events are expected to take place at dozens of archaeological sites, monuments and museums across Greece on Saturday, August 29 – the night of the full moon. The special events and activities include music and theater performances, puppet theater productions, guided tours, exhibitions and film screenings as well as stargazing. A number of sites and museums will offer free admission on the day and in many cases visitors will be welcomed up until 1 a.m.

Although there are no events taking place at the Acropolis in Athens (the site will be open during its regular opening hours, until 8 p.m.), the archaeological site of Sounio will welcome visitors with free admission until midnight!

There will also be an event from 8pm at the Acropolis Museum - Tango At The Acropolis

To read this article in full, please visit: eKathimerini

Greece is quite well known for its alcoholic beverages including wine, ouzo and raki, but what's been brewing in recent years is a very strong Greek beer culture (and rightfully so). With a fairly long tradition of beer brewing in Greece, here's a run down of the history from ancient to modern, as well as some great Greek beers that you should try... if you haven't yet!

Beer In Ancient Greece
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, considered beer to have valuable medicinal qualities. Homer provides a vivid description of how Alkinoos, king of the Phaeacians, kept gold and silver kraters in his palace filled with wine made of barley. Zythos, the Greek word for beer, is also found in texts of the ancient Greek geographer Strabo, as well as mentions by the ancient Greek historian Diodorus (from Sicily). The word 'zythos' comes from the verb 'zeo' which means to boil; zythos was also the name of an Egyptian drink made of barley.

The Birth Of Modern Greek Beer
When Otto, the first king of Greece, settled in the country in 1833, he brought with him scientists and beer specialists from Bavaria – his native land, with a view to boosting the domestic beer industry. According to reliable sources, the first manually operated brewery was set up in Greece in 1840 in order to cater to the needs of the Bavarian officials and military men who were stationed in the country at the time. 

It is not quite clear who among Melcher, Fischer, Waweck and Seel was the first to run this particular brewery, as they had all opened up beer businesses during the 1840’s in Athens. Ioannis Fix (Fuchs) came to Greece in 1850; he stayed and worked as an apprentice in Melcher’s brewery which he bought from his heirs in 1866. Fuchs is the founder of one of the most well-known and oldest Greek beers (FIX). The factory he built in 1893 was later enlarged by his son Karl. On the site of the old installations a newer building has was constructed which still stands on present-day Syngrou Ave. Works are currently under way to house the National Museum of Contemporary Art in the exact premises.

If you're interested in learning more about the history of beer in Greece, you may like to visit ATHINEO - the first beer museum in Greece!

Here Are A Few Of Our Favourite Greek Beers:

Alpha Beer
It is one of the first 2 beer brands ever produced and marketed in the Greek market and its history goes back to 1960’s when it was first launched. It is a high quality, authentic, traditional Greek lager with light gold color and rich foam. It is refreshing, easy-to-drink and pairs well with traditional Greek food tastes and recipes.

FIX Hellas Lager
Founded in 1864 by the Fuchs family from Bavaria, the brewery went out of business in 1983. Experiencing something of a revival in 2009 thanks to a buyout, this Hellas-style lager is back. If you’re looking for a reliable and slightly cheap drink and want to try a quality beer, order one of these guys - you won't be disappointed! The malty brew doesn’t overpower the meat, but rather balances out just perfectly.

Volkan Grey
Volkan Grey, a well-spiced hefeweizen, is pretty much bursting out of the bottle with citrus zest. It’s best to drink this on Santorini because it’s where it’s from, but if you're not on the island it's still a great taste and can be found all over Greece.

Mythos Lager
Essentially the Budweiser of Greek beer, it has a biscuit-y sweetness that tastes a lot better than its American equivalents. As with any beer, freshness is key, so Mythos will taste a lot better in its homeland than your own. This easy-drinker is ubiquitous in both finding it and best occasions for drinking it—during or after tanning at any one of Greece’s gorgeous beaches or when you’re strapped for cash in Athens and have only one euro to spend on beer. Don’t leave Greece without trying a Mythos!

And here are some great microbrewery Greek beers to try:

Siris: www.sirisbrewery.gr
Volkan: www.volkanbeer.com
Septem: www.septem.gr
Nissos: www.nissosbeer.com
Delphi Beer: www.delphibeer.com
Chios Beer: www.chiosbeer.com
Corfu Beer: www.corfubeer.com
Magnus Magister: www.magnusmagister.gr


Sources used for this article:Arttable Visit Greece  Paste Magazine

The Greek islands are famed throughout the world for their incredible beauty and relaxed lifestyle, but have you ever wondered how they got their names?

To find the etymology behind the names of Greek islands, we need to take a few different factors into account - things like spelling and grammar, but also Greek mythology and the geomorphology of each island. Here is how some of the Greek islands were named:

Cephalonia (Kefalonia)

The island got its name from the hero Cephalus, the island’s first ruler, an Athenian leader and son of Dionysus. Cephalus was exiled from Athens for committing murder and settled on the island.

Chios

The Greek island acquired its name from Chioni (snow), daughter of Poseidon. When she was born on the island it was snowing, and thus the island was named Chios. According to legend, the island used to be a desert. After the snowfall, the land became fertile.

Lefkada

Homer named this Greek island from the Greek word “lefkas” (which means white) because the soil used to be white.

Kos

The name derives from “kofos,” an island with many caves. The word “cave” also comes from the Greek word “kofos.”

Tinos

The island’s name comes from the Greek word “tanaos”, which means long and perfectly describes the island’s shape.

Ithaca

The name derives from the Greek word “ithys” meaning straight or long - the elongated island.

Zakynthos

The name comes from Zakynthos, son of King Dardanos of Troy. When the Trojan expedition ended, Zakynthos and his people fled from Troy and lived on the island.

Skiathos

The name derives from the word “skia” (meaning shade). Due to the large number of trees, the island is very shady. However, it is also said that it was given its name because it's located in the shade of Mount Athos.

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

The Council of State, Greece’s supreme court on administrative and environmental interest matters, has issued two court decisions in favour of Hellas Gold SA, Eldorado’s subsidiary in Greece, announced the company.

Both decisions concern Hellas Gold’s rights to the use of woodland and site clearing rights for the implementation and construction of Eldorado’s gold/copper mining project in Skouries, Chalkidiki, northern Greece.

“The Council of State decisions confirm once again the legality of our activities in northern Greece. This will allow Eldorado to accelerate construction activities at our Skouries Project in Chalkidiki, generating additional long term employment opportunities for the Greek people and taxes to the Greek government. Mining is one of the industries that can help kickstart the Greek economy and support the beginnings of a recovery,” said Eldorado CEO Paul Wright.

To read more, please visit: Greek Reporter

 

Keeping in the tradition of ‘staying local’ this August, I’ve been reminded that Athens can be both blistering hot and blissfully quiet. If you can manage to stay cool, this is a great time to see the city. If you’re a fan of photography, an early morning walk around the neighbourhoods of the city in August can be magical… You may even get a sunset seat on a rooftop terrace…!

 

With some out-of-town friends visiting Athens for the first time (it really never ends…) I decided to forego my usual ‘Jack’s Low-Budget City Tour’ and actually pay for a professional guide.

 

Big Olive City Walks is a start-up provider of ‘alternative’ city walks. This young team of ‘actual’ Athenians loves to share their knowledge and passion for the city – this is more than ‘just a job’ for them, and it makes all the difference. Our friendly guide Nikos narrated the walk, with insights and stories and anecdotes that made the city (even the parts I know well) come alive.

 

Big Olive offers a really interesting range of themed walks – including 19th century Athens, Gastrononomy, Photography, LGBT Athens and ‘Anatolian’ Athens. We did their ‘Athens Grand Tour’, as a broad introduction to the city. My guests loved it – and so did I. Big Olive offers organized group walks, as well as bespoke/custom walks, private themed tours and custom corporate/educational programs.

 

For dinner, I had noticed a new taverna on the Herakleidon pedestrian strip in Thiseio. The newly re-opened Abibayio takes the place of the previous café on this popular strip that (in my humble view) is over-due for an update. Abibayio was worth the wait. This is a modern taverna, with a lovely outdoor patio and familiar, friendly service that makes you feel at home. The menu is a delicious twist on classic taverna fare – our group gave unanimous rave reviews. I’ve already been back within the past week – that says it all…

 

Cheers to a continuing August staycation!

 

Until next week,

 

Jack

 

+30 215 540 2986

 

Herakleidon 3, Thiseio

+30 210 342 6794