LIFE & CULTURE
XpatAthens
Sunday, 25 February 2018 22:37
February 20 - A Land Of Culture
Learn all about the traditions of Clean Monday, discover the best reasons to live in Greece and check out an interesting e-learning platform aiming to promote Greek Culture and heritage!
Please click HERE to view this issue of our newsletter!
Published in
Newsletters
Tagged under
Monday, 26 February 2018 07:00
Smoke-Free Venues In Greece
Launched in September 2017, Akapnos is dedicated to promoting and rewarding all shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. that don't allow smoking inside. They are by no means anti-smoking - they just want to help those who want to have a smoke-free environment. Listed on their site, the venues they include have the following requirements:
- They do not permit smoking in indoor areas
- They are either coffee shops, bars, or restaurants
- They are located anywhere in Greece
Akapnos is a group of Greek citizens who wish to improve the self-image of its citizens, as well as the image of Greece from foreigners. They care immensely about the long-term interest in Greece and wish to preserve its legacy and heritage.
To explore the 244 verified smoke-free venues in Greece (so far), please visit: Akapnos
Published in
Pubs, Bars & Cafes
Tagged under
Monday, 26 February 2018 07:00
City Of Athens - A Portrait Of A Changing Metropolis
Shot primarily from the rooftops, hills, and mountains in Athens, Greece, 'City of Athens' was created by Filmmaker and award winning Photographer Alexandros Maragos as a homage to the capital of Greece. Stunning hyperlapse and timelapses cinematography features Athens' skyline and the evening urban landscapes that makes Athens one glorious city. If you haven't watched it yet, check it out below!
Source: Vimeo
To learn more about the Filmmaker and Photographer, please visit: Alexandros Maragos
Published in
Videos
Tagged under
Thursday, 22 February 2018 07:00
What Is Greek Rebetiko?
Inscribed in 2017 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Greek Rebetiko is a musical and cultural expression linked directly to song and dance. It initially spread amongst the lower and working class people in the early twentieth century, but Rebetiko songs are now a standardized repertoire in almost every occasion involving music and dance.
The element is performed in public and performers encourage audience participation. The practice is open to everyone and participants can include any Greek or Greek-speaking person who enjoys this form of music and dance. Rebetiko songs contain invaluable references to the customs, practices and traditions of a particular way of life, but above all, the practice is a living musical tradition with a strong symbolic, ideological and artistic character.
Published in
Greek Language & Culture
Tagged under
Thursday, 22 February 2018 07:00
Greece Launches The First European Cultural Heritage Year Events
Held at the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron Mousikis), Athens had the pleasure of launching the first European Cultural Heritage celebration with the event 'Rebetiko Meets Flamenco and Fados." The event was organized by the Greek Culture Ministry and marked the official start of festivities of the European Year of Cultural Heritage.
2018 will be the year to encourage Europeans to discover and engage with their history, identity, and traditions through a series of events across the continent. It is an initiative of the European Commission with major themes this year in research and innovation and efforts to make cultural heritage more accessible to people across Europe.
The Athens concert showcased three urban popular traditions, which were born and developed in the ports of the Mediterranean. One in particular was the Greek rebetiko genre, which was listed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in December 2017. What is Rebetiko? Click HERE to learn more!
Events will take place across Europe this year. Please click HERE to find out what's happening in Greece!
Published in
Local News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 20 February 2018 17:02
Echoes of Athens - A Taste Of Home In America
At the age of 16, Vivian Economy came to the U.S. from Kalamata. Her adopted country offered many more opportunities than her beloved Greece. The young woman missed ‘home’ and came up with an idea to bring some of her old home to her new home. In 1949, at the tender age of 18, she launched the very first Greek radio show in the Southeast.
‘Echoes of Athens was broadcast on WATL in Atlanta, GA for 50 years. Vivian’s daughter, Vickie Henson, the show’s current host, recalled those days. “The entire Atlanta Greek Community would rush home after church each Sunday to tune in. Imagine, my mother, the young woman, a trailblazer! Her listeners would find out the latest in the world of Greek news, politics, music, concerts, local community events. From marriages to deaths — she covered it all.”
When Vivian retired in the 1990s, there was a void in the community. Vickie took up the torch in recent years, armed with a new technology her mother would never know — the internet — which now allows ‘Echoes of Athens’ to be broadcast all over the world.
To read this article in full, please visit: Windy City Greek
Please click HERE to listen to Echoes Of Athens!
Published in
People
Tagged under
Tuesday, 20 February 2018 07:00
Clean Monday Celebrations Kicks Off Lent And Ends Carnival Season
In a village 200 kilometers west of Athens lies Galaxidi, a place of only about 1,700 inhabitants. Every year on Clean Monday, carnival celebrations ensue and residents and visitors "have a right to lose their civility."
They have what's known as a "flour war" — participants pelt each other with bags of dyed flour along the coastal road lining Galaxidi's old harbor.
"It's an explosion of color that takes place every Clean Monday, an Orthodox Christian holiday marking the start of Lent and the end of the carnival season which holds onto many of the country's pre-Christian traditions."
To read this article in full, please visit: NY Daily News
Published in
Local News
Tagged under
Monday, 19 February 2018 07:00
Greek Wines Gain International Recognition
Greek wines are finally gaining recognition around the world, recently reported by Tornos News. "With near-perfect grape-growing regions and oodles of sun and favorable conditions for producing wine in a wide range of varies, from the bitter retsina to the silky smooth Assyrtiko and a host of others, Greece is finally being discovered."
At a recent event organized by the National Inter-Professional Organization of Vine and Wine of Greece (EDOAO), Greece has been involved in a campaign to extensively market their wines beyond the borders of the European Union.
Greek winemakers have not only seen increases in their sales abroad, but also in the prices buyers are willing to pay, a fact that demonstrates that the country is gaining recognition as a source of high-quality wines.
To read this article in full, please visit: Tornos News
Published in
Greece In The News
Tagged under
Sunday, 18 February 2018 21:08
February 13th - Love Is In The Air
Discover some of the best Roof Gardens in Athens, check out a guide for a perfect day out in the city and much more in this week's newsletter!
Please click HERE to view this issue of our newsletter!
Published in
Newsletters
Tagged under
Monday, 10 February 2020 07:00
Top 10 Reasons To Love Living In Greece in 2020
Every year on the anniversary of moving to Greece, an American expat and a good friend of XpatAthens puts together a list of reasons why she loves living in Greece. Eight years ago, she left her job and life in San Francisco and decided to make the move to Athens, Greece. She has never looked back! Here are this year's top 10 things she loves about living in Greece:
- The Paliatzis/Παλιατζής
All throughout the streets of Athens, you can hear the paliatzis, a driver with a megaphone shouting out cryptic messages. When I first moved to Greece, I thought it was some sort of political announcement but I eventually came to understand they are asking for our old household furniture-like a self-appointed recycling program. - GNTM
I’m surprised to be listing a Greek reality show about fashion models as one of my favorite things about living here, but the truth is… I’m obsessed. I started watching the show on YouTube to improve my Greek, but after the initial auditions and 20 young women moved into a house together, it was impossible not to get swept into the drama. - B&E Goulandris Modern Art Museum
In October of 2019, the B&E Goulandris Modern Art Museum opened in central Athens. The art at the Goulandris Museum could easily go toe-to-toe with the collection at SFMoma in San Francisco. It’s four floors of modern art including one floor dedicated only to Greek artists. The collection is impressively diverse. No one can say Athens doesn’t have a culture. - Greece Is Going green
When I moved to Greece in 2012, plastic bags were everywhere, recycling was a joke, and I was met with confusion when I asked about composting. Not so anymore–Greece is waking up to the green moment with zero-waste stores like Plastikourgeio shop & lab in the center of Athens. Paros island is working to become the first plastic-free island. In 2018, the country banned free plastic shopping bags, and it’s working to abolish plastic straws. And over the last few months, I’ve started to see electric cars and charging stations in Athens. No word on composting yet, but I bet that’s coming soon. - The Island Of Ikaria
Last summer, I discovered the island of Ikaria, a blue zone location where a disproportionate percentage of the population live to be over 100 years old. The island is famous for its relaxed relationship with time–Ikaria has its own rhythm where no one rushes, and days seem to disappear without you realizing where they went. The island has beautiful beaches, great food and even a nice surf break. - Greek Names
I read Greek mythology when I was young, but I never thought I would have real-life friends named Athena, Aphrodite, Eros and Aris. It feels sort of majestic having friends named after the gods, though it is puzzling why I’ve never met a Zeus or Hera. -
Smoking Has Been Banned (For Real) In Restaurants, Bars And Tavernas
Ten years after being passed, it seems the ban on smoking in public places in Greece is actually being enforced. The no-smoking ban went into effect in 2009, but it was widely ignored to the point of being comical. But then almost overnight, that changed, and now when I walk into a bar or taverna, it is smoke-free. I try to stay out of politics, but I do appreciate this element of the new administration.
- The Tiny Specialty Stores
All throughout central Athens, there are small stores specializing in the sale of a single thing: the doorknob store, the glass jar store, the rope store, the ladder store, etc. It is a mystery to me how these stores stay in business, but there is something very charming about the way you see so much expertise concentrated in a tiny shop. Most of the shops have been around for years, they are passed down through the generations and the owners really do seem to know everything about the single thing they sell. It takes a little longer to get your shopping done, but it is worth it. -
I Generally Feel Safe In Greece
Greece is a country with 11 million people and while things do happen, as a country it scores low for violent crime. The police presence is strong, violent crime is low, regular people are willing to get involved, and unlike my own country, there is no need for “active shooter” drills in children’s schools.
- I Have A Church!
In April of 2019, I was baptized Greek Orthodox with the name Evangelia/Ευαγγέλια and as part of the process, I formed a relationship with a church and a Greek Orthodox priest. I love my church–it is called the Ragavas Church in Plaka, and it is where the revolution in 1821 started in Athens. They have a special bell-ringing ceremony on March 25th to commemorate the revolution, which works out well for me since that’s also my name day.
Lynn is an American Kundalini yoga and Enneagram instructor teaching a unique combination of the two systems, combining the physical benefits of Kundalini yoga with the psychological growth tools of the Enneagram.
Most of her adult life has been as a Certified Public Accountant (US CPA) working in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco technology start up and venture capital industries. In 2012, she decided to move to Athens, Greece for purely intuitive reasons. She's not Greek by heritage, she did not have a job here, she didn’t speak any Greek (at the time), and there wasn't a Greek man in the picture either! She simply had a really clear feeling that she should go to Greece. And so she did.
“I remember getting on the plane to leave San Francisco. My dog and two cats were in cargo below and I had packed a suitcase full of clothes. Almost everything else I had sold or given away. There wasn’t anyone to meet me in Athens because I didn’t know anyone. But it was one of the calmest moments of my life. I was totally sure I was making the right choice. And I haven’t regretted it at all. I love Greece.”
We're thrilled to collaborate with Lynn as an official XpatAthens Content Contributor! To learn more about her and all the great things she does in Athens please click here.
We're thrilled to collaborate with Lynn as an official XpatAthens Content Contributor! To learn more about her and all the great things she does in Athens please click here.
Published in
My Week In Athens
Tagged under