Before Greece won its independence in 1829, some 130 churches were recorded in Athens. Ironically, many were destroyed not by the Ottomans, but during the construction of the modern Greek capital. Churches were often used as a source of building material, much as the ancient temples had been used earlier. You’ll often see sections of columns integrated into the altar or walls.

 

Orthodox tradition often absorbs the pagan practices of antiquity too. So don't be surprised if you find far-from-saintly figures like Heracles or Hebe, the gods’ cupbearer and goddess of eternal youth, on the frieze of a 9th-century church. Here's a roundup of the most stunning churches in Athens!

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Note from XpatAthens

If you're celebrating Easter in Greece in 2021 please be sure to read about coronavirus restrictions.

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Agia Dynami

This 16th-century church has a history as big as its size is small. It was linked by an underground tunnel to a small gunpowder plant that supplied the Ottoman troops. When the independence revolt erupted, the munitions maker smuggled some of the gunpowder to the Greeks through the tunnel. Aside from its odd location in the belly of the former Ministry of Education (now the Electra Metropolis hotel), another unusual feature is the church’s tiny, crenellated windows

Agia Fotini
Location: 3 Ardittou, Pangrati

 

Fotini was a Samaritan prostitute who achieved sainthood by offering Christ a cup of water. This simple basilica in her honor preserves some of the original murals of the fourth-century church, which was reconstructed in the 1870s. Archaeological evidence suggests there were sanctuaries to Hekate and Pan on the site. Next to the steps leading to the church is the only preserved section of an arched bridge over the Ilissos River, constructed in 1850 on orders of Greece’s first king

Agia Irini
Location: 36 Aiolou & Athinaidos, Historic Centre

 

Built in 1847, using material from destroyed churches as well as the Acropolis, this massive church was intended to serve as the Metropolitan Cathedral. It was the site for many official events such as Othon’s coming of age, groundbreaking for the new palace, and services marking the first anniversary of the constitution. Marble columns support a balcony and deep recesses are decorated with religious scenes, including St Paul preaching to the Athenians.

To read this article in full and discover more beautiful churches please visit: thisisathens.org

Photo by: Georgios Makkas

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The new application and the municipality’s website present concerts, festivals, music, dance and theater performances, screenings, exhibitions, as well as educational programs for children and adults. 

• Events & Exhibitions
• Creative Learning
• Museums & Venues
• Art in Public Spaces
• News
• Calendar

Meteora, in the Greek region of Thessaly, is included as one of the world’s must-visit destinations on the 2023 Travel List published recently by French newspaper Le Monde.

Founded in 1944, the daily afternoon newspaper is considered France’s most trusted national newspaper, according to a 2021 Reuters Institute poll, operating a website among the country’s 50 most visited and can be easily obtainable in many non-French-speaking countries.

Le Monde’s annual Top 20 list for 2023 includes Meteora in the sixth place, referring to it as “the suspended islands” due to its unique geological landscape shaped millions of years ago, when the sea covering the area gave way to dry land creating the famed UNESCO Word Heritage site.

The newspaper’s journalist Bénédicte Bocays mentions Meteora as a family of “limestone giants” that are home “to monasteries built between the 14th and 16th century”. Bocays visited the area last year during a fam trip organized by the Greek National Tourism Organization’ (GNTO) branch in France.

Furthermore, Yoanna Sultan-R’bibo, Le Monde’s editor responsible for its travel, design and gastronomy sections, says that Meteora is the “second most popular site in Greece after the Acropolis in Athens“. She adds that the area is ideal for walking tours starting from the nearby town of Kalambaka and continuing up to the “incredible” seven-century-old cave monasteries.

The newspaper’s travel feature on Meteora also offers a detailed description of the area, emphasizing on its historical and cultural heritage. Useful information for those interested in organizing a trip to the region is also included.

Originally published on: news.gtp.gr

A good friend of ours, and perhaps yours too (!), Lynn Roulo put together her top ten (and then some) reasons of why she loves living in Greece. We loved them for all the same reasons and have chosen some of our favourites from her list for you to enjoy too.

• All over my neighborhood, the shopkeepers leave food and water out for the stray dogs and cats.


• The entrance to Filopappou Hill is pretty much what I imagine the entrance to heaven must look like. 

  
  
• Grilled octopus, horta with lemon, loukoumades, cheese saganaki, Greek yogurt, beet greens with olive oil, fresh grilled sea bream, just to name a few….


• While living in an unstable country was never a goal of mine, an unintended consequence is that it makes me feel very alive. I don’t just read the news, I can step outside to see what’s happening…

• What I pay for rent to have an apartment with a roof deck and a view of Acropolis in Athens would get me a tiny basement studio in the Tenderloin in San Francisco.

• The next six months. Because life here is always an adventure…

• I haven’t used a dryer for my clothes in three years. I don’t know why I like that fact so much, but I do.

• I haven’t had a car for three years, and I haven’t missed it at all.


• The mailman knows my travel schedule and where to leave packages when I’m away, without me ever saying a word. It’s part of the neighborhood web of information.


• A woman who was my landlord for a total of 3.5 months over three years ago regularly sends me food she cooks for me. She lives on Chios Island where it can’t possibly be cheap to send food to Athens but she does it because she thinks about me and wants to make sure I’m well fed.

  
  
• I see very elderly people out at bars and cafes late at night. They are part of the social fabric and actively socialize just like everyone else.


• Each time I’ve needed help (and in three years, there have been many times….), there have been a thousand hands outstretched to help me. I find the Greek people to be amazingly kind and generous with their time. This goes especially for my neighbors, who have become like my family.


• When I buy vegetables from the market, they have still have dirt on them.


• Because 7:00 pm is still considered afternoon…

  
  
• At least once a day, I see a motorcycle or scooter driving the wrong way down the street. And no one seems at all concerned.


• Something about the way the sunlight hits the landscape here makes the whole place seem magical.


• My neighbors have become my friends and know and care about the details of my daily life.


• Coffee with a friend lasts two or three hours, and I have never once talked about stock options or liquidity events.


• When I walk down the street, I’m greeted with γεια σου κουκλα μου, γεια σου αγαπη, γεια σου ομορφη (hello darling, hello love, hello beautiful) by old men and women.


• Greek summer.

To read Lynn's complete list, visit: http://www.lynnroulo.com/about/

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.”

To learn more about Lynn and all the great things she does in Athens please visit her webiste: http://www.lynnroulo.com/

The Athens Polytechnic Uprising in 1973 was a massive demonstration of the popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. The uprising began on November 14, 1973, escalated to an open anti-junta revolt, and ended in bloodshed in the early morning of November 17 after a series of events starting with a tank crashing through the gates of the Polytechnic.

What Happened In History

Since April 21, 1967, Greece had been under the dictatorial rule of the military, a regime that abolished civil rights, dissolved political parties, and exiled, imprisoned and tortured politicians and citizens based on their political beliefs.

The junta, trying to control every aspect of politics, had interfered with student syndicalism since 1967, by banning student elections in universities, forcibly drafting students, and imposing non-elected student union leaders in the national student's union. These actions eventually created anti-junta sentiments among students, such as geology student Kostas Georgakis who committed suicide in 1970 in Genoa, Italy as an act of protest against the junta. With that exception, the first massive public action against the junta came from students on February 21, 1973.

On February 21, 1973, law students went on strike and barricaded themselves inside the buildings of the Law School of the University of Athens in the centre of Athens, demanding repeal of the law that imposed forcible drafting of "subversive youths", as 88 of their peers had been forcibly drafted. The police were ordered to intervene and many students were reportedly subjected to police brutality. The events at the Law School are often cited as the prelude to the Polytechnic uprising.

On November 14th of 1973 students gather at the Athens Polytechnic to demonstrate against the Junta. This demonstration which is coordinated with occupations of campuses in Patras and Thessaloniki turns into a student rebellion that gathers strength every day as more and more people join. On the 16th, the students and fellow demonstrators attempt to march from the Polytechnic to Syntagma square but they are halted by the police.

As more people gather at the Polytechnic, there are already plans for ending the student rebellion, using tanks from the nearby bases in and around Athens. The students are preparing for a siege, collecting food and medical supplies, building barricades, and broadcasting on a clandestine radio station that the time is right to overthrow the junta and calling for their countrymen to join them in central Athens. Anti-Junta and anti-American graffiti are painted on buildings and passing buses which spread their message throughout the city.

At 2 am on November 17th, tanks are ordered to crush the student rebellion at the Polytechnic. At 2:15 a group of students comes out to negotiate a surrender asking for half an hour to evacuate the campus. The officers in charge will only give them fifteen minutes but don't even wait for ten. At 3 am a tank crashes through the gate of the polytechnic and police and military storm the campus. As the gate crashes to the ground students rush out to escape and are beaten with clubs and arrested. At least 34 demonstrators are killed though there are rumors that the number is much higher. Several hundred are injured and almost a thousand are detained at the school and at the Ministry of Public Order which had been under siege by demonstrators.

For the next two days, crowds attempting to gather in central Athens are broken up by police and soldiers who are everywhere. Tanks are parked in squares around the city and surround the Parliament building.  The rebellion at the Polytechnic is over and the country is put under martial law for the next week. Groups larger than four people are not permitted to gather and there is a curfew between 7 pm and 5 am. 

How This Day Is Commemorated In Greece

November 17 is observed as a holiday in Greece for all educational establishments. Commemorative services are held and students attend school only for these, while some schools and all universities stay closed on this day. The central location for the commemoration is the campus of the Polytechneio. The campus is closed on the 15th (the day the students first occupied the campus in 1973). The commemoration day ends traditionally with a demonstration that begins from the campus of the Polytechneio and ends at the United States embassy.

Practical Information About This Day

Police security is always on high alert on November 17th. Commemorative demonstrations are observed and thus the streets of central Athens are closed - it is recommended that drivers avoid central Athens on this day. Public transportation (buses, trains, trams) in central Athens is also typically affected by the demonstrations.

 

Whether you're a freelancer or a student or you just like a great space with a Wi-Fi connection, knowing the best work cafe is crucial in this digital age. Here are a few great spots in the greater Athens area that will caffeinate you, feed you, and inspire you to get the job done!

 

All the natural light pouring in from its floor-to-ceiling windows will help get you up and running, but The Underdog’s main attraction is coffee. As one of the first micro-roasteries in Athens serving single-origin beans freshly roasted, one cup will get you wired enough to meet any looming deadline.

 

Address: Irakleidon 8, Thiseio
Telephone: 213 0365393

As one of the only all-day bars in Mets, Kain (aka Cain) is a bright, art-deco-ified spot with a laid-back attitude ideal for cranking out a task. Score the large table by the window and try to resist the temptation to lose yourself in the flamingo and floral mural. Still there after 5 p.m.? Try the Killer’s Hand, a cocktail that may just give you the right motivation to keep going.

 

Address: 22 Anapafseos & 1 Timoleontos, Mets

Telephone: 210 9227616\

Saorsa


Credit:@saorsa

Meaning "freedom" in Scottish Gaelic, Saorsa in Metaxourgeio is a lively cafe-cocktail bar where you can do many things, including work! Find your sport in its inner courtyard, one of the most picturesque spots in Athens, and enjoy fantastic drinks and delectable food under the Attic sky.

Address: Giatrakou 2, Athina

Telephone: 210 5235960

 

With its dramatic high ceiling, light and airy atmosphere, and above all its artistic, and literary clientele, it's easy to mistake Kinonó for an art gallery. However, a lot gets done during the day amid these stylish surroundings while inventive snacks, eclectic DJ sets, and great cocktails entice you to stay after dark!

 

 

 

 

Next time you see the waves crashing onto the beach, think of the goddesses of the oceans, rivers, lakes, fountains, streams, and underworld sea monsters noted in Greek mythology who create those swells.

There are two deities in particular who love to play in the sea and surf the waves, Benthesikyme and Kymopoleia, the daughters of the famed god of the sea, Poseidon.

Known as the 'lady of the deep swells' Benthesikyme was nymph of the African sea and later went on to become the first known queen of Ethiopia.

Kymopoleia was a goddess of the waves and was known as a ‘haliae,’ or nymph of the sea who made waves, violent sea storms and earthquakes.

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