In this post on Travel Passionate, top travel bloggers from around the world share their favourite Christmas destinations in Europe!

The city’s Christmas Market is located in the quaint and charming Old Town Hauptmarkt (market square) where 180 stalls await visitors. The Christmas Market typically runs from the last week in November up to Christmas Eve. Visitors to the market can enjoy all sorts of things, such as horse carriage rides; regional foods (be sure to try the Nuremberg sausages – 3 on a bun); libations such as Gluhwein (mulled wine); handmade local products; souvenir and gift shopping; the children’s Christmas market where the Christkind visits with kids.

Nothing beats having a cup of hot gluhwein as you wander the streets of Prague. The weather is chilly but very pleasant, we have visited in the summer heat, and we much prefer the cooler temperatures. Stop in the local restaurants and shops to warm with some local treats or do a bit of Christmas shopping. Prague really is the perfect Christmas destination.

Brussels organises one of the biggest Christmas markets in Europe. Besides the impressive spruce tree in the middle of the Grand Place, the main attractions are the Sound & light show, the Ferris wheel and the numerous Christmas stalls around the Fish Market.

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Emirates is expected to successfully fill a gap and undertake an important role in the Greek market. On Monday, the airline announced that it will launch a new daily service from Dubai to Newark Liberty International Airport, via Athens, starting on March 12, 2017.

Emirates’ new Dubai-Athens-Newark flight will provide a year-round non-stop daily service between the United States and Greece.

Emirates flight EK209 will depart Dubai at 10:50 local time, arriving in Athens at 14:25 before departing again at 16:40 and arriving into Newark at 22:00 on the same day. The return flight EK210 will depart Newark at 23:45 local time, arriving in Athens the next day at 15:05. EK210 will depart once again from Athens at 17:10 bound for Dubai where it will arrive at 23:50.

According to Athens International Airport studies and surveys, the substantial indirect traffic flows between Athens and US exceed 570,000 passengers annually, while only last summer (2016) the direct passenger volumes to NYC (seasonal services) grew by 52 percent, reaching 156,000 passengers. Thus, the ATH-NYC market size represents a unique opportunity within Europe for year round services development to US.

The United States is also home to the largest overseas Greek community in the world, numbering approximately 1.3 million, and the New York City metropolitan area has the largest community of Greek Americans in the country.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

Qatar Airways has launched new daily flights to and from Auckland, New Zealand. The first flight took place on February 6th, 2017 and was the world’s longest commercial flight, taking 17 hours and 30 minutes.

The new service will give passengers from New Zealand the opportunity to travel to the more than 150 destinations on the airline’s global network via its hub, Hamad International Airport, in Doha.

Other new destination launches planned by the airline for 2017/18 including Yanbu and Tabuk in Saudi Arabia; Dublin in the Republic of Ireland; Nice in France; Skopje, FYROM; Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand; Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia Herzegovina; Libreville, Gabon; Douala, Cameroon; Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Canberra, Australia; Medan, Indonesia; and Las Vegas, U.S.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

Air France has recently announced new routes from Athens to Nice, Toulouse, and Marseille to keep up with high traveller’s demand. The new routes with start from July 24th through September 3rd.

Nice is a city where life is sweet and living is easy. The capital of the riviera stands out with its colourful architecture and its intense cultural life. Tourists come from all over the world to contemplate it and discover its impressive architectural heritage.

Toulouse is considered the pink city of a thousand flavours. This gourmet destination is brimming with natural and historical attractions. The Saint-Sernin Basilica, the Jacobins Convent, the Saint-Etienne Cathedral, the Roman amphitheater at Purpan, the Roman baths at Ancely: monuments and historic sites abound in Toulouse, the capital of the Visigoth kingdom in the 5th century.

Marseille gives us the sweet fragrance of the Mediterranean. It is the second largest city in France and it possesses a rich and exciting past.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

As first official airline partner of the documenta 14 art show, Aegean Airlines has added two direct flights per week between Athens and Kassel, Germany.

“AEGEAN will link the two destinations by including Kassel in its international network, thus making a significant contribution to putting Athens on the map of the international cultural scene,” the airline said in an announcement.

As the official airline partner of documenta 14 and through its new flights, AEGEAN is expected to fly some 1,500 international media representatives to attend the exhibition opening in Athens and more than 8,500 visitors to the Greek capital throughout the duration of the exhibition.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

Photo Credit: Greek Travel Pages

By launching flights to Voronezh, the global carrier reaffirms its ongoing expansion strategy to provide travelers with the greatest number of travel destination options. With existing services to Moscow, St.Petersburg, Sochi, Rostov, Kazan, Ekaterinburg, Ufa, and Stavropol, Turkish Airlines has now added Voronezh to its expanding Russian network.

Due to the carrier’ capacity increase strategy on its Russia flights, roundtrip services between Istanbul and Voronezh will be operated as 3 times per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Flight TK 481 departs IST Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday at 01:05 and arrives VOZ 03:45.

Flight TK 482 departs VOZ Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday at 04:40 and arrives IST 07:40.

About Turkish Airlines 

Established in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft, Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines is a 4-star airline today with a fleet of 337 (passenger and cargo) aircraft flying to 298 destinations worldwide with 249 international and 49 domestic. For more information on Turkish Airlines, please visit Turkish Airlines’ official website.

 

Photo Credit: Turkish Airlines

Direct flights between Greece and China are expected to launch in September 2017, according to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. PM Tsipras stated that a direct air connection between Athens and Beijing as of September is expected to increase the number of Chinese tourists coming to Greece.

 

According to recently released data, the number of Chinese travelers visiting Greece could reach one million by 2021.

Referring to Greece as a country with rich cultural heritage and a leader in world tourism, Tsipras said that Greece particularly appreciates the importance of China’s initiative for people-to-people contacts, cultural exchanges and tourism.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

German carrier Germania has announced it will launch a new twice weekly service from Dresden to Athens in 2018. The service will be seasonal and will run from May to October 2018.

The great demand for the Greek market is requiring the company to launch a third aircraft in 2018 to cover the increased travel needs for the Greek islands and Athens from Germany.

One-way flights will be available from 69 euros (airport taxes included) and will be soon be available on booking systems.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

The 74-year-old conceptual artist Marta Minujín has recreated her seminal installation – initially constructed in Buenos Aires in 1983 – with thousands of banned books that have been donated by the public.

Marta Minujín's monumental installation "The Parthenon of Books" is one of the highlights of this year's Documenta in Kassel, Germany.

The installation in Friedrichsplatz perfectly mimics the grandeur and scale of the Parthenon at 10 meters high by 70 meters long and 30 meters wide.

On each of the 46 columns, up to 100,000 books which have been forbidden in various countries for numerous reasons (like Goethe’s romantic novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, that led to a wave of suicides across Europe) have been attached to the metal scaffolding replica in plastic bags.

To read this article in full, please visit: The Culture Trip

 

Photo Credit: Maxie Fischer from documenta 14

Air China will start direct flights between Beijing and Athens as of September 2017, according to a press release issued recently after a meeting between State Minister Alekos Flambouraris and Chinese Ambassador to Greece Zou Xiaoli at Maximos Mansion.

The two officials discussed the presence of Chinese companies in the coming Thessaloniki International Fair that will kick off on September 9, 2017 where China is the honoured country.

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