TripAdvisor, one of the largest travel sites, has announced its Travellers’ Choice™ awards for museums around the world in September 2015.

Award winners were determined using an algorithm that took into account the quantity and quality of reviews for museums around the world, gathered over a 12-month period. The Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece is among the best museums ranked 11th in the world and 8th in Europe attracting hundreds of tourists every year and receiving great reviews.

To read more, please visit: Parthenon UK

For a complete list of the top 25, visit Trip Advisor

A 2015 circulating commemorative €2 coin from Greece marks the 75th anniversary of death of runner Spiridon “Spyros” Louis.

Louis was known for being the first marathon winner of the modern Olympic Games, the summer event conducted in Greece in 1896.

Many sports clubs in Greece and abroad still carry his name, as does the main stadium at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, where the 2004 Summer Olympics were held.

Louis’ fame reached Hollywood, as well, as the 1962 Jayne Mansfield movie It Happened in Athens was a heavily fictionalized account of Louis and the marathon.

The coin is being issued during the third quarter of 2015, according to the announcement from the European Commission.

The coin design shows Louis and the cup that he was awarded, against the background with the Panathenaic Stadium. Inscribed along the inner center are legends in Greek detailing the country of issue and “In Memoriam of Spyros Louis.”

To read more, please visit: Pappas Post

Three years after they first made the request, Greek transport authorities have been given the go-ahead by the country’s privacy watchdog to install CCTV cameras inside metro trains in Athens.

A total of 408 cameras are to be fitted to the trains. There are already another 204 cameras on platforms and in metros stations.

Two years ago the Hellenic Data Protection Authority ruled that STASY, the authority that manages fixed rail modes of transport, could not install the cameras as it would not be in passengers’ interests. However, STASY put in a new request last year, which has now been approved.

To read more, please visit: Apokoronasnews

Over 500 key players of the UK travel industry forged new relationships with the Peloponnese during the highly successful ABTA 2015 Travel Convention that took place at luxury resort Costa Navarino in the Peloponnese during October 12-14.

“I would like to thank and congratulate our hosts, the Region of the Peloponnese and the Greek National Tourism Organisation for the amazing hospitality they have shown us over the last few days, feedback from delegates has been incredibly positive“, ABTA’s CEO, Mark Tanzer, said in an announcement.

“We have all been extremely impressed by Costa Navarino, which is a sustainable resort of the very highest quality”, he added.

The flagship event for the UK travel trade, held annually by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), was attended by a total of 526 decision makers, influencers and opinion formers spanning the full breadth of the mainstream and specialist travel sector; from tour operators, hotels and airlines to all types of travel retailer.

The planning and organization of the convention in Greece this year was a coordinated effort between the Region of Peloponnese, the Tourism Ministry, the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO), Aegean Airlines and TEMES (Costa Navarino) and aimed to increase the arrival of visitors travelling to Greece through British agencies. The UK is Greece’s second largest tourism market after Germany.

To read more, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

A joint Greek-American expedition announced that they have just discovered 22 shipwrecks around the Fourni archipelago, one of the largest collections of shipwrecks in one single place. A find that is being described as one of the biggest discoveries of 2015!



The newfound wrecks include cargo that dates from the Archaic Period (700 to 480 B.C.) up to the 16th century. The expedition team says the finds could change the way historians think about ancient Greek trade. For example, some of the amphorae styles found around the wrecks have never been seen before on the seafloor.



The Fourni archipelago is a small group of islands, islets and reefs that lies in the northeastern Aegean Sea, in the triangle formed by the islands of Ikaria, Samos and Patmos. The region sits in the middle of a shipping channel that is believed to have been an important maritime corridor during antiquity. Though the archipelago itself wasn’t a destination for traders, it did become the final resting place for plenty of ships buffeted by sudden southern storms as they made their way from Greece to Cyprus and Egypt.

This is the first time that an underwater archaeological expedition was organized around these islands. Archaeologists from the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and RPM Nautical Foundation worked together with local sponge divers, fishermen, and free divers. Funding for the expedition was provided by the Honor Frost Foundation, a UK charity that supports research in the eastern Mediterranean through an endowment from pioneer maritime archaeologist Honor Frost.

Sources: Smithsonian & Pappas Post

 

Aegean Airlines has announced the introduction of 14 new destinations from Athens, 111 international routes to 45 countries and investments in four new Airbus A320 carriers.

During a presentation of its 2016 business plan, the Greek carrier said that its primary aim is to boost Athens as a hub by intensifying the number of direct connections to new markets, adding 14 international destinations (Dublin, Nice, Lille, Naples, Bari, Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Palma de Mallorca, Ljubljana, Jeddah, Krakow, Vilnius, Split), and six new countries: Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Lithuania.

It also said that it plans to increase the number of destinations and frequencies in sector-significant markets such as France, Italy, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

In total, the company will link the Greek capital with 101 destinations – 71 foreign, 30 domestic – opening up in the meantime 12.5 million jobs, an additional 1 million compared to 2015.

To read more, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

According to a bill submitted to parliament in October, men will now also be granted child-care leave. It will be granted, if desired, by the insured individual, after the 4-month pregnancy and maternity leave of the mother.

The monthly amount paid to the beneficiary is up to 586 Euros and is paid by OAED. Note, the child-care leave can be taken by either the mother or father, but not both individuals.

Originally posted in Greek on NewMoney

Couples who choose to sign a so-called cohabitation agreement, including same-sex partners, will have virtually the same rights as those who are married with the exception of the right to adopt a child, according to new legal provisions that were put up for public consultation on Monday 9th November 2015 by the Justice Ministry.

The agreement, which in its current form grants non-married couples similar rights to those who are married, would be extended, giving signatories the favorable tax status enjoyed by married couples and increased inheritance rights. In the case of civil servants, the same benefits granted to married couples would apply.

The bill unveiled by Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos yesterday also includes provisions aimed at boosting anti-racism legislation. According to the proposed legislation, not only offenses with racist motives will be regarded as crimes, but also those stemming from discrimination based on someone’s sex or religion.

To read more, please visit: ekathimerini

After weeks of wrangling over revenue sources to replace an unpopular education tax that was scrapped, the government is expected to announce an automobile registration fee hike based on CO2 emissions and the age of the vehicle.

Firstly, the exemption from registration fees will be narrowed from the current exemption for vehicles with emissions of 100 grams CO2/km, and will only apply to cars with emissions of up to 90 grams. The change will apply to vehicles acquired after October 1, 2010.

Under the current regime, 200,000 vehicles were exempt from fees, with most of these being in the 90-100 gram range. The government will reportedly impose a fee of nine cents per gram in this category. Hence, a car with emissions of 98 grams will now be charged with an 88 euro fee.

Secondly, all vehicles registered after 1 November 2010 will be saddled with fee hikes. This covers approximately 480,000 vehicles, which currently are charged between nine cents and 3.4 euros per gram. This is expected to be hiked by between 10 and 30 cents per gram, with cars that have low CO2 emissions paying less.

To read more, please visit: The TOC

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 24, at 7pm at Syntagma Square. Athens' Mayor Giorgos Kaminis will give the signal for the official illumination of the city center and welcome the holiday season!

Festivities will kick off at 5:30 pm with a music tour by two groups of the Athens Municipality Philharmonic Orchestra that will start from Ethnikis Antistasis Square (former Kotzias Square) and Monastiraki metro station. The groups will then meet at Syntagma Square to welcome Athenians and visitors.

At 7pm, Athens Big Band will feature Greek singer Sakis Rouvas who will make a special appearance at Syntagma Square and perform songs dedicated to Paris.

To read more, please visit: Greek Travel Pages