Spring is just around the corner and, like every other year, Greeks will welcome the new season with an ancient annual custom. 

The ancient tradition of Martis, from which the month of March gets its name, dates back to the cults of Demeter and Persephone, thousands of years ago, when the faithful used to wear a bracelet called a “kroki” around both their right hand and left ankle, as a form of initiation into the cult.

Surprisingly, this tradition still lives on today and it is a way to usher from winter to spring. According to this tradition, if you tie a red and white string around your wrist on March 1, it will protect your cheeks from burning in the sun. The bracelet must be woven on the last day of February, with the white thread representing purity and the red thread the color of sun-kissed cheeks. In ancient times, people thought that the bracelet protected the person wearing it from sickness. 

In some parts of Greece, the bracelets are taken off on the first sign of spring, when the first flowers begin to bloom or when the birds start returning from their winter migration. Then they are tied around a branch of a tree to keep it healthy and help birds make their nests.

In other regions of Greece, they're thrown into the fire that is used to burn the floral first of May wreaths!

 

The Athos Peninsula is the easternmost part of Halkidiki and is an ideal summer destination. The peninsula has a three hundred kilometre coastline and numerous certified blue flag beaches. The area reserved to the Orthodox Monastic community of Mount Athos [Agion Oros] comprises 20 monasteries and other dependencies and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988; however it is only open to religious tourism. Mount Athos overlooks the Northern Aegean Sea. A number of areas within are protected as part of the European Convention Natura 2000 network.

Discover 61 different beaches with crystal clear waters and golden sand, bays, little islands – like Ammouliani - and green landscapes that will make your dream vacation come true!

If you prefer an exotic camping vacation in the arms of nature, next to clear blue waters then why not try the beaches Zepko, Vasilitsi, Diavorvoro, Marmari, Ierisos Camping, Alykes Camping and Megali Ammos where you will enjoy peaceful times and relax away from the hectic city rhythms.

Sunbathe by the crystal clear waters of Arsana and Chiliadou (shingle beaches), Kakoudia, Mousiou, Tratovoli, Faka, Kastri, and Kouri (sandy beaches). You can also enjoy the peaceful pine landscapes that reach up to the sea at Sykia, Kefalas and Nea Roda – Metaleio beaches.

To read more, please visit: Visit Greece

Celeste from Family Goes Out agrees that the weather in Athens is mild enough year round to spend yours days playing on the beach! Here are just a few of her favorite Blue Flag beaches that are great not just for summer, but winter as well.

This beach is located at a distance of 45 km from Athens at the North East side. In summer it can get very busy in the weekends with many young people and music but during the weekdays and off season this beach is one of my favorites. A long stretch of sandy beach in the Marathon Bay, clean water, organized and surrounded by many watersports centres in case your children are old enough.

This beach gets very crowded in summer and weekends but is ideal in autumn. It is organized with umbrellas, chairs, showers and snacks. At a 100 meter distance from Avlaki is Panorama beach, not organized but very good for families.

Varkiza is nice town to visit during a family excursion all year round. There are many taverns and playgrounds and the beach is sandy with volleyball courts, water games and open play areas. My favorite beach for families in Varkiza is Yabanaki beach. Varkiza is a small town and one of the most developed and popular areas in the southern suburbs, quite lively during the summer season.

To read this article in full, please visit: Family Goes Out

The up-market suburb of Kifissia lies just a few kilometers north of the city centre, and it is home to an outstanding number of great shops, local artisans, cafes and restaurants. This trendy neighbourhood gives locals and visitors the opportunity to enjoy unique local and international fashion and delicious food. Here are 5 places to go, as recommended by the NY Times.

“Athenians come in the morning to get their fix of Greek coffee, which is traditionally served black and so strong that a glass of water accompanies each cup to help cleanse the palate.”

Address: 15 Kiriakou Diomidi

Telephone: 210 623 3769

“This airy family-run bakery, dating to the late 19th century, is a wonderland for Greek food souvenirs.”

Address: 5 Kassaveti

Telephone: 210 801 2472

“The country’s artisans, who painstakingly produce handmade goods, are an endangered breed because of an increasing reliance on machine-made products.”

Address: 10 Agion Theodoron

Telephone: 210 801 2044

To read this article in full, please visit: The New York Times

What started as a discovery of antiquities in the Athens metro rail area, is now an underground exhibition of the Athens metro. The exhibition, which is free to the public, is filled with antiquities, including sculptures of the Parthenon, Athenian amphoras, ancient toys, funeral monuments, and parts of one of the oldest bridges found in Attica. Be sure to get your Ath.ena ticket and visit one of these stations:

Syntagma

At this station, visitors can take a good look at the stratigraphy of Athens that covers a period from early 5th century B.C. until the Ottoman times. Therein, on the first floor also lies a skeleton of a young lady who lived in the 4th century B.C., whose exhibited in a tomb between layers of soil. Visitors will also be able to see ancient pipes that brought water to Athens, as well as the sanitation system of the city.

Monastiraki

At this station, visitors can admire a large photograph of an underground tunnel full of pottery fragments, giving a picture of what the Athens metro looked liked during the archaeological dig. Heading towards Kifissia, travelers can see the riverbed of Iridanos, one of the three ancient rivers of Attica.

Elaionas

Here, the oldest bridge located in Attica can be found. The three pillars of the ancient bridge of Kifissos river date as far back as 5th and 6th century B.C.

To read this article in full, please visit: Tornos News

Photo Source: Flikr

Located in the heart of downtown near Syntagma Square, The Pie Shop opened its doors in October 2017 with the motto, "Bake the world a better place." Dating back to Minoan times and 5th century BC onwards, pies were everywhere in ancient Athens, most notably the cheese pie. Not much has changed today, as pies can still be seen being enjoyed all over Greece.

Amidst this sea of Greek pies, The Pie Shop is looking beyond national borders to the large variety of pies across the globe. The shop is owned by two women, Marina and Nanda, who love food and love to bake. All the pastries are handmade and prepared with only the best ingredients. After having spent most of her adult life working in the food industry, Nanda has learned the simple secret to success: use the finest and freshest ingredients.

During their visit, Culinary Backstreets tasted their way across the globe, from Indian samosas to Argentinian empanadas and British egg and bacon pie – we even tasted a Korean tomato tart that rivaled the Mediterranean version. All of these many different pies looked good and tasted even better.

Address: Voulis 16, Syntagma

Telephone: +30 211 403 7328

Hours: Mon.-Sat. 8:30am-6pm; closed Sunday

To read this article in full, please visit: Culinary Backstreets

There's no better time to give your immune system a boost; with vitamin and nutrient-packed food that will help you stay healthy and strong!

These 4 recipes from BBC Good Food are easy, delicious, and super healthy. See below for detailed instuctions.

 

 

• 100g coconut yogurt
• 3 tbsp milk of your choice
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 3cm piece of fresh ginger peeled
• 1 small ripe banana
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp oats
• juice of ½ a lemon

 

 

 

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced
• 200g diced carrot
• 1 tbsp curry powder containing turmeric
• 100g red lentils
• 700ml low-sodium vegetable stock
• 1 can reduced-fat coconut milk
• coriander and naan bread, to serve

 

 

 

• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 340g of chicken breast fillet cut into thick strips (goujons)
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 200g tender stem broccoli stems halved if very long
• 200ml chicken stock
• 1 heaped tsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp clear honey or 2 tsp golden caster sugar
• the zest of half a lemon
• juice of a whole lemon
• a large handful of roasted cashews

 

 

 

 

• 4 small fresh beetroots, about 200g
• 1½ tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1 tsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed
• 2 skinless salmon or trout fillets
• 2½ small oranges, plus the zest of 1 and juice of half
• 3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 4 handfuls baby spinach leaves
• 1 avocado, thickly sliced

 

 

 

To find these and even more immune friendly recipes, please visit: BBC Good Food

The first A321neo, the largest member of the A320neo family, landed late last week at AEGEAN’s base at Athens International Airport.

 

The new Airbus A321neo is equipped with advanced Pratt & Whitney GTF™ new generation engines that will reduce CO2 emissions per passenger seat by 23% compared to the current Airbus fleet and by 53% compared to AEGEAN’s initial and new at the time Avro RJ100 aircraft 20 years ago. The new aircraft also brings a significant reduction in NOx emissions per flight and passenger flown by 50% and lowers the noise footprint by 75%, making it the most environmentally friendly and efficient aircraft type ever to join AEGEAN’s fleet.

 

With an increased capacity of 220 passenger seats, reduced fuel consumption, and an additional range of 1 hour of flight, the new Airbus A321neo is expected to be an added competitive advantage for Aegean, post COVID-19.

To read the press release in full, please visit: aegeanair.com

And, what is the birthplace of philosophy? Greece, of course!

Greeks were among the first people to break free from the tradition of mythological explanations and the overall mysticism that defined ancient history. They went from a narrow, superficial, one-dimensional view of the world to a deep and thorough interpretation largely based on reasoning and evidence. Their abstruse yet eloquent philosophical ideas about politics, science, and the universe set the basis of Western civilization's thinking and earned them the recognition that still lives to this day. Here's a list of the top 5 most influential Greek philosophers! 

Thales of Miletus (620 BC–546 BC)


Source: Wikimedia Commons

Being a mathematician and astronomer, Thales is often referred to as the "Father of Science", and he is historically recognized as the first individual to engage in scientific philosophy. He tried to explain various natural phenomena without the inclusion of mythology, using only naturalistic theories and hypotheses. According to Aristotle, he investigated a number of basic principles, such as the origin of matter and he proposed water as the basic component of the world. He also excelled in mathematics and geometry, which he used to calculate the heights of the pyramids and he is the first known individual to whom a mathematician discovery has been attributed. 

Famous Quote: "All human sufferings, come from ignorance." 

Pythagoras of Samos (570 BC–495 BC)


Source: Galilea/Wikimedia Commons

Pythagoras was an ancient Greek mathematician and pre-socratic philosopher, known for founding Pythagoreanism and inventing the Pythagorean Theorem, one of the key computations in geometry. He is associated with the concept of "metempsychosis", meaning the transmigration of souls, according to which every soul is immortal and enters a new body upon its death. He regarded the world as perfectly harmonious and was particularly interested in developing ideas and rules that could lead to a harmonious life. He may also have invented the doctrine of "musica universalis", the hypothesis that planets move according to mathematical equations and produce an inaudible symphony of music.

Famous Quote: "A fool is known by his speech, and a wise man by silence."

Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC)


Source: Lysippos/Wikimedia Commons

A student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the Great, Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, justifiably considered one of the world’s most influential ancient philosophers. He was an imaginative and prolific writer whose writings cover numerous subjects including physics, biology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, economics, politics, and much more. At a time when most philosophers preferred a more theoretical perception of the world, one that was beyond the accessibility of the physical senses, Aristotle was one of the first to propose an interpretation of the world mainly based on facts learned from the experience. 

Famous Quote: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

Plato (427 BC–347 BC)


Source: Mary Harrsch/Wikimedia Commons

A student of Socrates, Plato is regarded as the founder of one of the world's first known institutions of higher learning, the Academy of Athens. Plato's philosophy is based on a threefold approach: dialects, ethics, and physics. His most famous theory is the theory of the forms, the fundamental doctrine of Platonic idealism, according to which only ideas encapsulate the true and essential nature of things, in a way that the physical form can't. In other words, Plato believed that the substantive reality around us is only a reflection of a higher truth, the abstraction. Thanks to his famous dialog "The Republic", where he described a city-state defined by justice, he became known as the "Father of Political Science", with his political ideas, although somewhat utopian, still being praised today. 

Famous Quote: "Reality is created by the mind, we can change our reality by changing our mind."

Socrates (469 BC–399 BC)


Source: Norto Mendez/Wikimedia Commons

Widely regarded as a founder of Western philosophy and the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought, Socrates was an enigmatic and perplexing character who didn't write any books and most of his philosophical contributions come from his students, mainly Plato and Xenophon. He became famous for encouraging people to critically question everything and attempting to construct an ethical framework based on human reasoning instead of various contentious theological ideas. His greatest contribution to philosophy was the Socratic Method, an argumentative dialog between individuals, based on asking and answering thought-provoking questions to stimulate critical thinking and draw out ideas and underlying presumptions. His radical beliefs led to him being tried and convicted for corrupting the youth and his legendary trial and death at the altar of the ancient Greek democratic system will forever remain in history.

Famous Quote: "The only true wisdom is in knowing, that you know nothing".

For more information visit the embassy's official website

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