Saturday, May 17 | Travelling Through the Eras of the Piano… at the Maria Callas Museum! | Piano City Athens
As part of the Piano City Athens festival, young pianists aged 8 to 15 will perform at the museum, showcasing a wide-ranging repertoire on the museum’s grand piano—from Viennese classicism and romanticism to modern Russian and American composers.
🕛 12:00 | 🎟 Free entry (concert only, museum visit not included)
📍 Pre-book your ticket at more.com
Sunday, May 18 | International Museum Day 2025 – Free Entry & “POV: My Take on the Maria Callas Museum”
To celebrate International Museum Day, the museum will offer free entry all day. Visitors are invited to explore the legacy of Maria Callas and enjoy video-reels created by participants (ages 16–106), who share their personal perspectives and reflections on the museum through creative storytelling.
🕙 10:00–19:00 | 🎟 Free entry (with registration at more.com)
Monday 26 & Tuesday 27 May | Vocal Freedom: Rediscovering the Joy of Singing
Maria Papageorgiou leads a two-day vocal workshop open to all, regardless of experience. Through breathing exercises, voice work, and collective singing, participants will explore their own vocal potential in a safe, expressive environment—far from perfectionism and focused instead on connection and joy.
🕖 19:00–22:00 (Arrival: 18:30) | ⏳ 6 hours total
🎟 €100 | 📍 Register at more.com
GUIDED TOURS
The museum offers a variety of interactive and themed tours designed for adults, families, seniors, and special groups—each aiming to provide a deeper, multisensory understanding of Maria Callas’ life and the world of opera.
🗓 Free Tours as part of Athens City Festival
📅 Sunday, May 11 & 25 | 🕐 13:00 | ⏳ 50 mins | 🎟 Free with pre-booking
🗓 Friday, May 16 | Thematic Tour: “Maria Callas – Icon & Myth”
🕕 18:00 | 🎟 €18 (reduced rates available) | ⏳ 50 mins
🗓 Saturday, May 31 | Adult Tour
🕛 12:00 | 🎟 €14 (reduced rates available) | ⏳ 50 mins
🗓 Saturday, May 31 | Family Tour
🕝 13:30 | 🎟 €7 (child), €14 (adult), €30 (family package) | ⏳ 50 mins
🗓 Every Thursday in May | Tours for visitors 65+
🕧 12:30 | 🎟 Museum Entry: €7, Tour: Free
📍 Phone reservations at +30 210 44 04 204
FAMILY PROGRAMS – MCM KIDS
Sunday, May 4 | Young Creators at the Maria Callas Museum: Nature
Inspired by the famous aria Casta Diva from Norma, this family workshop connects children (ages 4–8) and parents with nature through music. Participants will compose their own original musical phrases and create a sonic portrait of nature—no prior music education needed. The resulting compositions will be recorded and sent to families as a personal keepsake.
🕦 11:30–12:30 & 13:15–14:15
📍 Led by educator Markella Skourti
This week we hear from Gillian, who recently spent a couple action-packed days in our city…
“I wanted to send this to you, since I often read the weekly newsletters and remember fondly my visits to Greece…
I’ve just returned from a fun week in Crete, cycling around the island with a group of fellow bike-enthusiasts. Before our return to our various homelands, a few of us decided to spend two nights in Athens (cheaper return flights!). We stayed at a small central hotel, and set out on foot to see what we could see in the ‘capital of crisis’.
In between the large number of closed shop windows and the sadness of the homeless people one can see for the first time ever on Athens’ streets, I must say that I felt an incredible energy in the city. Streets still filled with people, families still out and about, warm smiles & generous spirit all around.
I have great hope for Athens and Greece, that this energy will stamp out the hardships of today and pave the way for a better tomorrow. I feel this is really possible! I look forward to visiting again soon.”
Thanks for this, Gillian…
Until next week,
Jack
In this weekly space, keep up with ‘Jack’ as he navigates daily life in Athens… Anecdotes, stories, hits & misses, the good, the bad and, well, the rest…
Da Bruno is an historical Italian Restaurant, located in South Athens (Palio Faliro) for over 2 decades now (23 years!). It's one of the oldest & most famous Italian Restaurants not only in the area, but all over Athens. All the items of the menu are excellent and cooked with the most Italian Traditional Way! I've visited the restaurant my self like 20 times so far and each time had something new to surprise me.
My favourite specialty are Funghi & Nioki with porcini mushrooms and white sauce. I definitely recommend this venue to all the Fans of Italian Food!!!
Address
Agiou Alexandrou 46, Palaio Faliro
Tel: 210 98 18 959
by Christos Taratsides
Do you have a recommendation or recipe to share? Send it to us at ideas@xpatathens.com!
Kostas Koutrakis has been working with the wood since he was 12; the culmination of his carpentry career is a fully functional wooden eco-bike that's nice to ride. His career began in 1969, when he started off as a cabinetmaker, producing furniture for customers.
A cheerful and energetic character, Kostas Koutrakis doesn't look a day of 60. Only his hands betray his love for wood and the tools of his trade. His career began in 1969, when he started off as a cabinetmaker, producing furniture on order for customers. He's also tried his hand at musical instruments, making three guitars. And he's dabbles in art, gifting his paintings to friends if they like them.
But now he's into making wooden bikes, rolling his first model out of his workshop in 2012, following a challenge from a friend.
"If you're that skilled, make a bike," she said and Koutrakis duly produced one, without much bother. But he wasn't pleased with the prototype and the fall-off in his specialised carpentry business as a result of the crisis gave him the time he needed to perfect it.
The carpenter, who is based in the eastern Attican town of Gerakas, came up with a new shape for the frame, which is made by gluing thin wooden strips of chestnut, beach and walnut together.
The fruits of his labour are a beautiful, varnished, no-gear bike, weighing only 13kg and which he insists is more flexible and just as sturdy as a metal equivalent.
It created a sensation when he wheeled it out in public. Taking it for a spin to Syntagma Square last December, everyone wanted to know where he had bought it.
"Every Friday, I do about 70km with a cyclists group called Freeday. Some of the others remark that my bike is so so nice that, apart from wanting to take it for a spin, they'd like to hang it up in their living room as a decoration," he says.
Koutrakis, who is working on five orders, is now designing models for women and children and is thinking of ways to get his bikes into foreign markets, like Holland where cyclists rule the streets.
By Pavlos Methenitis
To read the rest of the article, please visit enetenglish.gr
There’s nothing like a good, slow-cooked chicken dinner. Crispy skin, juicy meat, golden potatoes – what’s not to love? After all, buying and roasting a whole chicken is a lot cheaper than chicken breasts and you can get more meals out of it. If you’re feeding a crowd, it’s definitely the way to go. The leftovers are great for busy weeknights too.
On that note, the thought of roasting a whole chicken mid-week makes me cringe.
There’s that cold squishy giblet bag, trussing string, cooking and resting time, plus all that carving? Way too intense for a Tuesday.
During the week I purchase my bird pre-cut. No giblet bag, no string, no carving. It cooks in half the time and yet still has that slow-cooked taste.
Ingredients
For the Chicken
1x 3-4 lb. roasting chicken, cut into pieces*
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper
Marinade/Vinaigrette
2 tsp. lemon zest
¼ c. fresh lemon juice, about 2-3 lemons
1 tbsp. dried oregano
¾ c. olive oil
½ tsp. salt
3 sprigs fresh oregano
3 cloves of garlic, grated
On the side
1½ lbs. potatoes, skin on, cut into 1" chunks
2 tsp. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Salad
6 large handfuls of mixed lettuce
1 pint of colorful cherry tomatoes
½ c. feta cheese, crumbled
Garnish
2 lemons for roasting
fresh oregano sprigs
* Your cooking time will vary (+/-) depending on the size of your chicken.*Make sure to reserve half of the marinade for your vinaigrette. Do not use all of it on your chicken!
To read the rest of this recipe, please visit theclevercarrot.com
For the syrup
