ABOUT US
XpatAthens
Tuesday, 29 September 2015 07:00
The Freedom Of Open Space In Athens
Open spaces in Greece and especially in its busy Athens capital, offer a unique feeling of freedom. “Openness” is very much a part of the Greek culture, history, lifestyle, entertainment and character. Here are some favourite parts of the city where you can really enjoy the freedom of open space, relax and have fun.
Enjoy gardens, parks and playgrounds
Lying in the most famous spots of Athens or tucked away in well-hidden areas, the lush gardens and parks of Athens adorn the city’s neighbourhoods and thanks to their scenic beauty they form oases in the hustle and bustle of the city centre. Whether you want to take a romantic stroll, relax or offer your children a pleasant environment to play, the gardens of Athens are definitely to be visited during your stay in the Greek capital!
Visit Athens National Garden, an oasis in the centre of the city with more than 500 different species of plants, trees, birds and animals; home to the Botanical Museum, a zoo, a pond, a playground, a children’s library, a traditional café as well as scattered ancient monuments and statues. Walk along Pedio Areos, the biggest park in Athens, recently fully restored, an ideal place for walking, relaxing or having fun! Don’t forget to visit Thissio Park, the south-westernmost part of the Ancient Agora archaeological site, a favourite spot of the locals and one of the most frequented city places.
Thanks to its rich morphology Athens has plenty of places where you can admire stunning panoramic views of the city. Romantic or not, let yourself be captivated by the Athenian cityscape as seen from above. Must “view” locations include Lycabettus Hill, Filopappou Hill, Kaisariani Monastery, Anafiotika in Plaka, Profitis Elias in Piraeus and Damari in Petroupoli.
To read more, please visit: Visit Greece
Published in
City Discovery
Tagged under
Monday, 28 September 2015 07:00
Arcturos Offers Sanctuary To Bears That Cannot Go Home
The calls of great tits, coal tits and chaffinches are the only sounds that break the silence at the Arcturos Sanctuary, in a forest in Nymfaio, Western Macedonia.
Drops from last night’s rain are still dripping from the beech trees as the morning chill turns jackets into valuable allies for the caretakers of the forest’s 12 ursine residents. And now it’s breakfast time.
“We feed the bears in three different locations. Today’s menu includes apples, cherries, peaches and watermelons,” explains 25-year-old Vasilis Fourkiotis, tour guide and Arcturos caretaker with a degree in environmental sociology. Hailing from a family of stock breeders, Fourkiotis already has four years of experience in the field.
“The animals don’t all live together. They are separated so they can coexist in harmony, as they are naturally anti-social creatures,” says Fourkiotis.
“Moreover, in order for us to lessen the chances of the animals suffering anxiety due to the fact that they are to a certain degree confined, we religiously apply international protocol in respect to large predator management, which suggests that we enforce the animal husbandry principle of behavioral enrichment, providing the bears with environmental stimuli for their optimal psychological and physiological well-being,” he adds.
“In other words, we disperse the food all around the area the bears have access to encourage them to be active. Don’t forget that a bear can walk up to 40 kilometers in search of food,” says Fourkiotis.
Having eaten his watermelon, 15-year-old Manolis stands up on both feet and appears to wave. His brother, Kyrgiakos, continues to munch away at his own watermelon a few meters away, indifferent to our presence. When they were cubs, the two brothers were found by a person who took them in as pets. But when they tipped the scales at 250 kilograms and grew to 2 meters in height, they simply became unmanageable. When Arcturos was called in to help, the two bears were completely used to living with people. It would be impossible for them to live in their natural habitat now, which means they will have to live their whole lives in captivity. However, they could do far worse than the Arcturos Sanctuary, an area of some 50 acres offering food, guaranteed care and optimal living conditions.
“We keep the animals here in order to provide them with the best possible living conditions. However, a bear, just like any other wild animal, needs to live and die free in its natural environment,” explains Vangelis Despotakis, Fourkiotis’s co-worker.
“Here at the sanctuary we have three bears from circuses, five from a zoo, three orphans and one blind bear. Unfortunately, it is now impossible for these animals to live freely in nature. They think that humans are their source of food; that’s why they try to get close to us every chance they get. All the animals are neutered given that we do not want more bears living in captivity. In the wild, cubs stay with their mother and learn from her for a period of two to three years. Under the conditions of a shelter, however, this obviously doesn’t happen,” he adds.
The public seems to have a somewhat distorted view of the Arcturos organization’s role. For example, the NGO’s staff often receive calls from animal breeders, demanding that the organization get rid of bears in the mountains.
“The bears are not our property,” says Despotakis. “We exclusively support bears that can’t survive on their own. We do not interfere with those that live freely, nor do we breed bears in order to release them at a later date.”
The situation in regard to how people treat animals has without doubt improved in recent years. However, as a guide, Despotakis believes that his role is not limited to unlocking gates, showing people the animals and providing information.
“I believe that I am here for a purpose. That is to instill in the public a different philosophy on how we treat nature and animals. We should stop feeling sorry for creatures which have have suffered from a position of power. The protection of wildlife, despite its obvious benefits, should serve as a medium through which we can improve human life as well, by reorienting the meaning of animals for humanity. People should not have the kind of relationship with nature that sees them caring for the environment so long as they can benefit from it, and realize that animals and the natural environment have an innate importance to us as human beings,” he says.
To read more, please visit: Ekathimerini
by
Vassiliki Chrysostomidou
Published in
Travel Greece
Tagged under
Monday, 28 September 2015 07:00
Could This Start-Up Save The Greek Economy?
A week-long start-up accelerator program kicked off mid-September in London with the aim of finding an idea that will make an immediate contribution to the crisis-worn Greek economy.
Six short-listed companies worked with mentors and investors, including Google executive Steve Vranakis and George Kartakis of Paypal-owned Braintree, to refine their ideas before competing in a Dragons Den-style event at the end of the week.
The ideas included a chemical formula to protect historical sites from graffiti, a scheme to recycle unused hotel toiletries, a Mastiha liqueur importer, an online education manager, a digital diary for booking civil weddings and an internet shop for items handmade by Greek businesses.
The accelerator challenge, which was run in partnership with Watershed Entrepreneurs, was organised by Reload Greece, a non-profit organisation that encourages entrepreneurship from Greek expats and others that will have a social and economic impact in Greece.
"As we are based in London, we are tapping into the diaspora, the global community who are connected with Greece," said co-founder Effie Kyrtata, a 25-year-old Athenian who moved to London seven years ago.
"We’ve seen a lot of people leave Greece and come to other countries – the brain drain, the lost generation – and lose contact with Greece. We want to create a bridge between Greece and the UK."
To read more, please visit: The Telegraph
Published in
Greece In The News
Tagged under
Friday, 25 September 2015 16:41
Supermoon Lunar Eclipse Visible From Athens
Just before sunrise on September 28, 2015 the rare and spectacular natural phenomenon of a total lunar eclipse will be visible from Athens. According to the Eugenides Foundation, the phenomenon will be completed in the following phases:
1) Partial phase of the eclipse begins at 4:07 am on Monday 28/9, when the moon enters gradually into the earth’s shadow.
2) Total eclipse phase, which is calculated to begin at 5:11 am, during which the entire moon will enter the earth's shadow.
3) Maximum eclipse will occur at 5:47 am, while the end of the total phase at 6:23 am.
You will be able to observe this entire natural phenomenon from Athens! Just make sure that your location is not impeded by hills and / or tall buildings so that you are able to watch the total lunar eclipse before the moon is lost beyond the western horizon.
This double natural phenomenon has been observed 5 times since 1900 - in 1910, 1928, 1946, 1964 and 1982 - and will again be observed in 2033.
Source: AthensVoice
Translated By: XpatAthens
Published in
Local News
Tagged under
Thursday, 24 September 2015 07:00
Syntagma Metro Archeological Collection
It has often been said, that you can’t dig a hole in Athens
without finding something of archaeological value. This was certainly the case when they created the underground Metro system. Thousands of artefacts dating back millennia were uncovered, all adding to the overall knowledge of Athens in the past. Some of these finds were transferred to already existing museums. At Syntagma Station though, they went one step further.
Syntagma Metro Station is the central station where all lines connect. The Syntagma Metro Station Archaeological Collection can be found at the top floor of the station complex.
There are cases exhibiting artefacts such as weaving loomes and clay amphorae from all the periods of settlement in Athens. You can find neolithic, classical Greek, Roman and Byzantine exhibits all within one metro station.
The Archeological Collection is free to look around. Theoretically, if you have passed the barriers for access to the metro, you should have a validated metro ticket (tickets cost €1.20).
To read more, please visit: Dave's Travel Pages
Published in
City Discovery
Tagged under
Thursday, 24 September 2015 07:00
Greek Employment Grew By 1.2% In Second Quarter Of 2015
Employment growth in Eurozone accelerated marginally for the second straight quarter in the three months ended June, figures from Eurostat showed Tuesday.
Employment rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent in the second quarter, following a 0.2 percent climb in the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter last year, employment edged up 0.1 percent.
On an annual basis, employment growth held steady at 0.8 percent in the three-month period to June.
Greek employment grew by 1.2 pct in the second quarter of 2015, compared with the first quarter of the year, Eurostat said on Tuesday.
According to a latest report, Greece along with Portugal (+1.3%) recorded the highest percentage increase in employment in the April-June period, followed by Ireland and Spain (0.9% each) and Estonia (0.8%). Employment fell in Finland (-0.3%), the UK (-0.2%), Bulgaria and Lithuania (-0.1% each).
The number of employed people grew 0.3% in the Eurozone and 0.2% in the EU-28 totaling 228.8 million men and women of which 151 million in the Eurozone in the second quarter of 2015, compared with the previous quarter. Employment rose 0.8% in the Eurozone and 0.9% in the EU compared with the second quarter of 2014.
To read more, please visit: Apokoronews
Employment rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent in the second quarter, following a 0.2 percent climb in the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter last year, employment edged up 0.1 percent.
On an annual basis, employment growth held steady at 0.8 percent in the three-month period to June.
Greek employment grew by 1.2 pct in the second quarter of 2015, compared with the first quarter of the year, Eurostat said on Tuesday.
According to a latest report, Greece along with Portugal (+1.3%) recorded the highest percentage increase in employment in the April-June period, followed by Ireland and Spain (0.9% each) and Estonia (0.8%). Employment fell in Finland (-0.3%), the UK (-0.2%), Bulgaria and Lithuania (-0.1% each).
The number of employed people grew 0.3% in the Eurozone and 0.2% in the EU-28 totaling 228.8 million men and women of which 151 million in the Eurozone in the second quarter of 2015, compared with the previous quarter. Employment rose 0.8% in the Eurozone and 0.9% in the EU compared with the second quarter of 2014.
To read more, please visit: Apokoronews
Published in
Greece In The News
Tagged under
Wednesday, 23 September 2015 07:00
Greek Crisis Prompts A Rethink On Food Waste
With little end to their economic misery in sight, Greeks are finding inventive ways to feed the poor while also fighting waste – a movement that is chipping away at traditional attitudes to food.
Three years ago, Xenia Papastavrou came up with a simple idea: take unsold food from shops and restaurants that was headed for the bin, and use it to feed the growing number of Greeks going hungry as the financial crisis took hold.
"In June, they gave us 3,000 kilos of melons; in August we got 7,200 cartons of milk," the 39-year-old told AFP at her office behind Athens' central market.
Boroume ("We Can"), the organization she founded, matches donated foodstuffs with charities in need -- whether vegetables, bread or "even these 12 tiropita (cheese pies), which weren't sold at the bakery."
These days the food routed through Boroume provides an average of 2,500 meals a day across Greece, from Athens to Thessaloniki in the north.
"Greece is a country that throws a lot away," explained Papastavrou from behind a computer screen covered with data tables and the addresses of charities.
In Greek tavernas, if the plates aren't piled with huge pyramids of food, a meal between friends can be considered a failure, she added.
"There isn't really a mentality of paying attention to this," she said. "Here, it's: 'I've paid for it, so I can do what I want with it.'"
But years of hardship have started to change habits in a country where official figures show a quarter of the population is at risk of poverty.
"In Greece, people used to think that good quality means high prices," said Tonia Katerini, an architect who spends about 10 hours a week working in the Sesoula co-operative grocery store in Exarchia, downtown Athens.
But as Greece slumped into a deep six-year recession after the 2008 financial crisis erupted, people began thinking harder about whether this was really true, she said.
To read more, please visit: ekathimerini
To read more, please visit: ekathimerini
Published in
Local News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 22 September 2015 07:00
Tourlou Tourlou Briam
As we head into autumn, this dish is perfect for the season.
Tourlou tourlou, which literally means all mixed up, is really the most wonderfully delicious mix up of vegetables! Perfect with fresh veggies and a few simple ingredients and you’re on your way to one of the best traditional vegetable meals in all of Greek cooking.
This dish also known as Briam from the Turkish version and is also very similar to the traditional French dish Ratatouille. Full of flavor and so satisfying, you can enjoy tourlou tourlou hot right from the oven or the next day at room temperature. Serve as a filling meal or as a tasty veggie side dish to just about anything and its a great take for lunch option too!
One of the great things about tourlou tourlou is it's amazingly flexible. This dish can accommodate whatever is in season and can be made with a huge variety of vegetables such as okra, green beans, peas, green peppers, mushrooms - feel free to be creative!
Ingredients
- 2 cups sliced eggplant (approx 2 medium eggplants)
- 2 cups sliced zucchini squash /green or yellow or combination of both (approx 2 medium squash)
- 3 cups sliced potatoes (2 large baking potatoes)
- 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced onions (1 medium sweet white onion)
- 6 large cloves garlic (sliced very thinly)
- 3 cups sliced tomatoes (approx 4 large ripe tomatoes)
- 3 tbsp sliced fresh basil
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp salt/ 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 2 cups peeled, crushed tomatoes (approx 3 large tomatoes)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 tsp sugar
To read more, including how to make Tourlou Tourlou, please visit: The Greek Vegan
Published in
Greek Food & Diet
Tagged under
Saturday, 19 September 2015 15:28
Top 10+ Reasons To Love Living In Greece
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/
Published in
My Week In Athens
Tagged under
Monday, 21 September 2015 07:00
#LifeOnIos Project: Introducing A New Destination Marketing Concept
In July, a creative social media campaign named #LifeOnIos ran in Greece to promote and rebrand Ios from a destination known as a party island for young travellers to a destination with a sustainable luxurious future.
The #LifeOnIos campaign, a first of its kind event for the travel industry, saw video creators from five different countries (UK, Spain, USA, Brazil, Germany) gather on Ios for the whole month of July to create video content to show that the island has a lot more to offer apart from the party scene it is famous for.
#LifeOnX
The #LifeOnIos project is part of #LifeOnX, a new concept in tourism marketing to promote and rebrand a destination, introduced by Simon Lewis, the founder of Travel Concept Solution, a Cape Town-based marketing agency with a global network in travel.
#LifeOnIos was set up in cooperation with the local brand LuxurIOS Island Experience and had the support of the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO), Lonely Planet and Greek carrier Aegean Airlines. Also, the global travel industry community Travel Massive was involved and Traveldudes and GTP supported the event as media partners.
To find out more about this campaign, please visit: Greek Travel Pages
Published in
Travel Greece
Tagged under