Concerts featuring favorite artists and bands like Tonis Sfinos, Panos Vlachos, Polkar, Nefeli Fasouli, Wedding Singers, Jerome Kaluta, and Mihalis Kalkanis Group, along with festive tunes in the city center and neighborhoods, as well as unexpected parties in unique venues curated by genre experts, have set the rhythm of Christmas throughout Athens!

In everyone's beloved season, Christmas, the Municipality of Athens transforms the city into a vibrant music scene where songs, melodies, and rhythm take center stage. Local artists, music groups, and bands grace the music stage of Syntagma Square, immersing the audience and passers-by in the festive spirit of Christmas. The festivities kick off on Wednesday, December 20, with an extra dose of dancing vibes!  At noon, George Zervos and his electrifying band will deliver a live show infused with boundless energy and rock'n'roll aesthetics. Later, at 18:00, the dynamic Wedding Singers will captivate the crowd with their non-stop mix of '90s covers, ensuring no one can resist hitting the dance floor!

On Thursday, December 21, at 12:00, Hermaphrodite's Child will transport us back to the 50s and 60s, channeling the sounds of iconic artists like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. At 6:00 p.m, Vassilis Kazoulis, Kitrina Podilata, and Alexandra Cognac will join forces in a unique collaboration spanning three generations, united by their shared love for music and live performances. Christmas jazz rhythms and festive melodies will enchant Syntagma on Friday, December 22, at 12:00, courtesy of the quintet led by the excellent saxophonist Dimitris Tsakas. In the evening, at 6:00 p.m, the stage will come alive with the explosive Polkar, offering a performance filled with rhinestones, trombones, and beloved musical hits.



Taking a musical journey to New Orleans on Saturday, December 23, at 12:00, Gumbo Ya Ya brings authentic jazz to Syntagma Square, accompanied by the expressive vocals of Sugahspank! and the Emily Mesko. At 6:00 p.m., the talented Nefeli Fassoulipou and her band will lead us into her unique musical world, where jazz unexpectedly meets Greek folk sounds with astounding results.

Continuing with mainstream jazz from the '50s and '60s by the Sub Quartet on Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24, at 12:00, the stage will then be taken over at 6:00 p.m. by the subversive Panos Vlachos, promising an impromptu musical celebration with everything you can imagine! The festivities resume on the second day of Christmas, Tuesday, December 26, at 6:00 p.m, where the energetic Jerome Kaluta and his band await us with international soul hits spanning from the '70s to today.

On Wednesday, December 27, at 12:00, the Mihalis Kalkanis Group introduces jazz musical experimentation with a fresh European sound to the Syntagma stage. The glittering Christmas Gala follows at 6:00 p.m., featuring holiday tunes from around the world, arias, duets from popular operas, and excerpts from beloved musicals and operettas. Thodoris Lembesis orchestrates the performance with the voices of Maria Katrivesi and Giorgos Housakos.



The festive stage of Syntagma Square concludes powerfully on Thursday, December 28, with two exciting performances: at 12:00, the Jaguar Bombs set the stage for a lively celebration, combining hits from our teenage memories and early '00s MTV playlists in a subversive mix featuring Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Elvis, Offspring, and Vlassis Bonatso. At 6:00 p.m., the unique performer Tonis Sfinos, accompanied by The Playmates, his five-member band, the singer Naya Doukas, and the actor Antonis Papailia in the role of "Lola," hosts the fanciest "Christmas Disco Party"!

The music is not limited to the city center, though—it spreads across the city! During the holidays, the Athens 9.84 van will be surprising us with Christmas tunes and children's choirs in different neighborhoods, enhancing the festive atmosphere. From December 20 to 28, the station's festive playlist will musically decorate Syntagma, perfectly complementing the live concerts in the square. On December 20, the city's radio station will broadcast live from Syntagma from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. as part of the 2023 Radio Marathon, organized to support families and children in need.

Finally, on Christmas Eve, December 24th, from 2:00 p.m., at the Merchants' Gallery, radio station Pepper 96.6 hosts a day-long festive event with dynamic DJ sets, performances by beloved artists, and many surprises. On the same day, Christmas is celebrated in one of the liveliest neighborhoods of the city, Kypseli. From 5:30 p.m., the Municipal Market of Kypseli celebrates with a unique "Xmas Extravaganza" party, featuring music from prominent selectors and DJs of the city, creating a dance soundtrack with Balearic beats, rare grooves, disco, and house rhythms.

To welcome the arrival of 2024, the Varvakeios Market also participates this year, alongside the grand celebration at Syntagma. On New Year's Eve, the "Varvakeios NYE Party" by Street Outdoors, starting at 11:00 p.m., brings renowned DJs and producers to the heart of Athens' commercial life for an unforgettable New Year's party filled with rhythm and dancing until the early morning hours!

*The Christmas events program, curated by the City of Athens Cultural, Sport & Youth Organization (OPANDA), in collaboration with the Technopolis of the Municipality of Athens, This is Athens, and the city's radio station, 9.84, promises a festive extravaganza for residents and visitors alike.
**Please note that the program is subject to change.

Originally posted in greek on: newsit.gr
Translated by: Codico Lab

The conversation inevitably turned to ‘the system’, ‘the crisis’, and comparing stories and experiences… As it turns out, and in case it’s any consolation to any of you reading this, Spain is as… (ahem!) ‘complicated’ as Greece.
 
The visitor shared an experience she had recently, when she tried to start the process for acquiring Spanish citizenship. She lives in a small town outside Barcelona, and went to the local administrative office, with papers in hand, prepared to book an appointment with an advisor. She was told that the next appointment is in June 2017. That’s 2017.

Dismayed, she returned home and buried herself in a bottle of rioja (not really, I just added that).  Later on, she wondered about her papers and whether they would still be valid in three years. So she looked up the phone number of the office, found only the number for the Barcelona location – and promptly called them. Let’s recall that she has just returned from booking an appointment for 2017.
 
The person on the phone in Barcelona asked why she was concerned about the validity of her papers.
 
“Because my appointment is in 2017.”
 
“What appointment?”
 
“With my local office.”
 
“No no. We do not give appointments. Just come with your papers anytime, and we can start everything.”
 
Conclusion: two locations of the same government office have completely different policies and are completely unaware of each other’s policies. ‘Buyer beware.’
 
I think we could comfortably say that Italy is not much different. What is it in the nature of these Mediterranean paradises that makes confused bureaucracy a mainstay of public life? I would love to find out…
 
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…

It was a project that would take its toll in various ways, emotionally, physically and financially over the years. We’ve watched the exchange rates, carefully noting when they went up or down. And then, when economic uncertainties hit Greece and the worldwide financial crash hit, we wondered how long we could afford to keep flying to Greece and paying for the renovations. There is no doubt that Ogden Nash got it right when he wrote that ‘It takes a heap o’ livin’ in a house t’ make it home. It takes a heap o’ payin’ too’.

While the dream of a house on an Aegean island, with sunshine, warm seas and rural peace, is something many busy, driven, city folk long for, it’s not easily achieved. Land in Greece always belongs to someone. Even if you spot a ruined house on an empty block you’ll very soon find it belongs to absent landlords who are planning to return sometime soon.

It was Takis’ perseverance over a very long period that enabled us to buy the house. We spent two years exploring our options and then six more years (while renovating) before we managed to fully own his great-grandfather’s house. And then it took even longer to renovate. However, all this time the house has continued to be a magnet for us and has made the effort worthwhile.

It’s been not only a big adventure, it’s been a love story - one with a house at its centre. On Lemnos we’ve lived and laughed, cried and sweated a most marvellous romantic dream-house adventure. Have we allowed the house to become our master? This wouldn’t be surprising, for as Emerson says, ‘A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life; he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days’. And dealing with the needs of our house we’ve found, with so many others, this kind of old house renovation project is addictive.

However, it’s not a simple thing to uproot oneself each year and take on a project such as this on the other side of the world. Travel does not get easier, mice still find holes to enter an old house, and in addition we’ve found that the house is big enough for many guests, sometimes too many! But, when I grumble about these difficulties, my friends are quick to remind me about the romance, ‘You’re on a Greek island, for God’s sake!’ they’ll say, throwing up their hands in frustration. ‘What have you got to complain about?’

I think what we’ve most enjoyed has been the fact that we have been thrown back onto our own resources. There are only a few shops nearby and it’s hard to get what you want when you want it. This is a challenge Takis enjoys, for not being able to go to a large Australian tradesman’s centre, he has to find ways of fixing things himself. As for me, I like working at a slower, more organic pace. One has time to notice the scent of lemon and nutmeg when baking a homemade cake, and to become more aware of garden scents when making bags of lavender seeds.

Of course, no one can have missed the fact that this decade has been a tumultuous one for Greece, with enormous immigration and fiscal problems. Has the economic drama affected us? Of course it has. We’ve always been aware there were problems with the way the Greek economy was run. But like many Greeks, up until the crisis hit the newsstands in 2008 we’d thought, ‘It’s just the way things are in Greece’. Now we’ve had to face the fact that, as sojourners with a property in Greece, everything we possessed in the country has lost at least half its value.

There’s a saying in Lemnos that one cries twice when coming to the island. This saying may have originated from the time when the island was a designated place of exile, and folk would cry when they landed on the island, going there reluctantly, but often they would cry again when they left, as by then they’d fallen in love with the island and its people. It’s a saying I’ve also adopted, for there have many been times when I’ve come to the island grudgingly, and many times when on leaving I’ve walked around my Greek garden very unwilling to depart.

But, after each questioning period, we’ll always decide that we’ll keep coming - at least for a few more years. For while riots and street marches occur in the capital cities, on the whole these troubles have not greatly affected our island. Here life appears to continue much as it did when we arrived. The town still doesn’t have municipal sewerage, the bells still wake us at seven on Sunday mornings, and while a few shops have closed on the Agora, others have opened.

The time will eventually come when we have to leave permanently and there will be so many things we’ll dearly miss, especially those sounds that are completely lost in a big city: the music of cockerels calling early each morning, the chatter of young children walking home from school, and even those street sellers who blare out descriptions of their wares as they drive past each day in summer.

By Dr Julia Catton

neoskosmos.com