“Navarino Challenge” scores with Joe Arlauckas and two more awards in Sports Marketing and Digital Media Awards!

This year's 6^th edition of Navarino Challenge, which will take place between 12-14 October 2018 in Messinia and Costa Navarino, continues with even more awards and additions to its ambassadors.

The Ambassadors
One of the biggest names in basketball and former ace of Real Madrid and Sacramento Kings, Joe Arlauckas will be in Costa Navarino for Navarino Challenge to remind us of the high level basketball he has played in his career but also to teach us his golf secrets as he has been deeply involved with this sport recently.

Euroleague basketball legend said for this participation: “Apart from the beauty and serenity that Costa Navarino offers, I am so pleased to join such a special event like the Navarino Challenge 2018. The location is perfect, and the idea is something that should be considered all over the world. The opportunity to bring families together through sporting activities is not just a special occasion, but at the same time it teaches children values such as dedication, sacrifice and teamwork through activity. I am so excited to join the team this year”.

The awards
Navarino Challenge is a world class event, which grows every year both in activities and in number of participations. The internationally acclaimed event enriches Greece’s sports tourism, extends the country’s tourist season and presents the beauties of Greece all over the world. For all these reasons, Navarino Challenge was awarded for one more year at the Sports Marketing Awards 2018, in the category “Sports Tourism” of the section “Sports Events / Branded Events”.

At the same time, it was awarded at the Digital Media Awards 2018, in the category “Best Public Service / CSR Award” of the “Digital Communication & Marketing” section. “Navarino Challenge” will take place this year with the approval of the Hellenic Swimming Federation under the auspices of the Greek National Tourism

Organization.

Registrations have opened and you can register by clicking HERE!

The pre-sale is available also via Viva.gr, by phone at 11876, as well as at the pre- sale points of the Viva network. Registrations end on August 31st , 2018. 

Navarino Challenge participants who will book their accommodation package at The Westin Resort Costa Navarino and choose to take part in at least one of the main activities (running, swimming, SUP) will also be able to enjoy the organization’s full program of activities free of charge.

The program for those staying at The Westin Resort Costa Navarino includes: Tae kwon do, climbing, cycling, pilates, basketball, golf, kick boxing, baby swimming, aqua aerobics, kids' athletics, beach volley, tennis cross training, crossfit, beach yoga, boxing, beachathlon and demonstration race with optimist boats.

More information about the accommodation packages can be found HERE!

Click HERE to watch the 2018 video teaser and get  a brief taste of the event!

The official sponsors of the event are for another year the Natural Mineral Water “Vikos” and Ford Motor Hellas. Official sponsors are Poseidonia, BIC®, BIC® Sport, Avance and the Municipality of Pylos-Nestor. For the first time, Navarino Challenge will be assisted by the Hellenic Recovery Recycling Corporation (Herrco), which in cooperation with the Municipality of Pylos- Nestor raise awareness for better environmental control and recycling in Messinia. “ Navarino Challenge” will be co-organized with Costa Navarino , The Westin Resort Costa Navarino and Active Media Group and the support of the Municipalities of l Pylos-Nestor and Trifilia.

Official Sponsors: Natural Mineral Water “Vikos”, Ford Motor Hellas

Official Supporters: Poseidonia, BIC®, BIC® Sport, Avance Rent A Car, Municipality of Pylos-Nestor

Partners: Navarino Outdoors, Swim Academy, Surf Salad, Triantafyllidis Beach Arena, FitnessArt, Vizantinos target sport club, Red Swim Academy

Assisted by: Lifeguard Patrol, Navarino Racquet Academy, Pylos Association of Enterprises for Tourism Development, Maritime Athletic Pylos Association “Nestor”, Explore Messinia, Navarino Golf Academy, Target Security, The Diner, Hellenic Recovery Recycling Corporation, Athens Easy Transfers Strategic Partner: National Geographic

Hashtags: #navarinochallenge #costanavarino #eatwell #runwell #livewell


Photo Credit: Unique running routes at Navarino Challenge 2018 (photo by Mike Tsolis)

Pyroliki
This garden restaurant in Metaxourgeio offers traditional Greek food with a twist. Friendly and cozy ambiance, an atmospheric backyard, and flavors from all over Greece will travel your mind to Crete and the Greek islands. Start with delicious seafood appetizers along with a glass of ouzo, wine, or Cretan raki, and continue your meal with typical Greek dishes! 

Location: 117 Megalou Alexandrou, Metaxourgeio
Telephone: 210 3420293

Location: Valtetsiou 59, Exarcheia

Telephone: 210 3802725

Metaxou
Metaxou will make you feel just like home! Enjoy their delicious traditional greek appetizers, such as cheese pies, revithokeftedes, soutzoukakia, wine from the island of Ikaria, and occasionally live music.

Location: 10 Pithodorou, Metaxourgeio

Telephone: 210 5229290

Kouvelos
Located in the area of Koukaki, Kouvelos serves traditional Greek food in a romantic garden. Start with the deep-fried cheese pie, a specialty from Skopelos island, and end your meal with homemade hazelnut liqueur. 

Location: Genneou Kolokotroni 66, Athina 
Telephone: 211 4052418

 
Karderina
This garden in the area of Petralona attracts many Athenians and foreigners for its exceptional greek food and mezes, its famous tsipouro, and, of course, its affordable prices!

Location: 67 Kallisthenous, Ano Petralona
Telephone: 210 3454000

 

While surrounded by jewelry designers, archaeologists, entrepreneurs, and historians at the Knossos Palace, Prince Charles was learning about the impact of ancient Minoan civilization on contemporary style.

As Vogue states, "Chiton dress styles, decorative motifs, superfoods and fabric weaves that date back over 3,618 years are part of an ongoing aesthetic dialogue between the Minoan ancients and contemporary designers including Sophia Kokosalaki, Zeus and Dione, Ancient Greek Sandals and fine jewellers, Zolotas and Paulina Ellis."

"There is a strong link between fashion and the Minoans (the civilisation flourished between 3000 and 1200 B.C.) – physical prowess and glamour are entrenched. Back in the 1920s, Mario Fortuny even created a special label marked Knossos for a collection of his densely pleated draped dresses. The surrealists were seduced and published Minotaure magazine in the 1930s. In the 1970s, Cretan designer Yannis Tseklenis became the toast of cocktail society in New York and Paris with his psychedelic image dresses that reprised the fine frescoes and patterned artifacts found in the region. More recently, Chloe and Mary Katrantzou's spring/summer 2017 collections incorporated motifs from the famous Knossos palace fresco "Ladies in Blue" featuring opulent beauties with bejewelled corkscrew curls."

To read this article in full, please visit: Vogue

 

Photo source: Wikipedia

The Friends of Canada network is delighted to invite you to its annual Informal Canada Day Celebration!

Lets get together for an evening full of surprises and enjoy some delicious food, such as risotto, rocket and parmesan salad, grilled pork chops, sausage with roasted potatoes, cake and wine! The cost is 14 euros each person for a set menu.

Dress code is casual and of course all nations are welcomed.

Should you wish to attend, please email the statement ''Friends of Canada has my consent to process my data'', along with your name, mobile phone number and full names of your guests, all by Friday July 6th.

Please allow 24 hours for confirmation.

If possible, kindly bring adult personal hygiene products, like shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, serviettes, razor and shaving gel.

Lynn Roulo, an American Kundalini Yoga and Enneagram instructor living in Athens, Greece, is offering SUP yoga classes this summer!

A: SUP Yoga is doing yoga in the sea on a Stand Up Paddleboard. It’s like a regular yoga lesson, but your mat is a SUP Board, and your studio is the sea.

A: I can’t think of a better place than Greece for SUP Yoga! The water is warm, clean and clear, and the conditions are ideal since the sea is usually pretty flat. If there are waves, they are really gentle.

A: For the first few years, we were in Alimos with occasional trips to Schinias and Glyfada. This season, we’re moving further south to Voula and Varkiza. And starting on June 29, 2018, we’ll be offering SUP Yoga at Astir Beach in Vouliagmeni!

A: Anyone who can swim! My lessons are all-levels which means you don’t need experience in SUP or yoga to participate. I’m a Kundalini Yoga teacher so we use a lot of Kundalini Yoga exercises, and I try to make sure there is something for the full range of abilities—absolute beginners to experienced yogis.

A: Come to a class! We offer classes every Friday at Astir Beach through July 31 and other weekend classes during the summer.

 

Still a fairly quiet island, Tinos is only a 20-minute ferry ride from the 'glitz and glitter' of Mykonos, but worlds away when it comes to attitude and appearance. Elizabeth traveled to Tinos recently for a photography workshop and shares her experience of exploring the different beaches, the gastronomy scene, and other things to do, where to stay, and what to eat.

"Near the fairy-tale hamlet of Koumaros, introduced to us by Greece Photo Workshops leader Maria, the rocky cliffs of Kolibithra form a perfect horseshoe-shaped bay cradling a sandy crescent beach. With its reputation for having the best breaks on the island – a rarity in a country better known for its still waters – Kolibithra has become a popular yet laid-back spot among Greek surfers."

"On the beach, a guy with a man bun staffed the bar, a repurposed vintage Volkswagen van, from which emanated the Eagles classic, Hotel California. The surfers hung around hoping for a swell, their boards propped against a thatched roof lean-to. Other beach-goers sipped mojitos by the bar, swam or lounged under quirky mushroom-shaped wicker parasols."

"Since anyone arriving on Tinos has to come through the chora, Tinos is an island whose powers of seduction are not immediately apparent, but venture beyond and you will soon fall under its spell."

To read this article in full, please visit: The Globe and Mail

As a 24-year old, Charly came to Athens for the first time, unaware that the city would be the setting for a significant period of growth and discovery. As Charly puts it, "There are places we live and places we visit, and then there are the other places. Places we return to, where we put down roots, but not strong enough roots to hold us — places that change us, that we haunt and are haunted by."

Now 12 years later, Charly is back in Athens visiting her old hang-outs, seeing old friends whom she met the first time she was here, and admiring Athens for what it has become, "one of the most vibrant and significant cultural capitals."

Charly writes from her first trip to Athens, "After a week or so bouncing around the Cyclades, I arrived in Athens, planning to stay only a few days before moving on. People had told me the city was ugly and congested, basically a stopover, yet I remember the first romance of its winding, cracked stone alleyways overgrown with jasmine creepers and bitter orange trees, the roving packs of stray dogs, cats sunning on ruins, the smell of leather, honeysuckle and dust.

"One night I wandered into Kinky Bar, where the D.J. was playing obscure postpunk records I happened to love. I drank until I was brave enough to approach him. He introduced me to his friends — Athenians, a bit older than I was — and at the end of the night, they did something I couldn’t imagine happening back home: They invited me to move in with them."

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

Newly open and located in an elegant historic European building in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai, is the first and only Greek cultural center. Offering a taste of greek cultural heritage, greek gastronomy, hospitality and greek history, Hellas House aspires to become a new landmark in Shanghai's social, cultural, and business life.

The Tourism Minister Ms. Elena Kountoura, who attended the inauguration, said that "Hellas House is the ideal venue for the presentation of the unique treasures of Greece, while at the same time it really entices Chinese travelers to visit our beautiful country while strengthening the relations between Greece and China."

The opening ceremony was attended by many officials from both Greece and China, ambassadors from various countries, leading executives of international companies, businessmen and personalities of culture.

Article Source: ERT International

Photo Source: Hellas Group

Athens, Greece recently celebrated World Music Day, an annual celebration taking place on the summer solstice, at the National Archaeological Museum with a performance by Lyravlos. Using natural materials such as animal shells, bones, hides, and horns, this group of musicians recreated exact replicas of ancient instruments, including string and wind instruments called the phorminx, the kitharis, the krotala, and the aulos.

Panayiotis Stefos, a member of Lyravlos, travels to museums close to home and abroad in order to study ancient Greek antiquities and texts, which help him recreate the instruments. Stefos' son, another member of the musical group, told Reuters, "Music was an integral part of almost every aspect of ancient Greek society, from religious, to social to athletic events. Today only some 60 written scores of ancient Greek music have survived." Both Panayiotis and Michael rely on their interpretation of ancient Greek music to recreate the instruments as best they can.

Their performance included a hymn to the god Apollo, a piece played at the musical festival of the ancient Pythian Games in Delphi and during wine-laden rituals to the god Dionysus. One member of the audience commented that the performance was "inspiring."

Article Source: Reuters

The 8th Athens Open Air Film Festival and the Athens & Epidaurus Festival are happy to organise and present together a unique screening at the Ancient Epidaurus Little Theatre, which opens its doors for the first time to cinephile audiences!

On Saturday, June 30th the little atmospheric theather of Epidaurus invites the public on a fascinating experience with the emblymatic screening of "Electra, 1962" by Michael Cacogiannis.

The theater, which has been hosting events of  the  Athens & Epidaurus Festival for years, is located between orange and olive groves, on a slope overlooking the mountain and the sea and is considered as a favorite destination for friends art.

In the last few years, the theater has hosted many alternative performances of ancient drama, so it was considered as an  ideal place for the venue for this screening, which brings the legend of Euripides' Electra to the big screen!