The Athens Ring is back in service from Monday, September 30, 2019, to Friday, July 17, 2020. The Athens Ring or 'Daktylios' in Greek is a specified area in central Athens controlled by an odd/even traffic system to curb traffic congestion and pollution in the center of the city

 

Essentially, private vehicles and trucks are alternately allowed in the center of Athens depending on the current date and the last digit of their registration plate. For example, cars whose registration plates end in an odd number will be allowed in the center of the city on the odd days of the month and vice versa.

 

The measure is implemented from Monday to Thursday from 07:00 am to 8:00 pm and on Fridays from 07:00 am to 3:00 pm.

 

The Athens Ring is indicated with a ‘Δ’ street sign and is bordered by the following streets: L. Alexandras, Zaharof, L. Mesogeion, Fidippidou, Michalakopoulou, Spyrou Merkouri, Vryaxidos, Ymittou, Ilia Iliou, Amvrosiou Frantzi, L. Syggrou, Hamosternas, Peiraios, Iera Odos, L. Konstantinoupoleos, Achilleos, Plateia Karaiskaki, Karolou, Marni, 28 Oktovriou (Patission), L. Alexandras.

Partly fueled by growing tourist numbers according to the Huffington Post UK, Greece and especially Athens is booming with speciality cocktail bars and “mad mixologists.” One travel and drinks writer takes us to two bars who serve some of the most unique drinks in Athens.

“Look up Kerameikos in most guidebooks and you'll be told about the famous cemetery there, that this was once the home of ceramicists and is where we get the very word ceramics from. But it's also where you'll find the MoMix Bar Kerameikos, which opened in November 2012 and has been so successful there's now a MoMix in the Athens seaside suburb of Glyfada, joined this summer by MoMix Bar Santorini.”

“It's in the Kerameikos original that you'll find MoMix co-founder Aris Chatziantoniou performing the molecular mixology that gives the bar its name. The cocktail menu is a cube that lights up when you move it and has such weird wonders as cocktail bubbles, cocktail tubes, magic needles and a Saganaki Cocktail.”

“Aris is far from being the only mixologist making his name on the Greek cocktail scene. A ten-minute walk from Syntagma Square, a bar called The Clumsies opened in 2014. In less than a year it was ranked number 22 on The World's 50 Best Bars list, and in 2016 it rocketed to number 9. That's not so surprising when you learn that it was founded by two award-winning Greek bartenders, Nikos Bakoulis and Vasilis Kyritsis.”

To read this article in full, please visit: Huffington Post UK

Chryssa Skodra, a Greek expatriate in frozen Finland, recounts her family vacations in Halkidiki and shares the highlights of her trips on the Discover Greece Blog.

Halkidiki is a dream destination that perfectly balances an ideal combination of stunning landscapes, unspoiled nature, gastronomy, wellness, culture, and tradition. Funnily enough, Halkidiki is not an island; it's a region on the mainland near Thessaloniki with three fjord-like peninsulas (Greeks call them 'legs') that from a coastline of about 500km.

In the summer of 2014, Chryssa and her partner spent their engagement honeymoon in Halkidiki and two summers later they brought their 7-month-old baby. Year after year her family was seduced by Halkidiki's emerald beaches with crystal clear waters, family-friendly resorts and mouth-watering local cuisine. Anyone making their first holiday-with-baby should opt for a destination as stress-free and child-friendly as possible with all the necessary amenities and proximity to medical centres. Halkidiki ticks all the boxes!

Halkidiki's beaches are endless; actually, it is pretty safe to say that there is a beach for everyone! There are cosmopolitan beaches, and deserted coves, there are beaches where the party never ends, and of course, there are quiet shores with soft sand and shallow water ideal for the kids.

With the summer just around the corner and with its growing popularity, now is the perfect time to start planning your family summer escape to Halkidiki. You will fall in love with the sunset, taste fantastic food, enjoy excellent service in one of Halkidiki's family-friendly resorts, and swim in some of Greece's most immaculate beaches. Visit Halkidiki once, and you'll undoubtedly be coming back for more!

Turkey’s ban on Turkish ships sailing to the Greek islands has been lifted following a meeting between Greek Shipping Minister Panagiotis Kouroublis and Turkish Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan in Athens. This comes after the recent ban from a statement made September 25, 2017.

According to Mr. Arslan, passenger ferry services will continue to run normally since the two sides recognized each other’s importance in tourism and the economy.

As the Turkish Minister explained, the problem arose because Turkey could not take the risk of losing the white flag on the list.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Reporter

Greece, like most countries of the European South, is blessed with a wealth of unique agricultural products beneficial for human health and life longevity. These products also form the base of Greek cuisine and at the same time an important part of the country’s export goods. Discover 10 of the most popular Greek products from Greek TV!

The mastic comes from a short and evergreen shrub called schinus. The schinus thrives all over the Mediterranean, but the mastic is only collected from a special variety of schinus in the southern villages of Chios, the so-called Mastichohoria.

The crocus is a plant from which one of the world’s most expensive spices is produced and is called saffron. Saffron comes from the female part of the plant from inside its flower. It is used for confectionery, culinary and bakery purposes, it has medical properties, and it also functions as an aphrodisiac.

The apples of Zagora in the region of Pelion, are recognized by the EU with the Protected Designation of Origin label which travels all over the world. Zagorin apples are high quality apples that are planted, pruned and collected in the most traditional way, therefore by hand.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek TV

Greek airline carrier Aegean was honored in the Condé Nast Traveler 2017 Readers’ Choice Awards as one of the 20 Best Airlines in the World!

The airline ranked 9th “for flying a modern fleet of narrow-body Airbus planes and its professional, friendly staff,” according to the Condé Nast Traveler.

In this year’s Readers’ Choice Awards survey, travelers voted on the world’s best airlines (outside the U.S.), with several Middle Eastern and Asian carriers getting top marks for their long-haul flights around the globe. The number one airline is Air New Zealand, followed by Qatar Airways in second place and Singapore Airlines in third place.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

The airlines of the Lufthansa Group – Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings – this winter (2017/18) will be connecting 288 destinations in 106 countries with 24,922 weekly flights.

The winter flight schedule of the individual group airlines will come into force on Sunday October 29, 2017, and will be valid until Saturday March 24, 2018.

From the end of October, Lufthansa will start operating flights from Frankfurt to many new winter destinations, including Pamplona, Genoa, Bari, Catania, Kuusamo in Finland, Cluj and Timișoara in Romania, Santiago de Compostela, Reykjavik, Palermo and Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia.

To read this article in full and to see the full winter schedule, please visit: Greek Travel Pages

The Greek government and Merchant Marine Minister, Panagiotis Kouroumplis, have declared the area of Paleo Faliro oil-free and that the other areas affected will be clean within days. The local mayor has stated that people should wait for results of water quality tests before removing signs that ban swimming.

All opposition parties have strongly criticised the government for making the “premature” announcement, claiming that while the sea surface may be clean, the sea bottom was still heavily infected.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek Reporter

Leros is ideal if you want to visit an island that is small, green, laid back, but full of history and cultural traces from different eras. It is also an ideal island to visit if you are travelling on a small motor or sailing boat, since it has a great marina and lots of natural harbors. Whether you visit now or later, Greek TV shares their perfect 48-hour itinerary!

Take your first swim in Porcelana beach, a small hidden beach near the exit of Lakki harbor. The harbor of Lakki is the second biggest in the Mediterranean, it really makes you think you are around a lake. That is why it was given the name Portolago during the Italian occupation.

Did you know that the movie “The Guns of Navarone” waw inspired by the battle of Leros? After the early swim you can visit the Leros War museum in Merikia. The museum is hosted inside a tunnel constructed for defense purposes by the Italian army during WWII and it is a very interesting exhibit by itself.

Don’t miss fresh seafood plates in the Fish Taverna. You can sea local fishermen bringing in the food you will have in your plate half an hour later.

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek TV

The Greek government has announced that development and renovation work on the country’s 14 regional airports will begin in November 2017.

More than 400 million euros are expected to have been invested in the development and upgrade works at the airports the German-Greek consortium Fraport Greece, by 2021.

Traffic at the 14 Fraport-run airports grew by 11.4 percent to some 4.2 million passengers in September 2017.

Fraport Greece is managing the airports at 14 regions across Greece that include three mainland gateways (Thessaloniki, Aktion, and Kavala) and 11 airports on Greek islands (Chania on Crete, Kefalonia, Kos, Mykonos, Lesvos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos and Zakynthos).

To read this article in full, please visit: Greek City Times