The tourism developments along the Athenian Riviera that have been underway during the past few years will help the city of Athens to become one of the leading leisure and business destinations in the world. More specifically, according to Mario Kontomerkos, CEO of Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment a leading developer of integrated resort casinos (IRC), the tourism development of the former Hellinikon airport can place Athens in the ‘center of the world’ in terms of leisure and tourism.

 

The ambitious, 8 billion-euro Hellinikon, project aims to develop the city’s old airport complex into a spectacular hub complete with luxury hotels, museums, malls, theme parks, educational and sports facilities, cultural venues and a yacht marina.

 

 

Apart from the Hellinikon project, there are currently many other projects underway on the Athenian Riviera. Among them is the fully renovated Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens, which is expected to start welocomg guests in the next few weeks.

 

‘Our aim is to create a world-class destination for the wider Mediterranean region, and place the Athenian Riviera at the center of the global luxury tourism industry,’ Astir Palace CEO Stelios Koutsivitis said during the Delphi Forum.

 

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

The Festival is organized around several thematic areas and we are adressing an open invitation to the participants of this year’s festival so as to plan their actions by prioritizing issues that highlight the following scientific areas:

Green Development / Cyclical Economy / Bio-Economy / Energy / Biodiversity / Climate Change / Ecosystems / Water Resources / Soil/ Forests

Do we still burn coal? When do we plan to stop doing it? What do we know about properly managing natural resources? Do we recycle correctly? Knowing what is right and wrong is not always enough to make our ambitious environmental goals a reality. Social and economic barriers are often confronted and intertwined.

The solution lies in sustainability and “knowledge economy”, thus the Athens Science Festival 2019 will focus on this area! Together we will explore all challenges linked with living a sustainable everyday life, we will share good practices in order to reduce our environmental footprint and plan a future where global warming is in line with growth. An unforgettable experience awaits this year’s festival audience: observation and demonstration will give way to exploration and experimentation and all visitors will become part of science in the most interactive and entertaining way!

Learn more about the festival HERE! 

The exhibition explores the fascinating story and the multifaceted character of the Arabian Peninsula from antiquity to modern times.

The cultural evolution of the Arabian Peninsula from the prehistoric era until the 20th century is revealed through exhibits that are associated with early nomadic movements, trade routes that linked the peninsula with the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia and the rest of Asia, as well as with pilgrimage roads leading to Mecca from the 7th century AD onwards. The close proximity of the Greco-Roman world to the Arabian Peninsula and the cultural pluralism developed in the regions are revealed through a series of objects, inspired by the arts of antiquity that were either transported there through the caravan routes or were produced locally.

The exhibition introduces the most important prehistoric settlements, presents findings of significant cultures of antiquity and late antiquity and reaches the Islamic era, with artifacts created during the various Islamic dynasties until the unification of Saudi Arabia.

Large-scale sculptures, gold burial ornaments, tombstones, and precious offerings constitute some of the exhibition objects aiming to familiarise the Greek audience with the historical and cultural heritage of the Arabian Peninsula. The exhibition was inaugurated at the Louvre in 2010 and since then it has been shown in three different continents, and many cities such as Rome, Berlin, Barcelona, Saint Peter, Washington, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Houston, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo and Abu Dhabi.

The exhibition at the Benaki Museum – the exhibition’s 16th stop – signifies the first event in the southeast Mediterranean.

Plisskën Festival is pleased to announce the full lineup for Summer Plisskën 2019 which takes place on 26 & 27 June at Technopolis, the well-known and loved cultural venue in the heart of Athens historic center.

Loyal to its tradition of showcasing a line-up celebrating a broad mix of styles and quality, with both established and up-and-coming artists, Plisskën’s lineup consists once more of a vast variety of live acts, producers and DJs. From indie and funk to electronic and synth-pop, Plisskën Festival’s 3 stages will host some of the freshest and biggest names in the music scene at the moment. Giorgio Moroder, the man, the myth, the legend disco and electronic music pioneer, Tinariwen, the masterful Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert, The Black Madonna, the underground star of house music, are some of this year’s headliners.

The lineup also includes the acclaimed indie Swedish band Peter Bjorn and John, the soul musical collective of Jungle and the atmospheric producer Nicola Cruz. Other Greek premiers include Donny Benet, Bombino and Giant Swan. Alongside the innovative live acts of Deena Abdelwahed, Plisskën Festival will host eclectic DJ sets by world-class electonic artists incuding Lena Willikens, Rone, Poldoore, Prison Religion and our beloved Optimo.

Aside from another hard-hitting, eclectic line-up, Plisskën also continues to push the boundaries of their environmental and social ethos. With an Environmental Policy Strategy at place since 2010, they’ve received 2 ‘Commended’ ratings for two consecutive years from the Greener Festival Awards global governing body. And The Lab, an annual free workshop organised by Plisskën, takes place in Athens prior to the festival. Through a number of theoretical and practical seminars hosted by professionals in their respective fields, The Lab participants get the chance to learn about all of the elements that comprise putting on a festival. Lets Do Summer! 2 days, 3 stages, 12 hours of music, a big Food Court with the very best of flavours, a luscious and refreshing Cocktail Bar, a Lounge to rest ones dancing feet, and numerous other activities!

“Plisskën is rammed, fizzing with energy and nobody goes home until dawn” – The Guardian
“A righteous celebration of noise” – Drowned in Sound
“Plisskën bodes a great location, an eco-friendly policy and an incredible lineup..” – Culture Collide
“Athens Awesome Plisskën Festival ” – Noisey

 

What does an online service that helps YouTubers create intro videos for their channel, an online marketplace for natural food products, a decentralised cross-chain cryptocurrency exchange, a parking app, a web-wed website and a system that monitors the safety of people with Alzheimer or young children, have in common?

All are innovative ideas by high school students, aged 15-17, participating in Orange Grove’s “Junior Squeezy”, the new entrepreneurship program for young students. For the past three months, the students have attended training sessions delivered by Orange Grove’s network of experienced mentors and coaches, in order to develop and promote their entrepreneurial ideas. Now, they are ready to go on stage and participate in Orange Grove’s Pitching Competition for high school students which will signal the conclusion of the program.

The Junior Squeezy pitching competition will take place on Friday, April 5 at 18.00 at Orange Grove (5-7 Leof. Vassileos Konstantinou, Athens), the international startup incubator in Athens, which is an initiative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Greece.

Six teams of aspiring entrepreneurs will pitch their idea to an international jury consisting of theU.S. Ambassador to Greece, H.E. Geoffrey R. Pyatt, Ambassador of Israel to Greece, H.E. Irit Ben-Abba, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Greece, H.E. Caspar Veldkamp, the Head of Human Resources at Interamerican, Drossia Kardassi and the co-founder of Square Athens, Yiannis Kehagias, in order to claim one of the three big prizes of the competition.

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Greece will offer to the first and second prize winners (and an accompanying parent/team) a trip to the Netherlands, during which the winners will visit the Global School for Entrepreneurship in Amsterdam, will learn more about the Netherlands startup ecosystem and meet young people with innovative business ideas. The winning team of the 3rd prize will have the opportunity to continue using Orange Grove's facilities and advisory team for a three-month period.

Like every spring for the past 6 years, Athens Science Festival returns this year at Technopolis of the Municipality of Athens from 3 to 7 April! For five days, we will enjoy an exciting world, comprised by various small as well as great wonders of science and technology through speeches, exhibitions, workshops and interactive exhibitions suitable for people of all age groups. From ASF2019 multifaceted program here are 10 + 1 activities that you should not miss!


1. An Astronaut at Athens Re-Science Festival

Space veteran and NASA retired astronaut Clayton C. Anderson has had the unique opportunity to spent 167 days floating over the Blue Planet, to understand its fragility and to admire the beauty of the Earth! In his talk at the Athens Re-Science Festival 2019, he will embark with us on an exciting journey beyond the limits of our planet, with photos taken during his expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), reflections about life onboard the United States’ most complex technical achievement, but also a “mock game of Jeopardy on world geography.

Title: For the beauty of the Earth // Date & Time: Sunday 7 April 2019, 20.00 Clayton C. Anderson’s talk will take place with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Athens.


2. Racial & Gender Bias in AI Systems

Can Artificial Intelligence systems become subjects of racial or gender-based prejudice? Should we be worried or are there effective ways to ensure the principles of equality? Alexander Fefegha invites us to talk about issues which will concern us all very soon.

Title: Racial and gender bias in AI systems // Date & Time: Saturday 6 April 2019, 20.30 Alexander Fefegha’s talk will take place with the support of the British Council. Interactive Exhibition


3. Czech Innovation Expo or in Other Words… An Invisible Exhibition

An exhibition which combines interactive audiovisual art with virtual reality (VR) and aspires to travel us through the 100 years of Czech Republic's achievements in the fields of research and science and also to introduce to us the new generation of Czech scientists, researchers and innovative entrepreneurs.

Title of action: Czech Innovation Expo || Date: 3-7 April || With the support of the Czech Center in Athens.


4. Portable Digital Planetarium - Planetarium on the Go

Do you want to see the starry sky as you’ve never seen it before, through a unique audio-visual educational experience? You’re in the right place! In this year’s Athens Re-Science Festival, 8 astronomy documentaries by Planetarium on the Go (Portable Digital Planetarium) will take you on a fascinating journey of space exploration. The Planetarium’s hemispherical shaped screen, 6 meters in diameter, projects images on the entire inner surface of the dome- surrounding viewers and creating an amazing experience of full immersion! Activity

Title: From the Earth to the Universe || Date: 6-7 April || With the support of the U.S. Embassy in Athens.


5. A Trip to the Science of Meteorology

Visitors of Athens Science Festival should be prepared for a “stormy” and thrilling journey to the science of meteorology, as the scientific partners of the National Observatory of Athens and the meteorological team of meteo.gr, will show them the most interesting aspects of climate and weather phenomena. How are lightnings created? How can we predict the weather by seeing only the clouds? How likely is it to see a hurricane in Greece? What does climate mean and what does it really mean about climate change? Activity

Title: Weather Mysteries… || Date: 3-7 April || Organization: SA TITAN Cements, National Observatory of Athens / Meteorological Scientific Team of meteo.gr


6. The New Exciting Escape Room of The Athens Re-Science Festival

At this year’s Athens Re-Science Festival escape room, humanity is in danger! A series of industrial accidents have poisoned water resources around the world. People drink heavily contaminated water without even knowing it. You and your team must take action! You must create a microorganism that can detect poisonous water and warn people not to drink it. Enter the American Synthetic Biology Laboratories, transform DNA, create a new microorganism and save life on Earth! Activity

Title: Save life on Earth || Date: 3-7 April || Curation: Philippos Tourlomoussis, MIT With the support of the U.S. Embassy in Athens. Workshops for kids and for adults


7. The Tower of Creativity!

Dr. Kristóf Fenyvesi, of Hungarian origin, the founder of the Experience Workshop International STEAM Movement (Hungary-Finland), brings into the Athens Re-Science festival some of the unique STEAM activities he has created. During this unique workshop, participants will have the opportunity to participate in a social design project. Warka Water tower is a social design by the Italian architect, Arturo Vittori. The tower was designed so as to provide assistance to Ethiopia’s population in its everyday challenges and specifically their quest for drinking water. Through this workshop, participants will be able to connect the digital modeling with a hands-on activity, thus to become sources of collaborative problem-solving group effort so as to develop creativity and to boost imagination. Activity

Title: Tower of problem-solving and creativity! || Date & time: Saturday 6 April, 12.00 || The workshop will take place with the support of the Hungarian Embassy and Business Grove. Labs for Adults


8. Create 3D Games and Scare Them!

What are the stages of creating a ... terrifying 3D horror game interest? How do we create script and plot? What properties do we give to the characters? These and more will be learned with the help of Unity, the world's most widespread gaming platform. Activity

Title: 3D Horror: from A to Death || Date & Time: Saturday April 6, 15.00 || Organization: SAE Creative Media Education Performances


9. Stand Up Science

For one more year, Science Reactors team will present us with humorous stories as it aspires to show us that science improves our lives through smiling and enjoyable narratives. New skits related to the theme of Athens Re-Science Festival for a sustainable planet and of course re-thinking over the three basic concepts: re-use, re- cycle, reduce.

Event Title: Stand up Science: Science stories and comedy || Date & Time: Friday 5 April, 21.30 || Organized by: Science Reactors


10. FameLab: Final Stage of The Competition:

Ten young people who stood out from the preliminary stage of the FameLab 2019 international competition, will have three minutes to present to the judges a scientific subject of their choice. The charismatic winner of the night will represent our country at FameLab International this June in the UK.

Event Title: FameLab competition || Date & Time: Saturday 6 April, 21.30 || Organization: British Council and The HUB Events, οn the occasion of British Council’s 80 years anniversary celebrations in Greece.

11: Bring Your Old Sneakers With You and Donate Them

During ASF2019, a special sports shoe collection and a re-use bin will be installed to ensure the right to sports, even for those who are not able to buy a pair of sneakers.

Activity Title: Let them run again for a good cause || Date: 3-7 April || Organization: Institute for the World || The program is under the auspices of the Hellenic Olympic Committee.

 

Get inspired and explore food and the way you eat!

The Embassy of Sweden in Athens and Impact HUB are collaborating with the Swedish Institute in Stockholm on an Eat Smart Challenge. 

The purpose of this challenge is to encourage awareness about food and its effect on the environment. Challenge yourself along with your friends to make daily changes in your food habits. During seven days and seven inspiring challenges, you will explore how to eat more sustainably.

Welcome to join and share your experience with others via social media.

Sign up HERE! 

Why? The way food is  produced, consumed and wasted impacts our lives, our communities and the planet. There is huge potential to make the food system smarter by changing the way we eat. And there is a lot we can learn from each other!

Who can join? Everyone! You sign up as an individual participant, but you are encouraged to involve friends and family in our challenges. You only need a Facebook account to share your insights with your friends on social media.

How? During the campaign week, April 8–14, one challenge will be announced daily. The challenges are fun and easy to do! You share your take on the challenge by posting a photo, video or text on the Eat Smart Challenge Facebook page! 

The Eat Smart Challenge is part of Food for Tomorrow, a three-year initiative organised by the Swedish Institute (www.si.se).

Athens Quinta Hostel is a wonderful, recently renovated neoclassical building, in one of the most interesting and trendy neighborhoods of Athens.

An architectural jewel in the city centre with vintage decoration and retro aesthetics based on unique art objects.

Everything is old, everything is authentic, everything has a story to tell.

The crystal ashtrays, the elaborate frames, the marble tables, the heavy wooden furniture and, of course, the fer forge of ‘the mother’ in the fairytale inner courtyard of the building make your stay different from what you have experienced so far. As for your day and night outs, it is located in the most artistic and lively corner of the city, just a few minutes from the tube.

Everyone knows that we Greeks love music; in joy and in sadness, we sing! And truth be told there’s a great number of music genres to accompany all moods and mind states. There’s folk songs, rebetika, laika, entexna (sophisticated music), as well as mainsteam music like pop & rock.

 

 

 

Following the growing trend towards artist-run initiatives in the global art scene, FokiaNou Art Space will take part in an international art fair specifically for artist-run spaces, presenting the exhibition “FokiaNou Goes to Supermarket”, curated by Mary Cox and Panagiotis Voulgaris. FokiaNou will exhibit nine of its artists at Supermarket 19, Stockholm Independent Art Fair, in Stockholm, Sweden, 4-7 April, 2019. Initiated and run mostly by artists since 2007, Supermarket Art Fair is a showcase for independent, artist-run spaces all over the world, providing international exposure and the opportunity for collaboration and networking to such spaces. The fair has hosted exhibitors from more than 60 countries, becoming one of Sweden’s biggest art events, and has firmly established Stockholm on the art world map. In addition to the main exhibition, which takes place at Sickla Front, Uddvagen, the fair hosts a Talks and Performances program, meetings and networking events, and offers an internationally distributed Supermarket Art Magazine. https://supermarketartfair.com

FokiaNou Art Space is an artist-run project space in an intimate, small apartment in an old building in Athens. FokiaNou encourages collaborative creative efforts between Greek and foreign artists, and promotes the local art community. Founded in 2014, the non-commercial space hosts exhibitions, workshops, talks and performances under the direction of two artists, Mary Cox and Panagiotis Voulgaris. This is the first time an Athens initiative will participate in the fair, and also the first time FokiaNou Art Space will participate in an international event. At Supermarket 2019 FokiaNou presents artists whose work reflects the current climate in Athens: diverse, creative, difficult but at the same time optimistic. John Bicknell, Mary Cox, Panajotis Daramaras, Sarah Ettlinger, Jane Grover, Nikos Podias, Ioanna Terlidou, Iliana Theodoropoulou, and Panagiotis Voulgaris will show work ranging from painting to art books, textiles, video, and mixed media. http://www.fokianou247.gr

Participating Artists: John Bicknell, Mary Cox, Panajotis Daramaras, Sarah Ettlinger, Jane Grover, Nikos Podias, Ioanna Terlidou, Iliana Theodoropoulou, and Panagiotis Voulgaris