To give an example, in Greece alone there are about 40 thousand “rooms to let” facilities. Most of them do not have an online booking option, as a result of managing their reservations on paper ledgers or raw excel files.

Discoveroom comes to change the scene and help this sector flourish. With a mobile app for reservations management that has been built from day one with small lodging owners in mind, it provides a solid basis to make lodgings’ operations efficient, for owners and guests alike.

The first version of the app for iOS and Android was released a couple of months ago, and is already being used by hundreds of lodgings, mostly in Greece, but also in geographies as disparate as South Africa, Malaysia and Alaska.

To read more, please visit greekreporter.com

Today the "salty" bags are offered in 12 shops in Greece and on the website of the company. "We are happy that we are making bags from a material that tells a story. The sails we use are worn out, they are no longer aerodynamic and so, they cannot be used in sailing. However, they are still very durable and can be used for a long time," Business Development Manager of the company Stratis Andreadis, who is a sailing racer and 33rd in the world ranking, told GRReporter.

In the beginning, they used the sails found in the waste. Now sailors can donate the useless sails. A note telling the story of the sail, namely the miles it sailed, the seas, the winds it encountered and the ports it visited, accompanies each bag. "Each bag is unique. It is distinguished by the fabric, the colour and age of the sail from which it is made. On our bags you will see signs of use, of the elements and time."

The "salty" bags are handmade and Chrissa is their designer. The sails are washed using an environmentally friendly method. The company employs six people and the staff will grow depending on the progress of its activity.

The interest in the bags by Salty bag is huge, states Stratis. "We are overwhelmed by numerous positive reactions and messages and this is very encouraging for our efforts. Within eight months we have won almost 5,000 friends on Facebook, other people had become acquainted with our products in the 18 shops that sold them last summer." The company sells 30% of its products abroad and in the summer of 2014, they will be available in 25 shops.

Soon Salty bag will launch a new series of products called "Road to Rio". "For it we will use sails that have a great history as they are the winners of world championships and Olympic medals. We will provide a large portion of the sales proceeds to sailing teams that want to participate in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. So, on one hand we will be able to get closer to the efforts of the Greek talents in this sport and on the other, we will contribute towards their participation in this great sporting event," adds Stratis.

By Anastasia Balezdrova

To read more, click here.

The airline’s network will as of next year add Helsinki in Finland, Toulouse, Deauville and Metz in France, Naples and Pisa in Italy, Malta, Kuwait, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Paphos in Cyprus, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Tallinn in Estonia, Oslo in Norway, Tehran in Iran, Dubrovnik in Croatia and Yerevan in Armenia.

Aegean will also increase its flights from major markets for Greek tourism such as Britain, Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy, and to popular island destinations such as Naxos, Milos and Paros.

The 2015 schedule of Greece’s main carrier will offer 15 million seats, up 2 million from 2014, as its summer schedule has evolved into a stronger one than initially planned, with more new destinations, given that the growth prospects of the company appear particularly positive.

To read more, please visit ekathimerini.com

By Alexandra Kassimi

Amidst the economic crisis which has hit all sectors of the local economy in recent years, the company founded in 1861 by the Bavarian Gustav Clauss and run by Greek entrepreneurs for decades today looks to the future going East, as far away as China, said tour guide Tonia Rapti during a visit Saturday.

With a 6-million-liter annual production and 70% exports in over 40 countries and regions worldwide so far, the vast Chinese market seems the next reasonable step for the winery, the retired PR officer explained.

"We are currently making efforts to export to China. Our future undoubtedly lies there," she stressed.

Rapti talks like she is still working at the stone, castle-like facilities set up in 1861 by Clauss, who is considered as a pioneer in the industrialization of wine production in Greece.

After a business trip he fell in love with the beauty of the natural landscape and a local girl. He created a company and a big family.

After 33 years working at the winery, Rapti feels like a retired member of this extended family. Her younger colleague Yorgos is a fourth generation employee at Achaia Clauss.

One of his predecessors worked for the production of the first wine produced in modern Greece in 1873: Mavrodaphne, she explained while showing us the barrel which still contains it.

A liquor with a red ruby color, named after Daphne, Gustav's late fiance, Mavrodaphne is one of the company's best selling products. It is the wine used in the Holy Communion at the Greek Orthodox Church.

The 1873 wine is not for sale, but a bottle containing a few drops of the 1896 production, the year of the first modern Olympics, reaches up to €1,500 (US$2,055), while a three-year-old wine costs about €5 (US$7.50).

In one of the big oak carved barrels at the Imperial Cellar, Athena, the goddess of wisdom in ancient Greek mythology, is depicted offering wine to Hercules.

At the end of the tour, after taking a look at the two biggest barrels in Greece manufactured in 1882 in Trieste and each containing 13,195 liters of Mavrodaphne, Rapti and her colleagues offer visitors a unique opportunity to taste some of the excellent quality wine.

The winery, located among the vineyards, is one of the topmost tourist sites in the region, attracting some 100,000 visitors per year. Before the crisis, the numbers were double. Still visitors leave the site impressed.

"I feel as if I discovered a treasure today. This winery is part of our history. We need to work to preserve it and promote it," said Yorgos Kontos, an engineer who was visiting a friend in a nearby village, while posing in front of a barrel containing the production of 1940, when Greece entered World War II.

Among dignitaries who have visited the winery are the empress Sissy of Austria, German chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Hungarian composer Franz Liszt in the 19th century.

wantchinatimes.com

Until recently, tasseography was mainly practiced by “amateurs” in house gatherings for fun, but now Greek journalist Mairi Kontolouri has decided to open a coffee reading business in a suburb of Athens, where customers can “legally and without any concerns learn about their future.”

“I opened ‘Flitzani’ (Greek for cup) as a hangout place for coffee, drinks and fortune-telling, which is practiced here by professional fortune-tellers. I think that I revived the idea of the old female group going out for gossip, although many men also visit the place,” said the journalist in an interview.

“Our schedule is always fully booked and people even organize day trips to the countryside to get the chance to learn about their future. I believe that tasseography is some kind of spa, cheering people up and driving away misery. All our customers are very satisfied from the fortune-tellers and their interpretations,” added Kontolouri.

By Konstantinos Menzel

Greek Reporter