It's hot. Finally. So hot that I'm complaining about it. This makes me happy. It also makes me want to pack it all in and plant myself on some hot sand somewhere, close enough to jump in the water when the sweat is just too much to bear.. Greek Summer is here!

'Are there beaches in Athens??'  Why, yes, dear tourist. There are plenty. Some of them are even nice! And some others are... less nice.

Close to the city-centre, I've been to Akanthus a couple times. It is an 'all day beach bar' along the Alimos seaside - with a lovely sandy beach, clear waters, and a decidedly cool vibe. There is a restaurant with a nice menu, music all day long, and a nighttime club transformation on most nights.  It gets rather busy, especially on weekends. But if you go early enough, it's one of the nicer spots close to the city.

There are many beaches along the Athenian Rivera (as entire coastal strip has been branded). The further south you go, the more crystal clear the water becomes, as the surroundings become less 'urban'. Or so one would think. There are some obvious places I would never (ever) swim - and plenty of others that would make me pause and think.

How is one to know about the cleanliness of the waters around Attica? There are a couple places to check for water quality. The Greek Centre for Environmental Research (ΠΑΚΟΕ - Πανελληνιο Κεντρο Οικολογικών Ερευνών) recently released its ratings of Attica's beaches, based on its scientific measurements of water quality. Some people have commented on the ratings, saying that they are biased - you can judge for yourselves.

For an alternative version, with interactive map, try the Clean Beaches site - outlined below (also in English).

Whatever you choose to believe, have your wits about you and don't bunk down in the first place with a sandy stretch of beach. Take good care and enjoy the summer!

Until next week,

Jack

(in Greek, but Google translate can help here - and most of the beach names can be easily recognized)

Leof. Poseidonos, Kalamaki, Athens

+30 210 968 0800

Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis and his counterpart from Lesvos, Spiros Galinos, are in the running for the biennial World Mayor Award to be selected through online voting at World Mayor.

The mayors of Athens and Lesvos have both made it into the Top 15 and have been singled out for their ongoing efforts during the refugee crisis.

The World Mayor Project aims to raise the profile of mayors worldwide and honour those who have served their communities well and who have made contributions to the well-being of cities nationally and internationally.

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

This simple salad from The Greek Vegan is healthy and combines a delicious mix of flavours! “Earthy, hearty lentils with smoky roasted peppers and sun-dried tomatoes with bright pops of lemon, red wine vinegar and fresh mint mixed with salty olives, peppery red onions and crisp fennel. There’s a whole lot going on in this rustic, traditional dish and you’ll love every bite of it.”

 

Photo Credit: The Greek Vegan

It started when two friends began volunteering in refugee camps in Greece and realized that people needed more than just food, water, and shelter. As The Guardian reports, they wanted to study, to work for their future and to find a sense of purpose. So, the two friends, Laura Samira Naude and Esther ten Zijthoff, decided to launch Education Community Hope and Opportunity (Echo) and open a library on wheels.

Friends in London and Belgium did the fundraising and fitted out an old minibus with shelves and computer points for internet access, then drove it to Greece. The two then appealed for books in Arabic, Kurdish, Farsi, French, Greek and English, slowly filling the shelves and finally opening in November 2016.

They now have about 1,300 books – including some in storage because they don’t fit into the van – and welcome an average of 115 readers a week. So far, they have loaned out 904 books.

Those who come to the library love it: children say it feels like home; a Syrian economics professor used it to translate his work into English and young Afghans keen to learn English started informal classes. Those leaving the camp have even donated their own books.

To read this article in full, please visit: The Guardian

Ryanair has recently launched a new flight connecting Thessaloniki’s Macedonia Airport with Naples, Italy, twice a week for the winter season.

The low-cost carrier is currently flying from Thessaloniki to 14 destinations in Europe, including Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Memmingen, Baden Baden and Dortmund in Germany.

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

An initiative developed by the City of Athens, called the Athens Open Schools program, is keeping 25 schools open after class for Greeks, refugees, and residents of all ages. The program, which has won acclaim by the Council of Europe, provides free recreation and development activities in order to revitalize the neighborhood with safe public spaces and opportunities for growth.

The free activities include studying space through a digital planetarium, football team training, lessons in beatboxing, and learning how to film your own documentary.

Athens Open Schools, which is based on an exclusive grant by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, forms part of a wider effort to leverage the support of the private sector for innovative initiatives that improve the quality of life in Athens.

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

Photo Credit: Greek Reporter

The Corinth Canal is one of the most important constructions of modern Greece, which played a catalytic role in Mediterranean trade.

Designed by Greek engineer Petros Protopapadakis its length is almost 6.5 kilometers and it is 25 meters wide. The Corinth Canal connects the Corinth Gulf with the Saronic Gulf and is an important passage that once allowed ships to enter the Aegean Sea, however, it is now impassable to contemporary ships.

The canal was built in 1893, 25 centuries after the conception of its idea, as it remained a dream for more than 2,000 years. Before its construction, ships in the Aegean Sea who intended to travel to the Adriatic or anchor in Corinth, a prosperous shipping center back then, had to circumnavigate the Peloponnese, adding an extra 185 nautical miles to their route.

Back in the 7th century B.C., Periander, the tyrant of Corinth, decided to connect the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf but his plans remained unaccomplished. Legend has it that the oracle advised him against the idea of building a canal and he, afraid of having to endure the wrath of the Gods, abandoned the project. 

After about two and a half centuries, the Romans attempted to build the canal, however, every emperor that tried to do so, including Julius Caesar, Caligula, and Nero, died before the canal was completed. 

In 1830, Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greece's first governor, opted to continue with the major project. The idea of reopening the Isthmus surfaced once more. Ioannis Kapodistrias assigned the project to Virle d' Uct, a French engineer who estimated that the building would require around 40 million gold francs, an enormous amount of money for the newly-founded Greek State. 

In 1869, with the inauguration of the Suez Canal, the Greek government reconsidered its own canal. Prime Minister Thrasyvoulos Zaimis at the time, passed a law in 1870 authorizing the construction of a Corinth Canal and a French company was hired to oversee the project. It was not long before money became an issue again and the project came to an end. 

Then in 1881, the Société Internationale du Canal Maritime de Corinthe was commissioned to build the canal and operate it for the next 99 years. King George, I of Greece was present when construction began in April 1882. After eight years of work, it ran out of money, and in 1890, construction resumed when the canal project was transferred to a Greek company. The canal was finally completed in July 1893.

Visiting folk museums that present how houses and other spaces were set up in the past can be a fascinating experience, but during one’s visit, it’s hard to forget one is in a museum.

One of the key charms of the Katakouzenos House Museum (KHM) is that it almost feels still lived in. The 300m sq apartment on Vas. Amalias Ave is filled with impressive and highly elegant furnishings, books, and paintings by the likes of Chagall, who was one of the illustrious and globally famous friends of the owners. It is a cultural gem on the 4th floor looking out to the Parliament Building that still, not enough people know about.

The KHM was once the private residence of acclaimed psychiatrist Angelos Katakouzenos and his intellectually pioneering wife Leto, who belonged to the cultural elite of Europe’s so-called “1930s generation,” and were cultural ambassadors of Greece abroad and arbiters of international tendencies in Greece.

When she was a young woman, the museum’s director Sophia Peloponnisiou, connected with Leto Katakouzenou during the last decades of her life.

They developed a close and loyal friendship during which Peloponissiou made her dedication to her friend’s cultural visions a priority, offering her time and efforts in helping her publish her autobiography, soon published in its fifth version, and helping to organize cultural initiatives. Following Leto Katakouzenos’s death, the young woman discovered that she had been assigned the honor of continuing the pair’s cultural vision by keeping the apartment and its legacy ‘alive’.

Hosting a year-round series of cultural events such as talks, music and theatre performances, readings, and screenings, the KHM contains an extensive collection of over 40 paintings, some drawings, and prints, numerous works of art (decorative objects, sculptures), paintings in various media from the 1930s-1970s and a quality collection of 18th and 19th C. French and Hellenic furniture. The series of paintings includes a set of four large mahogany doors especially painted for the Katakouzenoi by their close friend Nikos Chatzekyriakos-Gkikas and many more paintings by the same artist in various media.

Further works by Spyros Vasileiou, Giannis Tsarouches, Giorgos Gounaropoulos (all prominent artists of the “1930s generation”) are hung all over the house. The watercolor and pastel portrait of Leto by Marc Chagall is perhaps the best work of art by a non-Hellene artist. “What makes the KHM collection of paintings quite unique, apart from their undoubted artistic and monetary value, is the way they were acquisitioned” notes Peloponissiou. “None of the works was purchased; indeed most were given by the artists themselves as gifts, tokens of friendship or gratitude.”

To read this article in full, please visit: greekcitytimes.com