XpatAthens
Free Yoga In The Park
Yoga helps coordinate physical movement and mental processes through gentle practice involving breathing, asana postures, and relaxation. Through soft, controlled breathing, participants gain peace of mind, self-control, and concentration, and develop positive thinking.
Participants should bring a yoga mat and wear comfortable clothes.
Admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis.
Schedule: Friday 19 July 2019 at19:00, Monday 22 July 2019 at 19:00, Tuesday 23 July 2019 at 08:00, Thursday 25 July 2019 at 08:00, Friday 26 July 2019 at 19:00, Monday 29 July 2019 at 19:00, and Tuesday 30 July 2019 at 08:00.
Source: snfcc.org
Attention Greek American Students: Philotimo Scholarship Competition
How To Apply
2. In 500 words, or less, answer one of the following questions:
3. Submit your answer to the Foundation via email by Friday, October 4
XpatAthens Welcomes Eleni Meraki As An Official Content Contributor
We're especially excited about sharing some of the inspiring content from her Be Your Own Muse platform which will be published for our readers in our Conscious Living section.
We will also work closely with Eleni to share some of the life-changing stories from her storytelling platform Guts & Tales - this content will be shared with our readers in the People section of our website.
XpatAthens works with writers, bloggers, cultural platforms, and local media in order to give our readers unique, useful, and up-to-date content. We're always looking to meet and connect with new content contributors and if you believe that your content would be a positive contribution to XpatAthens, learn more about working with us here.
More About Eleni Meraki
Visit Eleni's Websites
Eleni Meraki: www.elenimeraki.com
Guts & Tales: www.gutsandtales.com
By Your Own Muse: www.beyourownmuse.com
Show Love To Your Children This Christmas And Every Day
If there’s a topic you’re interested in and would like to learn more about you may contact me via email. For more information about me and my work check the XpatAthens Directory or visit my website. Because this is your life!
Athens Unpacked Episode 2 - From Dreams To Demolition
And then how a very Greek system was used to tear that down and replace it with a concrete landscape of apartment blocks,” says Sofka Zinovieff in this second episode devoted to the Athens aesthetic. Hear how a Bavarian Monarch's grand designs on Athens from the 1830s created a neoclassical European city. And why Athenian housewives of the 1950s welcomed the demolition of their former dwellings.
Bestselling writer and former anthropologist, Sofka Zinovieff, embarks on a quest to uncover the true essence of her adopted home, in all its layers and mysteries. Discover how Athenians feel about their own architecture, how tragedy and trauma have flavored the city’s cuisine, why Athens has always been a “15-minute city”, and much, much more.
Listen To Episode 2 HERE
Thank you This is Athens for your contribution as an XpatAthens Partner.
Pangrati Neighborhood Guide
Panathenaic Stadium
Credit: Thomas Gravanis
When Pierre de Coubertin’s vision of reviving the Olympic Games became reality in 1896, the stadium where they would be held was not a random choice. Beneath the marble stands of the 204-meter long oval stadium were the ruins of a 4th century BC arena used for the Panathenaic Games, one of the four major athletic competitions of antiquity, and later by Roman gladiators. A private benefactor, Georgios Averoff, paid to have the stadium beautifully refitted with gleaming white stone from the same Pendeli quarry used millennia earlier to build the Acropolis, thus earning the venue its Greek name - Kallimarmaron, or beautiful marble. If climbing some 50 rows to reach the top of the world’s only all-marble stadium is daunting, walk up Eratosthenous and turn onto Archimidous Street to the rear entrance. This leads to a track around the stadium’s upper rim, a popular training run for local joggers. Follow the path through the Ardittos woods for one of the best views over the centre of Athens and the Acropolis.
Plateia Proskopon
Credit: Thomas Gravanis
Platia Varnava is Pangrati’s hip answer to Platia Proskopon’s entrenched cool. Unlike typical Athens squares, the action isn’t in the middle but on its periphery and the streets around it, stretching as far as the smaller Platia Plastira. The neighborhood’s humbler origins survive in the men chatting idly outside the old-fashioned barber’s just meters from one of the city’s first Michelin-starred restaurants. The cafes and meze bars extend down Empedokleous, a shaded semi-pedestrian street with palm fronds poking over the mulberry trees. Pensioners picking over produce at the Friday farmer's market, which switches seasonally to different sides of the square, mingle easily with tattooed youths sipping freddos from mason jars.
Athens First Cemetery
Credit: Thomas Gravanis
Death and burial have been constant themes in Greek civilization since antiquity. And it’s quite likely that the kitsch plastic wreaths sold at the stands along Anapafseos Street - literally, eternal rest - outside the First Cemetery gates had their counterparts then, too. But this gaudiness does not prepare you for the splendor of the grandiose memorials inside. The 170,00-square-metre necropolis is officially a national museum, as key figures of modern Greek history are buried in many of the 10,000-odd plots. Former prime ministers, film stars, even the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann lay buried beneath some remarkable sculpture. Not all memorials are eponymous. A simple bronze statue of a woman clutching a baby to her emaciated body is dedicated to all survivors of the Nazi occupation. Another stand-out among the marble rococo is the grave of poet Costas Varnalis: an avant-garde bronze marked simply: “Peace, the kingdom of human friendship.”
To read this article in full and discover Pangrati's most popular locales, please visit: thisisathens.org
A Season Of Traditions
Grevena, The Mushroom Capital Of Greece
Do you know why Grevena is called "The land of the mushrooms"? Because in the area grow more that 1.300 mushroom species! Whether you are a mushroom lover or a gourmet specialist, in Grevena you will savor the most imaginative dishes, hot mushroom soups and tasty mushroom pies cooked with wild, cultivated, powdered or dried mushrooms, and sprinkled with mushroom liquor or mushroom sauces!
Get to know the city better by taking romantic strolls along the river Grevenitis. Wander around Grevena's main squares: Eleftherias where you can admire the clock tower, the landmark of the city, and Aimilianou, where you will feel the pulse of the city’s nightlife!
Visit the Central Public Library to find historical documents on Grevena; the Boussios Mill, an exceptionally restored 19th century flour mill; the Municipal Museum which houses elephant and wild ox fossils, as well as folklore exhibits, and the Metropolitan church which hosts the ecclesiastic museum.
Welcome the opportunity to visit the nearby village Milia. The Natural History Museum there boasts a rare palaeontology collection which actually shows the largest mastodon tusks in the world, officially entered in the Guinness book of records!
Return to Grevena in August to attend the "Pan-Hellenic Mushroom Feast" organized by the “Mushroom Friends of Western Macedonia” on the banks of Venetikos river. A perfect occasion to visit the city would also be during the traditional carnival celebrations, the so-called “Anakatosaria”, that take place every February. Your trip to Grevena concludes with a half-day excursion to Mastorohoria, a beautiful complex of 25 outstanding stone villages nestled inside the dense oak-tree forest.
Source: Visitgreece.gr
Interview With Former Evzones
Any tourist visiting Athens will not fail to experience the soldiers that stand guard outside Parliament, with dead straight faces, not flinching, not moving a muscle, and occasionally doing a funny walk.
I was interested to dig deeper—so when Anthe Mitrakos of Portes Magazine put me in touch with two brothers, one who served in the Evzone Company and the other who served in the Command Company of the Presidential Guard, I was chuffed to be afforded an interview with them!
Background - What’s an Evzone?
They’re the soldiers that stand outside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (where most of the tourists head to have their photos taken—oh, and me too!), the Presidential Palace and the gate of the military camp, where the Evzones stay during their time.
It’s important to say, here, that Evzones are not paid for their service. It is part of the nine month military service that all Greek males must undertake. Not everyone is selected to be an Evzone—and for this reason, it is an honour. More on that later.
They are two parts of the Presidential Guard section of military service guards:
1) Command Company
– Not the ‘men in kilts’ (Foustanella) i.e: not the evzones themselves
– Consists of one platoon whereby they undertake administration duties such as:
• chefs
• office work
• laundry
• looking after the uniforms
• drivers
• guards of the military camp
• soldiers who manage the restaurant: serve food, etc
To read more, please visit: Life Beyond Borders
Ancient Olympia Excavations Reveal 30m Colonnade
Another thirty metres of the eastern stoa, or colonnade, of the gymnasium at Ancient Olympia has been revealed in excavations, the Central Archaeological Council said, after a meeting that approved a study to drain rainwater from the site.