XpatAthens
Omonia Is Back! The Revamped Square To Be Revealed At The End Of The Week
A video from the testing of the new fountain at Omonia Square.
Athens Awarded At The CDP Europe Awards For Its Environmental Policies
Speaking about environmentally friendly solutions, that will free up public space and adopt a new model of sustainable mobility, Mr. Bakoyannis said: "At the end of the day we should be very clear about our strategic goals if we are to go backward or move forward ".
Talking about the day after this unprecedented health crisis, the Mayor of Athens said that history has taught that past pandemics were catalytic for the transformation of urban centers, adding that "this crisis is an opportunity to transform our cities bring them into the new century, to a different era with different challenges."
Mr. Bakoyannis then pointed out the need to find local solutions that will promote the reacquisition or releasing of quality public spaces and adopt a new model of sustainable mobility, which will not only concern cars but also accessibility, public transport, and alternative means of transportation. "We have to make sure, and this is very important for us in Europe, that we are really changing without losing our souls. "We do not want to turn our cities into theme parks, you know, we want to keep our DNA alive."
CDP is a non-profit organization that annually evaluates the actions of cities around the world and recognizes those that stand out. In 2020, for the second year in a row, Athens ranked high and was included in the A-list Cities, along with 87 cities around the world, for their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to the impacts of climate change.
The CDP Europe Awards 2021 were attended by heads of large corporations, distinguished for their activities, such as LafargeHolcim, Lenzing, Handelsbanken Fonder, Ørsted, Eni, Norges Bank Investment Management, and others.
XpatAthens extends a warm thank you to This Is Athens and the City Of Athens for sharing with us news and inspiring stories about how Athens is constantly becoming a cleaner, friendlier, and more welcoming city to live in.
The Ark Οf Τhe World
A primary concern of the Ark is not to separate the family when there is parent interest in and capable of taking care of the child. Single-parent families with serious financial and social problems calling on our services can find support for their very basic needs, such as food, clothes, medical care and everything they need to live with dignity. At the same time, families receive counseling services, take part in parents’ groups led by family relations specialists and receive information on training programmes in order to be empowered to take responsibility of their children.
Homer’s Odyssey Named World’s Greatest Tale Ever Told
"If any story can be considered the greatest tale ever told, Homer’s Odyssey has a better claim than most. Twenty-four books long, it runs to more than 12,000 lines of hexameter verse (the poetic form used in Greek epic and Latin epic after it) and follows the adventures of the wily, complicated Greek hero, Odysseus, in the aftermath of the Trojan War. The Odyssey has been valued as a cultural highpoint for millennia: in the 5th Century BCE, the Athenian playwright Aeschylus referred to his tragedies as “slices from the banquet of Homer.
Writers from Dante to James Joyce to Margaret Atwood have taken inspiration from this original quest story. But Odysseus’ quest itself is an almost mundane affair, amid the gods and monsters which populate the poem. Because it is not about sailing off to find something wondrous and new (a golden fleece, for example, or an undiscovered land). It’s about a man trying to get home at the end of a 10-year war.”
BBC Culture polled experts around the world to nominate up to five fictional stories they felt had shaped mindsets or influenced history. They received responses from authors, academics, journalists, critics, and translators from 35 countries, who looked at novels, poems, folk tales, and dramas in 33 different languages. Homer’s Odyssey topped the list, followed by Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
To read this article in full, please visit: greekcitytimes.com
Atokos - Greece's Pig Island
In recent years, a herd of black pigs has appeared on the beach of the island and it has become the ultimate attraction.
My Week in Athens… Jan 24
I’ve been living in Greece for about 5 years. I’ve had my ups and downs with the ‘system’ and know that it’s not up to par with a lot of other places in the world. Even though I now know what to expect, there are still some things that make my hair stand up. So here’s my story…
I’m a first time mom and my son is just about 8 months old. I gave birth at a public hospital (yes, it was just fine) and have since been taking advantage of my IKA insurance (pension & health insurance for private sector employees). You may remember some weeks back that pharmacies were not accepting prescriptions from IKA insurance holders. What does this mean? Well…
When I went to my doctor’s office to get a prescription for my son’s upcoming vaccine shot, I was told that it cannot be issued because pharmacies will not accept it. If this was something my brain couldn’t compute, then what she said next nearly nocked me off my chair: ‘Unless of course you ‘know someone’ with a pharmacy who will give you the vaccine shot without paying and then take them the prescription at a later date.’ Did I hear correctly, did my doctor just tell me that I need a ‘meson’ (an inside source) to get my son’s vaccine shot? Was she for real? Ah, but yes, she was very serious.
Because I didn’t ‘know someone’ with a pharmacy, I paid for the vaccine shot at my local pharmacy in hopes that once this disagreement between IKA and pharmacists was over, I could claim my 70 Euro!
Should I tell you about my experience when I tried to claim 70 Euro from IKA? Let me put it this way…3 floors (up and down the stairs because the elevator wasn’t working), 4 booths with very ‘happy to greet me’ employees, and some 5 different pieces of paper. Needless to say, I did eventually get my claim made.
Ah, and despite all these wonderful (and eventful) stories I still continue to want to be here. Go figure! There’s just something about this crazy place that makes it stick!
Cheers from First Time Mommy in Athens.
In this weekly space, keep up with ‘Jack’ as he navigates daily life in Athens… Anecdotes, stories, hits & misses, the good, the bad and, well, the rest…
Thalatta Seafood Restaurant In Gazi
Now compare this image with the restaurants in Athens. There is mistrust everywhere. The restaurant owner has to convince his customers about the quality and freshness of his items. The decoration is faux and only the prices bring the sea in mind, since they are always salty. Therefore, conversations in such restaurants are often about nostalgic memories of another taverna, another restaurant, always by the sea.
Thalatta is preaching the desired connection with the sea. When entering you see the image that every fish/sea food restaurant ought to have. The Cycladic white and the blue of the sea and sky, mix in a symphony where the only one missing is the maestro, the sun. The room is comfortable and tidy, not too packed with nets, fishing rods, buckets and such supposedly convincing items.
There is plenty of various mezedes that seem to cover the range. Except for the fact that on the day we went some options were absent, like oysters and lobster-spaghetti (which is not always bad, since seafood supplies have to be made very carefully). Apart from that, the menu was rich. In the beginning, the maitre let us check out a dish with 3 raw fish of good size, that looked very fresh. One of them was chosen by the couple sitting at the table next to us. They seemed to be enjoying it.
Among appetizers, I picked out the wild greens (€7,50). Bitter and tasty, as they should be. The mushrooms with garlic, parsley and oliveoil (€6,50), had taste but weren’t unforgettable. The mussels (12pcs €14) smelled like sea, but a sea like the Saronic Gulf. The French fries (€4,50) were soft and “colourless”, while the grilled sardines (€10,00) were also not crunchy. The taramasalata (€6,00) was way over the usual but would run for the gold. The fava with caper and onion (€3,50), was trying to “say” something, but we didn’t hear what.
Besides food, I have to admit that service was exemplary. The truth is that “Thalatta” didn’t take me to island and summers. But its proposal for the Athenian standards is more than satisfying. Don’t forget that the fasting of Saracosti is up and “Thalatta” can take you at least to Easter.
Address: Vitonos 5, Gazi, Athens
Reservations : 210-3464204
Email: info@thalatta.gr
Website: www.thalatta.gr
Open: 20:00-01:30
Do you have a recommendation or recipe to share? Send it to us at ideas@xpatathens.com!
Greek Startup Raises 300K To Help Lodgings Owners
In an era when online travel agencies dominate hotel bookings, there is still a broad strip of the accommodation industry that largely remains untapped by the web. Hundreds of thousands of lodgings, bnbs, inns or rooms to let -however they are called- are servicing millions of guests worldwide, despite being stuck with legacy tools, that make it hard for them to get discovered and hard to manage.
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
16 Food Reasons Greeks Are Better At Life
We have the Greeks to thank for so much of our modern day society. They paved the way for great philosophical minds to keep pushing us forward intellectually. They gave us the Olympic Games, and a desire to strive for athletic excellence. And, well, then there's democracy. Clearly, we owe a lot of who we are to Greece. We're thankful for all of it, but most of all, we're thankful for the feta.
The Greeks have singlehandedly shaped our modern society, and they have also -- and just as importantly -- shaped a way of eating that no country can rival.
Not only is their cuisine swimming in fruity olive oil, drowned in red wine and full of mezedes, but it's also a diet that nutritionists across the board tout as the way to eat healthy. While we all try to eat like this, and happily so, the Greeks do it best. It's just their way of living, which explains why they're so much better at life than the rest of us.
1. Two Words - Fried Cheese
All cheese, no bread necessary. In Greece, this grilled cheese is known as Saganaki. It's a yellow cheese -- usually Graviera -- that has a high melting point so it can stand up to being fried in a pan. It gets crispy on the outside and melty on the inside. It's basically everything cheese has ever wanted to be. But the Greeks don't stop there. They also eat Halloumi, a Cypriot cheese with a high melting point, that they grill and serve on top of salads or with watermelon. Trust us, you want all of this.
2. Starbucks has got nothing on the Greek frappe.
They did it first, and well, they do it best.
3. They've turned eating LOTS AND LOTS of olive oil into a healthy pastime.
We can never repay them for this.
4. NO ONE makes a better salad, so don't even try.
Greek salad has everything you need: feta, tomato, cucumber, oregano, olives and olive oil -- of course. So all you other salad makers can just go home.
5. Wine comes first, water second.
Wine is not relegated to celebrations or holidays. No, the Greeks know that wine is an important part of one's daily diet, along with olive oil. And it has been since ancient Greek cuisine.
6. Feta is their national garnish.
Who needs parsley sprigs when you have feta? The Greeks are smart enough to know that you can put it on just about everything.
7. Loukoumades is dessert.
Hello, Loukoumades! These are a Greek donut soaked with honey, and they're served for special occasions. Jelly donuts have got nothing on these guys. They're even better than you can fathom they might be. Seriously. In ancient Greece, these deep fried dough balls were served to the winners of the Greek Olympics. That's how special they are.
To read more, visit huffingtonpost.com
Bicycle Path Connecting Kifissia With Faliro
The starting point of the new bicycle path will be the centre of Kifissia near the electric railway station. The northern cycling path will pass through KAT, Maroussi, Neratziotissa and will be directed to Neo Iraklio, Nea Ionia, Pefkakia, Perissos, Ano Patissia, Kipseli, Victoria Square, Omonia, Monastiraki, Thissio and Gazi until it meets the southern bikeway, ending in Faliro.
Originally posted on insider.gr
Translated by XpatAthens