Greece - Kalo Taxidi! Notes from Greece and the Greek Islands.
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Pretty sweet thing: The Tsakonian eggplant
ekathimerini.com | Pretty sweet thing: The Tsakonian eggplant
I've seen purple aubergines with white stripes on sale in Greece, but didn't know they were Tsakonian aubergines. Tsakonia is a region in the south eastern Peloponnese.
I've seen purple aubergines with white stripes on sale in Greece, but didn't know they were Tsakonian aubergines. Tsakonia is a region in the south eastern Peloponnese.
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Friday, 27 July 2012
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Stormclouds gather for domestic tourism
Stormclouds gather for domestic tourism | Athens News
There is still the cost of transport, but I get the impression that many Greek holiday makers stay with family and friends in their ancestral islands, and don't stay in hotels.
This comment surprised me. Foreign tourists in Greece are enterprising creatures, and quite capable of reaching regions and small islands off the main routes!“There are several regions and small islands that are off the main routes and therefore inaccessible to foreign tourists. Given that Greeks account for only a quarter of tourists in the country annually, these areas face the threat of economic destruction because they rely exclusively on domestic travellers,” Drakopoulos told the Athens News.
a 50 percent fall in hotel bookings by Greek holidaymakers
There is still the cost of transport, but I get the impression that many Greek holiday makers stay with family and friends in their ancestral islands, and don't stay in hotels.
Monday, 23 July 2012
Greek Islands travel guide - Telegraph
Greek Islands travel guide - Telegraph
Corfu
Crete
Santorini
Mykonos
Rhodes
Skiathos
Hydra
Patmos
I've been to six of these islands. Lovely in their own way. But I'd choose a smaller island!
Corfu
Crete
Santorini
Mykonos
Rhodes
Skiathos
Hydra
Patmos
I've been to six of these islands. Lovely in their own way. But I'd choose a smaller island!
Sunday, 22 July 2012
A successful year for This Is My Athens initiative
ekathimerini.com | A successful year for This Is My Athens initiative
This Is My Athens, an initiative to help tourists get better acquainted with the Greek capital through tours conducted by volunteers.
This Is My Athens, an initiative to help tourists get better acquainted with the Greek capital through tours conducted by volunteers.
Top 3 Most Expensive Hotel Suites in Greece | Greece.GreekReporter.com Latest News from Greece
Top 3 Most Expensive Hotel Suites in Greece | Greece.GreekReporter.com Latest News from Greece
Mmmmmmmmm!
I have my own "private paradise on earth" in Greece, modest but very comfortable, run by a lovely family, sea views, mountain views, surrounded by flowers and cats. I expect most regular visitors to Greece have favourite hidey holes. But 30,000 a night! No way!
Mmmmmmmmm!
I have my own "private paradise on earth" in Greece, modest but very comfortable, run by a lovely family, sea views, mountain views, surrounded by flowers and cats. I expect most regular visitors to Greece have favourite hidey holes. But 30,000 a night! No way!
Saturday, 21 July 2012
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Monday, 16 July 2012
Word Wise: It's all Greek to me
It's all Greek to me
On my first trip to Greece I went for a walk in the hills on the island of Paros. A Greek lady also walking in the hills said something that I heard as kalamari. I must have looked as puzzled as you would at a stranger in the hills saying "squid". Was she trying to sell me some squid? Kalamari is from kalamos (pen) - the squid has a long tapering internal shell. I later realised that she had been saying kalimera (good day). I was then more familiar with words for Greek food than with greetings. I find opposites very easy to confuse, particularly when there is nothing to grasp hold of to tell the words apart. When asked when I had arrived on an island, I said avrio (tomorrow). Of course I meant kthes (yesterday). Nai (yes) and ochee (no) are also easy to confuse, sounding like "nay" and "OK".
I used to listen to Greek language cassettes when packing to go to Greece - but now I more or less know by heart the lessons about food, drink, accommodation and travel. I need something different. And so I started looking at how English words with Greek origins could help me to understand more Greek. The problem I find in trying to read languages with a different alphabet is that the slightest variation in the basic script is SO difficult to decipher. I once went to an evening class in Greek run by an elderly Greek man with shaky hand writing who insisted in writing in lower case script in chalk on a blackboard. I would have struggled to understand upper case in clear script - but lower case in patchy and scratchy chalk was almost impossible to understand. Another problem is dictionaries - dictionaries are not easy to use when you do not know the position of some of the letters in the alphabet. I was once looking for a hotel, and found a "G" class hotel. I had read that "E" class hotels could be somewhat basic. What would a "G" class hotel be like? Then I remembered that gamma is the third letter of the Greek alphabet - I was looking at a "C" class hotel.
There are a lot of goats in Greece, and the tinkle of goat-bells is one of the many charming features of a walk in the hills. A tragedy is etymologically a "goat-song" - from the Greek tragos (goat) and oide (song, and the origin of the English ode). Rhapsody is from rhaptein (to stitch) and oide. The Greek rhapsoidos - the literal meaning is "song-stitcher" - was an itinerant minstrel who "stitched" together pieces of poetry.
I once got into conversation with a Greek chap on a ferry about a flower he called amaranth (not the sort of word you find in the average phrasebook!), an "everlasting" flower of the sort used in dried flower arrangements. The sort of flower that should do well in the dry Greek summers. Amarantos (unfading) is from marainein (wither). The prefix a or an means "without". Other words with the same prefix include apathy (from apathes, without feeling), atheism (from atheos, without God), anonymous (from onuma, without a name).
Museum is from mouseion (place of the Muses). In one of my favourite Greek museums (on the island of Naxos) there is a small stone figure, just a head and shoulders a few inches high) labelled in English acrolithic. The figure would originally have had a wooden trunk, and perhaps stone legs. Akros means tip or peak, and lithos stone. The figure had extremities made of stone. In Athens I usually stay at a hotel with a view of the Acropolis from the roof terrace. An acropolis is an elevated part of a polis or city. An acrobat (from bainein, to walk) walks on another extremity, the toes.
My camera works overtime in Greece. The Greek phos means "light" and graphos "writing". The word photograph was introduced into English in 1839 by the astronomer Sir John Herschel. Astronomy is from astron (star) and nemein (name or distribute). Panorama is from pan (all) and orama (view).
Epistrophe (return) is a useful Greek word for finding out about the return time of a bus or ferry. Strephein means to turn, and the prefix epi means on, near to, above, or in addition. Apostrophe is from the Greek phrase prosoidia apostrophos - the literal meaning is "accent of turning away", a mark showing where a letter has been omitted. The prefix apo means "away".
Now it is time to check the return bus times!
On my first trip to Greece I went for a walk in the hills on the island of Paros. A Greek lady also walking in the hills said something that I heard as kalamari. I must have looked as puzzled as you would at a stranger in the hills saying "squid". Was she trying to sell me some squid? Kalamari is from kalamos (pen) - the squid has a long tapering internal shell. I later realised that she had been saying kalimera (good day). I was then more familiar with words for Greek food than with greetings. I find opposites very easy to confuse, particularly when there is nothing to grasp hold of to tell the words apart. When asked when I had arrived on an island, I said avrio (tomorrow). Of course I meant kthes (yesterday). Nai (yes) and ochee (no) are also easy to confuse, sounding like "nay" and "OK".
I used to listen to Greek language cassettes when packing to go to Greece - but now I more or less know by heart the lessons about food, drink, accommodation and travel. I need something different. And so I started looking at how English words with Greek origins could help me to understand more Greek. The problem I find in trying to read languages with a different alphabet is that the slightest variation in the basic script is SO difficult to decipher. I once went to an evening class in Greek run by an elderly Greek man with shaky hand writing who insisted in writing in lower case script in chalk on a blackboard. I would have struggled to understand upper case in clear script - but lower case in patchy and scratchy chalk was almost impossible to understand. Another problem is dictionaries - dictionaries are not easy to use when you do not know the position of some of the letters in the alphabet. I was once looking for a hotel, and found a "G" class hotel. I had read that "E" class hotels could be somewhat basic. What would a "G" class hotel be like? Then I remembered that gamma is the third letter of the Greek alphabet - I was looking at a "C" class hotel.
There are a lot of goats in Greece, and the tinkle of goat-bells is one of the many charming features of a walk in the hills. A tragedy is etymologically a "goat-song" - from the Greek tragos (goat) and oide (song, and the origin of the English ode). Rhapsody is from rhaptein (to stitch) and oide. The Greek rhapsoidos - the literal meaning is "song-stitcher" - was an itinerant minstrel who "stitched" together pieces of poetry.
I once got into conversation with a Greek chap on a ferry about a flower he called amaranth (not the sort of word you find in the average phrasebook!), an "everlasting" flower of the sort used in dried flower arrangements. The sort of flower that should do well in the dry Greek summers. Amarantos (unfading) is from marainein (wither). The prefix a or an means "without". Other words with the same prefix include apathy (from apathes, without feeling), atheism (from atheos, without God), anonymous (from onuma, without a name).
Museum is from mouseion (place of the Muses). In one of my favourite Greek museums (on the island of Naxos) there is a small stone figure, just a head and shoulders a few inches high) labelled in English acrolithic. The figure would originally have had a wooden trunk, and perhaps stone legs. Akros means tip or peak, and lithos stone. The figure had extremities made of stone. In Athens I usually stay at a hotel with a view of the Acropolis from the roof terrace. An acropolis is an elevated part of a polis or city. An acrobat (from bainein, to walk) walks on another extremity, the toes.
My camera works overtime in Greece. The Greek phos means "light" and graphos "writing". The word photograph was introduced into English in 1839 by the astronomer Sir John Herschel. Astronomy is from astron (star) and nemein (name or distribute). Panorama is from pan (all) and orama (view).
Epistrophe (return) is a useful Greek word for finding out about the return time of a bus or ferry. Strephein means to turn, and the prefix epi means on, near to, above, or in addition. Apostrophe is from the Greek phrase prosoidia apostrophos - the literal meaning is "accent of turning away", a mark showing where a letter has been omitted. The prefix apo means "away".
Now it is time to check the return bus times!
Sunday, 15 July 2012
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Friday, 13 July 2012
Piraeus to Get $268 Million for Cruise-Ship Facility Expansion | Greece.GreekReporter.com Latest News from Greece
Piraeus to Get $268 Million for Cruise-Ship Facility Expansion | Greece.GreekReporter.com Latest News from Greece
Ferries often slow down when approaching the "gates" to ghe harbour at Piraeus, often half an hour or so before reaching the "gates". i'm wondering if cruise ships use the same "gates" and if the "gates" will be improved so that all shipping can move faster.
Ferries often slow down when approaching the "gates" to ghe harbour at Piraeus, often half an hour or so before reaching the "gates". i'm wondering if cruise ships use the same "gates" and if the "gates" will be improved so that all shipping can move faster.
Thursday, 12 July 2012
ekathimerini.com | Ferry worries are increasing
ekathimerini.com | Ferry worries are increasing
15 % fewer passengers and 25% fewer vehicles than last year.
15 % fewer passengers and 25% fewer vehicles than last year.
"Coastal shipping sources say the market is pinning its few remaining hopes for a rebound on the 50 days left until the end of August, the period when traffic is expected to peak.I was in Greece last July and some of the ferries I wanted to travel on were full. This year there may be places. Get on that ferry!
Otherwise, they warn, a great number of ships will be forced to remain permanently docked as of September or be sold abroad."
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
1st Serifos Festival 2012 Βegins
1st Serifos Festival 2012 Βegins | Greece.GreekReporter.com Latest News from Greece
"The festival basically aims at giving the Aegean island a cultural dimension next to its natural beauties, crystal seas and lovely beaches. Visitors and locals of the island will have the unique opportunity of experiencing a series of cultural events praising modern and traditional Greek music, rebetiko, shadow theatre, theatre performances and children’s literature."
"The festival basically aims at giving the Aegean island a cultural dimension next to its natural beauties, crystal seas and lovely beaches. Visitors and locals of the island will have the unique opportunity of experiencing a series of cultural events praising modern and traditional Greek music, rebetiko, shadow theatre, theatre performances and children’s literature."
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Vlasia: Cool, peaceful mountain escape
ekathimerini.com | Vlasia: Cool, peaceful mountain escape
Just reading this article makes me wish I was in Greece..................................
Just reading this article makes me wish I was in Greece..................................
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Mythmakers and problem solvers
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite3_1_05/07/2012_450631
Misconceptions breed more misconceptions.
Misconceptions breed more misconceptions.
Friday, 6 July 2012
What Greece Makes, the World Might Take
What Greece Makes, the World Might Take - NYTimes.com
Olive oil, feta. Wine as well. Get exporting!
It's not all about labelling. Also in the news today is the need to simplify Greek export procedures
http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/11/56746
Olive oil, feta. Wine as well. Get exporting!
It's not all about labelling. Also in the news today is the need to simplify Greek export procedures
http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/11/56746
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Greece hopes tourism will rebound amid lingering crisis
Greece hopes tourism will rebound amid lingering crisis, 5 July 2012 Thursday 9:17
I was a teeny bit doubtful about going to Greece in May - June. I wasn't expecting any problem in my island destinations - and there were no problems, just lots of friendly hugs and kisses! If anything, I was made even more welcome than usual.
My lingering doubts were about Athens. As it happened, as there were fewer tourists, I was able to get a seat on internal flights that would normally have been fully booked. But I need not have worried, there was no trouble I recall hearing about in Athens whilst I was in Greece.
Reading about hotels closing in Athens because of the downturn in tourism, I'm hoping that my favourite hotels and tavernas will still be in business when I am next in Greece later this year.
I was a teeny bit doubtful about going to Greece in May - June. I wasn't expecting any problem in my island destinations - and there were no problems, just lots of friendly hugs and kisses! If anything, I was made even more welcome than usual.
My lingering doubts were about Athens. As it happened, as there were fewer tourists, I was able to get a seat on internal flights that would normally have been fully booked. But I need not have worried, there was no trouble I recall hearing about in Athens whilst I was in Greece.
Reading about hotels closing in Athens because of the downturn in tourism, I'm hoping that my favourite hotels and tavernas will still be in business when I am next in Greece later this year.
Warming to the frozen yogurt culture | Athens News
Warming to the frozen yogurt culture | Athens News
I remember buying "yogice" at Rackhams department store in Birminghan in the early 1970s. I don't remember haveing eaten yogurt before I came across yogice.
I remember buying "yogice" at Rackhams department store in Birminghan in the early 1970s. I don't remember haveing eaten yogurt before I came across yogice.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
David Cameron 'prepared to halt immigration of Greeks into UK' | UK news | The Guardian
David Cameron 'prepared to halt immigration of Greeks into UK' | UK news | The Guardian
And see the comments on the Pappas Post
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pappaspost
And see the comments on the Pappas Post
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pappaspost
Whoops, sorry! You can't see the full caption in this photo. The last part reads: "Perhaps he should begin his deporting with her."
Monday, 2 July 2012
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