Writer’s retreat, cultural salon, museum showpiece … the charmed life of the Paddy Leigh Fermor House in the Mani is about to embark on one of its most colourful incarnations yet, as it prepares to open its storied doors as a luxury boutique hotel from June 15, writes Amanda Dardanis. In Greek mythology, the Elysian Fields wer...
Read moreThe Irish Embassy, in collaboration with Athens Insider, announces its first-ever Bloomsday creative writing competition in English, open to writers of all ages and nationalities. Bloomsday is marked around the world as a celebration of James Joyce, of course, but also as a celebration of Irish literature, modernist writing and creativity...
Read moreIn his sequel fantasy series, John Kittmer, not unlike Jason or Odysseus, takes us through archipelagos and roll-calls of island names. These names have a magic all of their own. The poet Odysseas Elytis knew this well; ‘Each word a swallow to bring you spring in the midst of summer’. In this magical six-day tour, I am finally...
Read moreThe Acropolis of Athens is a fair test of our commitment to humankind’s higher cultural aspirations. In ordinary times, Athenians have ten thousand good excuses to postpone the Acropolis until next month or next lifetime. These are not ordinary times. For an able-bodied resident of Athens not to take advantage of this opportunity is to fa...
Read moreEditions Assouline's dreamy coffee table books often are as attractive as the destinations they cover. Its latest addition, the Athens Riviera coffee table book is a stunning photo album that retraces the history and spirit of Athens and its inhabitants. Discover a city that we have known for millennia, but whose contemporaneity is too of...
Read moreWhen his award-winning restaurant Pied à Terre in London's tony Fitzrovia neighbourhood closed temporarily for the lockdown, Michelin chef Asimakis Chaniotis has been in Athens with his family and has been tantalising his legion of Instagram followers with his ostensibly easy, masterfully-crafted dishes. He speaks to Elena Panayides on ex...
Read moreBeaches open as mercury soars! Time to place first dibs on sun loungers! Greece prepares to open up its beaches on May 16 as the country eases lockdown and looks to lure tourists back. Organised beaches - those with ticketed entrances and organised sunbeds - are set to reopen tomorrow following official advice. Almost all 515 ...
Read morePeter Poulos, Executive Director at The Hellenic Initiative harnesses his solitude in lockdown to raise funds for those hardest hit by the Covid pandemic. Over a month ago on March 23rd Athens went into a lockdown/quarantine which required each of us to notify the government with an SMS message when we needed to leave our home...
Read moreKonstantinos Patsios’ upcoming exhibition in Budapest and Paris is a tangle of paint, paper and irony that revisits the female form. It decodes the artist’s interest in feminine and feminist issues, using known painting metaphors long ignored by the male-dominated art world. Using recognizable motifs from classic works of the ...
Read moreAs Greek hoteliers check their options before opening their doors on June 1, it is an uphill task both in terms of implementing the necessary changes and in training staff to adopt new health protocols, when so much is still unclear. The de-Covidization era desperately needs a new narrative. In the absence of clear guidelines, the World T...
Read moreKoukoumi, the Greek term for hygge or cocooned living, offers an alternative tourist option with a menu to match as it launches Mykonos’ first vegan hotel. A departure perhaps for meat-obsessed Greeks but a welcome option for millennials seeking a cruelty-free holiday. For trend-setting Mykonos, it was only a question of time...
Read moreWriter and theatre personality Timothy Jay Smith lived on Vourvoulos, a charming village on Santorini from 1972 to 1974, and wrote a piece about life on the island back then. In this essay, written in the early seventies, he offers a rare insight into life on the now coveted holiday destination, at a time when survival was a daily challen...
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