In 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 moreWhen the bars finally open doors after a two-month drought on May 25, which of our fave five bars will you be headed to? Baba au Rum If you like rum-based drinks, this is your natural habitat. Baba Au Rum, placed among the 50 best bars in the world, is the go-to place for daiquiris and rum-based negronis blended with hand-selec...
Read moreIf you’ve been to Greece before and still nurse your frappé fantasies, its time you switched like the rest of Greece has, to its new world order and summer obsession, the freddo! When did frappé get dethroned as coffee king? Depends on whom you ask. But all the baristas Athens Insider spoke to claim that only 10 percent of col...
Read morePM Mitsotakis announced that the Greek tourist season opens its doors on June 15 and that its well-earned “passport” of safety, reliability and health will ensure that tourists come back to Greece for a spot under the sun. Greece’s 2020 tourism season might have begun late but will offer a safe escape for tourists headed here....
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 moreJeff Siger has called Greece home for 35 years. Spending his lockdown in pastoral New Jersey with a grizzly-size black bear who drops in occasionally, he has been plotting his next mystery thriller set on a Greek isle. The emotions that run through this column starkly contrast with the hope he expresses in his first corona chronicle. [...
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 moreHere's a quick recap of travel dos and don'ts and countries you can fly to and back. Please note that flights are strictly for repatriation purposes or to join families. Travel protocols for tourism will be announced later this month. Flights banned to the following destinations: Flights between Greece and seven countries will ...
Read moreWhat do you get when a former diplomat reinvents himself as a bicycle-riding Indiana Jones and shares his contagious curiosity for Greece's ancient landscape? Brady Kiesling's restless years of scouring Greece's hillsides and ancient manuscripts is now a friendly app for the curious at heart. By arming visitors with ToposText, he hopes to...
Read moreIt is one of Athens’ most prominent squares and perhaps its most blighted. Its radically controversial and often unappealing design changes have pock-marked its 175 years of existence. So there was justifiable cause for celebration as Omonoia finally got the makeover it deserved when its 20-metre high water fountains soared into the night...
Read morePoet, philhellene and avid hiker John Kittmer leads us through forts and cloisters, battlefields and tombs, encountering characters -mythological, historical or just mortal - exchanging stories and verses over tsipouro through an imaginary personal odyssey across his beloved Greece. In the last few days of June, I have a retur...
Read more
