TAF / The Art Foundation is an independent, hip cultural center located on a side street (Normanou 5) off Ermou Street in the area of the Monastiraki flea market.
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The remains of streets, houses, bath houses, public latrines and workshops have been painstakingly brought to light.
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Rushing to work or your guided tour and no time for breakfast? Feel the need to satisfy a midday craving? Not a problem.
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In the ancient Greek world, twelve gods and goddesses formed the most significant part of an impressive family tree which resided on Mount Olympus.
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April 24: On this day in 1184 BC, Troy, fell according to traditionally accepted historical occurrences. The widely known war was fought due to Prince Paris of Troy kidnapping King Menelaus’ bride, Helen, universally believed to be the most beautiful woman on earth.
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A trip to Athens is mostly associated with visiting the Acropolis, digging into local culinary flavors and strolling through the picturesque streets of Plaka and Monastiraki; but enjoying the deep blue Greek waters isn’t actually at the top of your bucket list for your Athenian holidays.
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Being in business nonstop since 1886, the Public Market Place of Athens known as Varvakeios – named after one of Greece’s national heroes, gentleman pirate Ioannis Varvakis (1745-1825) – extends along both sides of Athinas street and consists of a fish, vegetable and meat market.
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Interested in climbing marble stairs to get some of the best views of the Acropolis, Lycabettos, and the city of Athens, while being swept away on a nostalgic athletic adventure? Look no further than the Kallimarmaro Stadium of Athens.
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One of the most iconic feasts all over Greece is just around the corner! Clean Monday or “Kathari Deytera” in Greek, is the starting point of a 40 day Great Lent period -called Sarakosti- that leads to the Orthodox Easter Sunday.
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Between the National Gardens and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, lies a great place to wander around in Athens. The Zappeion Exhibition Hall or simply Zappeion has been around for the past 131 years.
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Athens is a city that is easily accessible by all means of transport, especially when moving around the city center, even when going to or from the Airport or Ports, you will see that it’s simple and pretty straight forward.
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Fish is one of the main staples of the Greek diet, where fishing, from the small boats or “kaikis” that one sees dotting the horizon early in the morning or with their lanterns lighting up the night, to the big trawlers or “trahandiris,” supplied a steady supply of a variety of fish.
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It is well known that meat is high on the list of foods preferred by Greeks. One has to only walk down any Greek street to find ‘souvlaki’ or ‘gyros’,(skewered meat or meat on the pit) sold practically on every other corner. But it was not always like this.
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Greek yogurt’s appeal is no secret, no matter where you are. Its steady increase in popularity over the years has led it to be in numerous articles about its culinary superpowers and its exploding marketing sales within Greece and worldwide; from gourmet publications to the Wall Street Journal.
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Although having a rich history in Ancient Greece, homosexuality has had a controversial journey to today.
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Its Greek name, “therina cinema” or “kalokairina cinema”, which means “summer cinema”, is a major part of Greek culture.
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If you find yourself in Greece during winter, Arachova should definitely be on your list of places to visit.
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What are the characteristics that make up the ideal winter destination? Imagine merging rivers, impressive waterfalls, verdant valleys dotted with stone-built villages. Now open your eyes and start thinking about a possible visit to Karpenisi, located in the heart of Greece’s mainland.
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Summer is now gone but the transformation of Athens as a central European hub for fun, openness and innovation remains in full swing in the fall. The weather is still giving a helping hand for walking and the city’s sun guarantees that your photos will not need to be filtered so as to be uploaded in your social media accounts!
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Athens, as a whole, is a culturally rising city after years of recession. But which neighborhoods carry this transformation on their shoulders? Which new districts of the Greek capital have become nurseries?
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Are you sitting on the sofa of your airbnb apartment, wondering how to exploit the limited time before leaving Athens? Well, what if someone told you there's a quick, alternative escape just around the corner? It's an island called Spetses, boasting an unrivaled status in terms of Greek Naval History and maybe one of the most cosmopolitan islands in the country.
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You’ve booked your late summer vacation to Greece and you still have your mind set on statues, beaches, and sun? Well, maybe you should think again because there might be something that has slipped your attention...
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Cycladic figurines are certainly the most enigmatic, abstract, and evocative objects from Greek prehistory, that also inspired the art pioneers of abstraction and cubism of the early 20th century.
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I cannot say that I am the biggest fan of mainland Greece; I strictly prefer the islands; driving has never featured in the list of my favorite activities, either. But, I love the Peloponnese, the Greek paradise that has seduced me over the years.
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Unlike the other Aegean islands, with their harsh, forbidding terrain, Aegina is much more hiking-friendly.
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So, you want to come to Greece in the summer but you have heard a bunch of stories that revive scenes out of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ in your mind: you are being baked by the scorching sun, in a barren archeological site, dying of thirst, seeing mirages of oases and ice-cream-offering Karyatides girls, holding iced beer kegs on their heads...
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Well that’s a tough one. We will try to warn you about driving on Greek roads and at the same time not scare you away from the wheel (or handlebars). After all, you will need a car to visit most of the places that are worth seeing.
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Let’s make Dolmadakia. What do we need? Lots of patience, before everything else, especially if it’s your first time trying it.
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There are many ways to see Athens. The city with the many faces also has many different, themed tours on offer. But this one is brand new and as stylish as they come.
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There aren’t many places which showcase so perfectly the multi-layered mix of cultures which we call Greek civilization, like Monastiraki square. It is situated north of Plaka, the traditional neighborhood under the Acropolis, and right next to the busy junction of two central streets, Ermou and Athinas.
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The stone blocks of Aphaias may seem rather unattractive, even rather uninteresting, at first glance. In fact, they are of great importance and reveal some of the major aspects of the process of building the ancient Greek temples.
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Of all the little islands in the Saronic gulf, this one is kept off the tourist map as an Athenian’s little secret; a small island just 35 kilometers from Piraeus, covered easily with a 40-minute Flying Dolphin (hydrofoil) ride or a 75-minute trip with a ferry.
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So, let’s make “gemista”!
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It is under the sun, a little less than 70 kilometers south of Athens, like a rock thrown in the middle of the Argosaronic Gulf; popular among the Athenians for the perfect romantic getaway or a quiet and relaxing weekend in a soothing place of such beauty.
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Got a sunny day in Athens, but you are already fed-up with “ancient” stuff? We got you covered with a modern, state-of-the-art architectural jewel built on top of a park.
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If you enjoy performing arts, and especially theater, this is an opportunity like no other. Visiting Athens and central Greece offers the unique opportunity to experience a theatrical performance at the birthplace of this art-form.
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One could say that their name itself betrays the attraction. “Meteora” means “things suspended in mid-air”. But nothing can prepare you for what you are about to experience after a four-hour drive north from Athens.
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Athens with kids & no nagging? Totally doable!
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Three must-see places in walking distance from Acropolis and the city’s center.
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It stands in the middle of the city, bearing the same name since the age of Pericles. Lycabettus – in Greek “Lykavitos” – means “the path of the wolves” or "where the wolves go", indicating it was populated by wild beasts in the distant past.
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So you threw your dart on the map and it hit Greece, but you only have a weekend to spend in Athens?
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You can come to Athens and not spend a single hour indoors. But these are the top 5 reasons you should not
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It is said, and perhaps not unfairly, that the Greeks have a serious case of icy coffee addiction. As a non-Greek friend remarked on his first visit to Athens, "everyone always seems to have a glass or plastic cup, a straw and brown and sparkling liquid!"
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It was transformed to the landscape you can currently see by one of the most ingenious and influential Greek architects, Dimitrios Pikionis (1887-1968), between 1954 and 1958.
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Warning Note: Always specify the level of sweetness you prefer; “Sweet” or “Glikos”, as it is pronounced, means (usually) 2 teaspoons of coffee and 4 teaspoons of sugar.
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A magical territory with suiting, pagan-sounding place-names. Like the “Gamila” (camel) mountain, which guards this cluster of small villages made of stone, called “Zagoria”, so picturesque that they seem to belong to a fairy-tale. Or the mesmerizing color of “Voidomatis” (the Oxeye), the clearest river in Europe where you can dive and go rafting, floating through places beautiful and isolated, which you cannot see in any other way except by paddling.
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Pies or “pites” (plural for “pita”) in Greek is not one, but a complete gigantic category of foods and sweets in both traditional and contemporary Greek cuisine.
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What do Greeks eat for breakfast? Well, it depends mainly on their age and the time of the season. For the over-30-something generation, breakfast is something they usually have to postpone as they are running late for work or school.
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Many years ago, during a Rockwave live concert by the sea, on the south shore of Athens, rock band Garbage came up on stage for their first time in Greece. Their lead singer saluted the crowd and yelled out “Athena… born out of a man’s headache? I love this city!”.
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You are walking through one of the most hectic and intense traffic junctions of the city and suddenly two ancient Greek gods fly over your horizon! Relax; it’s neither the heat of the sun, nor the power of ouzo that hit you.
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A great part of the tourist world thinks of Greece like a theme park. With summer as its main theme, they think that it closes down with the first drops of rain in October, to be opened again just in time for the first heat waves in late May.
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The “Shadow Theater” or “Karagyoz”, as it is called in the last two countries –Greece and Turkey- where it still survives is an ancient art form and a pretty unique experience for the whole family.
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It could be called the «Burrito of the East», «Hot Dog of the Mediterranean» or “Amvrosia to Go”… but we simply call it “Souvlaki”.
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Ancient Greece was one of the oldest civilizations that set the foundations for the development of the Western civilization. Their findings in the area of astronomy, geography and mathematics, pioneered the age of science. Here is a list of the top 10 inventions and discoveries of ancient Greece that are remarkably used until this very day.
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Most people who have watched Zack Snyder’s famous 2007 fantasy historical film “300”, might think they know the ancient Greek story of Leonidas and the battle of Thermopylae, but the historic facts are quite different to what was portrayed in the fantasy film.
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Spirits in Greece have their own unique character and aroma. Drinking alcoholic beverages has a symposium-like and festive quality abundant at celeberations in Greece, especially on name days, birthdays, holidays, weddings, gatherings, graduations and christenings.
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If you have visited Greece in the past, you must have tasted those little bites of heaven called loukoumades. If not, cancel all your meetings and get on the first plane to Athens!
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Mediterranean nutrition in general and Greek cuisine in particular, are globally famous for their nutritional benefits and of course, their taste.
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If you visit Greece, you will see plenty of cafés packed with people laughing, chatting and socializing around the city. For Greeks, drinking coffee is much more than just drinking coffee.
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If you have ever visited Greece, you must have tried at least once a cup of strong traditional Greek coffee. This kind of coffee is very famous in Greece, not only because of its strong flavor and aroma, but also because of its historical and cultural background.
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Are you visiting Athens for the first time and you don’t want to miss anything important? Here is the list with the top 10 places that you must visit during your stay in the Greek capital, as suggested by our experienced Athens Insiders!
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If you happen to be in Greece on the 28th of October, you might notice Greek flags waving from balconies, closed shops and military parades on the main streets. Now don’t be scared, this is (hopefully) not a coup, it is just the celebration of the national ‘OHI’ day of Greece.
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When you think of ancient Greece, you might imagine bearded philosophers drinking wine under Acropolis, speaking wise words about politics, science and the universe.
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