Insider 105 - September / October 2012

THE CITY MAGAZINE OF

September & October 2012 Year 10. Issue 105 €4.50 ISSN 1790-3114

insider athens

| September & October 2012

ATHENS

Back to work

Cirque du Soleil magic / Messinean Dreams / An endless summer on Paleros / Mandarin Oriental in Paris turns one / Greek football / Cinema nights in Athens Book reviews: The Art of Change, Crete – A Notebook , The House on Paradise Street Restaurant reviews: Meat Square & Bar, Mangiamo, Yellow Stone Cafe PLUS: ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, FOOD & WINE, NIGHTLIFE, SHOPPING, NOVELTIES, MAPS AND MORE

Sudha Nair-Iliades

September is special in more ways than one as it demarcates the insouciance of the summer with more serious stock-taking associated with autumn. For Greece, after a roller-coaster election period and the relative calm and reprieve that summer provided, the real test for politicians and citizens alike, lies in how we get through this critical month.

Pierre Moscovici, the French Finance Minister who visited Athens recently, believes the key word this fall should be ‘determination’. It is a good word to cling on to in this quicksand economy.

publisher’s note

We need, more than ever, to be determined to remain positive, to overcome the odds and to find reasons to cheer. As always, the one thing that always comes through for Greece is its people and their incredible zest for life. I have met an incredible number of ‘warriors’ who have completely re-invented themselves, moved their homes, started from scratch with just the fire in their belly for company.

So my silent prayer for Greece this autumn would be: May we have the wisdom to make the right choices and the courage to see them through. May we have the patience to stay the course and the intelligence to embrace what really matters in the long run.

Sudha Nair-Iliades

Publisher - Editor Sudha Nair - Iliades Art Director Eliza Mouzenidou

Website management Christos Athanassoulis

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insider athens | September & October 2012 1

contributors Michael Sweet

A documentary producer for BBC Television in the 90s, Michael worked in broadcasting in South Asia before establishing his TV production business in Australia. He lived in Athens for almost four years before moving back to Melbourne and has continued contributing to Athens Insider and for the English language edition of Australia’s largest circulation Greek newspaper, Neos Kosmos. Michael combines his writing with producing independent documentary films.

As a media and PR consultant, Renee has successfully presented her clients in international media such as CNN and the New York Times. In her chequered career in the entertainment industry, she has encountered music greats and media moguls who might find their way into a book on rock history she is currently working on. Renee moved to Greece in the early nineties and has since been actively involved in raising gala fund-raisers and contributing regularly to Athens Insider.

Graham Wood

Graham lived and worked in the UK and Japan before moving to Athens in 2004 to cover the Olympics and Paralympics as a freelance journalist. Currently he writes about the Greek sports scene for the Press Association and UEFA and has contributed features on travel, leisure and the environment to publications such as the Athens News and Kathimerini.

Christos studied Political Science and History at Panteion University in Athens. An avid traveller who has backpacked across several obscure destinations, Christos loves fast cars and makes times for football over the weekends. A social media professional, Christos now manages Insider’s website.

Eliza Mouzenidou

Renee Pappas

Christos Athanassoulis

Eliza Mouzenidou was born and raised in Athens. She studied Technology of Graphic Arts and graduated with the highest GPA amongst her colleagues. For the last five years she has been working as a graphic designer and has attended numerous seminars on the subject. Her true passion is photography and during her free time she enjoys playing tennis.

Anamela studied Tourism & Marketing in Madrid and speaks English, French and Spanish fluently. Having worked in the hospitality industry, Anamela enjoys yoga, dancing and good cinema. Anamela checks out what’s in trending at the city and reviews it for Insider.

2 insider athens | September & October 2012

Anamela Agrodimou

contents

10 12 24

Features

Departments

Art in motion 11 Mixed-media artist Eva Gerakis captures the ennui and excitement of travel Spectacular show-stoppers 12 The remarkable story of Cirque du Soleil, its nail-biting acrobatics and mind-boggling gymnastics

Je suis un fun Mandarin Oriental, Paris has just celebrated its first birthday. Michael Sweet declares himself a fan

30

An endless summer 34 Renee Pappas discovers a tiny Ionian gem, Paleros and shares her finds with Athens Insider

20 A tale of two authors Kelly Intzides and Vivian Andria co-write their debut novel replete with colourful personalities and gender-bending, life-altering twists set in their beloved New York

42 Tackling the crisis Graham Wood discusses the opportunity that is knocking for Greece’s young talent pool of footballers with recently-appointed Super League president Giannis Moralis

24

46 Meating point Meat Square & Bar in Halandri and Mangiamo in Drossia offer a unique dining experience

An English Athenian Michael Sweet meets Sofka Zinovieff in a quintessentially English setting

26 Messinian dreams Michel Cottray, Complex General Manager for Starwood Hotels & Resorts at Costa Navarino on offering his guests the ultimate holiday experience

72 Cinema The 18th Cosmote Athens International Film Festival brings a touch of stardust and cinematic release with a choice of 170 films stretched across 11 nights

Arts & Events 4 Culture 12 Entertainment 14 My Athens 18 Books 20 Real Estate 23 Travel 30 Agora 38 Sports 42 Wellness 44 Restaurant Review 46 Area wise listings 49 Kaleidoscope 72

26 30 38 44 46 insider athens | September & October 2012 3

Arts & events

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Benaki Museum for the Islamic Arts The Arabs of the Mediterranean The exhibition is a photographic tour of pictures taken

by Dora Minaidi and Maria Fakidi who have captured the rich architecture of countries that lie in the Mediterranean basin from Byzantine structures, Arab palaces and castles, Roman ruins in Palmyra and Christian churches. www.benaki.gr

september

Samos Young Artists Festival Ancient Theatre, Pythagoreion harbour, Samos The third Samos Young Artists Festival which runs for two months, features talented musicians from all around the world and brings with it a whiff of fresh, new talent in classical music and jazz. www.samosfestival.com

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Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum Attic Landscape 01 A point of reference and a source of artistic inspiration, the Attic Landscape, offers the impetus for the new temporary exhibition presented in the Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum over the summer months. Precious objets d’ art created by Ilias Lalaounis and inspired by the Attic landscape are set against the work of four contemporary artists Manolis Zacharioudakis, Harry Lambert, George Hadoulis and Manolis Charos - in an exhibition that brings together two generations of artistic creativity: the work of Greece’s foremost goldsmith juxtaposed with key exponents of the contemporary art scene. www.lalaounis-jewelrymuseum.gr

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Rebecca Camhi Gallery The Temple of Truth Aggelos Plessas 02 The “Temple of Truth” is an exhibition which presents new concepts and explores the social lifestyle of the internet age. The exhibition includes banners, wall works and flags with emblematic and symbolic designs. Through this exhibition, Aggelos Plessas attempts to create a social environment governed by ideas and principles, having as centerpiece the man. www.rebeccacamhi.com

On the town For location details see listings on page 61

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Xippas Gallery

El marneri galerie

3rd Royal Thai Festival

Gallery Zoumboulakis

Pictures of Magazine 2, Vic Muniz The exhibition of Brazilian artist Vic Muniz, entitled Pictures of Magazine 2, will be simultaneously exhibited in Paris and Xippas Art Contemporain in Geneva. The artist is known for recreating famous works of art history, with ephemeral materials such as grain, sugar, chocolate, syrup, peanut, caviar.

Following the series “Pictures of Garbage” Muniz chooses this time to work with “spiritual” garbage that has physical substance as well. The result of his work gives the same impression a painting would give as the jagged pieces of torn paper create the same visual impression as broad strokes of colour. www.xippas.com

From darkness to light 03, 04 After three inspiring parts, this four-phased exhibition has successfully managed so far, to combine 40 artists and 1 subject, variable arts and materials as well as different artists, expressions. The outcome is a well- presented coherent work which transports the visitor through the paths of creativity, innovation and uniqueness.

The deeply symbolic artwork of the philhellene artist Stoian Donev is considered the main inspiration of this exhibition.

The artist brilliantly uses the two contradictory concepts to describe the voyage of oneself “from darkness back to light”. www.elenimarneri.com

The Westin, Astir Palace Resort The third Royal Thai Food Festival comes back to fill the Astir Palace with the exotic aromas of Thailand. The Westin Athens aliongwith the Royal Thai Embassy, Etihad Airways and Athens Insider magazine organise a fortnight of aromas and flavours from 19 September to 6 October.

As part of the festival, expert Thai chefs conduct gastronomy lessons on September 26 and October 3 and Olive Tree Spa conducts Thai massage seminars and demonstrations on September 25 and 27. For reservations, contact: 210 890 2000 or 210 890 2137 at the Astir Palace Resort. www.astir-palace.com

Alexandra Athanassiadi: Sculptures 05 The exhibition features sculptures of varied dimensions, using metal, pieces of wood collected from the beach or even rusty metal as materials creating recognizable figures and is an extension of the artist’s most recent exhibition in the Gallery Jean-Jacques Dutco in Paris. The result of this art is that it is a sort of collage which transforms a random piece of wood or metal to horse figures…

As the artist claims, her art is influenced not only by classical sculpture and nature but also by the ephemeral vulnerable nature of materials… www.zoumboulakis.gr

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Arts & events

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Michael Cacoyiannis Foundation 7th song (for Maldoror) The exhibition by bijoux de kant is a hypothesis for the continuation of the work of Comte de Lautreamont. The lyrics are shaped through artistic gestures, intentions and decisions which are realized through objects and images, works of important Greek and international artists. www.bijouxdekant.com, www.mcf.com

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Museum of Cycladic Art

Art Zone 42 Gallery

Museum of Cycladic Art

Jannis Kounellis World acclaimed artist, Jannis Kounellis exhibits a new and site specific work at the Museum of Cycladic Art. Kounellis uses materials found in local Athenian markets and junkyards. These objects carry the history of a city that has been through endless changes of populations and ideologies.

Kounellis uses newspapers, coal, burlap sacks, old shoes and glasses, overcoats, soil and iron bars for this pieces, which are spread in the spaces of the neoclassical building.

The same objects carry personal memories and represent desires and hope but also failed dreams and aspirations. www.cycladic.gr

Blue Devils 06, 07 Vassiliki Bloukou presents the world of jazz, born at the beginning of the 20th century in USA, at a time of intense economic and social turmoil. With New Orleans as the birthplace of this unique culture, and underground, dark, wooden bars as points of reference, the exhibition transports visitors back in time, to an era where Afro-American immigrants, expressed themselves through music as a sign of freedom.

Bloukou’s works capture the feeling of loss and escape but also the continuity and perpetuation of this culture over time. www.artzone42.gr

Ugo Rondinone – nudes The Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone has earned international attention for his poetic, evocative work across a diverse range of media, including painting, drawing, photography, video, installation, and sculpture. Sitting in peaceful repose against the museum’s white walls, seven life-sized nude figures are informally posed on the floor. Jointed like store-window mannequins, the figures are exquisitely detailed, as they cast in wax directly from the human body.

The individual parts of each figure are in different shades, in a mixture of wax and earthy colors. www.cycladic.gr

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On the town For location details see listings on page 61

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2728 1911 04 until

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november

TAF

Benaki Museum

Momentography/Athens Moments captured in ten rooms, alternating over time and revealing extreme loves, friendships, hatreds, mistakes and passions against the backdrop of Athens’ gritty cityscape forms the thematic content of this exhibition. The artists untangle the puzzle of their emotions and dismantle the moments that stand out in order to convey the truth to the viewer. www.theartfoundation.gr

Valias Semertzidis 08, 09 This major retrospective exhibition of Valias Semertzidis’ work, which has been put together in collaboration with Nikos Hatzinikolaou focuses on bringing to light unknown as well as familiar aspects of this great artist’s oeuvre, which has been studied only sparingly. A consciously realist painter throughout his artistic career, the exhibition will also present, for the very first time, some of his works from the Civil War period as well as paintings in oil, charcoal, pastels as well as drawings. www.benaki.gr

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04 november

National Museum of Contemporary Art

B&M Theocharakis Foundation

One thousand pictures Drawings in ink on A4 paper trying to capture quickly the fleeting thoughts as they are influenced by their everyday experiences, personal or timeliness. These drawings depict a range of subjects, from the purely interior and existential reflection to the commentary of social reality. www.emst.gr

Yannis Parmakelis Acclaimed sculptor and academician, Yannis Parmakelis’ exhibition Horses and Riders includes some 60 sculptures and wall drawings, from 2000 to 2012, with emphasis on geometry. Curated by Takis Mavrotas. www.thf.gr

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On the town For location details see listings on page 61

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Benaki Museum

Benaki Museum

Gagosian Gallery

Benaki Museum

Twice a stranger Twice a Stranger features one of the biggest exchanges of population of the 20th century when millions of people were uprooted and forced to move to new homes in Greece and Turkey. Based on personal testimonies and rare cinematographic and photographic material, the exhibition brings the visitor face to face with those that survived through these traumatic events. The personal testimonies reveal common experiences and stories of those who will always feel strangers. Travelling from across Cyprus to Constantinople, the exhibition includes gastronomic nights as well as documentary projections at the amphitheatre. www.benaki.gr

The World of Emmanuel Vourekas The exhibition presents a large part of his work such as houses, apartment buildings, office buildings, public buildings, banks, hotels etc as preserved in his personal records as well as the records of his associates including among many other important Greek architects of the 20th century. Many of his works include: the Athens Hilton hotel, tourist facilities in Glyfada, Kavouri and Vouliagmeni, which are undoubtedly among the most important landmarks in the capital which have contributed substantially in establishing the form and style of modern Greek architecture. www.benaki.gr

Taryn Simon:Black Square 10 A series of photographs by Taryn Simon, who has sought out and photographed disorienting subjects within the exact frame size as Kazimir Malevich’s 1915 Suprematist masterpiece, Black Square. An elemental black square painted on canvas with a white border, it represented both an end and a beginning in art history.

In her contemporary homage, Simon embraces Malevich’s aesthetic intention but pushes his initiative forward onto contemporary ground.

Simon’s compositions are accompanied by a text as a key to visual subject and situation. www.gagosian.com

Kostas Koulentianos: The Last Acrobat of Modernism 11, 12 An exhaustive exhibition that includes 120 works by the artist, representing all different phases of his creation: from his primary works in clay to monumental works in iron during the later decades of his life. An artist with a strong French influence, he was one of the first to open a dialogue on the need for sculptures in public spaces. www.benaki.gr

8 insider athens | September & October 2012

ΊΔρυΜΑ ΕΊΚΑΣΤΊΚών ΤΕΧνών ΚΑΊ ΜουΣΊΚήΣ Β & Μ ΘΕοΧΑρΑΚή B & M THEOCHARAKIS FOUNDATION FOR THE FINE ARTS AND MUSIC

Παλαιοί Χάρτες του Ευρύτερου Ελλαδικού Χώρου ...στα Ίχνη της Αρχαιογνωσίας και της Ιστορίας...

Old Maps of the Greater Hellenic Region ...Tracing Antiquity and History...

7 - 23/9/2012 Ίδρυμα Εικαστικών Τεχνών και Μουσικής Β. & Μ. Θεοχαράκη • Βασ. Σοφίας 9 και Μέρλιν 1, Αθήνα B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music • 9, Vas. Sofias Av. and 1, Merlin Str., Athens

T: (+30)-210-3611206 • www.thf.gr Ώρες Λειτουργίας: Δευτέρα, Τρίτη, Τετάρτη, Σάββατο, Κυριακή: 10:00 - 18:00, Πέμπτη, Παρασκευή: 10:00 - 20:00 Opening Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10:00 - 18:00, Thursday, Friday: 10:00 - 20:00 Χορηγοί Επικοινωνίας / Communication Sponsors

Art

A carnival of colour Hydra’s resident artist Michael Lawrence captures the animated commotion of his favourite places into ‘a turbulent parade of fancy people and acts, a burlesque show of dancers, acrobats, clowns and lovers’.

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ecreating scenes from his beloved Paris, Venice and Hydra, Michael Lawrence chronicles the joy and unbridled lust for life that these locations evoke. Horses on wings, merry-go-rounds and manèges, cats, owls, poodles and even goats, lovers, jugglers, pied-pipers and harlequins jostle for space on Lawrence’s large colour-packed canvases. Imbued with an innate sense of lightness and unadulterated pleasure, Lawrence paints dreams of a new exciting world of visual adventures.

Michael Lawrence’s exhibition ‘What is Venice doing on Hydra?’ runs at the Melina Mercouri Cultural Centre on Hydra from 17 to 30 September. For more information and appointments with the artist, visit www.worksbymichaellawrence.com

10 insider athens | September & October 2012

Art

Art in motion In a new section profiling young, emerging talent, Athens Insider presents Eva Gerakis, a mixed-media artist who captures the ennui and excitement of travel and teaches young impressionable artists the pleasure of reproducing their universe at her workshop of creative art.

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iraeus is where Eva Gerakis was born, and where she continues to work and live. The seminal influence of growing up by the harbour, of watching people in flux, ferries calling on ports and transporting holidayers and islanders to far-flung isles, the constant movement and the endless hours of waiting, the anxieties of making it on time and the despair of having missed a boat – Eva Gerakis’ paintings are all about the thrills and travails of travel.

Scenes of children hunched over their suitcases to waiting lounges at airports dominate her restless compositions. Gerakis uses mixed media and her work can best be described as ‘anthropocentric with intense chromatic forms’.

Her artistic point of view penetrates into the images of voyages as seen from waiting areas, juxtaposing the contradictory forms of static and kinetic figures as they sit still or lie down before being on the move.

Gerakis has participated in several group exhibitions at the Museum of Cycladic Art, Cheap Art, the Contemporary Greek Artists’ exhibition at Technopolis, at Akron Art Centre, M-Art gallery and the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art. She also teaches art to both children and adults at her atelier in Piraeus.

An ardent promoter of the arts on the islands, Geraki has actively participated at the Symi Festival both as an artist and as the President of the Symian youth cultural association.

For more information on the artist and her art workshops, contact: www.chroma-art.gr

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Spectacular show-stoppers The remarkable story of Cirque du Soleil, an entertainment company famous for its strangely colourful costumes, nail-biting acrobatics, mind-boggling gymnastic maneuvers and technologically-advanced stage setups, touring Greece in September with its mega-production, Alegria.

12 insider athens | September & October 2012

Culture

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3D film by James Cameron Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away and a unique touring show, Michael Jackson, The Immortal World Tour celebrating the work of the musical genius, are some of the highlights in the life of an entertainment company that started humbly, 28 years ago. From a group of 20 street performers in 1984 in Québec, Cirque du Soleil is a high-quality artistic entertainment company that now boasts 5,000 employees, including more than 1,300 artists from more than 50 different countries. It has, over the years become synonymous with bringing wonder and entertainment to more than 100 million spectators in more than 300 cities in over forty countries on six continents.

Alegria that has toured the world twice in its 18 year existence as a show and has been watched by 10 million awe-struck viewers around the world will be in Athens from September 3 to 9 at the Olympic Stadium (OAKA) to wow Athenians with a night of ‘adventure, joy and peerless beauty.’ Alegria is a mood, a state of mind. The themes of the show, whose name means ‘jubilation’ in Spanish, are many. Power and the handing down of power over time, the evolution from ancient monarchies to modern democracies, old age, youth - it is against this backdrop that the characters of Alegria play out their lives. Kings’ fools, minstrels, beggars, old aristocrats and children make up its universe, along with the clowns, who alone are able to resist the passing of time and the social transformations that accompany it.

Genevieve Laurendeau, publicist for Alegria, describes the show as one that ‘invokes the imagination, provokes the senses’ and explains that ‘despite the passage of time, the show that premiered in Montreal still retains the integrity of the original production.’ The artists have changed over the years but every little detail from the musical score to the acts remain identical to the original show. What makes Cirque du Soleil unique is that it promises soaring entertainment because

beyond the simple premise and the thrill of athleticism it is an artistic, moody, moving piece of theatre. Genevieve adds, ‘Cirque du Soleil attracts the best talent from around the world – from musicians to acrobats and clowns.

Each show is created by a core team and performed by 55 different artists from 18 different countries. It is this cultural diversity that nourishes the creativity of the group. ’ Greece, as a destination, is rather special for Alegria as has every other country the troupe has visited. ‘It is always interesting to visit countries which have a rich tradition in the arts and theatre. What we have discovered in the course of our travel is that people love to be entertained through different media – to be stimulated and inspired.

We are consequently inspired by the interaction and it adds to the experience of performing.’

Performing with Alegria is a demanding exercise though. The artists spend ten months a year on the road. Genevieve expands on the punishing schedule, ‘We cover ten cities in ten weeks followed by a two week break.’

The hype and the buzz surrounding the Cirque du Soleil in every city is what the group thrives on. Genevieve enthuses, ‘We tour for the hype, and the publicity – we love and live to perform, of making audiences laugh, scream and shout. The dynamics in every city are different and the performers, especially the clowns, have to adapt to each audience. Some audiences are more receptive or quicker on the uptake than others.’

Alegria offers the possibility to discover the artistic details of Cirque du Soleil’s productions and reveals the human spirit that its artists bring to the audience in their performances. For more information on the show and ticket sales, contact www.cirquedusoleil.com

The Cirque du Soleil story Cirque du Soleil started in Baie-Saint-Paul, a small town near Québec City in Canada. There, in the early eighties, a band of colourful characters roamed the streets, striding on stilts, juggling, dancing, breathing fire, and playing music. They were Les Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul (the Baie-Saint-Paul Stiltwalkers), a street theatre group founded by Gilles Ste-Croix. The troupe went on to found Le Club des talons hauts (the High Heels Club), and then, in 1982, organized La Fête foraine de Baie-Saint-Paul, a cultural event in which street performers from all over met to exchange ideas and enliven the streets of the town for

a few days. La Fête foraine was repeated in 1983 and 1984. Le Club des talons hauts attracted notice, and Guy Laliberté, Gilles Ste-Croix and their cronies began to cherish a crazy dream: to create a Québec circus and take the troupe travelling around the world. In 1984, Québec City was celebrating the 450th anniversary of Canada’s discovery by Jacques Cartier, and they needed a show that would carry the festivities out across the province. Guy Laliberté presented a proposal for a show called Cirque du Soleil (Circus of the Sun), and succeeded in convincing the organizers. And Cirque du Soleil hasn’t stopped since!

insider athens | September & October 2012 13

FX

Programming Highlights September 2012

NEW SERIES

Homeland • Premiering October 1st, you cannot miss it!

The series that has rocked America, as it plays on the fears of an empire that can fall on its own or by the actions of its citizens. Homeland revolves around the return of a US Marine (Nicolas Brody - Damien Lewis) awarded the Golden Globe this year and nominated for an Emmy, who is rescued after 8 years as a prisoner of war held by Al-Qaeda. The situation gets complicated when Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), winner of 2 Golden Globes and Emmy nominated, begins to suspect that Brody is an ambitious terrorist who is secretly a Muslim. This spy drama is exciting, not due to its action, which is what we’re used to, but because all the action is within the psychology of its characters.

NEW SERIES

Awake • Premiering in October, First on FOX. 2 dreams, one reality Detective Michael Britten is in an accident and loses his wife and son. His only consolation is that he lost both at once. There are two separate realities in which his wife lives in one and his son in the other. Every time Michael closes his eyes he transports himself from one existence to the other. Within this every day battle to maintain his consciousness and logic, he realizes that his two parallel worlds are connected and affect one another. As to what is real and what isn’t, that remains to be seen only on FOX! This is the story of FOX’s new series “Awake’’ staring as Detective Michael Britten the amazing Jason Isaacs, who you will recognize as Lucius Malfoy from the “Harry Potter” movies. Every episode begins with two plots in each reality that are tied together and need to be considered jointly for the mystery to be solved, all while the protagonist is trying to get along with his family! We also see two psychiatrists who are trying to convince him that the other reality is fake…and the viewer is left in the middle trying to figure out what is real.

From October 1st, the flagship channel FOX is coming to Greece!

The new, thematic channel of FOX International Channels Greece which already has 106 million fans worldwide, will replace FX, to further satisfy the needs of the Greek audience on Nova and OTE TV by securing even more exclusive premieres of the most talked about American series.

Enjoy the best blockbuster series from Hollywood, such as the multiple award-winning ‘Homeland,’ the critically acclaimed ‘Awake,’ the comedy ‘Rules of Engagement’ as well as the brand new seasons of ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Falling Skies’, In October, in Greece, a new channel takes center stage, its fresh, exciting and bold and is sure to offer Greek viewers premieres of the best action, comedy and animation series…We love TV, we love FOX!

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I LOVE TV, I LOVE !

FOXlife

Programming Highlights September 2012

NEW SEASON

Melissa & Joey 2 • PREMIERE: September 11@ 21.25 Starring Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence, season two of “Melissa & Joey” picks up with Mel’s (Hart) house in disarray after the bathtub crashed through the living room in the season one finale. Joe (Lawrence) continues to help Mel raise her teenage niece (Taylor Spreitler) and nephew (Nick Robinson), while she pursues her career in local politics. The second season features such guest stars as Debi Mazar (“Entourage”), Cody Linley (“Dancing with the Stars, “Hannah Montana”), Gregg Sulkin (“Wizards of Waverly Place”) and comedienne Rita Rudner.

Make sure not to miss this FOXlife premiere in September, as we kick off our new season with one of the funniest families on television!

NEW SEASON

Raising Hope 2 • PREMIERE: September 18 @ 21.00 September is comedy month on FOXlife, and we’re revving up our engines with some Chance family madness! Brought to you by Emmy Award winner Greg Garcia, this single camera family is hugely successful in America, right next to Glee and New Girl! Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff), who constantly finds himself in deep water with regards to the decisions he makes, is still trying his hardest to raise his baby girl, Hope. With the help of his family, Virginia (Martha Plimpton), Burt (Garret Dillahunt), Maw Maw (Cloris Leachman), Sabrina (Shannon Marie Woodward), and many others, he learns that taking care of business is not as easy as it looks! We invite you to join us every Tuesday night and experience the essence of family fun, with our youthful and exhilarating comedy lineup.

SERIES WE LOVE

New Girl • September 14th and every Friday @ 21.00 (Double Episodes) So you thought Jess and the gang were hilarious the first time around? HA! FOXlife gives you the opportunity to revisit your most adorkable memories of your favorite TV roommates, every Friday @ 21.00 by serving you a double dose of fun, New Girl style! After a bad break-up, Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel) needs a new place to live. An online search leads her to a great loft...and three single guys she’s never met before. But Jess moves in, and through her upbeat personality, unique sense of self and the unlikely support of her new roommates, she learns to move on.

Nick is the most grounded of her new roommates...and also the most jaded. A law school dropout, he spends most of his time hiding his feelings under his hoodie and tending bar. Schmidt is a hustling young professional who’s pretty proud of his own abs. Winston is an intensely competitive former athlete who doesn’t know what to do next - but whatever he does, he wants to win it. New Girl ranks as the #1 series among young audiences 18-34 in the USA and is a two time Golden Globe nominee for “Best Television Series-Comedy of Musical” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical” – Zooey Deschanel. This show is catered to the likes of both men and women, and has experienced tremendous success in dozens of countries including Canada, The Netherlands, the UK and more!

Don’t miss it!

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FX

Programming Highlights October 2012

NEW SERIES

Homeland • PREMIERE: Monday, October 1St @ 21.30, Not To Be Missed!

The nation sees a hero. She sees a threat.

The series that has shocked America as it depicts all their fears about the fall of their empire not because of enemies abroad but because of enemies within. The series stands out because of its stellar cast: Claire Danes (from ‘Romeo & Juliet’ with Leonardo Di Caprio), Damian Lewis (star of ‘Life’), Morena Maccarin (Anna from ‘V’) and Mandy Patinkin (Criminal Minds). Carrie Anderson (Danes) is a CIA agent. An informer in Iraq lets her know that American soldier has changed ‘camp’ and is now a terrorist. 10 month later, the front page news in the US is the discovery of a US soldier, presumed dead, who has been a prisoner of war in Iraq for the last 8 years! When Carrie hears this news, she is convinced that the man America is welcoming as a hero is the man her informer warned her about. She tells her CIA mentor Saul (Patinkin) but he responds that without evidence he cannot let their superiors know. Sure of her instincts, she decided to illegally record Nicholas Brody’s house (Lewis) moment before he is welcomed by the Vice-President of the US as a hero. As the series develops, we see Nicholas lie about his experiences in Iraq, as he shares one story and we see another in the black and white flashbacks he has.

NEW SERIES

Awake • PREMIERE: Tuesday, October 2Nd @ 21.30 Two Dreams, One Reality Jason Isaacs (‘Harry Potter’, ‘Brotherhood’) is Detective Michael Britten, the survivor of a serious car accident. From that moment on he lives in two parallel worlds. In the one his wife survive (Laura Allen from ‘Terriers’) and in the other his son is the survivor. Not knowing which is reality and which is fake, he continues to live in both worlds. Every episode begins with two cases, one in each reality, which are interconnected or have common elements and the combination of the two solve the case. This gripping series also has two psychiatrists who try and convince Det. Britten that the other reality is fake…and the viewer is left wondering!!

NEW SEASON

The Walking Dead 3 • PREMIERE: MONDAY, October 15 @ Midnight...24 hours after the US premiere!

The terror continues with Walking Dead 3. Prepare yourself for two more seasons this time in prison with the zombies!

Prison in the epic and multiple-award winning ‘Walking Dead 3’ is not considered ‘seclusion’ but rather a safe hideout that’s very different from life on the farm. The key question for fans of the show is whether the producers will stay faithful to the events in the comic book, especially concerning the fate of some of the central characters, who have a gruesome end in the comic! However, the producers proved in the 2nd season that they are not afraid to kill off stars of the series when need be! As the filming of the series is still underway in the US, we know very little about the new series, however we are certain that the Fox International Channels and AMC production will break more viewership records, worldwide, this October.

NEW SEASON

Falling Skies 2 • PREMIERE: Wednesday, October 3 @ 21.30 In October we don’t know which premiere to watch first! ‘Falling Skies’ is an American, sci-fi and dramatic series that aired last year on FX. Created by Robert Rodat (who wrote ‘‘Saving Private Ryan’’) with Steven Spielberg as producer. For all of you that can’t get enough of alien invasions, the new season of this new series starring Noah Wyle is coming to FOX in October, as we get more action and human resistance to the alien threat. In the 2nd season of this successful series, the size of the entertainment and the tension are at exactly the right road!

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FOXlife

Programming Highlights October 2012

NEW SERIES

Jane By Design • PREMIERE Monday October 1 @ 21.00 From high-school to high fashion She was a supermodel in the 70s and now she’s a successful actress – starring in films we love such as ‘Four Weddings and A Funeral’ and ‘Groundhog Day’. Andie MacDowell, aged 54, continues to be a stunning woman and now she’s the star of the comic series “Jane By Design”.

Jane (Erica Dasher)is a teenager who is accidentally hired at the fashion house ‘Donovan Decker’ even though she’s still in high-school! Will Jane manage to satisfy the needs of her demanding boss Gray Chandler Murray (Andie MacDowell)? Will she survive in the cutthroat world of New York fashion?

NEW SERIES

Scandal • PREMIERE Thursday 18th October @ 21.00 A small secret can cause the biggest scandal The heroine of Scandal, Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) left the position of White House Communications Director for the President to start her own crisis management firm. She is a professional ‘fixer’ who makes problems go away before anyone even knows they exist. Her life completely changes when the US President asks for her help, and she is blackmailed by someone threatening to reveal Olivia’s secret affair with the President. With award-winning Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy) and a former George Bush Communications Director producing, the series reveals Washington scandals and the people that will do anything to protect their public image.

NEW SEASON

Glee 3 • PREMIERE Tuesday 30th October @ 21.50 FOXLIFE is the first to premiere season 3 of the multiple award winning series that’s become a phenomenon - ‘Glee.’ The TV musical that is loved by all you and all, was created by Ryan Murphy the genius ‘American Horror Story’ and ‘Nip/Tuck’. The series is considered legendary for its pop culture references. It is a younger and more modern version of ‘Fame’ with a group of special and outsider students living for their ‘glee’ club were they get to remake with a glamorous style the biggest pop hits. The shows stars have already performed at sold-out concerts, the series soundtrack cds have broken sales records surpassing even the Beatles, and the dance routines on the show remind viewers of first class productions on Broadway. To put it simply, everyone is a Gleek! Guest stars in season 3, amongst many others are Lindsay Lohan, Ricky Martin and Gloria Estefan.

NEW LIFESTYLE SERIES

Let’s All Cook Together From the 19th of October, every day at 18:30, FOXlife invites you to put on your aprons and cook with the world’s top chef: Gordon Ramsey, Anthony Bourdain και Donna Hay. Every Friday (19.10.12) double-helpings of ‘Donna Hay: Fast, Fresh & Simple’ the chef and author shares her secrets and passion for cooking with fresh ingredients, creating meals that are quick and tasty! From Wednesday to Friday from October 24th, the rebel chef Anthony Bourdain, in the Emmy nominated series ‘No Reservations 7,’ travels and tastes specialties around the world, in his unique and charming manner. On Monday’s and Tuesday (22.10.12) you can savour ‘Master Chef 3’, where the now legendary Gordon Ramsey invites amateur chefs to battle in the kitchen in a series of tough challenges that will earn one lucky winner the title of ‘Master Chef’.

You’ve seen copies of it, now its time to enjoy the original! Gordon Ramsay, the famous British chef with the explosive temperament, hosts the cooking competition with his brash and comical manner, in the series that changed the landscape of TV!

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My Athens Constance Tourret of Athenes Accueil, a support group for the French community in Greece, reveals her favourite spots around Athens

u What do you do?

Being a mum of 2 boys who are both just above 10 years old, I started to invest myself in volunteering work. At present, I’m the President of the association representing the French community in Athens, Athènes Accueil.

u Which area of Athens do you live in?

I live in Nea Erythrea

u As a mother of two, a trick question: Best place to hang out with kids?

On a bike in Syngrou Park or my boys’ favourite place Copa Copana, the waterslide park.

u What do you see from your balcony?

The beauty of this country

u Your all-time favourite restaurant in Athens?

Berdema, 20 Vass Amalias in Kifissia or any taverna directly on the beach

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My Athens

u How do you compare Athens with other cities you’ve lived in?

Many hidden secrets. I do not regularly go into Athens but each time I discover a new venue which I never heard of before.

For example Six D.O.G.S is a fantastic cultural venue in Monasteraki with a huge garden. Avramiotou 6 or www.sixdogs.gr

u Where do you unwind after work?

u What is the ideal souvenir from Greece?

At the stables where I ride every day.

For me the best souvenir one can take from Greece is the memory of the warm contact with its people.

u Describe your perfect Sunday in Athens.

Spend the day at the beach, with a book in the summer and walking along the same beach in the winter.

u Can you describe a quintessentially Athenian sound, smell, taste and sight?

The smell of orange blossoms, and the cries of paliatzides collecting old furniture from door to door.

u What’s your favourite city stroll?

Walking around the National Gardens and admire the trees.

u If you were mayor for a day, what would you urgently change in the city?

Clean the city.

u Where do you head to get away from it all?

Any where, as long as it is in contact with the nature and its inhabitants. As a family, we enjoy going to the Schinias Sailing Club.

u Has the crisis impacted the city negatively or do you see flashes of positive change?

As a foreigner is it very difficult to have the right opinion of what is happening in Greek society. The language barrier is huge and it is far easier to read what the international press writes about Greece than what the Greeks are saying about their struggle.

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A tale of two authors When two friends Kelly Intzides and Vivian Andria, decided to co-write a book replete with colourful personalities and gender-bending, life-altering twists set in their beloved New York, not only did they end up with a very readable book but also with a whole new career.

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Books

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Keith had closed the door and made him stand there in the middle of his living/dining/kitchen space, holding the painting, for a minute that lasted an eternity, without uttering a word; then finally he said, “Ryan, what do you think? I had to give you a couple of minutes so that you can feel and absorb the room. Feel the vibrations! Get it?”

Vibrations? He had to be kidding. He was dumbfounded and kind of blinded from everything being white. He didn’t respond. an extract from the book

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or Greek Kelly who had lived in Manhattan for 28 years, the idea of the book spawned over dinner with friend and fellow-school mom American Vivian Andria, who had moved to Greece from the US when she was just four, and then back again after University, in 1995.

So how did the idea of writing a book together come about? Says Andria, “Writing with another person is a matter of chemistry – you either have it or you don’t. And it certainly cannot be forced. We started this project in jest. We described characters to each other one night over wine and cheese, stretching the limits of our imagination like children. “What if a gallery owner wanted to cater an event? What is she didn’t choose the conventional hors d’oeuvres? What if a renowned art critic fell in love with a cook from Queens, who didn’t even know he was gay? What if his Ukrainian wife became the artist’s muse?”

Kelly pipes in, “We decided on a plot together and on where we wanted the characters to go. One of us would write one chapter … then the other would rip it apart and rewrite! We had a great time doing it.”

Says Vivian, “We assigned traits to our characters, from people who we know and love and we almost always agreed with each other. We didn’t want villains in the story. This was our world, our evening nights of fun and story exchange. We could create the utopia we wanted and support it throughout our plot. We crossed out each other’s lines, with no hurt feelings and added our own. We waited anxiously for each other to send back the corrected chapter. “Did Kelly take my last paragraph out? Did she find it boring and esoteric?” “Did Vivian like the dialogue or did she think it was easy comedy?” We laughed with the unexpected scenes: the Japanese couple that bought a work

of art that didn’t fit in the house, Ceasar’s Palace in Vegas made from olives, cheese and toothpicks, Pino’s first awkward date with Monroe, Nellie keeping her cool in the chaos through meditation. Who doesn’t know people like that in New York City or who wouldn’t want to read about them?

While they furiously penned their lines while the rest of the family was firmly in bed, Kelly and Vivian called, chatted, skyped and emailed their thoughts to each other. What started as a fun project before Christmas in 2010, was a complete book by June 2011.

“We only wanted to make people laugh and when one of us strayed to the darker side, usually Vivian, who experiences guilt when situations become too light-hearted, Kelly would clap her hands and say “What did we agree on? This is supposed to make people laugh. Nobody cares about our sad life experiences, there are people in a MUCH worse place than we are!”

So while the book was ready, a publisher was not. Quite like the actual creative process, their chance encounter with an Australian publisher who was holidaying on Poros led to more dinners and discussions and today the book is rated among the top 75 reads in gay literature.

And how do the authors perceive the book? “If this book can be compared to food, which we love to do, it’s your Sunday brunch with magazines and newspapers, loaded with soul food (carbs) and coffee.

If the authors can be compared to cooks, it’s two friends in a small kitchen preparing a quick meal with fresh ingredients without a cookbook. We really threw out the rulebook on this one – no conventions.

And we had fun doing it.”

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Books

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Cretan Chronicles In 1982, on a whim, the English journalist Richard Clark upped sticks and left the country of his birth to go and work as a teacher in Crete. So began a love affair with the island to which he still returns as often as possible.

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reece’s complex history and identity as a nation has long fascinated historians and travel-writers from legendary essayists such as Lawrence Durrel and Paddy Leigh Fermor to more recent bestselling authors such as Victoria Hislop. Of all the islands on Greece, Crete, its largest, has been fodder for inspiration, with its complex social codes, its unique geography as an island at the crossroads between three continents and its distinct Greek character.

Little wonder then, that Richard Clark chose Crete as the subject of his latest book, a year after penning ‘The Greek Islands – A Notebook’.

As someone who first visited Crete in the eighties, Richard Clark has witnessed first-hand the economic and social makeover the country has experienced in the past three decades. The book is a series of snapshots of Clark’s experiences on an island he has grown to cherish with recommendations, social dos and don’ts, places to cherish and pitfalls to avoid with nuggets of history and personal anecdotes thrown in for good measure.

Reflecting on Greece’s transformation, Clark observes, “Of course life has changed dramatically over those three decades socially, culturally and economically. For me what is Greece’s greatest strength is that, despite the changes over the years, many fundamentals remain as constant as the beautiful landscapes. The people are relentless in their kindness, generosity and welcome to strangers. I have never been to Greece and felt that it might be somewhere else, which cannot be said for so many other homogenized destinations worldwide.”

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An English Literature graduate who has written tens of thousands of words for publication every week for the past 35 years and as the son of a well-known novelist, it was hardly surprising that when both his children had grown up and he had some time on his hands, Richard Clark turned to writing for himself. Says Clark, “ I still work as the editor of one of the UK’s top weekly consumer magazines, TV easy, but I heeded the old axiom of writing about something you know and love when it came to working on my first book. Few books dealt with the small cultural nuances that fascinate me and, I suspect, other people who love the country so much. Many of the guide books gloss over, or don’t mention, many of the mundane aspects of the country which are the very things which make it real – and an ignorance of which makes any experience of Greece less authentic. My intention was not just to inform but also to entertain.”

Clark’s book is less of a travel guide and more of a travelling companion. Whether a regular visitor or a first time traveller there, this book provides an invaluable insight into life past and present on this exquisite island.

Clark hopes that his books would “encourage the visitor to Greece to embrace the country and enjoy the serendipitous experiences which this beautiful country provides if you let it dictate the pace of your visit there.”

Richard Clark’s Crete, a Notebook is available in Kindle and Paperback editions at www.amazon.co.uk

Properties for rent In the Ekali area of Athens, a magnificent villa of 300 sqm, built in 2000, available for rent. At the ground floor, is the living room, kitchen and office. The 1st floor consists of another living room, 3 bedrooms with bathroom. Its loft on the top has its own bedroom and bathroom. Some of the property’s advantages are its swimming pool and basketball court. Plenty of closets and storage all over the villa. Autonomous heating system and parking also available. Magnificent views of the Parnitha mountains and of Piraeus port.

In the Ekali area of Athens, a maisonette of 350sqm, built in 1988, available for rent. It total plot is 4,000 sqm of which 2,000sqm are full of pine trees. There are 4 maisonettes in total. The one that is available for rent has its own private garden area, with 2 parking places. With wooden parquet flooring throughout the house, the ground floor has a large entrance hall and a living room with fireplace. Also on the same floor are an extremely spacious kitchen and WC. The private garden can be accessed garden through all the rooms in the ground floor. On the upper floor, there are 3 bedrooms (of which 1 is the master bedroom with its own dressing room, fireplace and verandas). Additionally, there are two other bedrooms with their own bathrooms. On the basement floor, there are 2 rooms with 2 additional bathrooms.

In the most beautiful part of the Pefki area in Athens, in a very quiet neighborhood, opposite a local forest, a luxurious detached house of 200sqm, built in 2005 is available for rent. The whole property has wooden floors and there is an elevator with access to all levels. On the ground floor is the main entrance, the closed garage area (with can be transformed to an extra office area with all facilities) and a WC. On the 1st floor, is the living room with a fireplace, kitchen (Italian brand PORCELANA). On the second floor, are the 2 master bedrooms with their own bathrooms. On the top level is the loft with its own bedroom, bathroom, big verandas with BBQ and panoramic view towards the whole area. Its garden is around 70sqm. Some of its facilities are satellite TV, security system, 2 parking places, DORAL double glazing windows.

In the Dionyssos area of Athens, with magnificent view towards forests, a maisonette of 246sqm, built in 2005, is available for rent. The 76sqm ground floor has a living room, a bedroom and a big bathroom. On the 1st floor of 85sqm, is the main entrance, the main living room and fireplace, dining room, and WC. On the 2nd floor, which is also of 85sqm, there are 3 bedrooms, of which one is the master bedroom. Some of its advantages are its magnificent views towards pine forest,s security system, satellite TV, boiler.

Price: 1,600 Euros (Property Code 1083-8)

Price: 1,700 Euros (Property Code 1083-10)

Price: 2,400 Euros (Property Code 1001-158)

Price: 1,400 Euros (Property Code 1083-13)

RE/MAX Ependisi Akiniton 56 Pentelis Ave., 152 34, Chalandri Greece Tel. 210-6896940, Fax 210-6897271, Email: remax_hi@otenet.gr

insider athens | September & October 2012 23

The English Athenian

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t’s in a quintessentially English setting, far-removed from her home overlooking Vouliagmeni Bay in Athens that I’ve arranged to meet Sofka Zinovieff. In the UK to promote her novel The House on Paradise Street, the author, who has lived in Greece for more than a decade, is the VIP guest at a literary event hosted by the five-star Calcot Manor Hotel - a luxurious country house dating back to the 14th century, set amongst the rolling Cotswold hills of Gloucestershire. Not that Zinovieff is any stranger to England’s green and pleasant land.

Born and brought up in London, she is the daughter of an English mother and Russian emigré father. As a student, Zinovieff studied at Cambridge University where she graduated with a first-class degree in social anthropology – the study of how contemporary human beings behave in social groups.

And it’s that analysis that has underpinned much of her work as a writer. Her first book, Eurydice Street, a Place in Athens, was the story of her own acclimatisation to living in an adopted culture - Greece.

The Red Princess - the biography of her paternal grandmother- the remarkable story of a White Russian aristocrat who became an ardent communist in the Soviet Union.

With the American publishing house Simon and Schuster recently announcing that they are to publish The House on Paradise Street in the United States, Zinovieff’s move into fiction has taken her to her widest readership yet.

Taking the reader from the war-torn streets of 1940s Athens, to the partisans’ mountain caves of the civil war and on to the present, it’s a mustread for anyone with an interest in Greece’s past, present or future.

The story is told through the voice of Maud Perifanis, a young English anthropologist who loses her Greek husband in a mysterious car ac-

24 insider athens | September & October 2012

cident, and then hears the heart-breaking tale of her mother-in-law’s early life - caught in the brutal political tides of the Greek Civil War. Is Maud the author in disguise? “People assume I am, she’s an anthropology student who went to Greece as I did, and married a Greek, but in character we’re very different.

“She becomes much more disillusioned with Greece than I could ever be, she’s more uptight, more classically English than I am.”

It’s a tale that could only have been told by someone with an intimate knowledge of the country and a passion for its idiosyncrasies.

“It’s difficult to sum up a deep and long-lasting love in a few words,” says Zinovieff, when I ask what she loves about the country that has been her physical home for eleven years, but spiritual home for half her life.

“What attracted me in the beginning may have been the stereotypical things - the beauty, the light, the history, but when you start a life in another country you go through a kind of rebirth. You start as a baby and grow up, you become somebody else, and you see your past and your life before very differently, especially if you’re young as I was, in my early 20s.”

Zinovieff confides that one of the most liberating aspects of reflecting on her English upbringing was deliverance from the British class system. “In England, by the way someone has finished their second sentence you’re able to determine where they’re from, where they went to school, all that sort of thing. I find that very off-putting,” she says, in her very English and disarmingly precise way.

While the book invites readers to reconsider their views on Greece past and present, it particularly addresses Britain’s involvement in Greek affairs seventy years ago.

Did she set out to change hearts and minds on the subject? “I don’t

Books

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Michael Sweet meets Sofka Zinovieff in the UK to talk about her acclaimed novel The House on Paradise Street and what’s next for this celebrated Athenian author

like the idea of fiction trying to be didactic, but I did feel like opening up that area,” she says.

Depending on one’s position, as the Second World War ended, Britain either saved Greece from the evils of communism, or behaved like a brutal imperialist. Zinovieff says she doesn’t take sides but in the novel there is a deliberate inclination to explain and reveal injustices, particularly those perpetrated on the Left.

“I was surprised when I found out more about the Dekemvriana - the events in Athens in December 1944, which I found shocking. It seems to me extraordinary that within weeks of the Nazis leaving suddenly there was the British army killing the very people they had been comrades with before.”

The effect of the Civil War and the schism in society that followed it, is the underlying narrative in The House on Paradise Street and one partly inspired by her husband’s family history, “but only in the way that a spark can lead to a fire,” says Zinovieff.

“I’d been interested in the war for a very long time and then coincidentally cousins of my husband received the remains of their deceased aunt back from Romania. She had been a partisan on the Left during the war, operating near Lamia. Quite a bit of the story is set there.”

To Zinovieff, the recent infamous actions of a Greek Neo Nazi MP, is a shocking contemporary manifestation of the political dysfunction conceived during the Civil War. “To have fascists slapping communists on television is a sign of something deeply unhappy in the society. In Greece, politics is a deepseated emotional activity played out within families. Often it’s almost irrational. We’ve seen a lot of that in recent times.”

As a widely published author Zinovieff has been one of Greece’s great

defenders during a period of sustained international media criticism.

“Greeks have felt like pawns a lot in history and that was something I wanted to explore in the book,” she says. “They felt used. If you look at the crisis in recent years, yet again they feel they’ve been done down by outside powers.”

Her next book will revert to her original calling - non-fiction, once more to mine the rich seam that is her own family history. This time she is setting out to explore the story of her maternal grandfather Robert Heber-Percy, Mad Boy as he was known, who in his twenties had a remarkable and intimate relationship with the English aristocrat, diplomat and composer Lord Berners, twenty-seven years his senior. “When he met Lord Berners in the mid-1930s, my grandfather was a mad young man of 21, very good looking,” says Zinovieff.

“They met at a house party. Berners took Mad Boy back to his beautiful country - a wonderful Georgian villa in Oxfordshire. They were an unlikely couple. Berners had been a diplomat in Constantinople and Rome during the First World War. Highly cultivated and creative, he wrote music for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and had friends as varied as Igor Stravinsky, Salvador Dali, and Gertrude Stein.”

Through their remarkable lives, Zinovieff will recreate the exotic bohemian world they inhabited and reflect on the paradoxes of pre-war English cosmopolitan high-society.

“In a way the book will be about how I feel towards Berners, because to me, he’s a sort of great-grandfatherly figure, even though I never met him.”

Zinovieff’s new book is the telling of an extraordinary family history.

But then the tales told by this English Athenian author are far from ordinary fare.

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Messinean Dreams

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Hospitality Michel Cottray, Complex General Manager for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Costa Navarino on offering his guests the ultimate holiday experience and on the urgent need for Greece to reposition its image

From your stint at Monaco to General Manager of Starwood’s Costa Navarino Resort in Greece, are you living your Mediterranean dream?

Mediterranean waters are a magnet for many of us…..although I am originally a city boy, born and raised in Paris, the Mediterranean Sea is definitely an attraction. You just need to look at the clear and deep waters of the Mediterranean and you can appreciate that its shores were once the birthplace of our civilization….and are now a paradise for leisurely sailors and swimmers alike. In certain places, nothing has changed from the early days, the beauty of the Bay of Navarino or the blue waters around the “Rocher” in Monte Carlo remain spectacular… our mission is to keep that dream alive for generations to come.

After its opening in May 2010, Costa Navarino has set new standards in the hospitality industry in Greece. What in your mind is the most difficult challenge in maintaining a high reputation resort and to keep guests coming back?

The complex resort of Costa Navarino is in its third year of operation and we are blessed that many Messinian people have joined our work force and remain year on year loyal to us. The genuine hospitality that they offer, together with their work colleagues from other parts of Greece and abroad, is one of the reasons why we are welcoming

more and more repeat customers. This sense of welcoming is combined with extraordinary facilities that make a trip to Costa Navarino a unique experience.

Now, one of the challenges is the seasonality of the destination. Costa Navarino is much more than just a beach holiday spot that you visit in July or in August. It is a luxury golf destination, a spa destination, a cultural destination, a conference and incentive destination that is very enticing outside the peak season. We are working hard at attracting all-year round clientele and ensure that for whatever purpose they visit us, their experience is excellent.

The next challenge is to offer high quality service throughout the various aspects of the resort; it does not help to have a great game of golf if the activities at the Kids Club are not up to par! Consistency on all fronts is paramount!

Describe the average Costa Navarino guest. What does he seek - is it value-for-money, exceptional service, great facilities or an unforgettable experience?

There is actually no average guest in Costa Navarino. It sounds pretentious, but a guest cannot have an average experience if he has a huge panoply of activities to choose from. Coming back to the purpose of each guest’s stay, the guest will find an innovating offering that he/she

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Hospitality

was not expecting. Greece is the birthplace of philosophy. Frequent philosophy walks are organized, where guests can reflect back on the meaning of life, under the guidance of a university professor. You are wondering on how nutrition is affecting our lives, join our cooking classes and learn about the Omega diet from acclaimed domestic and overseas chefs. You are travelling with very young or teenage children, you’ll find one of the most comprehensive childcare facilities and activities that a Mediterranean resort can offer….this is not average.

What do you look for, personally, in a holiday experience?

In our busy lives where time to unwind is getting more and more rare and precious, one should be looking at a resort where all is made to make your stay easy and hassle free. Consistently asking for things is not my idea of relaxation. But since we are all “connected”, you should also be able to get access to reliable internet broadband access anywhere you are at the resort, from your balcony to the last corner of a lounge.

What is the one thing that would make or break your stay at a hotel?

I am peculiar on food. Not that I need a huge choice although here we offer from Lebanese to Pan-Asian, Greek to Italian – the quality of the ingredients and the preparation of the recipes should be authentic. I

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am not sure if this is the right word, but I would say that even a simple pizza margarita should taste authentic while sushi is not only a slice of raw fish on some steamed rice.

What in your opinion has been the biggest fallout of the crisis on the tourism industry? What policy changes would you like to be implemented?

The hospitality industry, as any other business, experiences cycles.

Nowadays, cycles are however shorter and shorter, as on the world scene there is every day something new happening that affects tourism. There are constant shifts of needs and behaviours and we need to adapt quickly to situations if we do not want to be overrun. If we look at some countries in the Southern Mediterranean that were under the so-called Arab Spring last year, they are now enjoying substantial rebound in visitor numbers, like in Tunisia this summer. Here in Greece, a mature holiday destination that has so much to go for, we first need to give reassurance to the world that the country is safe to travel, that the infrastructures are working and that guests of all parts of the world remain welcome. The words need to go out. That should be accompanied by a new repositioning of the image of Greece. A repositioning that shall not stop at the launch of a new slogan, but a profound renaissance of the way we truly play our role as hosts.

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There will be a draw for a trip to Thailand, offered by Travel Plan & Etihad Airways.

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Je suis un fan Mandarin Oriental, Paris has just celebrated its first birthday. An oasis of contemporary luxury in the bustling heart of the fashionable Saint-Honoré district, to stay at this hotel is to savour modern Parisian style with a refined infusion of the Orient, writes Michael Sweet.

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aris Fashion Week was in full swing when our taxi plied its way slowly up the bustling narrow Rue Saint-Honoré to deposit us at the coolly understated entrance of Mandarin Oriental, Paris. Tucked between two grand old town houses, the approach to the lobby beneath a canopy of tiny glass lights - each sculpted as a butterfly - gives a first clue as to what’s in store. Inside the main lobby with its soaring grey marble columns and floor-to-ceiling windows, there’s a second; a sculpture of a human form in circles suspended in space.

We’ve arrived at a place of air and light - a location to free the body and soul.

The hotel’s design style takes its inspiration from the richness and modernity of the 1930s and Art Deco. The original building dates from 1928, and its 138 rooms and suites on eight floors are amongst the most spacious hotel rooms in Paris.

30 insider athens | September & October 2012

The welcome, like that experienced at all the group’s hotels was distinctive; warm and efficient. With all the fabulous creature comforts, it’s so often the staff, brought up in the unique Mandarin Oriental tradition, that makes staying at any of the group’s hotels a deliciously warm and memorable experience.

We were graciously guided to room 514, a Suite Deluxe consisting of bedroom, bathroom, lounge and balcony overlooking the Rue Saint Honoré. With sliding doors separating its three areas and floor-toceiling windows, it’s a large fluid space impeccably stylish and exquisitely furnished. Chic oriental touches and bold contemporary art, exude a feeling of understated contemporary glamour and luxurious exclusivity. “Look dad, it comes with its own iPad!” squealed my eightyear-old son son in glee.

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The cutting-edge technology to hand, is of course bespoke - Bang & Olufsen as well as Apple, and three discretely-positioned widescreen TVs - including one seamlessly part of the wall in the stunning bathroom - offer a stunning level of entertainment technology. My only concern was how would I ever get my son to leave this cocoon of luxurious technically advanced comfort.

The indoor pool was the answer. Part of the deeply tranquil retreat that is the hotel’s spa where subtle animated projections of butterflies in flight create a dreamlike world. Extending over two floors, the 900 square metre spa is one of the city’s largest.

Within this subterranean sanctuary, therapies developed by specialists in traditional Chinese medicine promote complete mind-body harmony. Evocatively titled treatments include Hu-Tieh Quan (the Butterfly Spring): a bath of warming ginger, uplifting mandarin and sacred frankincense followed by a soothing body mask and massage.

If all that holistic pampering makes you hungry, the hotel has two restaurants under the watchful eye of one of France’s most celebrated chefs - Thierry Marx, MO Paris’ Executive Chef; the gourmet Michelin-starred Sur Mesure par Thierry Marx, and Camélia, an all-day restaurant offering French cuisine influenced by Marx’s love and knowledge of Japan.

insider athens | September & October 2012 31

All photos by George Apostolidis

Spilling into an elegant courtyard garden, Camélia is also the venue for the sumptuous buffet breakfast: just what’s needed if you have designs on some serious retail fashion therapy.

The Rue Saint-Honoré is the heart of Paris haute couture and home to the world’s most famous fashion brands - Versace, Hermes, Chanel and Yves Saint Lauren, as well as newer kids on the block like the edgy Colette ‘concept’ store. They are all on your doorstep at Mandarin Oriental, Paris.

Whether you’re buying or just indulging in ‘lèche-vitrines’ (window shopping in French - literally ‘window-licking’), a stroll on the Rue Saint-Honoré is an experience not to be missed. But then if you simply want to pamper yourself chez Mandarin Oriental, the hotel has a fabulous optional extra that adds a new dimension to Parisian retail therapy. Not only will the concierge find any item you’ve set your heart on, but will arrange free pick-up and delivery to your room.

An up, close and personal encounter with Parisian history in all its magnificence is something that can’t be delivered - but it’s wonderfully close. Sitting in the capital’s premier arrondissement, you’re a five-minute stroll from two landmark Parisian squares - Place de la Concorde and Place Vendome. My son was less-enamoured with highfashion and history but rather with simpler local delights. We headed

32 insider athens | September & October 2012

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to the Tuileries - the seventeenth century gardens that make up the central-most park in Paris; they have a funfair that he adored almost as much as our beloved suite.

Eurostar had whisked us in to Paris from London. We were there 48 hours, just enough time to scale the Eiffel Tower [tip: avoid long queues by getting there by 9.30am and walk the first two stages], take a boat trip along the Seine and of course, indulge in a touch of that retail therapy unique to the French capital.

Mandarin Oriental, Paris exemplifies modern, rather than classic, luxury, and it does so breathtakingly. The butterfly, that delicate emblem of rebirth and fleeting freedom runs discreetly throughout this sublime hotel; it’s a symbol that could not be more fitting for this oasis of chic refinement.

While only the fortunate few might be able to make a Suite Deluxe at the Mandarin Oriental their regular pied de terre in the French capital, for any discerning traveller every space here is an oasis to savour - a place to rest for exquisite nourishment before spreading your wings again.

Michael Sweet was a guest of Mandarin Oriental, Paris.

insider athens | September & October 2012 33

An endless summer Renee Pappas discovers a tiny Ionian gem, Paleros and shares her finds with Athens insider.

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his year I discovered on Greece’s west coast, on the Ionian Sea, a place where summer holds forth nearly all year thanks to a coastal range of mountains that shields it from the cold north winds that batter the rest of north-western Greece.

centre during the early Byzantine Empire. It went into decline in the 13th century and was abandoned, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has some of the finest Roman and early Christian mosaics in Greece.

Paleros sits on the mainland across from the islands of Ithaca, Cephalonia and Lefkada. In 31 B.C. Octavius Ceasar (later known as Augustus) moved the population to his newly built city, Nikopolos, (the City of Victory) to celebrate and commemorate his defeat of Anthony and Cleopatra’s fleet the previous year at the Battle of Actium .

Konstantinos Rokofyllos has been coming to the area since the 1980’s when his parents built a vacation home about a half hour up the coast.

He received a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science and a Master’s Degree in Marketing Management at the Grande Ecole ESSEC in Paris.

He returned to Greece and was involved in industries as diverse as paper and tobacco. He then became General Manager of Venue Operations for the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games of 2004.

Five years ago he left Athens to pursue a dream in a place that he loved.

Nikopolis prospered during the first three centuries of the Roman Empire and became an important administrative and ecclesiastical

34 insider athens | September & October 2012

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His company, Paleros Dream Homes, has built a number of villas and apartments which are perfect for vacationers and are being snapped up by savvy Greeks and foreigners. Beautifully furnished and welldesigned they are a major cut above the usual cracker box structures that characterize most Greek developments.

By next summer the various sections of the Athens/Partras and Egnatia and Ionian highways will be connected and the trip from Athens should be cut down by an hour. This accessibility is what makes it so attractive to foreigners….no mater what the weather or the haphazardness of the ferry boat schedule you can get to where you want on your own time.

The villas feature a fireplace, teak wood doors and windows, and beautifully appointed bathrooms; while outside there is shaded banquette seating, a bar-b-que and infinity pool. The apartments include studios, one and two bedroom units grouped around a central courtyard with a large wooden decked pool.

The area is a sailor’s paradise and has attracted enthusiasts from as far away as New Zealand and Australia. The Brits, Germans and Scandinavians are all well represented. Meanwhile the Italians cross the Adriatic in ferry boats from Brindisi and Ancona .

Two years ago he opened Wood and Stone, a marvellous shop which features furniture, accessories, and even art, for those in need of furnishing their vacation homes. Frankly I’ve not seen a store in Athens which carries such a sophisticated, yet affordable collection of home furnishings.

Brad Trusler is the head of Sunsail yachting charters in Greece, with headquarters in Paleros and branches in Epidaurus, Volos and Athens.

Sunsail is a division of Tui Marine and the parent company also owns a 90 room hotel in Paleros, Vounaki, which enables them to offer travellers one week on land and one week at sea vacations.

In addition, Rokofyllos operates the Yacht Club at Paleros harbour and has created a venue for tourists and locals alike. Good food, great cocktails and well chosen music, make a popular destination from the morning through the late evening. There is live music several nights a week and radio DJ beach parties on weekends. The atmosphere is laid back and many people take advantage of the wifi to check their emails and skype their friends and family back home.

An architect by trade, Trusler made a career change after a 1988 sailing holiday which took him to Greece and Turkey. After spending a year travelling around Greece he joined the company in 1989 and made his base Lefkada. He declares that Paleros/Lefkada is the best cruising area for sailing in the Mediterranean and that the number of easily accessible verdant islands makes the excursions extremely unique and enjoyable.

Paleros has the advantage of being less than a half hour away from an international airport, the Preveza/Lefkada/Actio airport has charter flights from all major European cities and scheduled flights should begin in the near future.

Sunsail has its’ own 70 berth marina and 120 boats. They begin operations at the beginning of May and close down at the end of October.

Trusler believes that with the addition of activities like golfing and tennis, the season could be extended by at least a month in both directions.

insider athens | September & October 2012 35

His wife, Mandy, agrees and adds that the winter months are full of activities nearby like hiking, rafting; while a few hours away are the ski slopes of Parnassos. “None of my friends can believe that I learned to ski in Greece”.

London born and bred, the former ballerina took a sailing course in Portsmouth and after seeing at advert on the tube for a Sunsail vacation, applied for a job. She was hired a week later and arrived in Paleros where she held down the position of flotilla hostess for several years and now manages the marina.

After their marriage, Brad and Mandy built their own home and reside year round except for holiday visits to their families in South Africa and England. They find the climate benign and the people friendly and welcoming.

George Davison hails from Newscastle, England and has worked for Sun Sail for four years, in addition to sailing he points out that the area is also ideal for other water sports. Davison calls Vasiliki Bay on

36 insider athens | September & October 2012

Lefkada the “mecca for windsurfing in Europe” because of the crosswinds that blow consistently. At the same time water skiing at Paleros is superb because of the calm waters.

For those who prefer the underwater world, Paleros has several diving schools. Antonios Raptis was a chef who changed professions when he took a diving lesson, got hooked, and started Ionian Scuba. Raptis states that the crystal clear waters of Paleros provide good visibility while there is interesting micro marine life and many coves and small islands to explore.

Although Raptis abandoned his career as a chef, his family has operated a restaurant since 1982. The Old Mill Tavern was located in an old flour mill and featured local specialities by his mother, Cathy. When the old mill burned down in 1997 his parents decided to rebuild and now his mother and sister, Mache, run the New Mill Tavern.

The courtyard is filled with flowers and overhanging vines, while the interior is decorated with old farm implements and tools. Their guest

Travel

These are the days of the endless summer These are the days, the time is now There is no past, there’s only future There’s only here, there’s only now. books feature testimonies from two decades of happy diners including mega-chefs Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver.

Van Morrison.”These are the Days”

Down on the Beach Road, Anna’s Psarotaverna (fish taverna) features the catch of the day and traditional dishes like fried zucchini balls and stuffed tomatoes, as well as an extensive list of grilled meats. Each time we ate there, Anna came out to inquire if we had enjoyed our dinner.

Taverna Koutavos is on the road from Paleros to Pogonia. It is a traditional taverna with large spits slow cooking locally raised lamb and fowl. In addition to its’ extensive menu of grilled and pit roasted meats they feature Greek comfort foods like moussaka and oven baked vegetables. Tables are set on a huge terrace under a canopy of trees.

When I left Paleros I decided to take the coast road south towards Astakos which rises and hugs the mountain…it reminded me of Big Sur…a beautiful, winding journey by the sea. This is a truly enchanting area, a real treasure on the west coast of Greece.

insider athens | September & October 2012 37

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Latte per il corpo, Santa Maria Novella

Fine Wool Jacket in bright green, American Vintage

Dr Brandt, Dark Spots no more Serum Concentre, Sephora Knotted Bow leather glove in red, Accessorize

Katy Mixed Fabric bow ballerinas, Accessorize

Stylish umbrella in colourful patterns, Cromia

insider athens | September & October 2012 39

AGORA 40 insider athens | September & October 2012

Eau de Perfume, Fame by Lady Gaga, available at Sephora

Wool Jacket for men in red, American Vintage

Sapone alla Mandorla, Santa Maria Novella

Cabas Rouge, Longchamp Aqua di Colonia Melograno, Santa Maria Novella

Dj Teddy cuddliest I-pod and I-phone dock with two speakers, project Greece

Volumizing Hand Treatment Strivectin S-D, available at Sephora

Stores

• Longchamp: Voukourestiou 6, Sintagma, 210 325 8750 • Accessorize: Ermou 42, 210 3317 780

• American Vintage: Kolokotroni 7 Kifissia, 210 801 9110.

• MCM: Motiva, www.motiva.gr, 210 723 9974 • Cromia: Motiva, www.motiva.gr, 210 723 9974

• Hermes: Voukourestiou 1, 210 323 37 15, www.hermes.com • Santa Maria Novella: Eleni Marneri Galleri, Lembesi 5-7 Makrigianni, 210 861 9488, 210 866 8195

• Project PR: O’ CLOCKS- Greece/Project Music Life and Play : Balzane Mouton, Longchamp

Arxipelagos 36/ G.Genemata 75 211 0134343, • Alviero Martini: www.alvieromartini.it • Sephora: www.mysephora.gr

insider athens | September & October 2012 41

Greek football tackling the crisis

Graham Wood discusses the opportunity that is knocking for Greece’s young talent pool of footballers in the midst of the economic crisis with recently-appointed Super League president Giannis Moralis.

‘I

n a crisis, there are always opportunities’, is a popular mantra constantly bandied about by politicians, various media observers and the optimists as Greece continues to struggle amid the spectre of the economic crisis.

Few truly believe in it, but one man who does is Giannis Moralis, the president of Greece’s top flight football division, the Super League.

Moralis has the unenviable task of helping to lead the clubs out of the toughest year the league has faced but while he knows the problems are severe he also believes there is a clear chance for home-grown players to take centre stage and thrive.

“The crisis has exacerbated the problems for all clubs but I am a firm believer that it has brought us opportunities and the basic and most interesting prospect for Greek football is that we can focus on financial stability and the development of Greek players,” Moralis told Insider. “Certainly this is the most difficult year in the history of the Super League, but from our side we will continue to try to find the best solutions for all 16 teams.”

It is no secret that hard times have befallen sport in Greece in recent months, a recent high-profile example being the Olympic team which had to rely on IOC solidarity funds for the preparations of elite athletes due to blanket budget cuts in state spending for sport.

What is currently happening to the domestic football scene offers a further stark example, with the majority of the country’s top flight teams facing severe hardship as the knock-on effects of the crisis have left them in a daily battle for survival.

Indeed, Super League clubs have almost halved their spending on play-

42 insider athens | September & October 2012

er contracts this season with even bigger clubs such as Panathinaikos, AEK Athens and PAOK Thessaloniki making huge cuts to stay afloat.

AEK – who have struggled for months with unpaid debts and who saw an entire first-team squad virtually sold off and released during the transfer window –have slashed their wage bill to just over a third of what they were paying players last season.

Even champions Olympiakos Pireaus, despite being backed by the financial clout of shipping magnate Vangelis Marinakis, have reduced spending on player contracts by 21.7 percent this term. Their outlay of 18 million euros still dwarfs the spending of other Greek clubs, however, with Panathinaikos the second biggest spenders on 8.8 million with Kerkyra on the tightest budget of just 600,000 euros.

The financial situation is so acute that only the combined intervention of the Super League and the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) at the last moment helped to avoid the postponement of the start of the season on August 25.

Moralis admitted that huge reductions in sponsorship deals have only added to the problem.

“In the 2010-11 season the Super League received 17m euros from OPAP, this amount was reduced to just 5.5m in the 11-12 season, while the amount for the current season is 8.5m,” commented Moralis.

“The reduction was utterly illogical for us. In a crisis we accept that you can make reductions up to 30 even 40 percent but not close to 70 precent. It was a wrong decision by OPAP and we hope to get a better deal when the renewal agreement is made next summer.”

This all means that the days of big money, high-profile foreign players

Sports

like Rivaldo, Djibril Cisse, Gilberto Silva and Eidur Gudjohnsen joining Greek clubs on lucrative contracts are over, but it is also ushering in a new era of relying on domestic talent - which is a welcome change for Moralis.

“For 10 years the top flight teams have been spending beyond their means and I think the reduction of budgets as a start is an obligatory and correct response,” said Moralis, who also believes that it can only be positive that the days of overspending on expensive foreign players are long gone.

He added: “Those kinds of transfers belong in the past and it is time for clubs to operate with a budget relative to their income. In the past we have seen clubs overspending on big names simply to keep fans happy.

At this time we have to operate with an entirely different logic and supporters must get used to the fact that not now, and not perhaps for another 5-8 years will we get close to the level of top European leagues.”

“The country is going through such a serious crisis, not just in football and sport, but in every aspect of daily life. That is why we have to choose a different road. Fans cannot expect to see those kinds of players in the Greek championship and for me it would also be a big mistake for owners to go down this road.”

“We have to have patience, and take a look at the young Greek players coming through in order to ensure a positive future for the game.”

Greek clubs have had to give younger players a chance as consequence, with the average age of Super League squads for the 2012/13 season at an all-time low of 23.9 years. In addition, on the first weekend of the season, 66 percent of players were Greek, compared with

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50 percent last season, while there has been a 27 percent reduction in foreign players overall.

Another statistic which surprised many was that for the first time since 1990, a match featured teams made up entirely of Greek players as financially-embattled Panionios played Aris Thessaloniki in their opening fixtures.

Although the clubs face acute financial problems, the national team continues to thrive at all levels.

Greece reached the Euro 2012 quarter-finals and the under-19s’ appearance in the European Championship final, where they lost narrowly to Spain, shows the potential.

“The national team at every level is not only healthy but is absolutely competitive with other European countries,” said Moralis. “For such a small country with a population of only 11 million people, and with the economic and social problems we have faced, over the past decade Greece has achieved a lot. The Euro 2004 win, an appearance at the 2010 World Cup and the quarter-final place at Euro 2012 shows the talent is there.”

Moralis is optimistic that the new financial reality means that no teams will drop out of the Super league during the season, despite concerns that there could be a few casualties should clubs failed with stricter financial controls and obtaining the necessary paperwork.

“From here onwards the fate of the clubs is in their own hands,” he said. “It will be exceptionally difficult for some teams... and it worries us but we’ll do our utmost to make sure that since we started with 16 teams we’ll see 16 teams finish.”

insider athens | September & October 2012 43

Wellness

Dancing one’s way to fitness At Stage Just Dance, the accent is on bringing the innate goodness of an art-form that has positive associations of feeling good and enjoying oneself to counter the rigours of following a disciplined exercise routine. A harmonious blend of dance and fitness have members not just looking good but feeling good too.

The Idea: For Carolina Economou, the idea of setting up her own Pilates studio began long ago when she was still studying at the London Contemporary School of Dance. Back then, as a professional dancer, and with hours of daily practice, she started practicing Pilates as a way to prevent injuries.

Experiencing the impressive results Pilates had on her silhouette and her health, she decided to establish her own personal studio in Greece in 2008. (The new studio at Nea Erythrea follows the increased demand from the previous studio she used to have) The Studio: A spacious, bright, renovated space, fully equipped with cutting edge specific equipment for Pilates offering programmes for all levels (beginners-intermediate-advanced), as well as for pregnant women, kids or even athletes suffering from sports injuries.

The Team: Greek Carolina brings her years of experience as a contemporary and modern dancer to the studio while French Stephanie who trained as a classical ballet dancer and Natalia who trained in Russian ballet, modern jazz and contemporary dance at St Petersburg share their intimate passion for dance and fitness.

All three of them are trained Pilates instructors and have several years of experience teaching Pilates. Little wonder then, that the sessions at the studio not only encourage members to move gracefully but also indirectly help them have a positive self-perception of their bodies.

A key to being cutting-edge is to train and attend seminars and all three of them have participated and trained with the top instructors world over.

Programmes/ Activities: Apart from Pilates, the studio offers: Zumba, Latin, ballroom, tango, Greek dances, modern jazz, street jazz, Oriental dance, Yoga, musicals etc. Classes are conducted privately or in groups.

Contact: Stage Just Dance, Tatoiou 102 Nea Erythrea tel. 210 6208000 email: stagedance@me.com site: www.stagedance.gr

44 insider athens | September & October 2012

On the town

Mellow moments at Yellow Stone Athens Insider discovers a cosy bar done up in hues of gold and earthy red, with an eclectic mix of blues, funk, soul and jazz music to accompany a terrific range of cocktails.

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hen Tanzania-born Melina Eftasiou decided to set up a cozy chillout zone in Nea Erithrea, the unanimous name that she and her friends came up with was Yellow Stone. Named after the largest volcano in the world, the Yellow Stone Park in the US has been dormant for over 600,000 years. While the bar doesn’t send one into a state of hibernation, it certainly is a mellow counterpoint to the thumping beats of noisier clubs in the neighbourhood.

The Yellow Stone’s clientele are essentially 30 to 40 somethings and both the cocktails and the music are geared toward encouraging a free flow of conversation amongst friends without having to scream over the music to be heard. The music is mainly jazz, funk, soul, Rhythm & Blues, Rock & Roll and swing. A star mixologist concocts special cocktails over the weekends including the bar’s signature Yellow Stone cocktail.

Melina intends to build on the nocturnal success of the Yellow Stone by doubling up as a café and salad bar by day.

Yellow Stone Cafe, Harilaou Trikoupi 144, Nea Erithrea.

insider athens | September & October 2012 45

A Place to Meat At Meat Square & Bar in Halandri, the emphasis is definitely on prized cuts and perfect sears with a touch of Italian flair. A gloriously sunlit atrium ideal for drinks after work and a spectacular garden with palms, olive trees and Mediterranean fauna add to its appeal.

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cow-sized cow in red greets commuters on Athens’ arterial Kifissias Avenue as they drive past Meat Square & Bar. Once in, even more miniature cows join in the parade. Other sculptures and super-sized candelabras jostle for pride of place. Recently bought and managed by Cyprus-based Food Investment Company, a group with years of experience in the hospitality sector, the investors intend to demonstrate their faith and confidence in the Greek economy with even more commitments in the Greek gastronomic industry. The idea is to run the highly competitive restaurant business profitably by focusing on service, authenticity of ingredients and keeping prices low.

46 insider athens | September & October 2012

Restaurant review

Anthimos Ziogas, the communications manager for the group expands, “We want our clients to come in, have a great meal and spend a pleasant evening – without having to break a bank.”

Meat Square & Bar in Halandri is housed in a beautiful neo-classical house with one of its best features being a stunning secret garden tucked at the back. This verdant oasis acts as a counterpoint to the concrete, corporate jungle that surrounds the restaurant. The sprawling exterior can seat upto 200 and its billowing gazebos and fountains lend it an almost fairy-tale feel.

Ziagos describes the Meat Square & Bar as “a cosmopolitan environment with quality music, great food and a very special clientele.” The cuisine, on which the restaurant has built a stellar reputation, is inspired by Italian and Greek recipes and its succulent steaks and ribeyes continue to have a loyal following.

A meal here is priced between 20 to 30 euros but just to give an indication, an authentic Napolitan pizza is priced at just 7 euros while a Spaghetti Pomodoro is listed at a nominal 6 euros. Sensitive to the current economic climate, the restaurant has also created a business lunch menu priced very reasonably at 16 euros.

Split into eating and lounging sections with a long bar stretched across, the restaurant lends itself to different moods, depending on the hour of the day. Cocktails include regular mojitos, margeritas and cosmopolitans but for the bold and beautiful, the choice extends to cucumber martinis and passion fruit squares.

Meat Square & Bar, Kifissias Ave 300, Halandri.

Tel: 210 683 1300 Open daily from 1.30pm to midnight

insider athens | September & October 2012 47

Gastronomy

Trattoria treats A value-for-money Italian trattoria with a distinct Napolitan flavour, Mangiamo prides itself on its hand-made pastas, pizzas and grills.

P

art of the Meat Square family, Mangiamo is an authentic Italian trattoria that combines the best of Italian gastronomy with the rich bounties of the Greek soil and Meat Square’s well earned reputation as a great stop for premium meats.

The accent is on authentic ingredients culled from the nooks and corners of Italy from cherry tomatoes that grow on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius to mozzarella and real Parma ham. With Argentinean rib-eyes, T-bones and Angus steaks, oven-fired pizzas, freshly made pastas and risotti, Mangiamo provides a wholesome dining experience. With crisisfriendly prices, estimate for around 15 euros per person including a glass of house wine from the Harlafti Estate.

Desserts include Italian staples such as tiramisu and pannacotta and for those who’d like to stay in, Mangiamo also delivers to your doorstep.

Stamatas Ave. 5, Drossia. Tel: 210 8004700.

Open from Mondays to Friday from 3 pm to midnight and on weekends from 1pm to midnight.

48 insider athens | September & October 2012

Insider guide refer to corresponding area for more information and contact details

restaurant index by type AMERICAN JACKSON HALL Kolonaki TGI FRIDAY’S Kolonaki

ARGENTINEAN ORO TORO Vouliagmeni

ASIAN Far East Glyfada Golden Phoenix Halandri Wagamama Maroussi

BAR - RESTAURANTS Apsendi Halandri BACARO Omonia BALTHAZAR Mavili Sq BARAONDA Mavili Sq Eclipse Kolonaki KITCHEN BAR Faliro & Halandri FRAME Kolonaki GINGER Mavili Sq ISLAND Vouliagmeni NIXON Kerameikos SEMIRAMIS RESTAURANT Kifissia SHOWROOM Kolonaki

FISH RESTAURANTS Ai Nikolas Syngrou CAPTAIN JOHN’S Piraeus ITHAKI Vouliagmeni JIMMY AND THE FISH Piraeus KASTELORIZO Kifissia Kollias Syngrou LA PECHE Glyfada MILOS Hilton MYTHOS OF THE SEA Vouliagmeni PAPADAKIS Kolonaki PLOUS PODILATOU Piraeus Psaroma Halandri THALATTA Gazi TO VAROULKO Kerameikos ZEFYROS Piraeus

FISH TAVERNAS Almyra Halandri DOURAMBEIS Piraeus Ichthyes Kifissia KOLLIAS Piraeus MAISTRALI Vouliagmeni PSARAKI Vouliagmeni TRATA O STELIOS Pangrati VASSILENAS Piraeus

FRENCH L’ABREUVOIR Kolonaki LE PETIT SOMMELIER Faliro SPONDI Pangrati TARTARE Glyfada VARDIS Kifissia

GOURMET Bo Botrini’s Halandri KUZINA Thissio Eclipse Kolonaki Fuga Mavili Square Funky Gourmet Kerameikos P-Box Kolonaki Polly Magoo Metaxurgeio PremiEre Syngrou

GREEK 2 MAZI Plaka ATHIRI Kerameikos Berdema Kifissia CUCINA POVERA Pangrati DAKOS Kolonaki DIPORTO Psyrri EDODI Acropolis FASOLI Exarhia IDEAL Omonia KARAVITIS Pangrati KAVOURAS Exarhia MANI MANI Acropolis PLATANOS Plaka PROSOPA Gazi TO KOUTI Monastiraki YANTES Exarhia YDRIA Plaka

GRILL 1920 Halandri Meat Square Glyfada & Halandri Meatropoleos 3 Syntagma Telemachos Barbeque Club Kifissia

INDIAN Indian Kitchen Syntagma Indian Masala Thissio ISKANDAR Alimos JAIPUR PALACE Maroussi

INTERNATIONAL Ache Glyfada Gefsis Me Onomasia Proelefsis Kifissia

ITALIAN AGLIO OLIO Acropolis ACQUA AZZURA Kifissia AL BACIO Vouliagmeni AL FRESCO Vouliagmeni AL MILANESE Kolonaki ALTRO Kolonaki BOSCHETTO Kolonaki CANTUCCIO Psyrri DA VINCI Ag. Paraskevi DVLCIS IN FVNDO Voula GENOVESE Voula LA CASA DI GIORGINO Gyfada IL SEGRETO Voula Il Tinello Faliro Mauzac Maroussi Matilde Pizza Bar Gazi MEZZA LUNA Vouliagmeni MULTI 22 Syntagma Nanninela Ag. Paraskevi Pausa Maroussi Piazza Mela Kifissia, Novo Romantico di Antonio Halandri SALE E PEPE Kolonaki SCALA VINOTECA Kolonaki TONY BONANO Piraeus VINCENZO Glyfada

JAPANESE COO Kolonaki DOSIRAK Syntagma FAR EAST Syntagma

FREUD ORIENTAL Kolonaki FURIN KAZAN Syntagma GOLDEN PHOENIX Kifissia INBI Kolonaki KIKU Kolonaki MATSUHISA ATHENS Vouliagmeni NOODLE BAR Syntagma SHOGUN Kifissia Square Sushi Kolonaki KOL TUV Monastiraki

LEBANESE BEIRUT Glyfada NARA NARA Psyrri NARGILE Kifissia

Aneton Maroussi

ROOFTOP DINING

SOUVLAKIA AND KEBAB

MEDITERRANEAN Alatsi Hilton Apla Kifissia BEREKET Glyfada BRACHERA Monastiraki BYZANTINE RESTAURANT Hilton CAFE AVYSSINIAS Monastiraki CAFE BOHEME Kolonaki CAFE TABAC Vouliagmeni Common Secret Kifissia DalI Halandri DAPHNE’S RESTAURANT Plaka DORIS Monastiraki FATSIO Pangrati GB CORNER Syntagma GRILL ROOM Vouliagmeni HYTRA Plaka IDEAL RESTAURANT Omonia KITRINO PODILATO Gazi KOUZINA CINE-PSIRRI Psyrri MAGEMENOS AVLOS Pangrati Mauzac Kifissia MEIDANIS Monastiraki OCHRE & BROWN Psyrri Olio by Portofino Ag. Paraskevi PARLIAMENT Syntagma PRYTANEION Kolonaki PSARAKI Vouliagmeni RATKA Kolonaki TA KIOUPIA Kolonaki TO KOUTI Monastiraki ZEPHYROS Piraeus ZORBAS Piraeus

MEXICAN

RETRO

ELECTRA Plaka GALAXY BAR Hilton IOANNIS Syntagma LE GRAND BALCON Kolonaki ORIZONTES LYKAVYTTOU Kolonaki ST’ASTRA Mavili Sq

KOSHER

AMIGOS Glyfada DOS HERMANOS Kifissia EL TACO BUENO Maroussi Santa Fe Halandri

PUB RESTAURANTS BAYERN BIERHAUS MICROBREWERY Glyfada BEER ACADEMY glyfada MOLLY MALONE’S Glyfada

BUTCHER’S SHOP Gazi DREAM GRILL Voula Gourounakia Kifissias Kifissia KALAMAKI KOLONAKI Kolonaki KILIZA Glyfada NAIADES Voula SAVVAS Monastiraki SCHARA Vouliagmeni SIGALAS-BAIRAKTARIS Monastiraki Souvlaki Bar Thissio THANASSIS Monastiraki Tike Kifissia

SPANISH Barceloneta Kifissia PUERTA DE ESPANA Pangrati SALERO Exarhia

TAVERNAS FILIPOU Kolonaki LOUIZIDIS Vouliagmeni MAMACAS Gazi Meat Me Kifissia O Tzitzikas Ki O Mermigas Kifissia SKOUFIAS Exarhia VLASSIS Hilton

THAI ROYAL THAI Kifissia

VEGETARIAN Avocado Syntagma

WINE BARS L’Enoteca Halandri Whispers of wine Maroussi

Westin Kids Club

MEZEDES AND OUZO ATHINAIKON Omonia KIRKI Thissio OUZADIKO Kolonaki SCHOLARHEIO Plaka

MULTI ETHNIC Altamira Kolonaki

POLYNESIAN

Register Now!

210.890.2000

KONA KAI Syngrou

insider athens | September & October 2012 49

Insider guide SHOP Gifts Greece is for Lovers

Peperonicino

Porinou 13 , Tel: 210.921.1801 Authentic Italian pasta in a cozy setting, accompanied by luscious salads and homemade dolci

Prosopa

Valtetsiou 51, Tel: 210.381.3358 Spanish and mediterranean cuisine in the heart of Exarhia

Meg. Vasiliou 52 & Konstantinoupoleos 4 Tel: 210.341.3433, Delicious dishes in a warm atmosphere right beside the train tracks. A popular gay haunt.

Lontou 4, Tel: 210.382.8206 Exceptional entrees you are unlikely to find elsewhere

Yantes

Vitonos 5, Tel: 210.346.4204 Fresh seafood creations

Valtetsiou 44, Tel: 210.330.1369 Modern Greek cuisine prepared with organic ingredients. 20 Euros per person

DRINK Bars, Clubs & Lounges

SHOP Syllektiko Paleopolio Asklipiou 41, Tel: 210.364.1718 Antiques of all sorts and restoration services

Vinyl Microstore Didotou 34, Tel: 210.361.4544 New vinyls & cds; also reissues from the 60s & more

Yesterday's Bread Kallidromiou 87-89, Tel: 210.881.1233 Imported second-hand clothes; individuality guaranteed

DRINK Circus Bar Navarinou 11, Tel: 210.361.5255 Attracts a hip and happening crowd in a cozy space

Ginger Ale

Fasoli Emanouil Benaki 45 , Tel: 210.330.0010 A great meal in an uplifting environment

Kavouras Themistokleous 64, Tel: 210.381.0202 Dine while enjoying live Rebetika music

Andronikou 4, Tel: 210.342.4994 A staple of Athenian nightlife

Grande Dame

Arahovas 56 & Themistokleous Tel: 210.383.5811, One of the oldest summer cinemas in Athens is a picturesque place for a retro-tinged drink

EAT Persefonis 19, Tel: 210.341.3440 Traditional psistaria serving grilled meat dishes

Mamacas Persefonis 41, Tel: 210.346.4984 Modern taverna located in an old barrel warehouse offering traditional Greek fare

Matilde Pizza Bar

Veikou 80 , Tel: 210.921.3013 Fresh ingredients presented at your table, then cooked to perfection

Constantinoupoleos 44, Tel: 210 3411878 Authentic Italian cuisine in a cosy setting

Mani Mani

Kitrino Podilato

50 insider athens | September & October 2012

Barouge

Vox

Beles 1 and Androutsou Tel: 210.924.7655 Raisin bread, almond shortbread, yummy cookies & tasty loaves

Falirou 10. Tel: 210.921.8180 Peloponnesian specialities with Mediterranean touches

Triptolemou 12, Tel: 210.347.4763 Lounge in a modern atmosphere while listening to music from around the world

Dirty Ginger

Asimenia Bakery

Edodi

Almaz

Themistokleous 74, Tel: 210.330.1246 Enjoy a cocktail or a coffee in a retro pop atmosphere

Butcher’s Shop

EAT

Mani Mani

Thalatta

Keramikou 116, Tel: 210.346.5830 Mediterranean cuisine in a modern industrial atmosphere

Triptolemou 46, Tel: 210.342.3809 Excellent cocktails Persefonis 23, Tel: 210.341.6412 Chic bar serving elaborate champagne cocktails

Nipiagogeio Elasidon & Kleanthous 8 Tel: 210.345.8534, For late-night dancing to funky electronic music

Villa Mercedes Andronikou & Tzaferi 11 Tel: 210.342.2380 Mega club ideal for all-night dancing

Live Greek Music Athinon Arena Pireos 166, Tel: 210.347.1111 The latest in live Greek music acts

Hilton

Aglio Olio &

Salero

Gazi

EAT

Central Athens

Skoufias

Exarhia

Karyatidon 13A Tel: 210.924.5064 www.greeceisforlovers.com Tongue-in-cheek souvenirs for the discerning traveller

Ilias Lalaounis museum

Acropolis

Shop, Eat, Drink & Chill!

EAT Alatsi Vrassida 13, Tel: 210.721.0501 Exquisite Cretan specialties

Byzantine Restaurant

Athens Hilton Vas. Sofias 46, Tel: 210.728.1400 Traditional Greek recipes with a Mediterranean twist

Central Athens

To advertise, contact ads@insider-magazine.gr To Varoulko

Marie Chantal Boutique

Elina Lebessi

Athens Hilton Vas. Sofias 46, Tel: 210.724.4400 Simply prepared local flavours.

Guaranteed value for money

Pireos 80, Tel: 210.522.8400 Seafood prepared by Michelin star-winning chef Lefteris Lazarou

Spefsippou 11, Tel: 210.722.2029 Old-fashioned chic for little princes and princesses

Iraklitou 13, Tel: 210.363.1731 Ethereal frocks, pretty tea-dresses and accessories from around the world

Safka

Mouyer

Ermenegildo Zegna

Megalou Alexandrou 80-82.tel: 210 524 3340

Kanari 8, Tel: 210.361.7714 Good-quality orthopaedic shoes as well as funkier styles

Skoufa 18, Tel: 210.361.3700 Home of fine fabrics and handsome tailor-finished suits

Milos Garden

Vlassis Neandrou 15, Tel: 210.646.3060 & 210.725.6335, Family-run taverna serving traditional Greek food

DRINK Galaxy Bar Athens Hilton Vas. Sofias 46, Tel: 210.728.1402 Rooftop cocktails in a chic atmosphere

Kolonaki

Milos

SHOP

Fashion

Antiques

Atelier Loukia

Kilim Hali Valaoritou 9 Tel: 210.363.7056 www.kilimhali.gr Antique carpets from around the world

Beauty & Cosmetics

Anagnostopoulou 15-17 Tel: 210.364.5518, Made-to-measure suits and shirts from top international tailors

Voukourestiou 50 Tel: 210.364.1308 A haven of hip, carrying labels from Balenciaga to Martin Margiela to Marlene Birger

Giorgio Armani Koumbari 8, Tel: 210.361.3603 Suit- and dress-maker to the stars

Hugo Boss Amerikis 19, Tel: 210.360.0516 Smart separates for a work wardrobe

Incrocio Kanari 8, Tel: 210.362.7768 Menswear from Armani, Boss and Allen Edmonds brogues

Kalogirou Patriarchou Ioakim 4, Tel: 210.335.6401 Fetish footwear from Prada, Tod's & Casadei

Children Bambineria Kanari 5, Tel: 210.339.2597 Designer togs for tots

Frattina Kanari 21, Tel: 210.360.4481 Casual clothing and gifts for kids

Chatzigiani Mexi 4 Tel: 210.724.4425

Bespoke Athens

Solonos 26 Tel: 210.364.0560 Shop natural Greek cosmetics, get a prescription cream made up and have a quick massage

Hiltonia Health & Wellness Club

Olive Tree Spa

Kanari 24, Tel: 210.362.7334 Fairytale dresses in lace and embroidery from Greece's doyenne designer

Apivita

CHILL Hilton, Vas. Sofias 46, Tel: 210.728.1801 Indoor and outdoor pools

Free Shop

Jack in the Box Haritos 13, Tel: 210.725.8735 Beautiful wooden toys and more

Bespoke Athens

Carouzos Kanari 12, Tel: 210.362.7123 Designer items from Prada, Brioni, Donna Karan, Fendi and other top-flight brands

Kerameikos

Coach

EAT Funky Gourmet Paramythias 13 and Salaminos, Tel: 210 524 2727 Haute cuisine in art deco interior

Athiri

Tsakalof 28, Tel: 210.362.5669 Leather totes and luggage in easy American style

Deux Hommes Kanari 18, Tel: 210.361.4155 Greece's design ambassadors create structural separates and heavenly bridal gowns. www.deuxhommes.gr

Plataion 15, Tel: 210.346.2983 Greek & Mediterranean cuisine in beautiful surroundings

Diesel

Nixon

Voukourestiou 18-20, Tel: 210 361.3014 High-end designer fashion

Agisilaou 61B, Tel: 210.346.2077 Burgers, a private cinema & an artsy crowd. Open for brunch on Sundays at noon

Skoufa 3, Tel: 210.362.2748 A treasure trove of denim, and all the hip accoutrements to go with it

Dior Boutique

DKNY Solonos 8, Tel: 210.360.3775 Classic American sportswear

insider athens | September & October 2012 51

Insider guide Shop, Eat, Drink & Chill!

La Perla

Preview

Spefsippou 14, Tel: 210.729.9720 Lingerie to flaunt

Patriarchou Ioakim 19 Tel: 210.722.4731 High fashion designer shoes

Lacoste Solonos 5, Tel: 210.361.8030 French take on American sportswear

Lanvin Iraklitou 9 Tel: 210.360.8315 Alber Elbaz's gloriously chic take on the classic French couture house

Linea Piu Sekeri 6, Tel: 210 360.6125 Collections from exclusive fashion houses including Chanel, Galliano, Lagerfeld and Sonia Rykiel

Luisa Skoufa 15, Tel: 210.363.5600 Designer emporium stocked with Chloe, Roberto Cavalli, Ralph Lauren, Missoni & more

Marc by Marc Jacobs Xanthou 3, Tel: 210.363.6030 Budget knick-knacks and must-have casuals from America's fashion hero

Nike Tsakalof 34, Tel: 210.363.6188 Trainers, tracksuits and other swoosh-marked sports paraphernalia

Puma Concept Kanari 17, Tel: 210.361.0516 International sportswear for all ages

Rere Papa Skoufa 62, Tel: 210.364.4300 Distinctive creations by two young Greek women and other international imports

Thalassa Collection Patriarchou Ioakim 30-32 Tel: 210.725.8525 Original silk designs for scarves, ties, shawls & blouses

Home Christofle Koumbari 5, Tel: 210.362.0483 Classis silver and crystal ideal for wedding gifts

La Fenetre Irodotou 21, Tel: 210.723.5029 Elegant objects and sophisticated gifts for the house, mostly from France

Parousiasi Patriarchou Ioakim 33, Tel: 210.723.7656, A range of international brands in crystal, china and other eye-catching homeware accessories

Jewellery

Vlassis Holevas

Apriati

Anagnostopoulou 19 Tel: 210.361.6167, Elegant fashion with a contemporary twist

Pindarou 29, Tel: 210.360.7878 Smartly designed necklaces, bracelets and rings

Elena Votsi

Flowers Fleria Patriarchou Ioakim 35 Tel: 210.722.9697

Xenokratous 25, Tel: 210.721.3175 Browser-friendly cava with helpful service

Eclipse

Solonos 9, Tel: 210.364.6910 The ultimate fashion store www.attitudes.gr

Vas. Sofias & Koumbari Tel: 210.367.1045, Artefacts and jewellery inspired by the museum’s exhibits

Paul & Shark

Liana Vourakis

Anagnostopoulou 6, Tel: 210.339.2334 Casual yachting styles

Pindarou 42, Tel. 2103617705

52 insider athens | September & October 2012

Al Milanese Xenokratous 49, Tel: 210.729.4111 Authentic Italian cuisine for the discerning

Altamira (Multi-ethnic) Tsakalof 36A, Tel: 210 361 4695 Flavours of multiethnic cuisine

Altro

Evangelismos Park, Tel: 210.721.0893 Italian food in a lush central setting

Coo

Anagnostopoulou 26-8 Tel: 210.362.2564 For unique baptism and wedding gifts, start here

Dinokratous 1, Tel: 210.725.4008 A Mykonos favourite now in Athens

Dakos

Lylian Syrigou

Tsakalof 6, Tel: 210.894.7040 New-age Cretan specialties

Magia

Benaki Museum Gift Shop

Restaurants

Liana Vourakis

Octopus

Observatory Attitudes

Kriezotou 12, Tel: 210.364.2948/ Loukianou 21, Tel: 210.729.3453 Desserts and cakes

Cafe Boheme

Gadgets

Gifts

Fresh

Tsakalof 6 & Solonos 25 Tel: 210.323.0739, Greece's highstreet export stocks affordable watches and everyday bijoux

Anagnostopoulou 12, Tel: 210.361.3350 Handcrafted bijoux and one-off designer pieces. www.liliansyrigou.gr

Solonos 15, Tel: 210.363 6677 Quirky designs with a sense of humour

Irodotou 15, Tel: 210.721.2253 For real American homemade cheesecake, brownies and more

Boschetto

Folli Follie

Wine Garage

Cake

Fanourakis

Cava Anthidis

Karneadou 20, Tel: 210.724.5143 Quality picks from the world’s best vineyards; including Greek labels

Bakeries & Patisseries

Haritos 39, Tel: 210.724.2717 Tiny funky restaurant that specializes in Italian food

Food & Wine

Kylix

EAT

Xanthou 7, Tel: 210.360.0936 Conversation-starting pieces in gold and stone Patriarchou Ioakim 23 Tel: 210.721.1762, Unique collection of animal and insect pins & earrings

Ypsilantou 13-15, Tel: 210.725.1050 Comprehensive wine and liquor wholesalers

Central Athens

Haritos 18, Tel: 210.724.0697 Ileana Makri's silver jewellery amid eclectic pieces from New York

Oxette Skoufa 37, Tel: 210.339.0547 Trendy, affordable jewellery

Omirou 36, Tel: 210.360.8018 Welcoming nook with Greek cooking and more-ish cocktails

Eclipse (Bar restaurant) Alopekis 21, Tel: 210 364 1545 Fabulous cocktails and creative Mediterranean cuisine by Yiannis Baxevannis

Filipou Xenokratous 19, Tel: 210.721.6390 Home-cooked Greek taverna dishes

Frame

Skoufa 30, Tel: 210.364.2139 Greek silver fashion jewellery

St George Lycabettus Hotel Dinokratous, Tel: 210.721.4368 Exotic cuisine in the heart of Athens

Van Cleef & Arpels

Freud Oriental

Ozzi

Voucourestiou 1, Tel: 210.331.0319 The jeweller of the international jetset

Xenokratous 21, Tel: 210.729.9595 Sushi in a cool setting

Central Athens

To advertise, contact ads@insider-magazine.gr Ouzadiko

Ta Kioupia

Ten

Karneadou 25-26, Tel: 210.729.5484 Traditional Greek appetizers & ouzo

Dinokratous & An Polemou 22 Tel: 210.740.0150 Superb set menu of Greek and Continental classics with refined touches

Ploutarhou 10, Tel: 210.321.7836 One of the most popular hot spots in town

Papadakis Fokilidou 15 & Voukourestiou 47A Tel: 210.360.8621 Paros' legendary gourmet restaurant serving seafood in the heart of Athens

For Creative Cuisine

P-BOX Haritos 24, Periscope hotel Tel: 210 7298556, Simple ingredients, special flavours in a setting designed

by Theodore Zoumboulakis

TGI Friday’s Kolokotroni 35, Kefalari sq.

Tel: 210.623.3945 American restaurant with real steak and barbecue sauce for casual dining!

W Kanari 24, Tel: 697.270.0712 Private seating areas, speciality cocktails & exclusives events

Cafés Da Capo Tsakalof 1, Tel: 210.243.3902 Long-established people-watching hangout

www.lachocolatiere.gr

Peros Kolonaki Square, Tel: 210.364.5068 Enjoy a cup of java if you can find a spot

Inbi

Tea

Iraklitou 21, Tel: 210.339.2090 Sushi fusion

To Tsai Soutsou & Likavitou, Tel: 210.338.8941 Tea & tea paraphernalia from around the world

Jackson Hall Milioni 4, Tel: 210.361.6098 Gourmet burgers with all the fixings Ploutarhou 32, Tel: 210.721.8800 Souvlakia on the sidewalk have never been so trendy

Kiku Dimokritou 12, Tel: 210.364.7033 Fresh, beautifully presented sushi

Prytaneion Milioni 7, Tel: 210.364.3353 Generous portions of Mediterranean fare

Ratka Haritos 32, Tel: 210.729.0746 Popular haunt of the rich and almost famous, with cosmopolitan cuisine

Sale e Pepe Aristipou 34, Tel: 210.723.4102 Authentic Italian trattoria

DRINK Bars, Clubs & Lounges Central

Kolonaki Square, Tel: 210.724.5938 The place to see & be seen while sipping on coffee or cocktails

Mai Tai Ploutarhou 18, Tel: 210.725.8306 Early evening cocktails in a laid-back atmosphere

Mavili Sq

Kalamaki Kolonaki

DRINK Balthazar Tsoha 27, Tel: 210.644.1215 Lovely garden and chic interior attracts a cool crowd

Baraonda Tsoha 43, Tel: 210.644.4308 Gourmet cuisine and funky beats

Briki Dorileou 6, Mavili sq.

Tel: 210.654.2380 Trendy hole-in-the-wall hangout

Flower Dorileou 2, Mavili sq.

Tel: 210.643.2111, Fun, funky and affordable watering hole

Scala Vinoteca L'Abreuvoir Xenokratous 51, Tel: 210.722.9106 Fine French cuisine

Le Grand Balcon St George Lycabettus Hotel, Kleomenous 2, Tel: 210.729.0711 Gourmet Greek cuisine

Orizontes Lycavyttou Lycabettus Hill, Tel: 210.722.7065 Gourmet dining with a spectacular view

Sina 50, Tel: 210.361.0041 Mediterranean restaurant ideal for wining & dining

Showroom Milioni 12, Tel: 210.364.6460 Missoni-designed interiors, serving unique Mediterranean flavours

Square Sushi Deinokratous 65, Tel: 210.725.5236 High-quality sushi & other Japanese favourites

20% Off! Cut this coupon & avail

of 20% off on all exclusive brands at Sephora’s stores in Greece.

insider athens | September & October 2012 53

Insider guide Shop, Eat, Drink & Chill!

Central Athens

Avissynias 3, Tel: 210.321.7202 Traditional Greek recipes with a European twist overlooking the Acropolis & Observatory

Café Avyssinias Kynetou 7, Tel: 210.321.7407 Spcializing in regional dishes & live music on weekends

Doris Praxitelous 30, Tel: 210.323.2671 Hearty stews & pasta dishes at reasonable prices

Meïdanis Sokratous 3 & Evripidou Tel: 210.324.9073, A menu that is sure to please with speciality oven dishes

Savvas

Fuga Vas.Sofias & Kokkali 1, Tel: 210 724 2979 Italian inspired menu by chef Andrea Berton at the Athens Concert Hall

Ginger Dorileou 10-12, Tel: 210.645.1169 Original dishes and innovative combinations in an elegant atmosphere

St’Astra

Metaxurgeio

Alexadras 10, Tel: 210.889.4500 For an unforgettable roof-top dining experience

EAT Polly Maggoo Leonidou 80 & Salaminos, Tel: 210 524 1120 Gourmet cuisine in a post-modern and industrial setting.

New hot spot for the trendy

Tamarind Thai Kitchen, Address: Kerameikou 51, Metaxourgeio. Tel: 210 5225 945

Cosmetics Korres Ivikou 8 & Eratosthenous Tel: 210.722.2774 Natural Greek products made using Mediterranean herbs

EAT

Evforionos 13 & Eratosthenous Tel: 210.756.6008, Greek cuisine with a menu that changes daily

Fatsio

Sigalas-Bairaktaris

Karavitis

Efroniou 5, Tel: 210.721.7421 Greek food & political gossip

Antiques

Monastiraki Sq. 2, Tel: 210.321.3036 Century-old restaurant serving a variety of fresh dishes

Darousos

Arktinou & Pausaniou Tel: 210.721.5155 Classic Greek cuisine in a dining room lined with wine casks

Souvlaki Bar

Magemenos Avlos

SHOP

Normanou 7 Tel: 210.331.1638 Small antique shop in the heart of the flea market

Adrianou 7 & Thisiou 15, Tel: 210 5150550

Thanassis

Food & Wine

Mitropoleos 69, Tel: 210.324.4705 A souvlaki lover’s paradise

Arapian

To Kouti

Evripidou 41, Tel: 210.321.7238 Old-style butcher shop offers interesting sausages, pasturma & smoked meats

Bahar

Evripidou 31, Tel: 210.321.7225 Well-known herb haven

Miran Evripidou 45, Tel: 210.321.7187 Sausages, pastrami & cured meats

Paleovivliopolio Hiotakis Normanou 7 Tel: 210.324.7835 Historic bookshop houses rare & old books

EAT Bairaktaris Monastiraki Square 2 Tel: 210.321.3036 Old-world taverna serving traditional Greek fare

54 insider athens | September & October 2012

Beauty &

Cucina Povera

Mitropoleos 86, Tel: 210.321.9919 Gyros & Middle Eastern dishes like pastourmali

Adrianou 23, Tel: 210.321.3229 Mediterranean fare right next to the ancient agora

DRINK Orea Ellas

Amynta 4, Tel: 210.722.3195 Mediterranean fare, welcoming decor & generous servings

Puerta de Espana Antinoros 42, Tel: 210.725.8666 Spanish cuisine & live music

Spondi Pyrronos 5, Tel: 210.756.4021 A mix of European & more exotic flavours. Voted one of the best in Athens

Pandrosou 36, Tel: 210.321.3842 An eclectic cafe & bookshop

Omonia

EAT

Monastiraki

Fuga

SHOP

Pangrati

Brachera

SHOP Department Stores Hondos Center Omonia Square, Tel: 210.528.2800 Cosmetics, perfumes, luggage, clothing, & much, much more

EAT Ideal Restaurant

Panepistimiou 46, Tel: 210.330.3000 Greek classics in old-world decor

Athinaikon

Themistokleous 2, Tel: 210.383.8485 A traditional Greek ouzeri

Spondi

Trata o Stelios Anagenniseos Sq. 7-9, Tel: 210.729.1533 The best grilled fish in town

Central Athens

Plaka

To advertise, contact ads@insider-magazine.gr SHOP

Home

Antique

Notoshome

stores

Kratinou 5, Tel: 210.374.3000 Home décor superstore

Maritinos Pandrosou 50 Tel: 210.321.2414 Specializes in 19th Century folk art, embroidery & furniture

Food & wine

EAT Cantuccio Lepeniotou & Ivis 1 Tel: 210.323.3670 Authentic Italian cuisine in a friendly environment

Diporto

Nikis 52, Tel: 210.322.9146 Packaged & fresh speciality foods

Theatrou & Sokratous Tel: 210.321.1463 Old-world tavern offers bargain basics like salads, sardines & fava

Gifts

Gostijo

Mesogaia

Amorgos Kodrou 3, Tel: 210.324.3836 Hand-carved & painted furniture

EAT

Gadgets

Eleftheroudakis

Public

Sari 44, Tel: 210.321.5534 Mediterranean fare & eclectic music

Panepistimiou 17, Tel: 210.325.8440 The largest foreign language bookstore in Greece

Syntagma Square, Tel: 210.324.6210, Five floors of gaming, gadgets & books

Nara Nara

Kauffman

Kouzina Cine-Psirri

Karaiskaki 26, Tel: 210.331.2091 Lebanese food & dancing

2 Mazi Nikis 48, Tel: 210.322.2839 Creative gourmet dishes that change monthly

Daphne’s Restaurant Lysikratous 4, Tel: 210.322.7971 Refined classic Greek dishes in a resplendent atmosphere

Ochre & Brown

Nikodimou 18-20, Tel: 210.337.0000 Roof-top dining with Greek cuisine

Gifts Argalios

Stadiou 28, Tel: 210.322.2160 Mostly French books and small selection of English fiction

Filellinon 7, Tel: 210.322.2659 Hand-woven fabrics & souvenirs since 1940

Leokoriou 7, Tel: 210.331.2950 Mediterranean/French cuisine

Department Stores

DRINK

Panepistimiou 9, Tel: 211.180.2600 Home to an array of luxury goods

Bars, Clubs & Lounges Soul

Electra

Evripidou 65, Tel: 210.331.0907 Show off your groovy disco moves

Graf Von Faber-Castell Boutique

Attica

Fokas

Scholarheio Tripodon 14, Tel: 210.324.1605 A traditional tray taverna with old fashioned decor & prices

Ydria Adrianou 68 & Eolou Tel: 210.325.1619 Taditional Greek cuisine

SHOP

Syntagma

Diogenous 4, Tel: 210.322.0666 One of the few remaining tavernas preserving 1940s Athens

Fashion

Accessories Bag Stories

Fashion - Men’s

Panepistimiou 41, Tel: 210.323.7405 Luggage & travel bags by Tumi, Porsche Design, Rimowa & Delsey

Antiques Antiqua Vassilis Amalias 2-4, Tel: 210.323.2220 One of the oldest antique stores in Athens

Christoforos Kotentos

Beauty & Cosmetics

Sachtouri 3, Tel: 210.325.5434 Glamorous & unique designs

MAC Ermou 44, Tel: 210.325.8260 International cosmetic brand for women who like to play with colour

Kori

Psarros 1917

Ermou 45, Tel: 210.324.7732 Outlet store featuring brands from Parousiasi, Cook Shop & Bag Stories

SHOP

Panepistimiou 41, Tel: 210.321.8564 Traditional hand-held writing utensils Mitropoleos 13, Tel: 210.323.3534 Traditional & contemporary jewellery

Stadiou 41, Tel: 210.325.7770 Clothes, shoes and accessories for men, women & children

Stock House & Travel

Platanos

Psyrri

Books

Aisopou 10 street , Tel: 210 32 33 825

Stadiou 3, Tel: 210.322.0908 Executive gifts and smoking accessories

Home Baccarat

Pagoni Akadimias 61, Tel: 210.363.9277 Selling ties and cufflinks since 1933

Voukourestiou 21, Tel: 210.362.2863 Fine crystal from the venerable French luxury house

Flowers

Jewellery

Dromoloulouda

Apriati

Voulis 15, Tel: 210.323.2321 Specializing in arrangements with wild flowers, many indigenous to Greece

Bulgari

Food & Wine Aristokratikon Karageorgi Servas 9, Tel: 210.322.0546 Handmade chocolates

Cellier Kriezotou 1, Tel: 210.361.0040 Speciality wine shop

Pentelis 9 & Mitropoleos, Tel: 210.322.9020 Smartly designed necklaces, bracelets and rings Voukourestiou 8, Tel: 210.324.7118 Opulent designs in jewellery, watches & accessories

Cartier Voukourestiou 7, Tel: 210.331.3600 Two floors of designs & timepieces by the prestigious Cartier maison

insider athens | September & October 2012 55

Insider guide Gofas

Vassilis Zoulias Old Athens

Parliament

Stadiou 3, Tel: 210.331.7540 High-end timepieces

Akadimias 30, Tel: 210.361.4762 Handmade shoes and handbags inspired by films of the 50s & 60s

Vas. Georgiou A & Stadiou Tel: 210.335.2400 International cuisine with Mediterranean accents

Ilias Lalaounis

EAT

Panepistiomiou 10, Tel: 210.722.4824 A true French patisserie

Kessaris

Avocado

DRINK

Panepistimiou 7, Tel: 210.323.2919 Wide range of luxury brand timepieces

Nikis 30, Tel: 210 3237878 Vegetarian restaurant

Cellier Le Bistrot

Boutique

Marathianakis

Panepistimiou 10, Tel: 210.363.8525 Excellent dishes accompany the extensive list of international wines

Explorer’s Lounge

Zolotas

Stadiou 2 & Vas. Georgiou 210.325.0555 Legendary time pieces and jewellery.

Paul

Panepistimiou 6, Tel: 210.361.1371 Fabulous gold designs by famous Greek jeweller

Voukourestiou 21, Tel: 210.362.7118 Old-world shop known for its original & elegant designs

Chopard

Panepistimiou 10, Tel: 210.360.1272 Designs inspired by the antique & classical periods as well as contemporary collections by designers like Paloma Picasso

Shoes

Folli Follie

Spiliopoulos

Ermou 18, Tel: 210.323.0739 Trendy & affordable jewellery & accessories

Ermou 63, Tel: 210.322.7590 Pick up a pair of Manolo’s at half price!

Dosirak Voulis 31-33, Tel: 210.323.3330 Japanese & Korean cuisine in the heart of Athens

Far East Stadiou 7, Tel: 210.323.4996 A mix of Asian cuisines in elegant surroundings

Furin Kazan Apollonos 2, Tel: 210.322.9170 A Japanese favourite of expats & Athenians alike

GB Corner Hotel Grand Bretagne Syntagma Square, Tel: 210.333.0750 Luxurious surroundings, Mediterranean cuisine

Eat

See

The concierge of the Grande Bretagne Hotel in Syntagma Square recommends:

Club

Central Athens

New: Greek Festival 2012: Theatre: BERLINER ENSEMBLE, Robert Wilson / Claus Peymann Classic: Acropolis Alternative: Theocharakis Foundation or the Onassis Cultural Centre New: Funky Gourmet Restaurant, Michelin star restaurant, Paramithias 13 & Salaminos, Keramikos Classic: GB Corner, Greek Brasserie (www.gbcorner.gr) Undeniably the most famous “corner” of Athens,GB Corner is a favorite setting for the capital’s most stylish set.

Alternative: Spondi Restaurant, French Cuisine 2 Michelin stars, Pironos 5, Pagrati New: B.E.D. Balux Classic: Villa Mercedes Alternative: Gazarte

56 insider athens | September & October 2012

Bars, Clubs & Lounges Filellinon 15, Tel: 210.323.1315 Popular Athenian night spot NJV Athens Plaza, Syntagma Square, 210.335.2400, Magnificent cocktails and live jazz in an intimate atmosphere

Kalua Amerikis 6, Tel: 210.360.8304 Dance the night away in a chic environment

Oinoscent Address: Voulis 44A Syntagma. tel: 210 3229 374 Trandy winebar

Tasaki Bar Miltiadou 19, Tel: 210 3310666

T Palace King George Palace Syntagma Square, Tel: 210.322.2210 Great for mingling & people-watching

CHILL GB Spa

Indian Kitchen

Syntagma Square, Tel: 210.333.0799 Award-winning spa featuring treatments by E’SPA, Valmont & Algoane

Apollonos 6, Tel: 210 3237720

Holmes Place

Ioannis Royal Olympic Hotel Ath. Diakou 28-34, Tel: 210.928.8400 Greek & Mediterranean cuisine with breathtaking views from the rooftop

Meatropoleos 3 Mitropoleos 3, Tel: 210 3241805 Modern greek grill restaurant

Multi 22 Ermou 116 & Leokoriou Tel: 210.331.6766 Italian fare served in a neoclassical house

Noodle Bar Apollonos 11, Tel: 210.331.8585 A congenial place to drop in for a quick noodle fix

Stadiou 4 & Voukourestiou Tel: 210.325.9400, Fully equipped health club with excellent array of classes

The Palace Spa Syntagma Square, Tel: 210.374.3590 Ideal for rejuvenation after a long flight or a hectic bout of shopping

Syngrou

Zolotas pendant in gold with diamonds

Shop, Eat, Drink & Chill!

EAT Peacock Hotel Hera, Falirou 9, Tel: 210 923 6682 Traditional food with breathtaking Acropolis views

Kollias Syngrou Ave. 303 Tel: 210 940 8620 Excellent seafood in a pleasant Mediterranean atmosphere

To advertise, contact ads@insider-magazine.gr

Southern & Northern Athens

AiNikolas

Plous Podilatou

DRINK

Food & Wine

Syngrou Ave. 156, Tel: 210 923 2918 Original seafood dishes, fresh ingredients and simple elegant interior

Ak. Koumoundourou 42 Tel: 210.413.7910 Sumptuous seafood & mouth-watering deserts on the waterfront

Big Apple South

All about Whisky

Tony Bonano

Zinc

Papanastasiou 63, Tel: 210.411.1901 Italian cuisine with a view of the harbour

“Flisvos” Marina, Tel: 210.985.3183 Cocktails whith music

Athens Ledra Marriott, Syngrou Ave. 115, Tel: 210 930 0000 Polynesian, Teppanyaki and Sushi cuisine in an original luxury setting

Café Zoe Athenaeum InterContinental, Syngrou Ave 89-93 Casual dining and terrific buffets for lunch and on Sundays Tel: 210 920 6655

Première

Thissio

Athenaeum InterContinental, Syngrou Ave 89-93, Tel : 210 920 6981 Gourmet cuisine with splendid views

EAT Indian Masala (Indian) Ermou 129, Tel: 210 321 9412 Amazing Indian food at affordable price in a pleasant environment

Kirki Apostoplou Pavlou 31 Tel: 210.346.6960 Ideal for a lunch break

Kuzina Adrianou 9, Tel: 210.324.0133 Inspired traditional recipes in a cozy arty environment

Vassilenas Etolikou 72 & Vitolion Tel: 210.461.2457 Friendly food and atmosphere

Zefyros Ak. Koumoundourou 48 Tel: 210.417.5152 Fresh seafood on the quay

Zorbas Ak. Koumoundourou 14 Tel: 210.411.1163 Unique flavours of the Mediterranean

Zythos Eleftherias 45, Tel: 210.985.0478 Reminiscent of an Irish pub with several beers to choose from

Glyfada

Kona Kai

Posidonos 1, Tel: 210.948.5190 Casual cocktails in a modern atmosphere

Posidonos 80, Tel: 210.898.1435 Gourmet French delicatessen

EAT

Books

Kyprou 65A, Tel: 210.898.3167 Mexican flavours in a friendly setting

Eleftheroudakis

Bayern Bierhaus Microbrewery

Lazaraki 27, Tel: 210.325.8440 Book superstore with a large selection of English titles

Chr. Nezer 19, Tel: 210.894.4439 Authentic German cuisine

Fashion

Beer Academy N. Zerva 14, Tel: 210.898.0121 International cuisine in a cozy setting

Beirut

Enny di Monaco

Istioploikos

Provence

Amigos

SHOP

Saki Karayiorya 13,

Laodikis 41, Tel: 210.894.0153 Carefully selected designs by various international designers

DRINK

Vas. Georgiou B' 10 Tel: 210.968.1191, Specialty shop with a large selection of single malts, books, & anything to do with whisky

Tel: 210.894.3169 Lebanese cuisine & entertainment

Ak. Microlimanou, Tel: 210.413.4084 One of the hip places to see and be seen with a rooftop bar overlooking the yachting marina

Katafigio Ak. Koumoundourou 4 Tel: 210.413.1612 Club, cafe & beer house

EAT Captain John's Ak. Koumoundourou 16A, Tel: 210.417.7589 Traditional seafood

Dourambeis Ak. Protopsalti 29, Tel: 210.412.2092 Classic fish taverna

Jimmy and The Fish

Ak. Mikrolimanou, Tel: 210.413.4084.

Excellent seafood; try the astakomakaronada

Kollias Plastira 3, Tel: 210.462.9620 Excellent seafood but difficult to find; reserve on weekends

Faliro

Piraeus

SOUTHERN ATHENS EAT Il Tinello Knossou 54, Tel: 210.982.8462 Real Italian home cooking

Iskandar

Amphitheas 6 & Poseidonos Tel: 210.988.6474 Authentic Indian cuisine

Kitchen Bar

Obervatory Attitudes A. Panagouli 17, Tel: 210.894.2113 The ultimate fashion store www.attitudes.gr

Poseidonos 3, Tel: 210.981.2004 Comfort food overlooking the sea

Jewellery

Le Petit Sommelier

ZerTeo

Zaimi 6, Tel: 210.984.2344 French cuisine & excellent wine list

Metaxa 24-26, Tel: 210.894.6682 Unique jewellery designs

Bereket Mikras Asias & Lefkosias 36 Tel: 210.960.9337 Traditional dishes from Asia Minor

Cook Lobby Ag. Ioannou 13, Glyfada.

Tel: 210 9680031-32 Traditional Greek cuisine in minimalist setting

insider athens | September & October 2012 57

Insider guide Southern & Northern Athens

Far East

Meat Square (Grill)

Vincenzo

Lazaraki 61, Tel: 210.894.0500 A mix of Asian cuisines in elegant surroundings

Lambrakis 63 & Ag. Nikolaou, Tel: 210 961 1160 Juicy steaks in pleasant family environment

Giannitsopoulou 1, Tel: 210.894.1310 Value for money Italian specialities with a Southern Italian touch

Konstantinopoleos 13 Tel: 210.894.4648 Delicious kebabs & decadent deserts

La Casa Di Giorgino

To do

Chill

Eat

Lefkosias 42A, Tel: 210.963.85770 Authentic Italian pizza made in a traditional wood-burning oven

Molly Malone's Zannitsopoulou 8, Tel: 210.894.4247 Irish pub serving probably the best Irish Stew in Athens

Tartare Panagouli 52, Tel: 210.968.0320 Quality French cuisine

Vezene. At the moment, the hottest bistro restaurant in town. Charming and modern, with great pasta and good pizza. Live meeting point, where a handsome wood-burning oven dominates. Q Tip: Make sure you book in advance; it is very hard to get a table!

Matsuhisa. The chic décor, along with the cosmopolitan atmosphere and the very best delights of the celebrated kitchen of Nobu, is what makes up the wonder of this opened Japanese fusion restaurant. Located within the Astir Palace, this famous restaurant has been designed by the world known David Rockwell Group NYC. Q Tip: Opt for a table close to the sea; the view is amazing!

Kuzina. Located on a pedestrian walkway in the old city centre, ideal for people-watching and with a direct view to the Acropolis, Kuzina is a very good dining option to indulge yourself in the traditional Greek cuisine with a twist. Q Tip: Book a table at the terrace, to enjoy the magnificent view.

Island. Perched on a cliff with a great view at Varkiza bay, Island is by far the most beautiful club in Athens for the past decade, with very stylish crowd, mainstream sounds, delicious cocktails and modern international cuisine. Q Tip: It is the first club in Greece to create a cellar of wines and cigars.

42. Chic, noir and classy, 42 is one of the best cocktail bars in the heart of Athens, with two of the best bartenders in the city. The cocktail catalogue changes every three months with seasonal ingredients and homemade blends. Q Tip: The courtyard is the place to mingle and meet new people.

The Temple of Poseidon at Sounion is probably one of the best half-day trips you can take, out of Athens; sitting above the beach on a mountain that juts out into the sea, the Temple is dedicated to Poseidon and has served as a landmark for sailors from ancient times to today. While following the coastline of the Saronic Gulf, enjoy the great views to the sea and a stop for a swim to an organised beach or to one of the beautiful little bays.

Quintessentially Hellas, 4, Kifissias Ave., 151 25 Maroussi, Athens T: +30 210 680 1800, www.quintessentially.com

58 insider athens | September & October 2012

DRINK Bars, Clubs & Lounges Balux Posidonos 58, Tel: 210.898.3577 Waterfront lounging

Capri Bay Grigoriou Lambraki 2 Tel: 210.894.9995, Excellent cocktails in a Moroccan style garden

Cafes Chocolat Zisimopoulou 9, Tel: 210.894.3442 Satisfies even the most discerning coffee connoisseur

Cosi Zisimopoulou 12, Tel: 210.894.5746 One of the first cafes to inspireGlyfada's coffee culture

Nest Café Bar Lazaraki 45, Tel: 210.898.6035 An all-day hangout for locals & visitors

Seiza Lazaraki 45, Tel: 210.968.0545 Cafe with a unique style & hip design

EAT Café Tabac

Margi Hotel, Litous 11, Tel: 210.967.0924 Delicious variations of Mediterranean food

Al Bacio

Posidonos 17, Tel: 210.896.0400 Trattoria serving traditional Italian dishes & pizza

Il Tramontono The Westin, 40, Tel: 210.890.1709, Enjoy a romantic meal of creative Italian cuisine

Grill Room

Apollonos 40, Tel: 210.890.1794, Mediterranean & seafood flavours on a breathtaking veranda, in the Astir complex

Ithaki Apollonos 28, Tel: 210.896.3747 Beautiful sea view, fresh seafood & great service

Louizidis Ermou 2, Tel: 210.896.0591 Traditional Greek taverna popular with the locals

Maistrali

Live Music

Apollonos 28, Tel: 210.967.1184 Traditionally prepared seafood dishes presented exquisitely

Thalassa People's Stage

Matsuhisa Athens

Posidonos 58, Tel: 210.898.2979 Live Greek acts in a club atmosphere attracting a young crowd

Voula

Kiliza

Vouliagmeni

Shop, Eat, Drink & Chill!

Astir Palace, Apollonos 40, Tel: 210.896.0510, Celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa serves up sushi favourites with a Latin-American flair

EAT

Mezza Luna

Dream Grill

Orpheos 2, Tel: 210.967.1046 Chic Italian restaurant

V. Pavlou 78, Tel: 210.895.5110 Traditional recipes & authentic taste

Dvlcis in Fvndo Prinkipos Petrou 33, Tel: 210.894.2136 Top-quality authentic Italian

Naiades Vas. Pavlou 74, Tel: 210.965.7706 Popular family grill joint

Il Segreto Bizaniou 3, Tel: 210.965.9526 Authentic Italian set on a beautiful terrace

Mythos of the Sea Ag. Nikolaou 10 & Iliou Tel: 210.891.1100 Gourmet Mediterranean cuisine that blends local produce with fresh seafood

Psaraki Posidonos 15, Tel: 210.896.2432 Seafood served in an informal setting

Schara Posidonos 15, Tel: 210.896.2432 Grills with frills in a friendly setting at reasonable prices

Waffle House Posidonos 17, Tel: 210.896.1227 Sure to satisfy your sweet tooth

To advertise, contact ads@insider-magazine.gr DRINK Posidonos 4, Tel: 210.967.1770 Cocktails overlooking Vouliagmeni Bay

Island 27th klm Athinon-Souniou Tel: 210.965.3563-4 Award-winning cuisine & an unmatched location with views of the Saronic Gulf

Sofa Bar The Westin Hotel Apollonos 40, Tel: 210.890.1709 Modern lounge bar serving up delectable cocktails

Pendelis 133, Tel: 210 689 0238 Choice of 600 wines to accompany memorable meals

Argyropoulou 1-3, Tel: 210.801.7023 Unique designs reminiscent of times past

Almyra

Food & Wine

Filikis Eterias 39, Tel: 210 6819109 Refined seafood and magical summer garden

Dali Kifissias 336, Tel: 210 685 4004 Multi-ethnic cuisine with original suggestions in arty set-up

Santa Fe Ag. Georgiou 30’B, Tel: 210 685 9690 Mexican food in traditional setting

Golden Phoenix

CHILL Arion Spa Astir Complex, Apollonos 40 Tel: 210.890.2000

Divani Apollon Palace & Spa Ag. Nikolaou 10, Tel: 210.891.1100

NORTHERN ATHENS

Leof. Pendelis 85, Tel: 210 682 5017 Asian cuisine and sushi bar in luxury environment

Kitchen Bar K. Varnali 6, Tel: 210 689 2015 Delightful gastronomic tour in a relaxing atmosphere

Meat Square

EAT

Ethnikis Antistaseos 9-11, Tel: 210 683 1300, Juicy steaks in pleasant family environment

Da Vinci

Novo Romantico di Antonio

Ag. Ioannou 23, Tel: 210 600 0102 Delightful dishes in fantastic ambience

Nanninela Peloponnissou 13 Tel: 210 600 5622 Authentic Italian cuisine in traditional decor

Olio by Portofino Ag. Ioannou 63, Tel: 210 639 1666, Mediterranean flavours in a chic interior

EAT Apsendi Kifissias 250-254 & Serres Tel: 210 671 7890 Refined cuisine and cocktails in stylish urban atmosphere

Bo Botrini’s Vasileos Georgiou B 24b, Halandri, Tel: 210 6857323

25th Martiou 21, Tel: 210 689 6891 Authentic Italian cuisine with a modern twist

Saipan K. Varnali 9, Tel: 210 685 0644 Exquisite dishes from China, Japan and Indonesia

Argyropoulou 8, Tel: 210.801.6533 Decadent handmade chocolates

Bakaliko Ola Ta Kala

Vas Amalias 20, Tel: 210.801.3853 Traditional dishes from Greece & Asia Minor

Common Secret Kifissias 324, Tel: 210.623.3810 Coffee and light Mediterranean meals in a pleasant setting

Kifissias 238-240, Mela Shopping Centre, Tel: 210.808.9908 Quality Greek delicacies

Dos Hermanos

Sorpresa Italiana Kiriazi 6-8, Tel: 210.801.7886, Authentic fresh Italian pasta, sauces, truffles & more

Stefanidis Finest Foods Dimitrios Square 13, Tel: 210.808.2191 Excellent European delicatessen

Varsos Kassaveti 5, Tel: 210.801.2472 Milk products & patisserie

Kyriazi 24, Tel: 210.808.7906 Excellent Mexican food & super margaritas

Gefsis Me Onomasia Proelefsis Kifissias 317, Tel: 210.800.1402 Divine food from all over the world

Golden Phoenix Harilaou Trikoupi & Gortinias Tel: 210.801.3588, Chinese classic popular for the brunch buffet

Gourounakia Kifissias Kifissias 289, Tel: 210.801.1093 Delicious salads, appetizers, souvlakia & grilled platters

EAT Acqua Azzurra Panagitsas 3, Tel: 210.623.3934 Specially-prepared Italian meals 135 Charilaou Trikoupi Tel: 210.620.3102 Chrysanthos Karamolegos creates refined Mediterranean dishes

Kifissias 267, Tel: 210.801.3448 Spanish cuisine in a fun atmosphere

Berdema

Aristokratikon

Apla

Barceloneta

Ichthyes Evagelistrias 36, Tel: 210.620.1572 Seafood taverna

Kastelorizo Platanon 2, Tel: 210.807.5408 Part of a chain of upscale seafood restaurants that is sure to please

1920 Ag. Paraskevi 110, Tel: 210 681 3029 Accent on meat in an elegant setting

Psaroma Sokratous 23, Tel: 210 683 9348 Imaginative parade of seafood and fresh fish

Kifissia

Halandri Ag.Paraskevi

Vassilis Zoulias

L’Enoteca

En Plo

Southern & Northern Athens

SHOP Beauty & Cosmetics Nyhi-Nyhi Kifissias 230 Tel: 210.623.2824 Stop by for a quick mani-pedi

Fashion 21 Kifissia

Kifissias 265, Tel: 210.801.3594 Extreme sport paraphernelia

Matsuhisa

insider athens | September & October 2012 59

Insider guide Shop, Eat, Drink & Chill!

Northern Athens

Semiramis Restaurant

Vinifera

Jaipur Palace

Ave. 5, Drossia. Tel: 210 8004700.

Open from Mondays to Friday from 3 pm to midnight and on weekends from 1pm to midnight

Semiramis Hotel, Harilaou Trikoupi 48, Tel: 210.628.4500 Mediterranean cuisine in a hip atmosphere

Kifissias 317, Tel: 210.807.7709 Selection of wines from all over the world

Ag. Konstantinou & Themidos Tel: 210.805.2762 Indian cuisine and fine wines

Meat Me

Shogun

Yellow Stone Cafe, Harilaou Trikoupi

Philadelpheos 2, Tel: 210.623.3622 Promises authentic Japanese cuisine for the truly discerning

144, Nea Erithrea

HarilaouTrikoupi 92 Tel: 210.623.2358 Simple yet discerning cuisine in a funky Greek taverna

Nargile Harilaou Trikoupi 50 Tel: 210.808.3333 Lebanese cuisine in a cosmopolitan ambiance

O Tzitzikas Ki O Mermigas Drosini 12-14, Tel: 210.623.0080 A modern taverna serving traditional dishes at reasonable prices

Piazza Mela Kifissias 238, Mela Shopping Centre Tel: 210.623.6596, Classic & traditional Italian dishes

Prytaneion Kolokotroni 37, Tel: 210.808.9160 Generous portions of Mediterranean fare

Telemachos Barbeque Club Fragkopoulou 22, Tel: 210.807.6680 Rare meats char-grilled to perfection

Tike Harilaou Trikoupi 27, Tel: 210.808.4418 Watch chefs prepare Turkish kebabs and other treats before your eyes

Vardis Deligianni 66, Pentelikon Hotel Tel: 210.623.0650-6, Cornerstone of French cuisine in Greece

DRINK

EAT

Boudoir

Altamira

SHOP Golden Hall Kifissias 37A, Tel: 210.680.3450 131 high-end (and highstreet) stores for anyone with a passion for fashion Andrea Papandreou 35 Tel: 210.630.0000 Shops, cinemas and food

Deligianni 50 & Georganta Tel: 210.801.8384, Massive club for dancing & sipping on signature cocktails

Divine

Stratigou Lekka 19, Tel: 210.806.6700 Traditional cuisine in a comfy-chic setting reminiscent of the 50s & 60s

Zirini 12, Tel: 210.623.2322 Thai cuisine in an opulent setting

Salumaio di Atene

Menta CafĂŠ

Panagitsas 3, Tel: 210.623.3934 Authentic Italian food & fabulous deserts

Ag. Theodorou 10, Tel: 210.808.0193 Traditional home turned stylish cafe

Mauzac

60 insider athens | September & October 2012

Mauzac Alamanas 1, Tel: 210.619.9902 Clean lines and a beautiful garden make this cafĂŠ, bar, restaurant a must

Oinopathia Aghias Paraskevis 79 & Diogenous Tel: 210.685.5375, Great selection of wines with Greek and international cuisine

The Mall Athens

Perikleous 28, Tel: 210 612 8841 Multiethnic cuisine in funky environment

Kifissias 239, Tel: 201.801.0810 Chic lounge serving classic concoctions

Royal Thai

Maroussi

Manziamo Stamatas

Aneton

El Taco Bueno Ethnikis Antistaseos & Psaron 1 Tel: 210.684.0460 Mexican flavours in a traditional setting

Pausa Ag. Konstantinou 46 & Ifestou 3 Tel: 210.617.9290 Italian cuisine accompanied by a selection of Greek & Italian wines

Wagamama Kifissias 37A, Tel: 210.683.6844 Fresh, nutritious Asian fusion food in a sleek yet simple setting

Whispers of wine Ag. Konstantinou 48, Tel: 210.617.9051 Gourmet food with rich wine list and vintage decor

see & do Art galleries

A. Antonopoulou Art Aristofanous 20, Psirri Tel: 210.321.4994 Artzone 42 42 Vas. Konstantinou, Agalma Troyman, 11635 Athens, Tel: 210 725 9549 Astrolavos Dexameni Xanthippou 11, Kolonaki Tel: 210.729.4342 Astrolavos ArtLife Irodotou 11, Kolonaki Tel: 210.722.1200 Athens Art Gallery Glykonos 4, Dexameni Sq., 106 75 Athens, Tel: 210 721 3938 Badminton Theatre Olympiaka Akinita, Goudi 157 73, Athens, Tel: 211 101 0020 Bernier/Eliades Gallery Eptachalkou 11, Thisseio, Tel: 210.341.3935 Beyond Art Gallery Haritos 10, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.721.9744 B&M Theoharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts & Music Vas. Sofias 9 & Merlin 1, Athens Tel: 210.361.1206 (The) Breeder Gallery Iasonas 45, Metaxourgio, Tel: 210.331.7527 Ekfrasi Gallery Valaoritou 9a, 10671 Athens, Greece Tel: 210 360 7598 EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art Vas. Georgiou B 17 - 19 & Rigilis Str. Athens 10675, Tel: 210 9242 111-3 Fizz Gallery Valaoritou 9c, Athens 10671 Greece, Tel: 210 360 7598 Gagosian Gallery Merlin 3, Athens 10671, Tel: 210 364 0215 Gallery 7 Zalokosta 7, Syntagma, Tel: 210.361.2050 Gialino Music Theatre Sigrou 143, N. Smirni, Athens Tel: 210 9316 101-4 Herakleidon Herakleidon 16, Thissio, Tel: 210.346.1981 Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre 48 Armatolon-Klephton st.

11471 Athens, Tel: 210 643 9466 Jill Yakas Spartis 16, Kifissia. Tel: 210.801.2773 www.yakas.com K-Art Gallery Sina 54, 106 72, Athens, Greece Tel: 211 401 3877 Kalfayan Gallery Haritos 11, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.721.7679 Kourd Gallery Kassiani 2-4, Tel: 210.642.6573 ww.gallerykourd.gr

Acropolis is open daily and entrance, includes archaeological sites. Tel: 201.321.0219 Ancient Agora was the heart of ancient Athens - the focus of political, commercial, administrative and social life for centuries.

Athinais Cultural Centre formerly a silk factory, this space has been converted into a large cultural centre. Kastorias 34-36, Votanikos. Tel: 210.348.0000.

Byzantine Churches many churches dating from the 11th and 12th centuries are found around the city. Noteworthy examples include: Agios Eleftherios, next to the cathedral on Mitropoleos Street; Kapnikarea, halfway down Ermou Street from Syntagma; Agi Apostoli, Agora area south of Stoa of Attalos; and Agia Triada (Russian Orthodox church) on Filellinon Street. Churches are open to the public on Sundays and holidays, also usually for daily prayers 7am-1pm and 4-6:30pm. Dress soberly when visiting.

Technopolis (Gazi) a 19th century gas factory turned major cultural centre for performing arts and installation works.

Pireos 100 & Ermou, Gazi. Tel: 210.346.1589.

Hadrian’s Arch a Roman arch that marked the boundary of ancient Athens and the new city. Located at the corner of Vas. Olgas and Amalias Avenues.

Agora Museum Located in the Stoa of Attalos.

Tel: 210.321.0185.

Atelier Spyros Vassiliou Webster 5A, Athens.

Tel: 210.923.1502 www.spyrosvassiliou.org Athens University History Museum Tholou 5, Plaka, Tel: 210.368.9502 www.history-museum.uoa.gr Benaki Museum Koumbari 1 & Vas. Sofias Avenue Tel: 210.367.1000, www.benaki.gr Benaki Museum of Islamic Arts Dipylou 12, Kerameikos. Tel: 210.325.1311 www.benaki.gr

Benaki Museum, Pireos Pireos 138 & Andronikou Tel: 210.345.3111, www.benaki.gr Byzantine Museum Vas. Sofias 22, Tel: 210.721.1027.

Hellenic Cosmos Foundation of the Hellenic world Pireos 254, Tavros. Tel: 212.254.0000. www.hellenic-cosmos.gr Frissiras Vlassis Museum of Contemporary European Art Monis Asteriou 3-7, Plaka, Tel: 210.323.4678 www.frissirasmuseum.com Goulandris Foundation Museum of Cycladic Art Neofytou Douka 4, Tel: 210.722.8321 www.cycladic.gr Herakleidon Herakleidon 16, Thissio.

Tel: 210-346.1981. www.herakleidon-art.gr Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum Karyatidon & Kallisperi 12, Makrygianni.

Tel: 210.922.7260. www.lalaounis.com Jewish Museum Nikis 39, Plaka. Tel: 210.322.5582. www.jewishmuseum.gr Keramikos Museum Ermou 148, Monastiraki, Tel: 210.346.3552.

Maria Callas Museum Technopolis, Pireos 100, Gazi, Tel: 210.346.1589 National Archaeological Museum Patission 44, Athens, Tel: 210.821.7724 National Gallery and Alexandros Soutsos Museum Vas. Konstantinou 50.

Tel: 210.723.5857, 210.723.5937 Numismatic Museum Panepistimiou 12, Athens.

Tel: 210.363.5953. www.nma.gr The Acropolis Museum Dionysiou Areopagitou Street Tel: 210.924.1043, www.theacropolismuseum.gr

Just for kids

Tel: 210.322.9705

Lykavittos Hill is the highest point in Athens. Take the teleferique from the top of Ploutarchou St. Megaron Mousikis (The Athens Concert Hall) live concerts, operas and other performances. Vas. Sofias Ave. & Kokkali.

Tel: 210.728.2333 Odeon of Herod Atticus built in 161 AD, this is where the Athens Festival takes place. Accessible for €1.50 and open daily from 8:30am.

Panathenian Stadium “Kalimarmaro”was the site of the first modern Olympics in 1896. Located at Vassileos Konstantinou and Agras, across from the National Garden.

Pnyx Hill here, for the first time in history, every citizen could vote, giving Pnyx the name the “birthplace of democracy”.

Close by is the beautiful Old Observatory.

Presidential Palace formerly the Royal Palace, this building is used by the President of Greece to host dignitaries.

Irodou Attikou Street.

Stoa of Attalos shopping arcade built in the 2nd century BC and totally reconstructed in the 1950s. Tues-Sun 8:30am3pm. Admission to the Agora and museum €3.50. Adrianou 24. Tel: 210.321.0185 Syntagma (Constitution Square) is the heart of the city and the best spot for new visitors to orient themselves. The Evzones, dressed in traditional uniforms, guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Parliament. The changingof-the-guard ceremony takes place every hour.

Temple of Olympian Zeus once the largest temple in ancient Greece, its ruins lie just behind Hadrian's Arch. Mon-Sun 8am-7:30pm. €2.00. Vas. Olgas and Amalias Avenues, Tel: 210.922.6330.

Theatre of Dionysus built in the 5th century BC is where the plays of Aristophanes, Euripides, Aeschylus and Sophocles were first performed.

Tower of Winds the octagonal tower, representing the eight directions of the wind, was built in the 1st century BC by the Syrian astronomer Andronicus. Mon-Sun 8am-7pm. Just east of the Ancient Agora.

Tel: 210.324.5220.

Museums

ASSOCIATION OF GUIDES

Pallas Theatre Skoufa 77 & Staikou 2, Kolonaki Athens, Tel: 210 364 0783 Skoufa Gallery Skoufa 4, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.360.3541 Stavros Mihaliaras Art 260 Kifissias & Diligianni, Kifissia Tel: 210.623.0928 Thanassis Frisssiras Gallery Kriezotou 7, Tel: 210. 364.0288 The Art Foundation (TAF) Normanou 5, Monastiraki, Tel: 210.323.8757 The Eynard Mansion Aghiou Konstantinou 20 & Menandrou, Athens 104 31, Tel: 210 322 1335 The National Art Gallery and Alexander Soutzos Museum Michalakopoulou 1 - Vas. Constantinou 1, 115 28 Athens, Tel: 210-7235857 Titanium Yiayiannos Vas. Konstantinou 44, Pangrati, Tel: 210.729.7644 Tsatsis Project/ Artforum 12 Mitropoleos st. & Venizelou PC 54624 Thessaloniki, Tel: 231 025 7552 Xippas Gallery Sofokleous 53D, 105 52 Athens, Greece, Tel: 210 331 9333 Zoumboulakis Gallery Kolonaki Square 20, Kolonaki Tel: 210.360.8278 Zoumboulakis Gallery Graphics & Editions Kriezotou 7, Syntagma, Tel: 210.363.4454

Attractions & Sites

ORGANISED TOURS

Allou Fun Park Kifissou & Petrou Ralli, Ag. Ioannis Rentis, Tel: 210.425.6999, www.allou.gr Children’s Museum Kydathinaeon 14, Plaka, Tel: 210.331.2995.

Goulandris Museum of Natural History Levidou 13, Kifissia.

Tel: 210.801.5870, www.gnhm.gr Greek Folk Art Museum Daily Karaghiozis puppet shows!

Kydathinaeon 17, Plaka, Tel: 210.322.9031 Museum of Children’s Art Kodrou 9, Plaka, Tel: 210.331.22621 www.childrensartmuseum.gr

Summit The Wall Sport Climbing Center Ag. Athanasiou 12, Pallini, Tel: 210.603.0093, www.summit.gr Westin Kids Club Apollonos 40, Vouliagmeni, Tel: 210.890.2000 http://www.westinathens.com/en/westin_kids_club/

insider athens | September & October 2012 61

partner hotels ARION RESORT & SPA

ATHENS LEDRA MARRIOTT HOTEL

DIVANI PALACE ACROPOLIS

METROPOLITAN

The legendary beauty resort is part of Starwood Hotels and Resorts. Breathtaking views of the Saronic Gulf, elegant and sophisticated décor in all 123 rooms and suites, private swimming pools and beaches, spa and gourmet restaurants.

Apollonos 40, Vouliagmeni. Tel: 210.890.2000

314 deluxe guest rooms, 18 suites. Rooftop swimming pool and bar, health club, Kona Kai Polynesian - Tepanyiaki Restaurant and sports bar. Syngrou 115. Tel: 210.930.0000

Located at the base of the Acropolis and close to Plaka. Pool with bar, roof garden restaurant with Acropolis view. Parthenonos 19-25.

Makrigianni. Tel: 210.928.0100

Beautifully renovated property with views of the sea and the Acropolis. Ten minutes from central Athens, the port of Piraeus and main exhibition centers. Syngrou 385. Tel: 210.947.1000

NEW

GRANDE BRETAGNE

NJV athens plaza

This city landmark is part of Starwood Hotels and Resorts. All 265 rooms and 56 suites are decorated with original artwork and antiques.

Reception areas, ballrooms, roof garden with Acropolis view. Luxury spa, indoor and outdoor pools. Syntagma Sq. Tel: 210.333.0000

Boutique-style hotel with 182 rooms including 23 suites with breathtaking views of the Acropolis, ideally located in the heart of the business and shopping district within walking distance of Plaka. 2, Vas.Georgiou A’ St, Athens Tel: 210 3352400

Holiday Inn Attica Avenue

NOVOTEL

New five-star property on Attica Avenue linking Athens with the international airport.

State-of-the art conference facilities, restaurant, two bars, pool and fitness center. 40.2 km Attica Road, between exits 17 & 18. Tel: 210.668.9000, www.hiathens.com

The newly renovated Novotel is designed for natural living. Close to Omonoia square and the National Museum. Open plan bar and rooftop bar and restaurant and pool.4-6 Mikhail Voda Street Tel: 210.820.0700, www..novotel.com

ATHENAEUM INTERCONTINENTAL ATHENS

543 rooms with renovated Deluxe rooms and suites. Dedicated business centre facilities and 3.500 m2 of extensive & flexible meeting space.

New I-Spa and renovated gym. Award winning restaurants. Syngrou 89-93. Tel: 210.920.6000

Designed by the Campana brothers, NEW, the latest venture of YES! Hotels has 79 luxury rooms, including 18 Studios and 6 Junior Suites. NEW Taste, is the Hotel’s innovative restaurant concept. Filellinon 16, Syntagma.

Tel: 210.3273000 Crowne plaza

ATHENIAN CALLIRHOE HOTEL

66 state-of the-art rooms, 15 executive rooms and 3 suites. The acclaimed Etrusco Restaurant serves top quality Mediterranean cuisine.

Kallirois 32 & Petmeza. Tel: 210.921.5353 ATHENS ELECTRA PALACE HOTEL

Located in historic Plaka beneath the Acropolis.

Facilities include bar, restaurant, spa area with indoor swimming pool, business centre, garden and underground parking. N. Nikodimou 18-20, Plaka. Tel: 210.337.0000 ATHENS HILTON

Newly renovated, the former Holiday Inn Athens is at a very convenient location and attracts both business and leisure travellers.

Amenities include restaurant, bar, rooftop swimming pool, conference and business facilities, garage parking. Michalakopoulou 50.

Tel: 210.727.8000, www.cpathens.com DIVANI APOLLON PALACE & SPA

Located seaside with a magnificent view of the Saronic Gulf. All rooms with balconies and sea views. Indoor and outdoor pools, boutiques, beauty parlor, business centre and spa.

Ag. Nikolaou 10 & Iliou, Kavouri-Vouliagmeni.

Tel: 210.891.1100

Holiday Suites

Elegant, all-suite hotel offering high standard accommodation. Each suite provides guests with a separate living room and kitchenette. Arnis 4.Tel: 210.727.8000, www.holiday-suites.com

Near the Acropolis Museum. 265 rooms and 45 unique Panorama Suites, overlooking the Temple of Zeus and the Acropolis. Pool, business center, convention and banquet facilities.

Roof Garden Restaurant/Bar “Ioannis”. 28-34, Ath. Diakou Str., 11743 Athens, Greece. Tel. 210 9288400, www.royalolympic.com

KEFALARI SUITES

SEMIRAMIS

Turn-of-the-century hotel in Kifissia, part of YES! Hotels.Themed suites with modern facilities. Pentelis 1, Kifissia.

Tel: 210.623.3333

YES! Hotel designed by Karim Rashid. 51 luxury rooms, 4 suites and 6 poolside bungalows.

Ultra-trendy bar-restaurant. Harilaou Trikoupi 48, Kefalari-Kifissia. Tel: 210.628.4400

DIVANI CARAVEL

508 renovated rooms, two pools, banquet rooms restaurants, convention facilities, business centre & spa. The rooftop Galaxy bar has gorgeous city views. Vas. Sofias 46. Tel: 210.728.1000

situated close to major tourist attractions with, rooftop restaurant and swimming pool.

Vas. Alexandrou 2, Tel: 210.720.7000

62 insider athens | September & October 2012

Royal Olympic

partner hotels SOFITEL ATHENS AIRPORT

TwentyOne

Herodion

COSTA NAVARINO The Westin Resort Costa Navarino

Airport hotel. Executive floor, business center and conference facilities. Two bars and two restaurants. Health club and covered swimming pool. Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, Spata. Tel: 210.354.4000 ST. GEORGE LYCABETTUS HOTEL

A member of YES! Hotels. Modern design and simple architectural charm. 16 ergonomically designed rooms and 5 loft suites. “21” Bar Restaurant for indoor and outdoor dining.

Kolokotroni 21, Kefalari-Kifissia Tel: 210.623.3521. www.twentyone.gr

A CATEGORY

Located at the base of the Acropolis and a five minute walk to Plaka. 90 guest rooms, meeting facilities and a lovely atrium barcoffee shop. Rovertou Galli 4, Makrigianni.

Tel: 210.923.6832 HOTEL ELECTRA

AVA HOTEL & SUITES

Located in the upper part of Kolonaki, not far from the Lycabettus (Lykavittos) funicular railway. Excellent restaurant, Le Grand Balcon. Rooftop swimming pool. Kleomenous 2, Dexamenis Square, Kolonaki. Tel: 210.729.0711 THEOXENIA PALACE HOTEL

Luxurious apartments and suites in Plaka.

Magnificent views of the Acropolis, Hadrian’s Arch and Zeus Temple. Short walk to Syntagma and Monastiraki. Lysikratous street 9-11, Plaka.

Tel: 210.325.9000, www.avahotel.gr

Within walking distance from all major archaeological sites, business and commercial districts. Includes bar, restaurant, lobby and meeting areas. Ermou 5, Syntagma. Tel: 210.337.8000

Inspired by old Messinian mansions, the Westin resort’s low-rise villa clusters use natural stone and local design elements to create a motif in perfect harmony with the virgin sandy beach and pristine hillside landscape. Its 445 deluxe rooms and suites, 123 with private infinity pools, offer access to an extensive common pool areas, and reflect Westin’s soothing aesthetic The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort

PERISCOPE HOTEL

CORAL HOTEL

In an elegant neoclassical building in Kefalari, this hotel has a restaurant, bar, gym, sauna and outdoor pool. Business centre, internet and conference facilities. Filadelfeos 2, Kifissia.

Tel: 210.623.3622-6 THE MARGI

The Coral’s 86 rooms and 2 suites offer all modern conveniences. Poseidonos Avenue 35, Paleo Faliron. Tel: 210.981.6441 Fresh Hotel

Boutique hotel with 90 spacious rooms and suites and great views to the sea and pine forests.

Café Tabac Restaurant offers a unique dining experience while Malabar and J-lounge are perfect for a glass of champagne. Close to the lake, beach and tennis courts. Litous 11, Vouliagmeni.

Tel: 210.892.9000. www.themargi.gr THE WESTIN ATHENS

Situated in the heart of old Athens within walking distance of the Plaka, Psirri and Monastiraki.

Enjoy the hip Orange Bar, rooftop restaurant and pool. Sophocleous 26 & Klisthenous.

Tel: 210.524.8511-6.

Designed for people who wish to be part of all that goes on in the city. 17 rooms, 4 junior suites and a super-lux penthouse suite.

Part of YES! Hotels. Haritos 22, Kolonaki.

Tel: 210.729.7200, www.periscope.gr

The Romanos Resort boasts of 289 exquisitely appointed rooms and 32 suites with individual infinity pools. Traditional Greek design with contemporary touches sets the tone in each space, where the sparkling blue of the Mediterranean is the preferred hue.

Santorini MYSTIQUE SANTORINI

Philippos

Recently refurbished, all 50 rooms are wellappointed and comfortable. Offers good value for money in the Acropolis area. Mitseon 3, Makrigianni. Tel: 210.922.3611-4

Mystique is an 18 villa hotel, designed by Frank Le Fevbre. Mystique, Oia. Tel. 22860 71114 VEDEMA, SANTORINI

amarilia hotel

@ Part of the Astir Palace Complex with 162 guest rooms and suites and views of the Saronic Gulf. Sea view lounges, trendy bars, fusion and Mediterranean cuisine restaurants and private gazebos by an Olympic-sized pool. Apollonos 40, Vouliagmeni. Tel: 210.890.2000

Amarilia Hotel in Vouliagmeni is an excellent choice for business and leisure travellers. 100 renovated rooms and suites with great sea views, meeting and banqueting facilities, outdoor swimming pool. Ag. Nikolaou 13 Vouliagmeni. Tel. 210 8990391, www.amarilia.gr

Would you like TO see your hotel LISTED here?

CONTACT US at: info@insider-magazine.gr

Vedema has 45 rooms converted from a 100 year old neo-classical captain’s house and a private swiming pool for all the suites. Vedema, Megalohori. Tel. 22860 81 796

insider athens | September & October 2012 63

AUDIOVISUAL OTE video conference service 7.30am-10pm.

Patission 85. Tel: 210.883.8578, 210.822.0399 TCS M. Antipa 20 & 2 Prometheus, Tel: 210.976.7086

COMPUTER & CELL-PHONE RENTAL TrimTel Mobile Communications Michalakopoulou 41, Tel: 210.729.1964

Commercial Office spaces Regus Tel: 210 727 9000 Global Business Services Tel: 210-8764 876 Kifissias Ave. 90, Maroussi

COURIER SERVICES ACS Tel: 210.819.0000 DHL Tel: 210.989.0000 Express City Tel: 210.821.9959 Geniki Taxydromiki Tel: 210.485.1100 Interattika Tel: 210.540.5400 Speedex Tel: 801.11.000.11 UPS Tel: 210.998.4000

Driving Schools in English Denis Kasimatis - Driving School Zografou, Papagou, Ilissia, Psychiko, Cholargos and Goudi - Tel: 210 778 3157 210 779 6981 Trochokinisi Driving School 28th Oktovriou 126, Ambelokipi, Athens Tel: 231 072 9092 Driving School Highway Amfitheas and Ag. Triados 30, 175 64 Paleo Faliro - Tel: 210 988 8098 / 6997 722 777 Vlachos Bros 25th Martiou 11, Peristeri; Xenofodos 17, Peristeri; Afroditis 39, Ilion Tel: 210 574 4895 / 210 576 9190

Relocation Agencies Allied Pickfords Tel: 210 610 4494 Mourouzi 7, Athens Athens Relocation Centre Tel: 210 96 50 697, Zakynthou 10, Attica Movers Tel: 210 922 7221 19, Syngrou Ave Celebrity International Movers 102, Kapodistriou Ave, Tel: 210 272 0106 Corporate Relocations Athens Tel: 210 800 3510, Ag. Saranta 32 Nea Erithrea Orphee Beinoglou Tel: 210 9466100 27th km Old National Road Athens-Korinth Location Elefsinia, GR-19200 Elefsina Omega Transport Thesi Kyrilos, 19300 Aspropyrgos Tel: 210 947 5500 Octopus Relocation Services Ygeias 7, Marina Zeas, Tel: 210 4599530

CLASSIFIEDS FOR SALE 73m2 apartment near Acropolis Museum with on-site parking space, on 3rd floor, bright, facing street, built in 2007. It comprises one large open-plan living area, separate fitted kitchen, WC, storage room, and 13m2 covered veranda. Equipped with parquet wood floor, independent natural gas heating, Guzzini lighting system, Daikin a/c units, Buchtal ceramic tiles, double glazing, security door. It is located only 220m from metro station, 80m from tram & bus stops.

Contact tel. 697 6558 536.

For Rent in Glyfada Top floor apartment, 3 bedrooms, fully furnished.

Sunny and airy, central heat and A/C units all rooms. Convenient location, very comfortable.

For more info CALL 2291024129.

For Rent/ SALE in Hydra Fully furnished, recently renovated, three bedroom, three bathroom villa with living room, open kitchen, courtyard, and terraces with breathtaking views of the island and the Peloponnese.

For more information, contact info@insider-magazine.gr

64 insider athens | September & October 2012

TRANSLATIONS / INTERPRETING Executive services, translation & interpreting All EU and Balkan languages - legal, technical and medical documents. Athens Tower B. Tel:Â 210.778.3698 www.executiveservices.gr Global Business Services Kifisias 90, Maroussi. Tel: 210.876.4876 IBS - International Business Services Michalakopoulou 29, Tel: 210.724.5541

Travel Agencies Travel Plan Tel: 210 333 3300 www.travelplan.gr Amphitrion Tel: 210 900 6000 Meg Alexandrou 7 & Karaiskaki, www.amphitrionholidays.gr TravelPlanet24 Tel: 211 107 9684 241, Syngrou Ave. & 2, Alikarnassou 171 22 Nea Smyrni, Athens www.travelplanet24.com Mid-east Travel Tel: 211 211 8888 Vas Sofias 105-107 / www.mideast.gr

Embassies Cultural Institutes

Business services

useful information

French Institute Sina 31, 10680 Athens Tel: 210 339 8600 Hellenic American Union Massalias 22, 10680 Athens, Tel: 210 368 0900 British Council 17 Kolonaki Square 17 106 73 Athens Tel: 210 369 2333 Instituto Cervantes Mitropoleos 23, 105 57 Athens Tel: 210 3634117 Goethe Institut Omirou 14-16, 100 33 Athens Tel: 210 3661000 Onassis Cultural Centre Syngrou Ave. 107-109, 117 45 Athens, Tel: 213 017 8000 Instituto Italiano di Cultura Patission [28 Oktovriou] 47 Tel: 210 369 2333, 210 524 2646

ALBANIA Vekiareli 7, Filothei, Tel: 210.687.6200 ALGERIA Vas. Constantinou 14 Tel: 210.756.4191-2 ARGENTINA Vas. Sophias 59. Tel: 210.724.4158 ARMENIA K. Palaiologou 95, Tel: 210.683.1130, 210.683.1145 AUSTRALIA Kifisias & Alexandras, Tel: 210.870.4000 AUSTRIA Vas. Sofias Avenue 4, Tel: 210.725.7270 AZERBAiJAN Skoufa 10.

Tel: 210.363.2721 BELGIUM Sekeri 3, Tel: 210.360.0314

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Hatzikosta 3. Tel: 210.641.0788 BRAZIL Filikis Etaireias Sq. 14.

Tel: 210.721.3039 BULGARIA Stratigou Kallari 33A, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.674.8105 CANADA Ioanni Gennadiou 4.

Tel: 210.727.3400 CHILE Kifisias 317A Tel: 210.807.1020 CHINA Krinon 2A, P. Psychiko.

Tel: 210.677.1212 CROATIA Tzavella 4, N. Psychiko.

Tel: 210.677.7033 CUBA Sofokleous 5, Filothei.

Tel: 210.685.5550 CYPRUS Xenofontos 2A. Tel: 210.373.4800 CZECH REPUBLIC G. Seferi 6, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.671.9701 DENMARK Mourouzi 10.

Tel: 210.725.6440 EGYPT Vas. Sofias 3. Tel: 210.361.8612 ESTONIA Messoghion 2-4.

Tel: 210.747.5660 FINLAND Hatziyianni Mexi 5.

Tel: 210.725.5860 FRANCE Vas. Sofias 7. Tel: 210.339.1000 FYROM Papadiamanti 4, P. Psychiko.

Tel: 210.674.9585 GEORGIA Ag. Dimitriou 24, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.674.2186 GERMANY Karaoli & Dimitriou 3.

Tel: 210.728.5111 HUNGARY Karneadou 25.

Tel: 210.725.6800 INDIA Kleanthous 3. Tel: 210.721.6481 INDONESIA Marathonodromon 99, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.674.2345 IRAN Stratigou Kallari 16.

Tel: 210.674.1436 IRELAND Vas. Konstantinou 7.

Tel: 210.723.2405 ISRAEL Marathonodromon 1, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.670.5500 ITALY Sekeri 2. Tel: 210.361.7260 JAPAN Ethnikis Antistaseos 46, Halandri.

Tel: 210.670.9900 JORDAN Papadiamanti 21. P. Psychiko.

Tel: 210.674.4161 Kazakhstan Imittou 122, Papagou Tel: 210.654.7765 KOREA Messoghion 2-4, Athens.

Tel: 210.698.4080 KUWAIT Perikleous 2, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.674.3593 LEBANON 6, 25th Martiou, P. Psychiko.

Tel: 210.675.5873 LIBYA Vyronos 13, P. Psychiko.

Tel: 210.674.2120 LITHUANIA Vas. Sophias 49.

Tel: 210.729.4356 LATVIA Vas. Konstantinou 38.

Tel. 210.729.4483 LUXEMBOURG Vas. Sofias 23A & Neofitou Vamva 2.Tel: 210.725.6400 MALTA V. Sofias 96.Tel: 210.778.5138

useful information

Ambulance Tel: 166 Doctors SOS Tel: 1016.

They will issue an invoice to claim reimbursement from your insurer.

Duty Pharmacies Call 1434, Also check newspapers for listings.

Emergency Hospitals Tel: 1434 Fire Brigade Tel: 199 Forest Fire Tel: 191 Poison Hotline Tel: 210.779.3777 Police Tel: 100 Tourist Police Tel: 171 Coastguard Tel:108 Air Police Tel: 210.964.2000

ROAD ASSISTANCE ELPA Tel: 10400 Emergency Service Tel: 104 Express Service Tel: 154 Hellas Service Tel: 1057 Interamerican Tel: 168 Tourist Information Tel: 174

Paediatric Hospitals

EUROCLINIC PAEDON Lemessou 39-41 & Aharnon 209, Kato Patissia, Tel: 210.869.1900 PAEDON AGIA SOFIA HOSPITAL Mikras Asias and Thivon, Goudi. Tel: 210.746.7000 PAEDON AGLAIA KYRIAKOU HOSPITAL Livadias 3 and Thivon, Goudi. Tel: 210.772.6000 & 1535

Private Hospitals Advanced Medical Services, Symmetria Building Ethnikis Antistaseos 66, Halandri.

Tel: 210.677.3573 www.symmetria.gr CENTRAL CLINIC OF ATHENS Asklipiou St. 31. Emergency number 1169 or Tel: 210.367.4000 www.centralclinic.gr

public Hospitals ASKLEPIEION HOSPITAL Vas. Pavlou 1, Voula. Tel: 210.895.8301-4 EVANGELISMOS Ypsilantou 45-47, Kolonaki. Tel: 210.720.1000 KAT HOSPITAL specialized trauma unit. Nikis 2, Kifissia.

Tel: 210.628.0000 TZANNEIO Afentouli & Tzani, Pireaus.

Tel: 210.451.9411-9

PHYSICIANS (ENGLISH SPEAKING) Ioannis Bitzos, MD Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Harilaou Trikoupi 62 Kifissia. Tel: 210.808.0682 A.J. Kanellopoulos, MD Eye Surgeon, Mesogeion 2, Athens Tower B’ Tel: 210.747.2777 Dimitris Linos, MD FACS General Surgeon, Kifissias 227, Kifissia.

Tel: 210.612.5001-2 heart & vascular centrE E.N. Deliargyris, MD FACC FSCAI Interventional cardiologist. Southern Athens. Vakchou 2 & Vas. Kostantinou Tel:210.897.6276. www.heartline.gr

DR. KOVEOS D.M.D. DENTAL OFFICE

Cosmetic, Implant & Reconstructive Dentistry 20-22 Ipsilantou str., Kolonaki 106 76 Athens-Greece Tel: 210 7242211 Fax: 210 7242212 E-mail: info@drkoveos.com Website: www.drkoveos.com

English media

EMERGENCY NUMBERS

EUROCLINIC diagnostic, surgical and treatment centre.

Athanasiadou 9. (near Mavili Sq.).

Tel: 210.641.6600 EURODENTICA Specialized dental care Patision 150, Tel: 210. 866.3367-8 Alamanas 3, Maroussi. Tel: 210.619.5760-1 El. Venizelou 162, Kallithea.

Tel: 210.956.5365 HYGEIA Kifissias & E. Stavrou 4, Maroussi. Tel: 210.686.7000 www.ygeia.gr IATRIKO KENTRO (ATHENS MEDICAL CENTER) Areos 36, P. Faliro.

Tel: 210.989.2100-20. Distomou 5-7, Maroussi. Tel: 210.619.8100 METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL Ethnarou Makariou 9 & El. Venizelou, N. Faliro. Tel: 210.480.9000 www.metropolitan-hospital.gr IASO Kifissias 37-39, Maroussi.

Tel: 210.618.4000 MITERA Kifissias & E. Stavrou 6, Maroussi.

Tel: 210.686.9000

Newspapers The International Herald Tribune carries the English version of Kathimerini The local Athens News comes out Fridays.

Radio Antenna 97.2 FM news at 8.25am.

Flash Radio 96.0 FM 8.55am, 3pm and 8pm daily.

ERA public radio 91.6 FM for bulletins at 5am and 9am, full news coverage at 9.30pm.

Schools

Greek Language

Emergencies

VATICAN Mavili 2, P. Psychiko.

Tel: 210.674.3598 VENEZUELA Marathonodromon 19, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.672.9169 VIETNAM Yakinthon 50, Psychiko. Tel. 210.612.8733, 210.675.3080.

Health

MEXICO Filikis Etaireias Sq. 14.

Tel: 210.729.4780 MOLDAVIA Georgiou Bacu 20, Filothei.

Tel: 210.699.0660 MOROCCO Marathonodromon 5, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.674.4210 NETHERLANDS Vas Konstantinou 5-7.

Tel: 210.725.4900 NIGERIA Dolianis 65, Maroussi.

Tel: 210.802.1188 NORWAY Vas. Sofias 23.

Tel: 210.724.6173 PAKISTAN Loukianou 6.

Tel: 210.729.0122 PALESTINE Giassemion 13, P. Psychiko. Tel.: 210.672.6061-3 PANAMA Praxitelous 192 & II Merarchias, Piraeus. Tel: 210.428.6441 PERU Semitelou 2. Tel: 210.779.2761 PHILIPPINES Antheon 26, P. Psychiko.

Tel: 210.672.1837 POLAND Chrysanthemon 22, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.679.7700 PORTUGAL Vas. Sofias 23.

Tel: 210.729.0096 / 210.723.6784 QATAR Rigillis 16A Tel: 210.725.5031 ROMANIA Emm. Benaki 7, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.672.8875 RUSSIA Nikiforos Lytra 28, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.672.5235 SAUDIA ARABIA Palaiologhou 2 & Agias Annis Tel: 210.671.6911 SERBIA Vas. Sophias 106, Tel: 210.777.4344 SINGAPORE Aigialias 17, Paradissos Amaroussiou. Tel: 210.684.5072 SLOVAK REPUBLIC G. Seferi 4, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.677.1980 SLOVENIA Mavili 10, Tel: 210.672.0090-091 SOUTH AFRICA Kifissias 60, Maroussi.

Tel: 210.610.6645 SPAIN Dionysiou Areopagitou 21, Tel: 210.921.3123 SWEDEN Vas. Konstantinou 7, Tel: 210.726.6100 SWITZERLAND Iasiou 2, Tel: 210.723.0364-6 TAIWAN Marathonodromon 57, Tel: 210.677.5122 Representative office THAILAND Marathorodromon 25 & Kyprou, P. Psychiko. Tel: 210.674.9065 TUNISIA Antheon 2, P. Psychiko, Tel: 210.671.7590 TURKEY Vas. Georgiou B’ 8, Tel: 210.726.3000 UKRAINE Stephanou Delta 4, Filothei, Tel: 210.680.0230 UNITED KINGDOM Ploutarchou 1.

Tel: 210.727.2600 UNITED STATES Vas. Sofias 91.

Tel: 210.721.2951 URUGUAY Menandrou 1, Kifissia Tel: 210.361.3549

The Athens Center 48 Archimidous Street, Mets, Athens 11636, Greece 210 7015-242 CELT Athens 77 Academias Street, 106 78 Athens, Greece, Tel: 210 3301455 Greek House Dragoumi 7, 145 61 Kifissia, Tel: 210 808 5186 Hellenic American Union 22 Massalias str., 106 80 Athens, Tel: 210368.0900 Omilo Greek Language And Culture Panagi Tsaldari 13 (4th floor), 15122 Maroussi, Tel: 210 6122706

insider athens | September & October 2012 65

Greek Manpower Employment Organization (OAED) www.oaed.gr, Tel: 210 99 89 000 Public Services Administration Information Center (paperwork assistance) on weekdays 8am-3pm (KEP): Tel: 177, ww.kep.gov.gr

Public Power Corporation (DEI) In case of power failure: Tel: 210, 523 9939 www.dei.gr

Weather Attica, Tel: 148, www.hnms.gr

Water Supply & Sewage (EYDAP) In case of water cut: Tel: 1202, www.eydap.gr

Citizen’s Rights Ombudsman: 5 Hatziyiannis Mexis (near the Hilton Hotel), Tel: 210 72 89 640

Universities University of Indianapolis Ipitou 9, Athens, Tel: 210 323 6647 DEREE Gravias 6, Aghia Paraskevi, Tel: 210 600 9800

ALBA Graduate Business School Athinas Ave. & Areos 2A, Vouliagmeni Tel: 210 896 4531 American University of Athens Kifisias & Sochou 4, Neo Psichiko, Tel: 210 725 9301 Business College of Athens Tatoiou 2 & Othonos 77, Kifissia Tel: 210 808 8008

International Kindergartens

International Schools

St Catherine's British Embassy School Sofoklis Venizelou 77, Lykovrissi Tel: 210 282 9750 St. Lawrence College Anemon St, Koropi Tel: 210 891 7000 American Community Schools of Athens Aghias Paraskevis Ave. 129, Halandri, Tel: 210 639 3200 Campion School Aghias Ioulianis, Pallini Tel: 210 607 1700 Byron College Filolaou 7, Gerakas Tel: 210 604 7722 International School of Athens Xenias and Artemidos, Kifissia, Tel: 210 623 3888 Lycée Franco-Hellénique Eugène Delacroix Chlois & Trikalon, Ag. Paraskevi Tel: 211 300 9121 Scuola Statale Italiana Odos Mitsaki 18, Ano Patissia Tel: 210 228 2720 German School in Athens Homatianou & Ziridi, Maroussi Tel: 210 619 9261 Greek German School 25 Martiou & Vernardou, Vrylissia Tel: 210 682 0566

66 insider athens | September & October 2012

English kindergartens The Cottage Kindergarten Psaron 74, Halandri Tel: 210 682 7629 Early Learning Rizountos 53, Elliniko Tel: 210 961 8763 Hopscotch International Kindergarten Ag. Triandos 93, Vari Tel: 210 965 3985 Kifissia Montessori School Ellinikon Stratou 5, Kifissia Tel: 210 620 7481 Melina’s Kindergarten Harilaou Trikoupi 16, Kifissia Tel: 210 801 2719 Peek-a-boo PreSchool Vougliameni Tel: 210 967 1970 Peter Pan Lakonias 4-6, Voula Tel: 210 895 9654 Prince Allen The English Nursery School Lysimahou 8, Vari Tel: 210 965 6800

Au petit bonheur 50 Iraklitou, Glyfada, Tel: 210 9658 207 Les Alouettes Spartis 36 & Harilaou Trikoupi, Kifissia Tel: 210 80 11 570 L’Air des Contes 11, Cycladon, Glyka Nera, Tel : 210 600 3196 Le Castelet 18 Gortinias, Kifissia, Tel: 210 808 7760 Mary Poppins 4, Kodrou, Filothei, Tel: 210 677 3803 Play and Learn Kassaveti 22, Kifissia, Tel: 210 801 1428

German kindergartens O mikros Antonis Barbayiannis, Pallini, Tel: 210 603 2527

Italian kindergartens Scuola maternal italiana de Atene Mitsaki 18, Ano Patissia, Tel: 210 202 0274 Il Mulino magico Troados 23, Ag Paraskevi, Tel: 210 600 3148 British Council Library Kolonaki Sq. 17 Tel: 210 363 3211/5 American Library Masalias 22 (4th floor) Tel: 210 363 8114 American School of Classical Studies Blegen Souedias 54, Tel: 210 723 6313 Athens College Library Stephanou Delta, P. Psychiko Tel: 210 671 4628 Hellenic American Union Greek Library 22 Masalias St (7th floor), Tel: 210 362 9886 French Institute Library 31 Sina St, Tel: 210 362 4301 German Archaeological Institute Library Pheidiou 1, Tel: 210 362 0270 Goethe Institute Library Omirou 14-16, Tel: 210 360 8111 Italian Institut Library Patision 47, Tel: 210 522 9294 EU Library Vas. Sophias 2, Tel: 210 724 3982 National Library Tzavella 25, Tel: 210 382 0657 Benakeios Library Anthimou Gazi 2, Tel: 210 322 71

Libraires

Road Assistance ELPA: 104

Social Security & Health insurance (IKA) www.ika.gr

Money

French kindergartens Telephone & Internet Services (OTE) New tel: 138, Tel. (defective): 129 OTE customer service: 134 International call information (English, French & German): 169 www.ote.gr

LOST OR STOLEN CREDIT CARDS

Post Phone

useful information

Post offices operate weekdays 8am-2pm. The main post offices in Athens are located at SYNTAGMA SQUARE and OMONIA SQUARE at Aeolou 100 and open weekdays 7:30am-8pm, Sat 7:30am-2pm, and Sun 9am-1:30pm.

AMERICAN EXPRESS Tel: 210.326.2626 DINERS CLUB Tel: 210.929.0200 EUROCARD Tel: 210.950.3673 MASTERCARD Tel: 00800.1188.70303, VISA Tel: 00.800.1163.803.04

Country Code: 30 City Code: 210 international calls first dial 00, then the country code.

To call from a Public payphone buy a phone card at the kiosks

Incoming

by Travel Plan Quality that meets your expectations!

www.travelplan.gr incoming@travelplan.gr

!

advertise in our listings, and reach thousands of customers

email us at ads@insider-magazine.gr

getting around

Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, Spata.

Tel: 210.353.0000, 210.353.1000. www.aia.gr.

24 HOUR VIP TRANSPORT SERVICE

Car rental

WSW Skycap Services at Athens Airport provides Meet & Greet, Baggage Hauling and Transport Service.

Tel: 210.353.0100 www.skycap.gr For info about the public bus lines please check our section Getting Around Ada Rent-a-Car Tel: 210.322.0087 Arena Tel: 210.894.6883, 210.614.7400 Auto Union Tel: 210.922.1211/1213 Avis Tel: 210.322.4951 Budget Tel: 210.921.4771-3 Europcar Tel: 210.924.8810-8 Hertz Tel: 210.998.2000 Michael Stamou Luxury Rentals Tel: 210.922.2442/43 Sixt Rent-a-Car Tel: 210.570.6895, 210.922.0171

LIMOUSINES

Public transport

AAA Royal Prestige Tel: 210.988.3221 Astra Limousine Service Tel: 210.922.0333/807.9996 Convecta Travel Agency & Limousine Services Tel: 210.322.5090 Limousines Kakaya Tel: 210.323.4120 Combined tickets for metro, buses and trolleys (€1) are available from metro stations and central ticket booths, valid within 90 mins of validation for all public transport - except the airport service, which costs 6€.

EXPRESS BUS from/ to airport To and from Syntagma Square (bus X95, 70 min. approx.), Ethniki Amyna metro station (bus X94, 50 min. approx.) and Piraeus (bus X96, 90 min. approx.). Tickets available at the Arrivals Hall; validate on board. Buses leave every 10-15 minutes. Fare is €3.20 and the ticket is valid for 24 hours on buses, trolleys and metro. For further information dial 185 or visit www.oasa.gr, www. ametro.gr. For info on trains see www.proastiakos.gr

HELLENIC RAILWAYS ORGANIsATION Karolou 1. Tel: 210.529.7002 www.ose.gr

ATHENS METRO Line 1 (Piraeus-Kifissia) 5am-midnight, Line 2 (Agios Antonios-Agios Dimitrios) 5.30am-midnight, Line 3 (EgaleoDoukissis Plakentias) 5.30am-midnight Line 3 (Egaleo-Airport) 5.30am-22.52pm and 06.30am-23.30pm.

The last itinerary is 2 hours later on Friday and Saturday night than it is during the week. www.ametro.gr

tram Tram itineraries are only from Syntagma to S.E.F (in Neo Faliro) and from Syntagma to Asklipio Voulas. From Monday to Thursday, trams operate from 5.am until midnight and non-stop from Friday morning to Sunday midnight. www.tramsa.gr

TAXIS from the airport cost about €20 to Syntagma Square, €25 to Piraeus, depending on traffic. Between midnight and 5am double tariff applies.

Note: If you suspect that you have been overcharged, you can call the tourist police 0n 171

INTERCITY BUSES Terminal 1: Buses for Igoumenitsa, Ioannina, Kavala, Loutraki, Patra, the Peloponese, and Thessaloniki. Kifissou 100Tel: 210.512.4910-1, www.ktel.org Terminal 2: Buses for Delphi, Evia, Galaxidi, Karpenisi, Katerini, Lamia, Livadia, Thiva and Volos. Liosion 260.

Hellenic Seaways 210 41 99 000 www.hellenicseaways.gr, Anek Lines www.anek.gr Domestic lines: 210 41 97 420 International lines: 210 41 97 430 Minoan Lines www.minoan.gr Tel:801 11 75 000

YACHT CHARTERS

RADIO TAXI Enotita Tel: 210.645.9000 Ermis Tel: 210.411.5200 Ikarus Tel: 210.515.2800 Kifissia Tel: 210.801.4000 Piraeus Tel: 210.418.2333 Radio Taxi Glyfada Tel: 210.960.5600 There is a booking fee of e1 added to the meter

Sea ports Piraeus Tel: 210.422.6000-4 Rafina Tel: 22940.22300, 22940.28888

Sea ports & Ferries

Airport

Airlines

Aegean Tel: 801.11.20000 Air France KLM Tel: 210.998.0222 Air Malta Tel: 210.965.2300-22 Alitalia Tel: 210.998.8888 American Tel: 210.361.3373 Air Taxis (Helicopter and plane charters) Tel: 210.938.4149 British Airways Tel: 801.11.56000 BMI Tel: 210.960.0942 Continental Tel: 210.353.4312 Cyprus Airways Tel: 210.353.4100 Delta Tel: 210.331.1673-6 Easy Jet Tel: 210.353.0300 El Al Tel: 210.934.1500-1 Emirates Tel: 210.933.3400 Etihad Tel: 210.960.56.08 Gulf Air Tel: 210.322.0851 Iberia Tel: 210.353.6004 Lufthansa Tel: 210.617.5200 Olympic Airways Tel: 210.966.6666 Qatar Airways Tel: 210.950.8700 Swiss / Crossair Tel: 210.617.5320 Tunisair Tel: 210 3220104-5 Turkish Tel: 210.353.7280-2

Ferries Ferries run year-round. For information on seasonal schedules contact a travel agent or call the Port Police on 210.422.6000 From the Port of Piraeus Northern and Eastern Aegean Islands: Gates A & B Chios, Ikaria, Lesvos, Samos, Dodecanese Islands: Gate E Kalymnos, Kos Leros, Patmos, Rhodes, Saronic Gulf Islands:

A1 Yacht Trade Consortium Akti Themistokleous 8, Marina Zeas, Piraeus. Tel: 210.458.7100 Ghiolman Yachts Filellinon 7, Syntagma. Tel: 210.323.0330 Nava Yachts Loudovikou Sq. 6, Piraeus.

Tel: 210.417.7728 Northstar Poseidonos 54, P. Faliro. Tel: 210.988.4000 PGA Alimou & Poseidonos, Alimos.

Tel: 210.985.9400 Seahorse Alkyonidon 83 (Marina), Voula.

Tel: 210.895.2212, 210.895.6733 Seascape Poseidonos Ave. 29, Alimos.

Tel/Fax: 210.985.8301 Valef Yachts Pl. Chatzikonstanti 2, Piraeus. Tel:210.451.2010 Vernicos Yachts Posidonos 11, Kalamaki.

Tel: 210.985.0122-8

Gates G & E

Aegina, Hydra, Poros, Spetses, Crete: Gate A Aghios Nikolaos, Chania, Iraklio, Kastelli (Kissamos), Rethymno, Cycladic Islands:

Gates B, G & D

Astipalea, Folegandros, Kimolos, Kithnos, Milos, Serifos, Sifnos: Gate B Amorgos, Donoussa, Ios, Iraklia, Koufonissi, Mykonos, Santorini, Schinoussa, Syros, Tinos: Gates G&D Naxos, Paros: Gate G

Superfast Ferries Daily departures, Greece - Italy: from Patras and Igoumenitsa to Ancona and Bari Head office: 23-125 Syngrou Avenue & 3 Torva Street 11745 Athens.

Tel:210.891.9000 Reservations: Athens: 210.891.9130 Thessaloniki: 2310.560.700 www.superfast.com

insider athens | September & October 2012 67

sales points For central Athens points, see i on map EASTERN SUBURBS Gerakas: Mini Market Milionis: 131, Marathonos Avenue Pallini: Bookshop Bouzas: 63, Marathonos Street Peania: Bookshop Tangopoulos: Agias Triados Street

NORTHERN SUBURBS AG.PARASKEVI: Mini Market Avarakis: 3, Themistokleous Street, Kiosk Theodoropoulos: 8, Polytechniou Street DIONYSSOS: Kiosk Michail: 4, Mitropolitou Kydonion Street EKALI: Kiosk Kyrpoglou: Vassileos Pavlou Square FILOTHEI: Kiosk Roupa: Drossopoulou Square, Super Market Kyriakopoulos: 11, M.Renieri Street, Mini Market Plati: 27, V.Georgiou Street HALANDRI: Mini Market Kyriakou: 3, Lykourgou Street, Kiosk Drizos: V. Konstantinou & V.Georgiou Street, Bookshop Evripidis: 11, V.Konstantinou Street, Mini Market Bakatsia: 46, Pendelis Avenue, Bookshop Vivliostyl: 34, Olympou Street, Mini Market Tsakiri: 76, Ag.Antoniou Street HOLARGOS: Kiosk Bekiaris: 212, Messogion Aveue, Kiosk Tambouridis: 256, Messogion Avenue KEFALARI: Kiosk Glentzis: Patr.Maximou & Apergi Square KIFISSIA: Kiosk Karadouman: 36-38, Kyriazi Street, Bookshop Gioggaras: 34, Elaion Street, Kiosk Koutsodimou: 308, Kifissias Avenue MAROUSSI: Tobacco & Gifts Tsitsilonis: 41-43, Kifissias Avenue, Tobacco & Gifts Raptis: 64, Kifissias Street, Kiosk Stefanopoulos: 46, Kifissias Street, Mini Market Kitsios: 43, Grammoou & Dionyssou Street MELISSIA: Kiosk Manikas: 75, Dimokratias Avenue, Mini Market Koufopandelis: 28, Pigis Street NEA ERYTHREA: Kiosk Anastassopoulos: 142, Harilaou Trikoupi Street, Bookshop Giannaki: 169, Eleftheriou Venizelou Street, Newsstand: 20 klm National Road Athens-Lamia, Kiosk Konidakis: Thisseos Avenue & Papadaki, Kiosk Kallergis: 130, Tatoiou Street NEO PSYCHIKO: Kiosk Katichidis: E.Makariou & Michalakopoulou Street, Kiosk Doukas: 44, Diamantidou Street, Kiosk Gionis: 25, Chr.Smyrnis & Ag.Georgiou Street PAPAGOU: Mini Market Papavassiliou: 16, Ellispontou Street

PALEO PSYCHIKO: Kiosk Kyriakou: Solomou Square, Kiosk Gialama: Efkalypton Square, Kiosk Polydoros: Kifissias & Ag.Dimitriou Street, Kiosk Kalogeropoulos: V. GeorgiouSquare, Kiosk Kontabasis: 2, Amaryllidos & V. Pavlou Street, Kiosk Kalfagian: V. Georgiou B’ 11 POLITIA: Kiosk Vovlas: Politia Square VRILISSIA: Kiosk Theodoropoulou: 5, Analypsi Square, Kiosk Aggelopoulos: Pendelis Avenue & Omirou, Bookshop Karystinaiou: 69, Alefiou Street

SOUTHERN SUBURBS GLYFADA: Kiosk Tamourantzis: 3, Metaxa & Maragou Street, Kiosk Tsakanikas: 3, Lambraki Street, Kiosk Mavraki: Pandoras & Ioanni Metaxa, Kiosk Adamopoulos: 20, Ioanni Metaxa Street, Kiosk Papadakou: 7, Ioanni Metaxa Street, Kiosk Haikal: 1, Ioanni Metaxa & Fivis Street, Kiosk Bolota: Gounari & Iraklitou Street, Kiosk Bellou: 5, Saki Karagiorga Street, Mini Market Agiokatsikos: 24, Ilias Street HELLINIKO: NewsStand: 43-47, Vouliagmenis Avenue ILIOUPOLIS: Super Market Kokossis: 5, Glastonos Street LAGONISI: Kiosk Vassiliadis: 37,5 klm Athinon-Souniou Avenue NEA SMYRNI: Kiosk Manoussos: 28, Eleftheriou Venizelou Street VARKIZA: Kiosk Paraskevopoulou: Varkiza Square VOULA: Kiosk Leontopoulos: 12, Sokratous Street, Mini Market Pournara: 33, Pringipos Petrou Street, Kiosk Christopoulou: V. Pavlou & Ag. Ioanni Street VOULIAGMENI: Kiosk Andrioti: Armonias Square, Kiosk Chryssikos: 1, Ermou Street, Kiosk Kylitis: 14, Thisseos Street PALEO FALIRO: Kiosk Kombogianni: 1, Ag. Alexandrou Street, Kiosk Kapetanou: 24, Achilleos Street, Mini Market Nikouli: 9, Pliadon Street, Tobacco & Gifts Berekos: 1, Possidnos Avenue & Moraitini Street PIRAEUS: Hand Delivery Telstar: 57, Akti Miaouli, Tourist Chop Siatras: 46, Akti Koumoundourou Street, Kiosk Samarogiannis: 7, Merarhias B’Street, Kiosk Siaho: Akti Moutsopoulou (Kanari Square), Kiosk Kentros: 73, Iroon Polytechniou Street, Kiosk Fotis: 1, Loudovikou Street, Kiosk Spalas: 111, Karaiskou Street, Newsstand: Railway Station Loudovikou Square

www.mysephora.gr

For central Athens stores, see on map ASPROPIRGOS Filis 100 & Bouboulinas, Tel: 210.558.0989 ERMOU Ermou 24 Tel: 210. 331.3167 & 325.7744 KALLITHEA Thisseos & Davaki, Tel: 210.956.5959 - 956.5446 KIFISSIA Kassaveti 6, Tel: 210.623.1741 & 623.1742 KORYDALLOS Taxiarhon 110A, Tel: 210.569.5270 569.5998 THE MALL, Notios Paradromos Attikis Odou, Tel: 210.630.0125 & 630.0126 AVENUE Kifissias 41-45, Tel: 210.610.9739 & 610.9740

68 insider athens | September & October 2012

GOLDEN HALL Kifissias Av. 37A & Sp. Louis, Tel: 210.683.7343 PANGRATI Ymittou 110 & Hremonidou, Tel: 210.751.8005 GLYFADA A. Metaxa 33-35, Tel: 210. 894.3378 & 894.5884 KOLONAKI Milioni 2, Tel: 210. 361.2666 & 362.9925 NEA MAKRI Marathonos Av. 117, Tel: 229.409.9661 PERISTERI Ethnikis Antistaseos 12, Tel: 210. 571.0755 PETROU RALLI Petrou Ralli 97, Tel: 210. 569.6596 & 569.7316 PIKERMI 21oklm. Marathonos Av., Tel: 210. 603.9987 PSYCHIKO Kifissias 210, Tel: 210. 677.5527 & 674.0178 VRILISSIA Pentelis Av. 72, Tel: 210. 810.1971 & 810.1972

city map

Map courtesy of Emvelia Publications

insider athens | September & October 2012 69

Insider pet guide Vets • Alouros: Boutique vet for cats only. Specified feline care includes a gas anaesthetic, from

which cats come round almost immediately with fewer side effects than the injection cocktail. Paleo Faliro. Tel: 210 985 4262 • Pet World: Panos Marafelias is a specialised wildlife vet,working with wild bird hospitals, but he is also an experienced diagnostician for companion animals. Zografou. Tel: 210 778 2981 • Attiko Nosokomeio Zoon and Pikermi Animal Clinic: These 24-hour vet clinics are a lifeline for animal victims of poisoning and traffic accidents. The prices are high, but they offer state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. Best for emergencies only.

• Attico Nosokomeio Zoon (Paiania): tel 210 664 0552, www.attikovet.gr • Pikermi Animal Clinic (Pikermi): tel 210 603 80223, www.vetnet.gr • Christos Ktenas: Christos and his partner vet are caring and knowledgeable, and make special discounts for stray animal treatment. Nea Erythrea. Tel 210 620 2150 • Popi Marouli: Is hugely experienced with stray cats in particular, having participated in numerous cat-sterilisation programmes. Clinics in Kolonaki & Maroussi. Tel: 210 721 3109/210 805 1542 • Chrisa Simou: Graduated from Edinburgh Veterinary University, specialized in dermatology.

Considerate and thorough vet, with modest rates. Mets-Pangrati. Tel 210 922 1123.

Petsitters kennels • Le Chat Noir: Petsitters International-registered Brenda-Lee Mahoney petsits in your home in the northern suburbs of Athens. Tel: 6972 271447

• Petsit.gr: Katerina offers petsitting around Athens, call for more details 6987 018121 • Animal Hotel.gr: Kennels/cattery near the airport. Tel: 6973 359728.

• ILoveDogs.gr : Kennels at Varibombi. Tel 210 24 33334 or 6977 687840 • Home-from-home for a few sociable, neutered & vaccinated dogs at a time, complete with dog-pool for summer. Koropi. Tel: 6976 315180

70 insider athens | September & October 2012

uov

Pet-shops • Bark Avenue: Excellent selection of items for dogs and cats, to suit every

need and desire, and very helpful staff. Kifissias 206, Neo Psychico. Tel 210 677 1001 • San to Skylo Me Tin Gata: Tiny shop behind the Kallimarmaro jam-packed with goodies for your pets. Archimidous 15, Mets. Tel: 210 756 2493 • Pet Net: Good variety of pet-food, beds, leads, treats etc. Xenokratous 48, Kolonaki. Tel 210 729 0544 Also branches in Holargos, Kifissia, see www. petnet.gr

Pet taxis • Agis Pet Taxi: 6972 020205 • Yellow Pet Taxi: 6944 770077 • TaxiBeat – upload the app and search

for nearby taxis; those which accept pets are marked with a paw print

Animal welfare NGOs • Hellenic Animal Welfare Society (Filozoiki): Purpose-built kennels at Koropi, subsidized neutering for pets, dogs and cats for adoption. Tel 210 602 0202.

• SPAZ Society for the Protection of Stray Animals: Energetic team helping people to help

animals in the southern suburbs of Athens. Stray neutering programmes, veterinary care and education. www.spazgreece.gr • Adespotologio: Informal group of young volunteers caring for stray dogs and cats, through neutering, veterinary care and adoption. www.adespotologio.gr • Stray Life: Activities and events to raise awareness about animals and their welfare, and active adoption programmes. www.stray-life.gr • Friends of Animals, Nea Filadelphia: They operate a shelter for the stray/abandoned dogs of Nea Filadelphia, run education programmes for children, and try to neuter and rehome as many dogs (and cats) from the area as possible. www.friendsofanimals-nf.com • Nine Lives Greece: Active network of volunteers dedicated to helping stray cats through veterinary care, neutering, feeding and adoption. www.ninelivesgreece.com

insider athens | September & October 2012 71

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Cosmote Athens International Film Festival The 18th Cosmote Athens International Film Festival brings a touch of stardust and cinematic release to a city that has been mired in self-doubt and uncertainty. Opening the festival is Rust and Bone (French: De rouille et d’os), a 2012 French-Belgian film directed by Jacques Audiard, starring Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts. Based on Craig Davidson’s eponymous short story collection, it tells the story of an unemployed 25-year-old man who falls in love with a killer whale trainer. The film competed for the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. With a choice of 170 films stretched across 11 nights at five of Athens’ most iconic movie theatres, the Festival promises to kick of the season with buoyant optimism. For more information on the Festival, check www.aiff.gr. Films play at Danaos I and II at109, Kifissias Ave, at Odeon Opera I and II at 57, Akademias and Ideal at 46 Panepistimiou.

72 insider athens | September & October 2012

The Westin Resort, Costa Navarino

Overlooking the dunes and the blue waters of the Ionian Sea, The Westin Resort, Costa Navarino is located in the new prime destination of the Mediterranean, Costa Navarino. The 445 rooms and suites create an ambiance of genuine Messinian hospitality, while the Heavenly Bed® offers you an incomparable comfortable sleep. Start your day with a specially designed buffet breakfast that includes dishes rich in antioxidant foods, SuperfoodsRX™, combining certain raw materials to offer you all their benefits and rich flavor. For those who seek more adventures and want to learn about the surrounding area, the activities of Navarino Outdoors promise unique experiences through bicycle tours, hiking and walking.

The Westin Resort Costa Navarino offers also a plethora of activities for children such as a wonderful water park with water slides, a playground and 2 specially designed hubs for children, Cocoon and SandCastle. Feel reborn through the ultimate relaxation of services that only Westin knows to offer.

CATCH THE SUN

The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort

The Romanos, Resort is located on the world-class 130-hectare Navarino Dunes site, set amid lush olive groves and crystalline waters having as a backdrop the splendor of the deep blue Ionian Sea. The 321 beautifully appointed deluxe rooms and suites with private infinity pools in almost all ground-floor units, as well as the extensive grounds with indigenous trees and plants, make this resort the ideal destination for your ultimate relaxation. Indulge your senses in the 4,000 m2 Anazoe Spa which offers a full range of special treatments based on ancient Greek practices as well as kinisiotherapy and floating pools, and an extensive variety of light therapies, ice-grotto rooms, mist showers, thalassotherapy and herbal saunas. Discover the special dining venues and enjoy tasteful flavours whether it is within the International buffet, Italian or Greek restaurants, Pan Asian or Lebanese.

The Westin Resort, Costa Navarino and The Romanos Resort offer you the opportunity to “catch the sun” during September and October* with a special autumn break and rates starting from € 210 and € 235 respectively. This special package includes: • Daily buffet breakfast • € 25 daily credit for use in our restaurants** • Complimentary In-Room internet access • Late check-out at 16:00 (subject to availability) • 2 nights minimum length of stay *October reservations apply only for the Westin Resort, Costa Navarino **Inbi, Nargile and Westin Pool restaurants are excluded For more details kindly contact us at: The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort www.romanoscostanavarino.com, +30 272 309 7700 reservations.navarino@luxurycollection.com The Westin Resort, Costa Navarino www.westincostanavarino.com, +30 272 309 7700 reservations.navarino@westin.com