The most renowned rally sport event in all of Greece is back again for its 6th run this May. In 2006, the history Acropolis rally garnered 200 crews from all over Europe and since then has fast become being recognized as one of the top rallies in the FIA European Historic Rally Championship.
During the rally, crews, service teams, friends and visitors will have the opportunity to visit locations connected to Greek history and civilisation, such as the Oracle of Delphi, where Pythia offered some of the most famous prophecies of the ancient world, the ancient sites of Epidavros, famous for its beautiful theatre still in use, Nemea, Platees, Thespies, as well as the historic first capital of modern Greece, Nafplion. Specially designed to offer visitors a fascinating experience, the rally takes you through spectacular scenery changes, from mountain passes to beautiful beaches, the kinds of sites only Greece has to offer in such great quantity.
DF: Fast cars and Greece. The two go together like lamb and patates . Thanks to Dimitris Kostopoulos for the tip on the story!
posted on Monday, April 9
It's been almost three years since the Olympics have left Athens, and while there has been a constant buzz on how to further develop the coastal area of Neo Faliron in the city; bickering and arguing has led to nothing being accomplished. Olympic Properties, a government firm responsible for the management of Olympic Games venues, has said that it will go it alone in the development of a stretch of seafront in Neo Faliron, southern Athens, after talks broke down with the Moschato municipality.
The plans include redeveloping about 28 hectares of land between the former volleyball courts used for the Olympics and the Peace and Friendship stadium. The 28 hectares are claimed by both the Olympic Properties firm as well as the Moschato municipality. Olympic properties has said they would like to add a park, and a sporting complex amongst other things. (We are sure housing will be included as well.) But as of yet, no one has determined who will pay for the development, and when it will begin.
DF: Promises...promises...promises.
posted on Sunday, April 8
Athens International Airport, a partnership between Germany's Hochtief group and the Greek state, on Wednesday reported its first profits under international accounting standards (IFRS), opening the way for an initial public offering on the Athens stock exchange.
AIA said full-year pre-tax profits reached Euro96.3m on revenues of Euro357.5m, driven by strong commercial activity and higher passenger traffic. Germany's Hochtief group invested over 2.2 billion euros in the airport, hoping to create a southeastern European hub. Last year the airport saw an increase of 5.6% in passenger traffic, to close just over 15 million. While there have been demands to maybe operate a smaller charter flight only airport nearby, part of the concession agreement that Greece undertook in 1995, included not to open two military airports near the city to low-cost carriers.
DF: The summer timetable for AIA looks to be very busy. The airport has planned for an 11% increase from last summer's flight schedule to include 66 airlines which will be operating 1045 weekly scheduled flights. This will connect AIA to 82 international destinations (88 airports) in 50 countries.
posted on Wednesday, April 4
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Monday inaugurated the renewed exhibition of the Filio Haidemenou Museum of Asia Minor Hellenism, which is contained within the Andreas G. Papandreou World Cultural Foundation of Diaspora Hellenism in the historic Nea Philadelphia district of west Athens.
Exhibited in the museum are 500 of the 1,500 objects and photographs belonging to a fraction of the millions of ethnic Greeks expelled from Asia Minor after 1922, collected by 108-year-old Filio Haidemenou, who was unable to attend Monday's ceremony due to ill health.
DF: Exhibitions like this should not only open in Greece but all over the world, so that the millenia of history that the Greeks had in Asia Minor is never forgotten.
posted on Tuesday, April 3
One of only two rivers that runs through Athens, the Kifissos river which runs from the Parnitha and Pendeli mountains to Nea Philadelphia, has been compared to being as dirty and unhealthy as an open sewer. Back in the '90s, 200 plants and factories were located on either shore of the river; and were dumping toxic waste into the river. In 1994, the government deemed the problem so bad that a special presidential decree was made to protect the river basin.
A doctoral thesis completed in 2004 by Apostolos Moustakis, a chemical engineer at the University of Piraeus, concluded that the waters and beaches near the port were contaminated with chrome, lead, iron and nickel, emanating from the Kifissos River. Traces of some metals had reached more than three times the permitted levels.
Good story by Athens News after the jump.
posted on Wednesday, March 28
Athens went through a huge urban growth spree in the 1950s and 60s; which led to the construction of dozens and dozens of city blocks of horrid construction. As we have reported many times, there is a huge push in many neighborhoods to revitalize certain areas. Homes were built then for a huge number of families who needed an affordable place to live.
Kathimerini writes:
Architects now are using the limited space that is left to create new hip urban areas that are not just used for living, but also work, entertainment, and study. Thus there is now a new relationship emerging between space, time and architecture in housing, a concept which is being re-examined and reinterpreted constantly.
posted on Thursday, March 22
A South Australian Labor MP says Prime Minister John Howard's comparison of terrorism in Iraq to Greece have outraged the Greek-Australian community. Mr Howard last week described terrorist attacks in democratic countries as common and used Greece as an example.
South Australian MP Steve Georganas says it is outrageous to compare Greece with Iraq, where about 3,000 people are killed each month and sectarian violence is spiraling out of control. Mr. Georganas says Mr Howard is risking the relationship between the two countries.
DF: The government of Greece actually announced that it is offering rewards to help get capture the group the attacked the US Embassy in Athens. We agree that the comparison is off base.
posted on Wednesday, March 21
Thessaloniki is gaining two new, ultra-modern hospitals over the next four years, The new hospitals will be built in the village Kardia, in Mikra municipality, Thessaloniki. Their will be a children's hospital and an oncology hospital.
"The two hospitals will fill a huge void that has arisen in the past decades in the wider area of northern Greece," Avramopoulos said.
A little bit further to the south in Volos, President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias on Saturday inaugurated the N. and S. Tsalapatas Pottery Museum in the city, on an official visit to the area where on Friday, he was proclaimed an honorary resident of Volos.
The inauguration ceremony for the museum was organised by the Piraeus Bank Group's Cultural Foundation.
posted on Tuesday, March 20
Watch where your step next time you stroll through Athens. At least half of the sidewalks in Attica are obstructed or damaged in some way and contribute to pedestrian injuries, especially among the elderly, according to the results of a study released yesterday.Athens University Medical School found that 64 percent of sidewalks have cars parked on them, 52 percent are missing paving slabs and 47 percent have uneven paving.
More than 430 people were admitted to Athens's Erythros Stavros Hospital in 2004 after tripping on broken sidewalks
DF: What do you expect after 3,000 years of foot traffic?
posted on Thursday, March 15
The Zappeio Gardens located in the center of the city have been a refuge from the busy Athenian life for centuries. A stroll through the gardens not only allow one to view the plathora of plants and flowers planted in the area, but also get a glimpse of the beautiful Zappeio Hall, which has been used ever more frequently for art exhibitions.
The Friends of the Zappeion and the Zappeion Foundation are beginning a campaign to revamp the gardens a little bit. For a donation of 500 euros, you can have a wooden bench dedicated to you; and in the process help replace the old, tired ones already in the park.
DF: The Zappeion was actually built by the Zappas brothers in the late 19th century who were wealthy diaspora Greeks living in Romania at the time of the Greek revolution.
posted on Wednesday, March 14
