CondeNaste Traveler has a huge spread on the Greek Isles this month. A must read for how to find the best beaches, the most charming harbors , the hottest party scenes.
Author Bob Payne shares with us his 20 years of traveling Greece.
CondeNaste
Slideshow
Map (pdf)
The Central Archaeological Council in Greece is calling for a ban on chewing gum, high heels and over amped speakers at.outdoor theaters. The group says that amphitheatre's across Greece are in peril form these modern dangers. In a statement, the group said:
“Despite repeated warnings, stage sets seem to be getting bigger and decibel levels louder. This could inflict damage on the ancient structures.”
DF: What a travesty it would be if the amphitheatre's become museums instead of living breathing theatres.
TimesOnline
Copenhagen, Denmark
A Happy Survey (And yes such a survey exists sponsored by government agencies) revealed that Denmark is the happiest country in the world. A total of 350,000 people in various countries were asked these two simple question:
"Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?" And, "All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?"
Denmark scored the highest, followed by Puerto Rico and Colombia.
Here are some of the rankings of other countries in which DF has a high readership:
Canada 9th place
Sweden 14th place
New Zealand 15th place
United States 16th place
Belgium 20th place
United Kingdom 21rst place
Australia 22nd place
Germany 35th place
It seems that the Greeks are not as happy with their country as we would of thought. Cyprus ranked in at 28th place and Greece in 58th place. (Are you serious?)
DF: The good news for all the countries is that 'happiness' has been on the rise. How they measure this...we wish we knew!
Full List of Happy Country Chart
YAHOO
posted on Thursday, July 3
A great new free online service provides those who wish to learn about current marine traffic conditions in the waters surrounding Greece with a resource to do so. Marine Traffic tracks not only what kind of vessel is in the area, but also the direction its heading, weather conditions, speed its traveling and the current location.
The color coded system helps differentiate between cargo, commercial and person vessels as well; and the site is refreshed constantly.
DF: We love this idea.
Marine Traffic
posted on Thursday, July 3
Cyprus finally received some drought relief yesterday via a Greek tanker carrying about 1.76 million cubic feet of water.
The tanker is the first in a fleet of ships chartered by the Cypriot government at a cost of $65 million to provide water to towns now experiencing emergency rationing.
DF: It's going be to long hot summer...
msnbc
posted on Wednesday, July 2
We love juice drinks. Every time we travel outside the US, we're amazed at the quality of packaged juice available. So much of what passes for fruit juice in the States is just pure corn syrup or so over pasteurized, you can hardly swallow the stuff.
Which brings us to to one of our favorite juice Brands, Amita. They have a new juice drink out which we hear are absolutely fabulous. Make sure to try them out while in Greece this summer.
DF: Apple/mastic, orange and fig//plum. Hmm.. not sure about the mastic/apple flavor but can't wait to try.
Amita Efzin
posted on Wednesday, July 2
The renewable energy market is heating up in Greece. Spanish based Iberdrola Renovables yesterday made a 175 million euro bid to buy the rest of Greek subsidiary C. Rokas it does not already own.
Rokas reported ly owns 30 percent of Greece's total installed renewable energy capacity, but only 3.6 percent of the country's electricity currently comes from wind.
DF: Greece has huge plans for renewable energy with a goal of producing as much as 20 percent of its overall energy consumption by 2010. Are you an engineer with strong project management experience? Our latest job posting might be for you!
Reuters
Rokas Group (map of current projects)
posted on Wednesday, July 2
A recent study found Greek consumers spend about 40% of their income on food, drink and tobacco-significantly higher than other EU countries. With so much income spent on food and drink, the economic forecast calls for weak growth in these sectors. Still it, hasn't stopped companies like Belgium-based grocery retailer Delhaize from making investments in its Greek supermarket chain Alfa-Beta in the current year.
DF: The report also found Greeks are showing few signs of varying their traditional diet. Consequently, ready-made meals and frozen foods have failed to catch on in a big way as they have in other parts of Western Europe.
Research and Markets
posted on Tuesday, July 1
We've reported about the demographic crisis in Greece before. (Low birthrates, high rates of immigration, little assimilation, declining overall population etc). But the population 'problem' is not unique to Greece, and Europe will be a whole different continent in just a few decades.
A great report in the NY times goes into detail how Europe's demographics have changed over the past several years.
While the situation in Greece is not rosy, look at some other alarming statistics:
- Latvia's population has fallen by 13% since 1989.
- Bulgaria's population will fall to 5 million (from just about 8 million now) by 2050.
- Germany is now losing nearly 100,000 of its population every year due to a higher death rate than birth rate
- Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Russia, and Estonia will see their populations plummet in the coming years.
Overall, Europe's population currently makes up 7.2% of the worlds population and is slated to drop to only 5% by 2050.
DF: Is it too late to implement a family incentive to have more children? Or will 'ethnic Greeks' become a thing of the past?
NYT (lengthy article)
posted on Tuesday, July 1
