Arts & culture | MY GREECE TRAVEL BLOG

Category: Arts & culture (page 6 of 10)

More high-end clubs, shops, hotels & restaurants planning to open on Mykonos

The owners of the award-winning Bill & Coo Suites & Lounge will be opening another 5-star hotel on Mykonos in May — the Bill & Coo Coast Suites, seen in this image from its Facebook page

Boom times: It looks like the great Mykonos gold rush is going to continue again this year, with numerous top-flight international nightclubs, restaurants, shops and hotels hoping to gain a toehold in the island’s booming market for luxury travel services.

2015 was a banner year for Mykonos, which witnessed the arrival of more than 100 new businesses, many of which were aimed at affluent travellers with insatiable tastes for 5-star accommodations, fine dining, upscale bars and nightclubs, and exclusive retail boutiques.

Their success has attracted the attention of more international luxury brands, which have been scouring the island for available real estate or partnership opportunities with established local entrepreneurs and landowners.

According to a February 21 2016 article by the Greek news and media website Ethnos, the operators of such elite nightclubs and restaurants as Bagatelle, Hyde Beach, Maddox, Novikov, Okku and Vip Room have been scoping out space for possible new summer locations in Mykonos Town. They undoubtedly have been encouraged by the huge popularity of some of last year’s high-profile newcomers, which included Ling Ling by Hakkasan, Inyama Surf and Turf, Buddha Bar Beach, Toy Room Club, and Bonbonniere Mykonos.

A promotional image for DJ Vassili TsiliChristos’ Made in Mykonos party taking place March 6 at Maddox Club in London.

Maddox is an exclusive nightclub that is “strictly members only. Membership is only accepted on a referral basis,” says the club’s website. There’s no word on when it might be opening a Mykonos location — nor have any announcements been made about launch dates for any of the other swish clubs that are reportedly vying for space on the island. Coincidentally, Maddox Club is hosting a Made in Mykonos party on March 5. It’s a popular event that Greek DJ, music producer and social event organizer Vassili TsiliChristos hosts at the upscale Nammos restaurant and beach bar on Mykonos every summer. (He’ll be taking his show to Washington D.C. and New York City in March, and will be headlining at Nammos again on July 23).

The golden sand beach and turquoise waters at Kalo Livadi, seen in an image from Mykonos Guide. The Four Seasons hotel and resort group reportedly plans to build a hotel in this area, while the W chain of hotels is looking to open a boutique property at nearby Agia Anna beach.

Meanwhile, the Four Seasons hotel group is reportedly seeking land for a large luxury resort at Kalo Livadi, and the W chain is exploring plans to build a 70-room specialty hotel at the Agia Anna beach near Kalafatis.

Although those projects won’t be opening this season, a new 5-star luxury hotel at Agios Ioannis (the “Shirley Valentine beach”) will be launching this spring — a project by the owners of the 5-star Bill & Coo Suites & Lounge in Mykonos Town, which recently was fêted as Best Luxury Boutique Hotel at the World Tourism Awards 2016.

According to its website and Facebook page, the 15-room Bill & Coo Coast Suites will feature “barefoot luxury” design and ambience on a “10 acre oasis by the sea” at Agios Ioannis beach.

“The startling view to the sea and access to the beach ensure travellers a premium holiday experience beyond comparison in the alluring island of Mykonos,” says a February 23 2016 post on the Bill & Coo Coast Suites Facebook page.

The hotel is scheduled to open in early May, but its online booking system shows that it’s already fully booked from May 9 to 15. Rooms are available from May 16 onward, at nightly rates ranging from as low as €420 for a Sea View Coast Suite to €1,390 for a Bill & Coo Coast Suite.

On the luxury retail shopping front, this year’s big news is that mining magnate Nikos Lascaris and his wife, Georgia, are investing millions of Euros to open a posh “super boutique” Tserkov store that will feature creations by many of the world’s top fashion designers.

According to a January 19 2016 article on the Cyclades24 news website, the boutique is being referred to as “paradise couture” because it will spotlight so many leading designers, and even couture lines. According to the Facebook page for the first Tserkov store, which opened December 18 2015 in Zurich, the shop “is a destination for individualists looking for something rare and incomparable.”

Tserkov, the fashion boutique for “individualists,” will open this spring on Mykonos. This image is from Tserkov website.

Greeking.me — Visit Greece like a local!

January 20, 2016 / admin / 0 Comments

The Greek Parliament building at Syntagma Square is seen in this screenshot from the Greeking.me website

Greeking.me, a new start up that offers customized experiences and tours of Athens, has launched on 27 January, 2015. The innovative venture offers the chance to explore Athens like a local as all experiences are carefully designed so as to represent the authentic Greek culture.

Whatever it is you want to experience from seeing the best of Athens in a morning stroll, learning how to cook mouthwatering Greek recipes with the help of a food expert, discovering the Zorba inside you and learning the steps of your favorite Greek dance or exploring mythology traces throughout the city, Greeking.me offers inspiring packages or even the opportunity to design a completely hands-on personalized vacation just the way you like it. Needless to say that the holidays can be booked online through the user-friendly booking system, in just 4 easy steps.

Morning Strolls: See the best of Athens in a morning walk full of surprises and contradictions.

Night Crawlers: Athens by night is more attractive than by day!

Greeking.me is launching a campaign at Indiegogo, the crowdfunding and fundraising website, where users can support the project while having the opportunity to win amazing gifts! These are some great traditional greek products, such as Bariamis greek delights, Oreanthi herbal tea, Fisika soaps, Meraki herbal herbs and The Family Beez organic raw honey. Of course, there will be many discount vouchers for Greeking.me experiences for those that will support the crowdfunding campaign.

To stop being a tourist and start becoming an explorer, visit the newly launched website: Greeking.me and book your tailor-made dreamy vacation today!

This is a sponsored post by Greeking.me

Champagne season gets back into full swing on Mykonos

June 28, 2015 / admin / 2 Comments

Rock N Roll Mykonos nightclub shared this image, by @michalisleventogiannis, on its Facebook page

Corks keep popping: Much like the bunny in the television commercials for the Energizer® brand of batteries, the Mykonos party scene just keeps going and going, fuelled in large part by a seemingly unquenchable thirst for champagne by travellers who have money to burn.

Last summer, I published a post describing how champagne was the summer’s top drink on Mykonos. Fast forward to this month, and Mykonos visitors still have an insatiable demand for the fine bubbly beverage — and that has been making headlines in international media.

This week, newspapers and websites around the world reported on a June 23 Bloomberg Business article entitled: As Athens boils and banks teeter, the party goes on in Mykonos.

This video, “Mykonos: The ‘Crisis-Free Island,” was posted online this week by Bloomberg Business. It explains why the champagne keeps flowing in Mykonos while the rest of Greece reels from its ongoing economic woes.

“Mykonos is not about austerity”

The Bloomberg piece was written by Tom Mackenzie, who travelled to Mykonos earlier this month after spending six days in Athens. Noting that the island’s bars, clubs and restaurants were busy, Mackenzie said Mykonos “could be another country, divorced from the nation’s economic woes. Mykonos is not about austerity. The hotels are among the most expensive in Europe, and a good night is measured in empty champagne bottles, stacked in piles. One three-liter bottle of Armand De Brignac champagne can set you back 12,000 euros (U.S. $13,500).”

Some of those bottles are practically flying off the shelves at Nammos, the premier beach bar and restaurant on Mykonos. Mackenzie interviewed the Nammos manager, who said “he sells 300 to 400 bottles of champagne” on an average night, “much of it shipped out to the yachts that line the harbor.”

Just some of the hundreds of bottles of champagne that Nammos restaurant and beach bar sells on an average night. Nammos shared this picture on its Facebook page with the caption: “Any time is the right time for champagne!”

Two golden bottles of Armand de Brignac champagne chill in a bucket of ice in this photo posted on Facebook by the Pinky Beach Mykonos restaurant and club at Super Paradise beach

Pinky Beach posted this image on Facebook on August 7 to promote two of its champagne and sunbeds special offers

Dozens of new businesses in 2015

Although the Bloomberg article got wide attention when it was picked up and shared by news services around the globe, it was basically paraphrasing an observation that I made at the beginning of May when I reported on dozens of new businesses that have opened on Mykonos this year. Mackenzie’s comment that “Mykonos “could be another country, divorced from the nation’s economic woes,” seems to be simply an abbreviated version of my statement that “While Greece shudders through its sixth straight year of devastating economic turbulence, Mykonos appears to be in a different world altogether, virtually unscathed from the recession that has ravaged the rest of the country.” Indeed, as I pointed out in my what’s new on Mykonos post, many regular visitors to the island will probably be asking themselves “Crisis? What Crisis?” when they arrive this summer to see all the new and freshly-renovated bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants and shops.

Project Mykonos is one of the newest nightclubs on Mykonos this year — a sister to the Project Club in London. This bottle of Moet & Chandon at Project Mykonos was photographed by mykonooos.com.

Sparklers herald the delivery of champagne at Toy Room Club Mykonos, another nightclub new to Mykonos this year (an island version of the Toy Room Club in London). This photo was shared on Facebook by mykonooos.com.

Top international brands flocking to Mykonos

Internationally-renowned retail chains, restaurants and nightclubs — most of which cater to an affluent clientele — have been scooping up all available rental space on the island in a bid to cash in on the big-spending jet-set travellers who have been vacationing on Mykonos during the last several years. The top-flight brands opening on Mykonos this season include Victoria’s Secret, Lapin House, Le Concept Avant-Garde, Six Senses Spa, Buddha-Bar, Hakkasan, and the chic London nightspots Bonbonniere, Project and Toy Room. They have been joined by four new hotels, two new upscale beach clubs, plus at least a dozen new restaurants and wine bars, with more reportedly on the way.

And it isn’t even high season for tourism yet — the peak months for travel to Mykonos are July and August, when the island will be awash with champagne. With so much bubbly flowing already, the heaps of empty bottles collecting behind some of the Mykonos beach clubs could be enormous by summer’s end.

Click on the link below to continue reading page 2 of this post.

A bevy of beauties with bubbly at Toy Room Club

Champagne on the bar at Monarch Restaurant & Beach Club, a new dining and party venue at Kalo Livadi beach

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Private seaside cinema: the new Greek island luxury villa perk

May 15, 2015 / admin / 1 Comment

This summer, guests at Casa del Mar Mykonos Seaside Resort can go to the movies at a private seaside “cinema” on the beach below their villas

Coming soon to a beach near your Greek Island luxury villa — a private seaside cinema?

That’s actually what guests at the Casa del Mar Mykonos Seaside Resort will get to enjoy after dark this summer should they prefer to stay “home” one night rather than travel two miles (4 km) into Mykonos Town to shop, dine, party or people-watch. Merely by walking down a few steps to the resort’s private beach, they’ll be able to curl up on a comfy lounge chair with a glass of wine or bowl of popcorn and watch a film displayed on a wide-screen high-definition panel positioned right on the water’s edge.

A member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group of independent hotels, Casa del Mar is an exclusive villa and spa resort at Glyfadi beach, a quiet off-the-beaten-path cove in the Aleomandra area at the southwest tip of Mykonos. The resort website describes Casa del Mar as “an eclectic collection” of nine “luxury sea view suites … grandly appointed with deluxe amenities, quality furnishings and modern conveniences.”

The newest of those “conveniences” was unveiled this week when the Small Luxury Hotels Facebook page posted the two photographs that I have republished in this article. A photo caption read: “There’s nothing wrong with a night in! We think the brand new private beach cinema at SLH’s Casa Del Mar Mykonos might be just the ticket!”

If you’re not able to stay at Casa del Mar while visiting Mykonos this summer, don’t dismay — you can watch a movie outdoors at Cine Manto in Mykonos Town instead (starting May 22). It won’t be the same as watching a film from the comfort of a luxurious sunbed on a sandy beach, of course, but at least it’s in the fresh, open air in a lovely garden setting.

And if you’re travelling somewhere in Greece other than Mykonos, you might be able to attend an outdoor cinema near your destination, too, since there are more than 100 outdoor movie theatres in the country.

I couldn’t find an online directory listing all outdoor cinemas in Greece, but the Athens Info Guide website has a directory of summer cinemas in the city, which you can view by clicking here.

You can read more about the Athens outdoor cinemas on the Greeka.com blog, and on the Visit Greece tourism website.

And for an interesting read about how digital technology is impacting on Greece’s outdoor cinemas, see this August 2014 article from The Guardian newspaper in the U.K.

Another view of the private beach cinema at Casa del Mar Mykonos

Mykonos set for 2015 season with over 100 new places to eat, drink, shop, sleep and party

May 8, 2015 / admin / 6 Comments

Located at Tourlos, just a short walk from the New Port, Cayenne is among dozens of brand-new businesses on Mykonos this year.

[Updated October 30 2015]

“Crisis? What crisis?” That’s a question many regular visitors to Mykonos will probably ask when they see the more than 100 new and completely-renovated businesses that have opened on the island this year.

While Greece shudders through its sixth straight year of devastating economic turbulence, Mykonos appears to be in a different world altogether, virtually unscathed from the recession that has ravaged the rest of the country.

Last year, the island enjoyed a record year for tourism — receiving more than 2 million visitors — and some longtime local residents told me they could not recall ever seeing the island as crowded and busy as it was during July and August. Hotels were filled to capacity, flotillas of luxury yachts were common sights at many beaches, and champagne flowed by the caseload at bars and restaurants across the island. As I reported in a July 16 2014 post, hotel rates reached higher levels, too, with the international online travel firm Trivago noting that prices had soared as much as 61% over the previous year.

International brands flocking to Mykonos

In anticipation that even more tourists with thick wallets will arrive in 2015, local and international companies have been pouring millions of Euros into the construction of new hotels, shops, bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as the renovation or upgrading of existing properties. Indeed, since late last autumn, Mykonos has been experiencing an unprecedented building boom as small armies of contractors swarmed around the island in a rush to finish dozens of projects. Global business brands flocked to the island in droves, scooping up any available real estate for their new Mykonos outlets.

With many of the new enterprises aimed at affluent travellers, Mykonos mayor Konstantinos Koukas has told local media he’s confident that the island is now well-poised to compete for a bigger share of the the world’s luxury travel market, and will successfully lure big spenders who usually flock to other Mediterranean hotspots like St Tropez, Monaco and Ibiza.

To see what’s new on Mykonos this year, please click on the convenient quick links below:

Click here for page 2 to read about new and newly-renovated restaurants in Mykonos Town, Tourlos, and the Ano Mera area.

Click here for page 3, which describes new and renovated beach restaurants, as well as the island’s two big new beach clubs, Monarch and Scorpios.

Click here for page 4, which highlights new and renovated nightlife venues in Mykonos Town, including bars, nightclubs, and shisha lounges; and

Click here for page 5, which introduces you to the island’s new spas, retail shopping establishments, and hotels.

More than two dozen new restaurants opened on Mykonos for 2015, and five of them can be found under one roof at the Food Mall Mykonos on the highway between Mykonos Town and Ano Mera.

Widely recognized as the hippest new beach club on Mykonos for 2015, the Scorpios Beach Restaurant and Bar became one of the most popular places on the island within weeks of its opening in an “idyllic haven” on a peninsula between Paraga and Platis Gialos.

Another new beach club and restaurant is Monarch at Kalo Livadi, which boasts cuisine designed by a Michelin-starred chef, comfy beachfront lounge chairs, and occasional special events and big parties.

The world’s first Buddha-Bar Beach restaurant, bar and beach club opened on May 20 at the Santa Marina Resort at Ornos.

One of the most eagerly awaited new arrivals on Mykonos was Ling Ling, a Hakkasan-branded Cantonese fine dining restaurant and uber-chic nightspot. It opened in July in the premises that had been occupied for decades by the famous Philippi Garden Restaurant, which closed a few years ago after its owner died.

June 27 saw the launch of yet another new nightclub when Bonbonniere Mykonos threw its opening party in the ODE Mykonos club in the Tria Pigadia area of Mykonos Town. It’s a summer “pop up” version of the world-famous Bonbonniere club in London whose owner, Joe Fournier (wearing the white polo shirt) is pictured after signing a contract to bring Bonbonniere to the ODE space for the season.

Mykonos residents and visitors weren’t just buzzing about new business openings this spring — people were also chatting about the abrupt closure of the enormously popular Caprice Bar (pictured above) and its surprise reopening a few weeks later as Caprice, a restaurant-bar located just a few doors down from its old place at Little Venice.

Mykonos No.5 Villas is one of the island’s newest hotels, offering a selection of seaview apartment residences, lofts and maisonettes in the Kanalia district 3.5 kilometers from Mykonos Town.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

How a cultural renaissance is reshaping Athens

April 1, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

Throngs of shoppers and tourists on Ermou Street pass by the 1,000-year-old Byzantine Church of Panagia Kapnikarea

Gritty, not pretty: After six years of agonizing economic hardship, the City of Athens and its residents appear to be “rebounding” and turning their attention “to the task of building a better future,” according to the Canadian national newspaper, The Globe and Mail.

“More and more Athenians are involved in a kind of civic infill activity, re-imagining the town, improvising social services and engaging in what Greek photographer Eirini Vourloumis calls ‘a forced renegotiation of Greek identity,’” columnist Robert Everett-Green observes in a feature article published recently in the Globe.

“Now, ambitious plans are afoot to remodel the downtown in more sustainable ways, and to add cultural capital to civic life. Innovative restorations, led by artists and arts organizations, are reclaiming rundown industrial districts. There is a feeling here that creativity is the last and best resource when other resources fail,” he notes.

Athens is “gritty,” not pretty, with “rampant” graffiti and street art, but arts and culture are leading the city to a “rebirth” as it recovers from the harsh economic crisis of the past six years, The Globe and Mail newspaper observes.

Everett-Green visited Athens last November, and the Globe published his feature story The Energy of Defeat on the front page of its weekend travel section this past Saturday (March 28 2015).

The article also was published on the newspaper’s website, where it was retitled Athens isn’t pretty, but it’s exciting: discover the city’s cultural rebirth.

Everett-Green examines how artists are playing a leading role in the revitalization of a city he describes as “gritty, restless and spontaneous.” He looks at major cultural projects and initiatives, including:

♦ the new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center that will house the Greek National Opera and the National Library of Greece;

♦ the Onassis Foundation’s Rethink Athens project, which will transform the city center along Panepistimiou Street with ambitious public realm improvements and beautification;

♦ the Technopolis cultural event hub in the former premises of a coal and gas plant;

♦ the revitalization of the once-industrial Metaxourgio district; and

♦ the National Museum of Contemporary Art, which has opened in a restored brewery building.

Click here to read the full story on the Globe and Mail website.

Click on the arrow to view this 13-minute virtual tour of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center being built in the Kallithea district of Athens, about 4 km from the city center.

This photo shows an aerial view of construction work on the massive Kallithea site where the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) is being built. Designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano, the center will include a new building for the Greek National Opera, a new National Library of Greece, and an extensive landscaped park. This photo is from the SNFCC project page on the Renzo Piano Building Workshop website,.

Paradise Club owners saying goodbye after 10 years of making party history on Mykonos

March 16, 2015 / admin / 2 Comments

This banner was posted on the Paradise Club Facebook page March 16

End of an era: The owners of Paradise Club, one of the biggest and most popular party places on Mykonos, are bidding adieu to their business.

In a post to the club’s Facebook page on Monday March 16, Thomas Heyne and Mario Hertel announced they are saying goodbye after entertaining hundreds of thousands of people from around the world at the famous Paradise Beach nightspot.

“Dear Friends: After 10 years and another phenomenal season in 2014 we announce our decision to say goodbye to Paradise Club Mykonos. We want to thank everyone who supported us in the last 10 years! Whats next? Stay tuned, we´re excited to announce our new project very soon! See you in Mykonos!” Heyne and Hertel say in their Facebook post.

Paradise Club has been one of the top party venues in the Mediterranean and in the world; last year, it was ranked #20 on the DJ Mag list of the Top 100 clubs in the world. DJ Mag has also rated it as “one of the 7 best clubs by the sea.” Many of the world’s most popular DJs have appeared at Paradise Club over the last decade.

Fans mistakenly feared club was shut down

The announcement did not indicate if the Paradise Club venue has been sold to someone else who will continue to operate it as a party club, or if Heyne and Hertel’s new project will be opening in the space instead. That sparked a torrent of Facebook posts from club fans expressing shock, dismay and disappointment at the news. Many assumed the announcement meant Paradise Club had closed its doors for good, throwing a wrench into their party plans for summer vacations they have already scheduled.

However, on Tuesday March 17 a post on another Paradise Club Facebook page announced that the venue will host its grand opening party on Wednesday May 20, indicating that the venue will continue to operate without Heyne and Hertel at the helm. The post also said the summer’s DJ lineup “is full of your favorite stars & will be announced soon. Get ready for summer 2015. It’s gonna be mad!!!”

I thought something might be in the works with the club since, for the past several months, its website has redirected visitors to the site for the San Giorgio Hotel, which Heyne and Hertel also own.

I will update this report once I hear any news about what Heyne and Hertel’s new venture will be.

Click here to see my list of Mykonos parties and special events that have already been announced for the spring and summer of 2015.

Athens bounces back: NY Times travel report sees rise in Greek capital’s confidence & creativity

October 17, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

Click the arrow to view 36 Hours in Athens by The New York Times

On the rebound: As tourists continue pouring into Athens in record numbers, visitor statistics aren’t the only things on the rise — so is the city’s self-confidence and creativity, The New York Times reports.

That surge in local pride is in turn reflected in the city’s burgeoning arts and culture scene, where new shops, restaurants, bars and, museums and cultural venues have been popping up all over Athens, Joanna Kakissis notes in a travel piece published by the venerable American newspaper.

New cafés & restaurants revive city squares

“After years of dreadful press that defined Athens as a broken-down capital prone to fiery riots, the city’s self-confidence and creativity are stirring again. Enterprising young fashion and graphic designers are opening shops celebrating the classic lines of ancient Greece and the anarchic wit of modern times. In reviving city squares, there are new restaurants and cafes serving native delicacies like Cretan sausage and sheep’s milk yogurt with preserved quince. The five-year-old Acropolis Museum is consistently rated one of the top museums in the world, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art is set to move into a new building later this year. Even rough times have silver linings,” she writes in 36 Hours in Athens, published this week.

The article chronicles a weekend visit Joanna paid to the city, describing the various landmarks and tourist attractions she visited, the restaurants and bars where she ate and drank, and the shops and cultural centers she discovered.

36-hour weekend visit

The informative travel feature includes a map showing the locations of places referred to in the article, plus a “details” list of addresses and websites (where available) for the various venues.

The article is accompanied by the video I posted above, which includes insightful brief interviews interspersed with colourful scenes of city streets and attractions. The video was created by the team of Fritzie Andrade, Max Cantor, Chris Carmichael and Aaron Wolfe.

Click here to read the complete article by Joanna Kakissis in The New York Times‘ online travel section.

One of the places The New York Times visited was Heteroclito cav & bar à vin, seen here in a screen capture from the newspaper’s 36 Hours in Athens video

Category: Arts & culture (page 6 of 10)

More high-end clubs, shops, hotels & restaurants planning to open on Mykonos

Greeking.me — Visit Greece like a local!

Champagne season gets back into full swing on Mykonos

Private seaside cinema: the new Greek island luxury villa perk

How a cultural renaissance is reshaping Athens

Paradise Club owners saying goodbye after 10 years of making party history on Mykonos

Athens bounces back: NY Times travel report sees rise in Greek capital’s confidence & creativity

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