If you haven’t been to Thessaloniki yet, this promotional film will leave you wondering how to include the city on your next trip to Greece
Cultural capital: Thessaloniki, the second biggest city in Greece, is already on my list of must-see destinations for future vacations. But an impressive promotional video produced on behalf of the city has left me wishing I could go there ASAP.
Released on March 18 2016, Thessaloniki, the inside track includes enticing aerial and ground-level views of some of the city’s top attractions, including monuments, historic sites, public squares, the beautiful waterfront and other public places.
Notes accompanying the YouTube video say that “Thessaloniki, historically one of Europe’s oldest and most multiethnic cities, widely considered as the cultural capital of Greece, is truly unique in the sense that it intricately marries its thousands-year-old multicultural heritage and the architectural marvels with the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Sephardic Jew history. With a student-strong population of 150,000, Thessaloniki boasts an under-30s do-it-yourself youth culture-creative movement seen nowhere else in the Southern part of Europe.”
The notes also describe Thessaloniki as “Gastronomic Capital of Greece,” best party city and best mid-sized European city of the future for human capital and lifestyle.
All perfectly good reasons why the city clearly deserves a visit.
Should you need further convincing, just give the 3.5-minute clip a watch. I’m willing to bet it will make you want to see Thessaloniki, too.
Pelion – Greece – Fall 2015 is a breathtaking 4-minute film created by George Giampuranis and Christopher Dormoy
Autumn glory: Don’t be surprised if you feel a powerful urge to pack your bags and travel to the Pelion area of Greece after watching the video I posted above. That seems to be a common reaction for many people who have seen and shared it on social media this week.
Pelion – Greece – Fall 2015 is a gorgeous short film that spotlights beautiful autumn sights and scenery from the area around Mount Pelion, which is situated about an hour’s drive northeast of Volos, a city in Greece’s Thessaly region.
The video project was produced and directed by George Giampuranis and filmed by his friend, Christopher Dormoy, a photographer and interactive graphic designer who works at the Montreal advertising agency Sid Lee.
In notes for the film’s profile page on Vimeo.com, Dormoy observes that Mount Pelion was “the mythical homeland to Chiron the Centaur and summer residence of the gods. Mount Pelion remains beautiful all year round with its pristine and diverse beaches, lush forests with miles of hiking trails, skiing in the winter, and picturesque villages that seem to refuse change as they maintain their traditional architecture with warmth and charm.”
As you watch the video, you’ll quickly see why the Greek gods chose Pelion for their summer home — and you’ll understand why you might suddenly want to go there, too.
Don’t worry if you haven’t got a clue where to stay or go for dinner once you arrive — in the film’s Vimeo profile, Dormoy has helpfully included links for several hotels and restaurants in the area where he filmed scenes for the video. Have a look in particular at the photo gallery on the website for The Lost Unicorn Hotel in Tsagkarada — its images of Pelion’s wonderful landscapes and amazing scenery will make you want to visit the area even more.
Better start packing!
This Google Map pinpoints the location of Mount Pelion in the Thessaly region of mainland Greece
I just discovered a fascinating short video of Arcadia that filmmaker PanoVerino published the same day on the film and video sharing website Vimeo.com.
Entitled The Arcadian, the 3-minute film shows entrancing ground and aerial winter time views of impressive mountain and valley landscapes, breathtaking hillside villages and the extraordinary Monastery of Prodromos, which was constructed into the side of a sheer cliff face around the year 1167.
In notes on his Vimeo page, PanoVerino explains that “The Arcadian is a person who leads and prefers a simple rural life. According to Greek mythology, Arcadia of Peloponnesus was the domain of Pan, a virgin wilderness home to the god of the forest and his court of dryads, nymphs and other spirits of nature. It was one version of paradise, though only in the sense of being the abode of supernatural entities, not an afterlife for deceased mortals.”
The spellbinding scenery in Pan’s domain is beautifully filmed, and The Arcadian makes me eager to explore this scenic and mythical area of the Peloponnese, hopefully on our upcoming late spring trip to Greece. Give it a watch to see if the video has the same compelling effect on you.
[If the name PanoVerino sounds familiar, you may recall seeing his film Postcard from Mykonos Greece, which I shared in my July 11 2015 blog post, A breathtaking video postcard from Mykonos. Take a look at the PanoVerino Vimeo page to see more of his marvellous films.]
A Christmas tree and holiday lighting add sparkle to Nafplio’s Syntagma square (Photo from the Ναύπλιο – Nafplio Facebook page.)
Holiday getaway: A friend who lives in the U.K. was just asking if I could suggest someplace in Greece, within a reasonable driving distance of Athens, for him to visit on a last-minute Christmas getaway. Ideally, it would be a charming seaside village or town with cobblestone streets, attractive old buildings, good places to eat, and historic sites nearby.
By coincidence, I had been reading about Christmas festivities in Nafplio and Monemvasia, two historic and scenic towns in the Peloponnese, only a couple of hours earlier. So I suggested both, sending my friend links to websites providing holiday event schedules and general travel information, as well as directions on how to get to each town from Athens. I’m sharing that information here in case any of my readers might be seeking ideas for their own spur of the moment Christmas trips to Greece, too.
Often called one of the most beautiful towns in Greece, Nafplio was the country’s capital city from 1829 until 1834, when the national parliament was established in Athens. Located approximately 150 km from Athens, Nafplio is just a 2-hour drive from there by car, and a 2-hour and 20-minute trip by bus. There are about a dozen buses to Nafplio each day, departing hourly on the half hour from the Kifissos terminal. Detailed travel directions can be found on Visit Nafplio, a non-commercial website packed with helpful information for visitors.
Interestingly, Nafplio is where the Christmas fir tree was introduced to Greece for the first time– by Bavarian King Otto, in 1833.
A few of the many important historic attractions in the vicinity include the amphitheater at Epidavros and the archaeological sites at Mycenae and Tiryns, all of which are included on the UN’s World Heritage List.
Screenshot of a “Magic Christmas in Nafplio” press release I received from the Discover Nafplio information website, advising of special Christmas and New Year’s events taking place in the former capital city of Greece
The Discover Nafplio travel and information website has a Christmas in Nafplio page that offers suggestions for accommodations, dining, drinking and gift shopping, and includes a link to an extensive list of special Christmas events taking place from mid-December until January 6. There’s even a separate restaurant page that displays menus for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve dinners at two popular Nafplio restaurants — 3Sixty Cafe & Wine Bar on Papanikolaou Street, and Propolis restaurant at Staikopoulou Square, both in the Old Town.
Given its position on a massive rock island, it’s easy to see why Monemvasia is often called “the Gibraltar of Greece.” (Media image provided courtesy of the Municipality of Monemvasia.)
Monemvasia:
Located in the Laconia region of the Peloponnese, Monemvasia comprises an Old Town — a medieval fortress built on the side of a giant rock island connected to the mainland by a short causeway — and a New Town (Gefyra) just across the channel. The Old Town is a warren of narrow cobblestone lanes and vaulted passageways that lead visitors past churches, mansions, castles, and Byzantine icons. Monemvasia is approximately 335 km from Athens International Airport, and the drive by car can take from 3.5 to 4.5 hours. The Laconia branch of the KTEL transportation company provides daily bus service between Athens and Monemvasia several times per day.
An article on the Municipality of Monemvasia website briefly describes volunteer efforts that have been undertaken “to bring life to the magic of Christmas” in special Christmas villages set up for children and the young at heart in the Old Town and in several other areas. It also provides a schedule of music, entertainment and cultural events being presented until December 31. Unfortunately, the calendar of events is in Greek only, but you can use Google Translate or other programs to read the descriptions.
Extensive information about Monemvasia is available on the municipality’s website as well as the Monemvasia Facebook page, while the Mythical Peloponnese website is an excellent resource, describing the Castle of Monemvasia and many other attractions in the Laconia region. You can also view a dozen superb photos in the article The Hidden Town of Monemvasia, which was published earlier this year on the Amusing Planet website, while the video below might help you decide if Monemvasia is the right kind of place for you.
Athens is a gorgeous 5-minute promotional video produced by Visit Greece, the website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation. With its fabulous high-definition and time-lapse photography showcasing top attractions and historic monuments in Greece’s capital city and points beyond, such as spectacular Cape Sounion and beautiful beaches on the Athens Riviera, it’s one of the best Athens videos I’ve ever seen. Click the arrow on the image above to start the film and take “an enchanting trip around the beauties of Athens.”
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
Fun flight: While scanning through tweets by some of the people I follow on Twitter, I discovered a real gem of a film clip today — A Greek Gulf, an amazing aerial video by photographer Panos Smirniotis.
The 6-minute clip, which is posted on Vimeo, shows captivating coastal scenery in areas around the southeastern end of the Gulf of Cornith, including the Heraion Lighthouse, the Sanctuary of Hera, and the Vouliagmeni Lagoon in Perachora; the world-famous Corinth Canal; and the beach and resort at Loutraki.
I have seen the Gulf of Corinth a couple of times, but only from jet airplanes cruising thousands of feet high, so it was impossible to notice the delightful scenery passing beneath us. Although the places shown in A Greek Gulf are seen from the air as well, Panos’s camera skimmed closer to earth, capturing gorgeous high-definition views of the water, beaches and coastal landscapes in the Corinthia area.
The uplifting music that accompanies the video is Piano Dream, by Andreas Agiannitopoulos (aka DJ A).
To view the video, click the white arrow at the bottom left corner of the image at the top of this post.
Below is a Google map of Greece, on which I have circled the approximate area in which the film was shot.
I suddenly have an urge to go for a swim in the Vouliagmeni lagoon!
Click on the arrow to view a 2-minute promotional trailer for the Greeks of the Sea television series premiering July 19 in Australia
Aegean odyssey: Television viewers Down Under will be seeing and learning a lot about Greece’s centuries-long seafaring heritage in a multi-part program premiering next weekend — Greeks of the Sea, an engaging and visually striking documentary series about fishermen, boat builders, ferry captains, sponge divers and other Greeks who earn a living and spend their lives at sea.
“Greeks of the Sea intertwines fascinating and moving stories of the sea within a rich tapestry of Greek culture, hospitality, religion, history and mythology. Taking in breathtakingly beautiful islands and stepping aboard spectacular ships, viewers are in for a visual treat – the series is presented in stunning full 1080p High Definition,” the program website states.
July 19 TV premiere in Australia
The series premieres at 7.30 p.m. Saturday July 19 on Australia’s SBS TV. The program was produced by Greek Seadogs/Tadpole Studios in association with SBS Television. Two versions of Greeks of the Sea were created — a 3-episode version for the Australian domestic television market, and a 6-part series for international distribution. (No information is available at this time on when the program might be broadcast in other countries.)
Greeks of the Sea is hosted by an Australian-born Greek, Nikos Andronicos, who visits Athens and more than two dozen different Greek islands “to meet the world’s most acclaimed mariners, and to discover the key to their success.”
Full details about the production — including episode summaries, photos, and information about its cast and crew — are available on the Greeks of the Sea website. Be sure to watch the series trailer (above), which will give you a sneak peak of Nikos’s adventures on the Aegean.
Fingers crossed that the show is a big hit with viewers so the producers will be encouraged to create a second season.
