Category: Tourist attractions

  • Pic of the day: The mosque at Chania harbour

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    mosque at Chania harbour

    The Turkish mosque Yiali Tzami cuts a distinctive figure at the Venetian harbour in the city of Chania in northwest Crete. The mosque’s great dome is supported by four arches, while six smaller domes accent the top of the square building. There is no minaret — it was demolished in the early 20th Century. According to a post on ExploreCrete.com, “the mosque was a Muslim place of worship until 1923, when the last Muslims left Crete at the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey.” The building now hosts art exhibitions.

     

  • Acropolis Museum celebrates 4th anniversary with concert, extended hours & reduced admission

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    A Nikos Daniilidis photo of the southern facade of the Acropolis Museum in Athens

    The south facade of the superb Acropolis Museum in Athens is seen in this photo by Nikos Daniilidis. Click the image to view it full-size.

     

    Untold stories: Tourists visiting Athens tomorrow (Thursday June 20) are in for a treat if they plan to visit the city’s acclaimed Acropolis Museum.

    The museum will be celebrating its fourth birthday with a few gifts for its visitors — longer opening hours (8 a.m. until midnight), a reduced admission fee (only €3 per person), special gallery talks with 3D presentations, and an evening concert by the Athens Municipality Philharmonic Orchestra.

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  • Island sail tour is a must for Milos visitors

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    Milos tour sailboat

    A poster at the Adamas marina advertises the daily Milos tours that J & J Yachting offers on the sailboat Joanna I

     

     

    Milos must-see / must-do: One of the top tourist activities on Milos in the southwest Cyclades is a day trip that actually takes place off the island — on a sailing yacht or tour boat cruise along the marvellous Milos coastline.

    Created by 3 million years of volcanic activity, Milos boasts some of the most impressive landscapes in all the Greek islands, including dozens of breathtaking beaches and a spectacular 139-kilometer-long coastline.

    The stunning coastal scenery is best viewed from the sea, of course, and a variety of sailboat tours and day cruises are available from Adamas, the main port town on Milos. Excursions typically depart the Adamas marina between 8 and 10 a.m. in the morning, and return by sunset. Many of the sailboat tours take sightseers past western Milos as far as the dramatic cliffs at Kleftiko, near the island’s southwest tip, while other excursions travel completely around Milos. Some tours offer trips to Antimilos, Kimolos and other nearby islands.

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  • Our sailboat tour to Sykia and Kleftiko on Milos

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    Excursion sailboats anchored at Kleftiko on the southwest coast of Milos

    Excursion sailboats anchored off the scenic cliffs at Kleftiko near the southwest tip of Milos. Click the photo to view it full-size.

     

     

    Stunning scenery: It has been nearly six years since we took a sailboat tour along the scenic western coast of Milos, but my memories of the trip are still so vivid it seems as though it happened only yesterday.

    As I described in the preceding post — Island sail tour is a must for Milos visitors — sailboat excursions and boat cruises rate among the top recommended tourist activities on Milos, thanks to the island’s spectacular coastal scenery.

    A sailing tour was at the top of our personal “must-do” list when we visited Milos for the first time in mid-September 2007, but we had to wait several days to take one of the popular excursions because high winds forced most boats to remain in port.

    It was well worth the wait.

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  • Athens Gardens Festival underway this weekend

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    National Gardens in Athens

    Palm trees tower above flower displays in the National Garden of Athens.  The Athens Gardens Festival is being held here from June 15 to 18.

     

    Culture in the Garden: The National Garden of Athens is one of my favourite must-see attractions in Central Athens — a beautiful, soothing space where I like to escape the hustle and bustle of the busy downtown area during a day of visiting monuments and museums.

    I wish I could be in Athens this weekend, because the annual Athens Gardens Festival — underway from June 16 to 18 — would give me a chance to enjoy the 15.5-hectare oasis behind the Greek Parliament building in an entirely new way.

    For the next four days, classical music, jazz, urban acoustic music, Greek art music and various European music genres, along with interactive performing arts and visual performances, “will turn the National Garden into a magical place of artistic expression and creativity,” according to the event’s organizers.

    The Festival is part of the annual Gardens of Athens program which aims to promote the city’s gardens as “meeting points of art and culture.”

    According to the Breathtaking Athens website, the festival is hosted by the Athens Art Network in collaboration with the Municipality of Athens, OPAN (Athens Municipality Cultural, Sports and Youth Organization), the Athens Traders Association, the Directorate of Greenery and Environment and Athens “Technopolis.”

    Further details are available in the breathtakingathens.com post about the Festival, while the complete program is presented on this page of the Athens Art Network blog.

  • Delos ferry prices & times unchanged for 2013

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    Delos ferry ticket booth

    The Delos island ferry ticket booth at the Mykonos Old Port

     

    [Editor’s Update: For information about extended opening hours and extra Delos ferry service in 2014, please see my April 2 2014 report Visiting Delos will be easier this summer with Sunday openings, longer hours and extra ferries.]

     

     

    No change: Some good news for people travelling in the Cyclades on tight budgets this summer —  prices for visiting Delos island from Mykonos have not increased this year. It still costs €17 for a return ferry ticket (same as in 2012), while admission to the grounds remains €5 (a price that hasn’t changed in years).

    According to Greek mythology, Delos is the sacred island on which the Greek gods Apollo and Artemis were born. Administered by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Delos is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the top Greek island tour destinations for archaeology and history buffs. Day trips to Delos rank among the top “things to do” for visitors to Mykonos, which is the closest nearby island, and are popular excursions from Naxos and Paros as well.

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  • Pic of the day: Visiting Knossos Palace

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    Tourists explore the ruins of Knossos Palace near Heraklion on Crete

    Tourists explore Knossos Palace near Heraklion on Crete

     

     

  • Pic of the day: View from the Asklepieion

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    View from the Asklepieion toward Kos Town and the coast of Turkey

    The view from the Asklepieion ruins and monuments on Kos island takes in nearby Kos Town and extends to the mountainous coast of Turkey. Click on the photo to open a larger image so you can enjoy a better view!