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Wine Enthusiast features Greece’s Aegean Islands on list of top 10 wine travel destinations for 2014

January 21, 2014 / admin / 2 Comments

This is just part of the jaw-dropping caldera view that tourists enjoy while visiting SantoWines on Santorini. At upper right is the clifftop village of Imerovigli, while in the distance beyond the cruise ships is the scenic village of Oia. This photo appears in Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s profile of the Greek Aegean Islands as one of 2014’s top wine travel destination.

All about the Assyrtiko: A leading international wine magazine has named Greece’s Aegean Islands as one of the world’s top wine travel destinations for 2014.

The listing by Wine Enthusiast Magazine cites three islands in particular as great places for oenophiles to visit this year: Santorini, Samos and Crete.

“With whitewashed villages that cling to steep hillsides, which drop precipitously toward the deep blue sea, few people think of the Aegean Islands as a wine destination. But if you look carefully, you will see that the island of Santorini is essentially one large farm, Samos has terraced vineyards on Mount Ambelos, and Crete is home to a variety of white and red grapes,” writers Mike DeSimone & Jeff Jenssen observe.

The magazine’s profile of the Aegean Islands wine destinations includes tips on things to see and do, places to dine, where to stay, and of course where to taste the local wine.

It recommends visiting the SantoWines facility on Santorini (seen in the photo above) to taste wines while enjoying the fabulous scenery and watching one of the island’s legendary sunsets.

“In Crete, sit back in a comfortable reclining chair, sample a variety of wines and learn about the history of Greek winemaking at Boutari’s state-of-the-art theater. On Samos, visit the Malagari Winery, part of the Union of Vinicultural Cooperatives of Samos, to sample the local sweet wines and to visit the Samos Wine Museum,” the profile adds.

You can read the full Aegean Island profile, as well as the listings for nine other top wine travel destinations, in the Top Wine Getaways feature on the Wine Enthusiast Magazine website.

Our best hotel experiences of 2013

January 21, 2014 / admin / 1 Comment

Looking toward the Grotta district of Naxos Town from the Palatia peninsula at Naxos island. Naxos was our favourite Greek holiday destination in 2013.

Eclectic list: You could consider this a different sort of trip report. Rather than write a routine, day-by-day account of our two holidays in Greece in 2013, I have decided to mix things up and have a bit of fun compiling an eclectic “best of 2013” list instead.

In May, we island-hopped to Mykonos, Ios and Naxos before moving to the mainland for a weekend meet-up with friends in the Glyfada suburb of Athens. During a second holiday in October we spent two weeks on Naxos, then visited friends in Glyfada and Athens for two days. We had a great time at each place we visited during the two trips, but since Naxos was our overwhelming favourite, we named it our 2013 Destination of the Year, as regular readers will have noticed in my December 31 2013 post.

But there were special things we particularly enjoyed at each destination. Some, like features of the various hotels where we stayed and the restaurants where we dined, or attractions that we visited, were significant elements of our holidays. Others were interesting or quirky things we observed or encountered — minor aspects of our vacations, but still part of what made the two trips so much fun.

I thought that information about those various good things might provide useful insight into our destinations for people who haven’t been to them before, and perhaps even for people who have. So I have compiled the highlights into this “Best of 2013” holiday round-up. I have organized the “bests” into three categories: Hotels; Food & Drink; and Activities & Attractions. Today’s post profiles the best elements of our hotel accommodations, while separate posts about our best Food & Drink experiences, as well as our favourite Activities & Attractions, will follow soon.

Mylopotas beach, as seen from Katerina Hotel on Ios. This was just part of the marvellous view we enjoyed from the hotel during our May holiday. Turn to page 2 of this post to continue reading and see more photos of all the hotels we stayed at during our two trips to Greece in 2013.

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More flights & routes to Greece this summer as Ryanair opens new bases in Athens & Thessaloniki

January 14, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

A Ryanair media image of one of the aircraft in its fleet of more than 300 Boeing 737-800s. The low-fare airline is opening new bases in Athens and Thessaloniki, and is adding new flight routes to Greece.

More flights: Getting to Greece is becoming a lot easier — and cheaper — with low-cost airline Ryanair announcing today that it will establish bases in Athens and Thessaloniki, and will add nine new flight routes in April.

The new bases and flights are part of a $280 million (U.S.) investment that Irish-based is making in Greece, which last year experienced a strong increase in tourist visits that could be matched or even exceeded in 2014.

Beginning in April, two aircraft will be based at Ryanair’s new operations centre in Athens. They will enable Ryanair to offer 154 flights per week on six new routes — to the Greek cities of Chania, Rhodes and Thessaloniki, to Paphos in Cyprus, and to London and Milan.

Also starting in April, one aircraft will be based at Thessaloniki, This will give Ryanair the opportunity to provide up to 212 weekly flights to Athens, Pisa and Warsaw.

Ryanair already has one base in Greece — at Chania airport.

Travellers will benefit from cheaper fares

In a media announcement about the airline’s expansion into Greece, Ryanair’s director of commercial operations, David O’Brien, said the new routes will benefit consumers who until now have not had a cheaper alternative to Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air, which currently dominate flights in the Greek travel market.

“Our 6 new Athens routes will allow Greek consumers and visitors to escape Aegean/Olympic’s high fares and instead enjoy Ryanair’s lowest fares and industry leading customer service and punctuality. Only Ryanair, with its 175 new aircraft order, can deliver the capacity, new markets and low costs demanded by Greek consumers and visitors, and looks forward to working with Athens Airport to unlock the vast potential currently suppressed by high access air costs,” Mr. O’Brien said.

Ryanair investment could create 2,800+ jobs

The new operations bases and flights will benefit more than just travellers booking Ryanair flights — they will create thousands of jobs and give the struggling Greek economy a big boost, too.

Ryanair estimates that its Thessaloniki base will handle 1.6 million passengers annually and will create 1,600 on-site jobs. It expects the Athens base to handle over 1.2 million passengers a year, and create more than 1,200 jobs.

Flights on the new routes to and from Thessaloniki and Athens will go on sale Wednesday, January 15.

If you have free time to travel in Europe during February or March, check out the special seat sale that Ryanair is offering to celebrate its expansion in Greece. Until midnight on Thursday January 16, the airline is releasing 100,000 seats with fares starting as low as £16.99. Bookings can be made at www.ryanair.com.

Picture yourself … on a sunset sail in Santorini

January 14, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

Feeling down from polar vortexes, snow, sleet, rain and dreary winter skies? Give yourself a lift by imagining yourself on a scenic and relaxing sunset cruise in Greece — like this one we photographed at Santorini.

Winter edition of Aegean’s in-flight magazine shines spotlight on Athens’ top cultural attractions

January 14, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou descends the Renaissance-styled staircase at the National Library of Greece in Athens in the cover photo for the Winter 2013-2014 edition of Blue, the in-flight magazine of Aegean Airlines.

No flight required: If you haven’t been to Athens before, or haven’t spent much time there, the current issue of the Aegean Airlines in-flight magazine presents plenty of good reasons why you should book a first-time or a longer repeat visit to explore “the eternal capital of culture.”

With its “Rediscover Athens” cover feature, the Winter 2013-2014 edition of Blue magazine explains “why we love Athens” and shines the spotlight on the city’s top cultural attractions — Athens’ history, museums, architectural landmarks and monuments; its city squares, hills, mountains and landmark streets; its wealth of cultural activities and its exciting culinary landscape; and its extensive, vibrant seafront.

Photos of world-famous Athens attractions

The feature includes a fashion photo shoot in which acclaimed Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou poses at some of the city’s outstanding landmarks, including the fabulous Acropolis Museum, the Panathenaic Stadium where the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Stoa of Attalos, the Byzantine and Christian Museum, and the Monastery of Kaisariani.

Maria also poses at the enormous construction site for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, a spectacular new complex which will ultimately be home to several new Athens cultural attractions — the National Library of Greece, the Greek National Opera, and the Stavros Niarchos Park. The immense size of the building site, as well as the cluster of at least eight tall construction cranes towering above it, grabbed my attention when we passed by last October. Considering the severe financial crisis that has firmly gripped Greece for the past five years, I had not been expecting to see such a vast construction area with so many cranes in one place. But it’s a promising, bright sign that Athens remains one of Europe’s top cultural centres despite Greece’s economic woes.

Blue magazine’s “Rediscover Athens” profile also includes an “Insider’s Athens” report in which Maria describes her favourite city hangouts.

Don’t fret if you’re not taking an Aegean Airlines flight in the near future — the seatback pockets on Aegean’s aircraft aren’t the only places to find a copy of Blue magazine. The full 228-page winter edition is available online in e-book format, so you can read the feature story and peruse the ads and other articles wherever you may be. Click here to view the issue.

Hersonissos’s hidden & not-so-secret treasures

January 13, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

This beautiful church…

… this dramatic mountain landscape …

… this inviting beach …

… and this spectacular sunset … are among the spellbinding sights and scenes featured in two promotional videos for Hersonissos Municipality in Crete

More than big resorts: The Hersonissos area on Crete is one of the largest and most popular mass tourism destinations in Greece, known for its huge hotels and all-inclusive resorts, exuberant nightlife, and extensive entertainment attractions and activities that will amuse visitors of all ages. Hersonissos has everything — from golf to go-karting, hiking to bungee jumping, plus waterparks, aquariums, museums, shops, restaurants and nightclubs.

But even though it’s a busy contemporary destination for holidaymakers as well as thousands of people attending conferences and business travel events each year, Hersonissos abounds with appealing natural wonders, too, like gorgeous beaches, beautiful mountain and plateau landscapes, historical monuments and even traditional Cretan villages.

Popular resort area is near Heraklion

Hersonissos is situated approximately 25 km east of the City of Heraklion, which is easy to reach by flight or by ferry. Hersonissos is a little more than a 15-minute drive from the Heraklion airport, by rental car or taxi, and can also be reached by frequent local bus service from a depot near the Heraklion port.

Further information about the biggest tourist destination on Crete is available on the Municipality of Hersonissos website as well as on the Hersonissos section of the comprehensive explorecrete.com web portal.

Below are two promotional videos that were produced for the Municipality of Hersonissos by the video production and web design agency Blueroom. Both films feature fabulous video scenery, along with stunning timelapse photography by Stian Rekdal.

Don’t be surprised if you feel a strong urge to plan a visit to Hersonissos after viewing the videos — I certainly did! In fact, I spent a few hours searching for photos and information about Hersonissos immediately after watching the clips. Don’t know if we’ll get there this year, but Crete is among the islands we’re considering for our next Greek holiday. Check out the videos and see if Hersonissos is a destination you might enjoy.

The Land of Beaches and Experiences video highlights some of the top activities enjoyed by visitors to Hersonissos, including water sports, diving, horseback riding, golf, and the CretAquarium. The video also provides inviting glimpses of some of the area’s gorgeous beaches.

The Power of Legacy video celebrates the “hidden treasures” of Hersonissos, ranging from “people full of warm hospitality to unbelievable beauty that was left behind by past generations. Everything coated with natural beauty and traditional villages in which you can experience tasty home made Greek cuisine.”

Athens Riviera coves offer secluded spots to swim, sunbathe & savor the Saronic Gulf scenery

January 12, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

One of many coves along the scenic Apollo coast, southeast of Athens, where locals and visitors can enjoy sun, sea and serenity

Beach alternatives: You don’t have to travel to an island to enjoy beautiful beaches and coastal swimming spots in Greece — you can find them in spades on the mainland, including the scenic Saronic Gulf coast a short drive from Athens.

Popularly known as the Apollo Coast and the Athens Riviera, the more than 70-kilometer-long stretch of seafront between Piraeus and Cape Sounion boasts scores of beaches and swimming spots, with an extensive variety of public and private beach facilities catering to all tastes, budgets and lifestyles. Many are easy to reach from Athens either by car, by the city’s tram system, or by public bus.

And for those who prefer to avoid busy organized beaches, there are plenty of secluded coves and inlets offering places to swim or suntan in peace and quiet — or even in nothing at all.

When we visited Athens last year, we noticed that many beach clubs and public strands along the Apollo Coast were packed with people. We could only imagine how crowded they must get during the summer when practically everyone in the city would head to the seaside to beat the heat.

Both in May and again during our return trip to Greece in October, friends who live in Athens took us for drives along the Apollo Coast, stopping to show us some of the popular beach areas including public strands to which admission was free, as well as several private clubs that charge entry fees of around 5 or 7 Euros and up per person.

A peninsula on the Apollo Coast just a short drive south of Vouliagmeni. The rocky shoreline is popular with sunbathers and swimmers — especially nudists — who want to avoid the crowded public and private beaches along the Athens Riviera.

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Still no word on SkyGreece flights or fares

January 10, 2014 / admin / 2 Comments

A Greek flag logo adorns the tail of the SkyGreece Airlines 767-300 ER aircraft, seen on the tarmac at Athens International Airport last month. The photo, credited to Panagiotis Karakonstantopoulos, was one of several images posted on the SkyGreece Airlines Facebook page in mid-December 2013.

Waiting game: Now that we’re into the New Year, we have started making plans for our 2014 trip to Greece. We’re hoping to travel sometime in May, as we usually do, but haven’t yet decided where we might go — or how we will get there.

We had been hoping that SkyGreece Airlines would release its schedule and prices for 2014 by now so we could see how the new carrier’s flight times and prices would compare to those of other airlines offering direct flights from the eastern U.S.A. and Canada to Athens.

We aren’t the only people anxious for more news — thousands of other potential customers have been eager to hear about flight times and fares, too. In fact, SkyGreece is the most-searched subject on MyGreeceTravelBlog, and has held the #1 search position for months.

But while SkyGreece indicated in mid-December that information about its 2014 schedule might be forthcoming soon, its Facebook page hasn’t been updated since before Christmas and there’s still no word on when the upstart airline might begin to accept bookings.

SkyGreece posted photos & video on December 14

It appeared that flight news might be imminent when the airline published a series of photos in five separate updates to its Facebook page, all posted on December 14.

The photos included interior and exterior views of the airline’s Boeing 767-300ER and its livery, as well as pictures of the airline’s executive team and pilots. One post included a brief videoclip showing the jet make a low pass at Athens International Airport that afternoon. A caption for one set of photos said more information would be available “in the coming days,” and on the Greek Air News Facebook page “soon”, but it’s now nearly one month later and no further news has been published. The SkyGreece Facebook page hasn’t been updated since those posts went up.

SkyGreece does not provide contact information on either its website or Facebook page, so I haven’t been able to contact the airline to ascertain when it will start flying to North America. The website still consists only of a landing (main) page, with a banner stating: “Direct flights from North America to Athens Summer 2014.”

I will post an update as soon as I obtain any new information about SkyGreece operations.

One of the photos posted on the SkyGreece Facebook page shows the airline’s Boeing 767 making a low pass prior to landing at Athens International Airport on December 14 2013. The photo was shot by Alexander Stamatiadis.