To everyone’s delight, the Αlkyonides days have come again this year!
We can see you wondering: the what???
The alkyonides days, the days of spring in the heart of winter. These days usually last from 15 December to 15 February and they visit Greece every year, with few exceptions, ie. 1947.
Do you know the myth about them? Alkyoni was daughter of Aiolos, God of the winds, and was married to Kiykos. They were so happily married and so much in love that they called each other Zeus and Hera. The real Zeus and Hera felt deeply offended by the sacrilege and decided to punish them severely. So they transformed Kiykos into a bird, a vulcher. Alkyoni searched for her beloved husband everywhere, but couldn’t find him anywhere. She cried and cried until the Gods decided to transform her into a bird as well, alkyoni. The problem was that alkyoni is the only sea-bird that lays and hatches its eggs in mid-winter. As a result of that, the waves carried them away and she was left in despair. The gods then, touched by her misfortune and misery, decided to cease the bad weather for two weeks to give alkyoni time to reproduce. So, as we can all see, there are some days of spring in the heart of winter which give us the opportunity to … hatch our eggs, take them out in the sunshine, admire them as they are riding their bikes while we are enjoying the heightened temperatures for the season.
You can be sure you’ll get the most updated and to the last minute information
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Before publishing any announcement about strikes in Greece and sending you the updates, we refer 24/7 to all the official media, news agencies, transportation sites, union websites/announcements, Greek and English speaking newspapers, major television and radio news, always double checking each announcement so that you get the most reliable, accurate and to the last minute updated information.
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FORTHCOMING STRIKES
(as announced so far)
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LATEST UPDATE October 17th
Flights will be affected
On SUNDAY 18 and MONDAY 19, 2020, due to Air Traffic Controller & Civil Aviation Authority Unions work stoppages.
This is the official announcement from the site of Athens International Airport: We would like to inform you that due to industrial action of the Union of Greek Air Traffic Controllers, all flights from/to Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” will be affected from 13:30 pm to 18:30 pm on the 18th of October 2020 & from 07:30 am to 12:30 pm on the 19th of October 2020.
Additionally, due to Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority Unions industrial action, on 18th & 19th of October, the flight schedule to and from certain Greek peripheral airports will be affected.
For further information regarding your flight, please contact your airline.
For the AEGEAN and Olympic Air flight cancellations and reschedules due to A.T.C. and OSYPA HCAA personnel work suspension on October 18th – 19th 2020, click on:
Customers are kindly advised to check the latest flight details by visiting the official website of AEGEAN www.aegeanair.com and Olympic Air www.olympicair.com or by calling: AEGEAN: From Greece: 801 11 20000 From abroad or mobile: + 30 210 6261000
OLYMPIC AIR: From Greece: 801 801 0101 From abroad or mobile: + 30 210 3550500
info: 8018010101 (if you are calling from α landline) and +302103550500 (if you are calling from α cell phone or from abroad) click on: YOUR AIRLINE
Our website www.livinlovin.gr and Facebook Page www.facebook.com/livinlovinathens will be constantly updated as more information comes in.
Alternatively to/from the Athens Airport you can use: LINK
The Suburban Railway
X-BUSES
As an alternative to/from the Athens Airport you can use the X-Buses Click HERE for the timetable, itineraries and info.
TAXIS
Or TAXIS Click for the Official ATHENS AIRPORT TAXI Website (all fares, itineraries, durations, etc)
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Bear in mind 1. that theEXPRESS (X)BUSES TO ATHENS AIRPORT:
During the Blue Buses strike, all buses (including the Express Buses to/from the Athens Airport)are affected. A 24- hour strike is from 00:01 to 00:59
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Bear in mind 2. that in case of a strike of the OSE & PROASTIAKOS (Suburban) trains the Metro Blue Line 3 goes as far as Doukissis Plakendias metro station and NOT to the Athens International Airport.
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Bare in Mind 3. In case of a strike of the Suburban Railways, you can use the X-Buses to/from the Athens Airport. Click HERE for info.
You can be sure you get the most reliable, accurate and to the last minute updated information.
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Alternatively to/from the Athens Airport you can use Click on the link:
In case of a strike of the EEEKE (Air Traffic Controllers’ Association of Greece_),
customers are kindly advised to check the latest flight details by visiting the official website of AEGEAN www.aegeanair.com and Olympic Air www.olympicair.com or by calling:
AEGEAN: From Greece: 801 11 20000 From abroad or mobile: + 30 210 6261000
OLYMPIC AIR: From Greece: 801 801 0101 From abroad or mobile: + 30 210 3550500
info: 8018010101 (if you are calling from α landline) and +302103550500 (if you are calling from α cell phone or from abroad) click on:YOUR AIRLINE
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For INFO about how to get to and from the Athens Airport (including X BUSES), to Athens centre, to Piraeus, etc CLICK HERE.
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INFO about the X BUSES to /from the airport, routes, timetables etc, click on: Athens Airport Bus
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Bear in mind.EXPRESS BUSES TO ATHENS AIRPORT:
During the Blue Buses strike, all buses (including the Express Buses to the Athens Airport) are affected.
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(*) Bear in mind that in case of a strike of the OSE & PROASTIAKOS (Suburban) trains the Metro Blue Line 3 goes as far as Doukissis Plakendias metro station and NOT to the Athens International Airport. Click on the link:
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(**)Bear in mind thatTrains, Buses and Trolleys will begin withdrawing from service at least one hour earlier and will not be back in service until (at least) an hour after the end of strike/ work stoppage
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EXPRESS BUSES TO ATHENS AIRPORT:
FYI: during the Blue Buses work stoppage or strike, all buses (including the Express X-Buses to the Athens Airport) are affected.
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STRIKES DAY by DAY
(as announced so far)
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M O N D A Y 12/10/20
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TAXIS: working as usual
ATTIKO METRO (Blue & Red lines): working as usual
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS (Green line): working as usual
BLUE BUSES: working as usual
TROLLEY BUSES: working as usual
TRAM: working as usual
PROASTIAKOS (Suburban), & TrainOSE (Hellenic Railways Organization): working as usual
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T U E S D A Y 13/10/20
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TAXIS: working as usual
ATTIKO METRO (Blue & Red lines): working as usual
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS (Green line): working as usual
BLUE BUSES: working as usual
TROLLEY BUSES: working as usual
TRAM: working as usual
PROASTIAKOS (Suburban), & TrainOSE (Hellenic Railways Organization): working as usual
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W E D N E S D A Y 14/10/20
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TAXIS:will be working as usual
ATTIKO METRO (Blue & Red lines):will be working as usual
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS(Green line): will be working as usual
BLUE BUSES:will be working as usual
TROLLEY BUSES:will be working as usual
TRAM:will be working as usual
PROASTIAKOS (Suburban) & TrainOSE (Hellenic Railways Organization):will be working as usual
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T H U R S D A Y 15/10/20
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STRIKE CALLED OFF
STASY Union: ATTIKO METRO (blue, red line) , ELECTRIC RAILWAYS (Green Line), and the TRAM has announced a 3-hour work stoppage from 14:00 to 17:00.
Electronic Engineers of Air Traffic Safety Association: has announced a
24-hour strike from 00:01 to 23:59, and a 48-hour strike from
00:01 of Sunday October 18th to 23:59 of Monday October 19th
Customers are kindly advised to check the latest flight details by visiting the official website of AEGEAN www.aegeanair.com and Olympic Air www.olympicair.com or by calling: AEGEAN: From Greece: 801 11 20000 From abroad or mobile: + 30 210 6261000
OLYMPIC AIR: From Greece: 801 801 0101 From abroad or mobile: + 30 210 3550500
info: 8018010101 (if you are calling from α landline) and +302103550500 (if you are calling from α cell phone or from abroad) click on: YOUR AIRLINE
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POEDIN (Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Workers): has announced a 24-hour strike
ADEDY (Public Sector Workers Union): Has announced a 24-hour Panhellenic strike
That affects you if you have dealings with: tax offices, court houses, post offices, public schools, state hospital doctors, Citizens’ Information Centre (KEP), OAED, etc, or if you are planning to visit a Public-run museum. (not all of them), private museums (NAM, Benaki museum, etc), unaffected.
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TAXIS:will be working as usual.
ATTIKO METRO (Line 3 Blue & 2 Red ): will be working as usual.
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS (Green Line 1):will be working as usual.
PROASTIAKOS (Suburban), & TrainOSE (Hellenic Railways Organization): working as usual
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S U N D A Y 18/10/20
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On SUNDAY 18 and MONDAY 19, 2020, due to Air Traffic Controller & Civil Aviation Authority Unions work stoppages.
This is the official announcement from the site of Athens International Airport: We would like to inform you that due to industrial action of the Union of Greek Air Traffic Controllers, all flights from/to Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” will be affected from 13:30 pm to 18:30 pm on the 18th of October 2020 & from 07:30 am to 12:30 pm on the 19th of October 2020.
Additionally, due to Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority Unions industrial action, on 18th & 19th of October, the flight schedule to and from certain Greek peripheral airports will be affected.
For further information regarding your flight, please contact your airline.
For the AEGEAN and Olympic Air flight cancellations and reschedules due to A.T.C. and OSYPA HCAA personnel work suspension on October 18th – 19th 2020, click on:
Customers are kindly advised to check the latest flight details by visiting the official website of AEGEAN www.aegeanair.com and Olympic Air www.olympicair.com or by calling: AEGEAN: From Greece: 801 11 20000 From abroad or mobile: + 30 210 6261000
OLYMPIC AIR: From Greece: 801 801 0101 From abroad or mobile: + 30 210 3550500
info: 8018010101 (if you are calling from α landline) and +302103550500 (if you are calling from α cell phone or from abroad) click on: YOUR AIRLINE
TAXIS: working as usual
ATTIKO METRO (Blue & Red lines): working as usual
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS (Green line): working as usual
BLUE BUSES: working as usual
TROLLEY BUSES: working as usual
TRAM: working as usual
PROASTIAKOS (Suburban), & TrainOSE (Hellenic Railways Organization): working as usual
We started the tour by climbing up from Dion.-Aeropagitou to Anafiotika
What’s this plant?
Do you know how Lecabettus Hill was made?
How a 1870 building can host modern art.
Old Greek ads and posters.
Spice and herbs kingdom
A touch of red!
Dried pepper kingdom
A small chapel with fantastic icons.
Reaching the Central Market.
The fishmonger of our hearts is recommending fish that…
“Barba-Mitsos” grilled for us.
“No diet” day!
PLEASE NOTE THAT: The itinerary is never prefabricated as flexibility is our motto !
Some of you are going to be in Athens during Easter, so we thought it would be nice if you knew where to find the most picturesque and traditional Epitafios (a procession of the icons and the coffin of Jesus Christ around the streets of the district).
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It ‘s always on Good Friday evening, usually around 8 or 9, except the Monastery of Kaisariani where it takes place 2 – 2:30 in the afternoon through the forest.
So, the most beautiful are in Plaka, at the churches of Agia Aikaterini (starts at 19.30)
and Metohi Panagiou Tafou in Erextheos str.(starts at 19.00).
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Other churches where the Epitafios are special and have beautiful choirs are: Kapnikarea church on Ermou street, Agios Georgios Karytsis with singers from the National Opera in Karytsi square, Agia Eirini on Aiolou street and, more quiet and peaceful, Agios Dimitrios in Plaka (7, Epimenidou street).
Another idea is the monasteries of Pendeli, Agios Ioannis Kynigos in Agia Paraskevi.
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Remember to have candles with you (brown for Friday, white or a decorated or plain white one for Saturday) and enjoy it with all your heart!
What follows on the video is perhaps the most beautiful hymn of the Greek Orthodox Church.
It’s the mourning of Virgin Mary for her dead son. Although it may sound strange to you, try to listen to it, especially after 4.25”. The singer is a very young traditional music singer, but her performance in Byzantine music is remarkable. We would love to hear some of your impressions.
Easter for me has very specific smells that bring back memories from my childhood.
All that being said, I can confide in you that Easter smells of violets – understandable! -ammonia, that my mom used in Easter cookies to help them raise -NOT pleasant- and sour orange tree blossoms that bloomed in every neighbourhood,and still do.
That’s about my Easters in Athens as a child.
Now let’s talk about YOUR Easter in Greece, or better, what we think your Easter in Greece should be like and what you should not miss.
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CORFU is famous for having a very artistic and …musical Easter.
On Good Thursday and Good Friday you can attend the mass at the Cathedral – with an organ -, the bands go around the streets playing mournful music, and the procession of Epitafios through the little streets of the old town late in the evening give an air of mysticissm and sanctity. The hymns of Good Friday are my personal favourites!
All that until Saturday morning at 11, when people break pottery by throwing them from the windows, in an attempt to chase THE evil-which is not intimidated at all, as we can all see!!!!
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CHIOS island and a lot more, like Kalymnos, are famous for the “rocket war”, a very fierce and loud firework throwing and battle between neighbourhoods.
Very spectacular, very loud!
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HYDRA, this very special island of Argosaronikos, is famous for putting the Epitafios into the sea in order to bless the sea water. Considering that Hydra was a naval society that depended on sea fares and trade, that makes perfect sense.
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In the CYCLADES I have my personal favourites:
Paros, and more specifically the Epitafios in Marpissa and Santorini in Pyrgos, one of the most beautiful villages of the island, with the little lanterns on the slope of the rock that light up the whole place.
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CRETE.
What I like about Easter in Crete is -except for the food and the music and dancing that I adore – is the burning of Judas after the resurrection. One big dummy that represents Judas is placed on a bonfire-with a whistle in his…well, backside, and is burned after church with everyone celebrating and the whistle blowing.
Mmmmmm, interesting habit!
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LEONIDIO IN ARKADIA , PELOPONNISOS
.A sweet place, quite near Athens, with small pebble beaches and mountain villages, with a very particular habit:
On Saturday, as soon as the priest announces the resurrection of Jesus -that’s midnight – the sky is filled with paper balloons of various colours that are made by the local people or neighbourhoods. Very spectacular!
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The other areas celebrate Easter in their own ways, all very particular and all related to the local habits, customs and traditions. I cannot recommend only one place, there are too many! Remember that Easter is our most important Christian holiday.
So, find your own favourite place, go, enjoy, come back and tell us:
If someone rings your doorbell early in the morning of 24, 31 December or 5 January, don’t think it’s a naughty neighbor determined to wake you up, it will probably be children singing the “calanda”, the Greek Christmas carols. These are sung by groups of children or, at least two, accompanied by little triangles, accordions, or guitars. As you open the door, the children will ask you: “Na ta poume?” (Shall we say them?). Your line here is: “Na ta pite” (go ahead and say them). After 25 groups of carol singers you may say: No, thank you, or just not open. Now, you should know that our calanda are very cheerful and joyful songs, they go way back in history (like everything else here), you will absolutely love them, you won’t understand a word because the language is formal Greek with a touch of Ancient Greek. Therefore, open your purse and give the little ones some money, even if you hated them, just for the time they spent learning all these words! You know, in the past homeowners offered the children sweets and pastries, but now…you can’t really pay for your PLAYSTATION with melomakarona, can you?
We’ll be back with more about Christmas in Greece.
* “children singing the Christmas carols”: by Nikiforos Lytras
Christmas in Greece can be a lot of things: it can be White-unusual ! – or warm, or HOT ! But in any case, it’s celebrated all over the country, maybe not as gloriously as in the rest of the world-let’s not forget that Easter is our biggest holiday-but our customs are quite interesting and some of them date back into history. Let’s see some of them:
If someone rings your doorbell early in the morning of 24, 31 December or 5 January, don’t think it’s a naughty neighbour determined to wake you up, it will probably be children singing the “calanda”, the Greek Christmas carols. These are sung by groups of children or at least two, accompanied by little triangles, accordions, or guitars. As you open the door, the children will ask you: “Na ta poume?” (Shall we say them?). Your line here is: “Na ta pite” (go ahead and say them). After 25 groups of carol singers you may say: No, thank you, or just not open. Now, you should know that our calanda are very cheerful and joyful songs, they go way back in history (like everything else here), you will absolutely love them, you won’t understand a word because the language is formal Greek with a touch of Ancient Greek. Therefore, open your purse and give the little ones some money, even if you hated them, just for the time they spent learning all these words!
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Our personal favourite sweet and custom of the New Year is the VASILOPITA, the cake we cut and share on New Year’s Eve or Day. The vasilopita is usually a cake with a coin inside it. As we cut and share it, we cut the first pieces for Jesus, Saint Basil, the poor, the house, and then the members of the family and the friends. The “head” of the family — grand father or father — does the cutting and sharing, the rest of us search to find the coin, as whoever gets it will be the luckiest one throughout the year. Now the history behind this tradition is: In the 14th century Cappadokia, a Byzantine province in Asia Minor, suffered from famine but this fact did not stop the heartless eparch* of the town from demanding to get the taxes, threatening the town with destruction. St.Vasilios, the Bishop in Caesareia, urged the people to offer their valuables in order to rescue their town. The people obeyed and Saint Vasilios collected a pile of offerings to give the eparch*, but the last minute he managed to smooth his heart and change his mind. Now Saint Vasilios had a problem: he was left with a pile of valuables to give back to the people, without knowing who they belonged to! So, he got a brilliant idea: he asked the baker to bake one small cake for each family and he put one piece of jewellery inside. And the miracle happened: each family got what they had given!!! Ever since that time we celebrate this event by sharing the cake with the coin – only one coin, no more…
Eparch: in the Byzantine Empire, the governor of an eparchy
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So, now that you know about these customs and habits, you can celebrate Christmas and the New Year in happiness and….more knowlegdable, until we get back from the holidays and find out about… KALIKANTZARI !
Now that Christmas is just around the corner, it’s time we learnt some things about Greek customs and traditions. Today’s story is about KALIKANTZARI.
They are the Greek elves; only not so benign. They are naughty and mischievous and they live in the center of the earth where they try to cut down the tree that holds the earth with axes and saws. When Christmas comes, as their job is nearly done, they leave the rest for New Year, and climb up onto the surface of the earth to tease people. They try to get into the houses through the fireplaces and stay there teasing people from the beginning of Christmas season until the 6th of January, the Epiphany when the priest goes around all houses and sends them away with Holy water. Once they go back to the center of the earth, they find the tree whole and intact, so they start sawing all over again until the next Christmas.
Now, whenever everything goes wrong one day, you know why! Put the blame on the Kalikantzari
We are born and raised Athenians. We thought we knew everything about Athens.
WRONG!
Then came Aristotelis and a treasure of knowledge emerged from his magic box!
And we learnt things that were so interesting and new to us, as well, that we couldn’t believe it.
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We Had to stop after the first hour due to heavy rain and go for coffee inside beautiful Stoa Spiromiliou, a break that was welcome by all, since we had the chance to sit and chat.
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Then we continued at the excavations of the Metro at Syntagma, the monument of the
Unknown Soldier,
through the National Garden- beautiful after the rain-,
at the Presindential Mansion, Panathenaic Stadium, Zappeion Megaron,
and ended the tour at Hadrian’s Arch.
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We loved it, and so did everyone else.
Take a look at the photos to get an idea and we hope to see you at our next one.
To everyone’s delight, the Αlkyonides days have come again this year!
