Un superbe petit tour dans le vieux Athènes avec Katherina qui nous a livrée tous ses secrets et nous a fait découvrir des petits recoins admirables et originaux. Un grand merci Patrick & Sonia.
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“Partagez notre amour pour Athènes”
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Notre tour “Partagez notre amour pour Athènes” est très prisé chez nos clients, leurs proches, amis ou invités.
C’est un peu de tout: histoire, mythologie, architecture, dégustation de préparations locales, tradition grecque, l’Athènes d’ aujourd’hui, du shopping etc.
Ça se passe au centre historique d’ Athènes, à Plaka, à Psiri, à Monastiraki et les quartiers autour avec leurs petits secrets, leurs monuments et vues uniques, leurs petites chapelles et bien sûr on se régale en goûtant des spécialités locales dans le vieux marché…
On s’amuse à faire de petites pauses pour un café ou un rafraîchissement, pour un snack, une dégustation ou déjeuner sur des terrasses-jardins et des lieux que peu connaissent.
Dans le prix ne sont pas inclus les cafés, les rafraîchissements, le repas ou le vin ou bien les entées aux sites qu’on visite.
Pour tout dire, c’est un tour coupé sur mesure, on s’ adapte alors, volontiers, aux intérêts, aux goûts, aux suggestions ou les préférences de nos groupes.
this time you will have the chance to literally “live” in the world of the most important elements of Greek tradition and culture: the traditional Music, songs, costumes and dances.
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We are going to visit Idryma Zisi (Zisis foundation), founded in 1975, which is one of the most important foundations working hard all these years to restore, preserve and spread the Greek traditional and Byzantine music, traditional songs, costumes, dances and instruments from all over the country.
Its aim is to give an overall insight into Greek culture and tradition.
Our visit will start with the history of the foundation and an introduction to the significance of the Greek tradition.Then the foundation people will show us their rich collection of 1200 costumes and give us info about them, and then, the people who would like to, will have the chance to dress up with some of them and take photos!
Following the “theoretical part” of our visit, we have two surprises prepared for you !
Not only will you practice your first steps of a few Greek traditional dances with one of their teachers,
but also will have a lesson with one of their most talented traditional song teachers !
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This whole event will take place in Halandri, at 5 Kolokotroni str. right after Dourou square – platia Dourou- (Google maps)on Sunday February 17, will last for approx 3 hours – 1 hour costumes and photos, 1 hour dancing lesson and 1 hour singing lesson – from 11:00 to 14:00, and, needless to say, afterwards we will all go eating at a nearby taverna. Bear in mind that we changed the date from the 10th since some of you told us you couldn’t make it ! Since the event is on a Sunday, it won’t
be difficult to park on the side streets near the foundation. Alternatively, there are parking lots nearby.
Details will follow.
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Date: Sunday February 17
Time: 11:00 to 14:00
Place: 5 Kolokotroni str. Halandri (after Dourou square)
If the group is large, then we will have to form two separate groupswhich will work at the same time, and we will needmore teachers and a translator.
“I wanted to sincerely thank you for a very special day today. Katerina, you were so generous with your knowledge, time and energy – it was an AMAZING introduction to Athens. We both loved every minute. We were so lucky with the day, and while I know you would make everyone feel fabulous, we really felt that we made a friend today & I look forward to crossing paths again.
Your efforts to engage and tech Stella were fabulous & she really enjoyed it – thank you, it took our adventure to a new level !
I also wanted to thank you very much for guidance & information ”
Penny & Stella
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Katerina has immense knowledge of Athens. Although I thought I knew Athens well already, she still found new information to fill a 4-hour tour of the Plaka. From the first instance that I spoke with her on the phone, she made me feel like I was already a very good friend. She was a true professional throughout the entire process of booking and leading our tour. You will get a guide with supreme integrity who will think only of your best interests.
Her stories make her tours stand out from others. Buildings and monuments come to life as she tells you their tales. I’d seen one monument a hundred times, yet I saw it in a whole new light because of her tour. How did it get there? How did they use it? Why were they important? And why is it still there when everything around it disappeared long ago?
Katerina knows the ins and outs of Athens. Just ask her. She will take you to her favorite museums, but if she thinks that someone else knows your interests better, she will bring them in to guide you. Her vast network includes the best certified guides in Athens and throughout Greece.
Whatever your interests are – food, religion, art, dancing, theater, archaeology, architecture – and wherever you want to go, she will design a custom tour just for you. Most importantly, you will be pleasantly shocked by her reasonable charges. It would be a mistake not to include Livin’ Lovin’ in your Greece trip planning.
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.
We love fish, we eat fish, BUT we did not know much about Greek fish, their names, methods of cooking, which one is the king of all, which ones have the most Ω3, and a lot more.
This is part of our “Meet the Greek products” visits which we’ve organized for the English speaking community “Newcomers in Athens”, as well as for the French community “Athènes Accueil“. The photos are from both visits.
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Thanassis, the fish monger, in fluent English explained everything, answered all our questions, and showed us the fish “live”
Another thing that people loved was the rest of the shops in the market, like the amazing butcher shop, the fruit and vegetable shop, the cheese shop, and all the others.
We stayed there a lot longer than we had expected, just to look around and do our weekly provisions.
Then, as always, we went to the one and only taverna in the market for a lunch with….fish, of course!
We enjoyed another one of Elli’s guided tours at the Acropolis Museum with a large group aged from 4 to …. While the parents were attending the tour, we (Yannis, Aris and Katerina), doing the family activities of the museum with the little ones.
The guided tour at the Ancient Agora was one of the most interesting and successful tours. It was a very hot day, in spite of the weather forecast, that had announced clouds, so Elli tried to do all the tour in the shade under the trees. Through her stories, we could actually picture a typical day of an Athinian. She was amazing as usual !
After the tour, some of us went to the food festival at Technopolis Gazi, where he had the chance to taste flavors from all over Greece. Many thanks to Athinorama for their special OFFER of 2 for 1 tickets, as well as the FREE invitations they offered to our group so generously.
In our continuous efforts to enrich our knowledge of the Ancient Greek history and culture, and provide expats and guests with a profound understanding of Greece, its people, its culture and timeless spirit. we are proud and honoured to announce our cooperation with Diazoma, one of the most prestigious organizations dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of Ancient Greek Theatres.
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My journey to ‘DIAZOMA’ has been a long one with many ports of call: Kalamata, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of the Interior, Administration and Decentralization, Ministry of the Aegean. On the way I have been involved with the reconstruction of a town destroyed by earthquake, the enhancement of its historical centre, cultural networks, CastrorumCircumnavigatio, a programme on ancient theatres, island policies, Citizen Service Centres… Ports of call en route to a destination of which I am not yet aware, which has not yet taken a specific shape.
Caring for monuments has always been a special part of my life. I cannot look upon them as ruins, as something dead. I see in them living organisms transmitting messages of knowledge, wisdom, aesthetics, harmony, dialogue with the environment and nature, as transmitting messages of life. And I have always disagreed with the classic treatment of monuments, that which treats them as museum pieces, which puts them to one side, on the margins of our era, which is blind to their secret life, which ignores their own adaptability and harmonization with every historical period.
That is why, wherever I have passed, I have tried in every way to include them in the daily life of the place and the people. From the Neoclassical buildings of Kalamata and the restoration of the town’s historical centre to the opening of archaeological sites on summer nights with a full moon, all my actions have been in the same direction, aimed at the same ultimate target and inspired by the same philosophy.
Small Theatre of Ancent Epidavros
Τhe ancient theatres are unique examples of exceptional architecture. Culminating achievements of ancient Greek civilization. Works of art built to host works of art. Buildings that concentrate in their structure, their parts and their details the originality, the grace, the sagacity, the expression of democracy and of citizens’ participation. In other words, the best of what the Greek spirit offers. Buildings which have been keeping the usefulness and the uniqueness of their form alive and up to date for centuries.
These characteristics led me to combine my ideas on monuments with ancient theatres. I started this particular endeavour five or six years ago. I failed. ‘Wherever you fail go back and wherever you succeed leave’, says Kazantzakis. I paid him heed. A couple of years ago, I returned. It seems that the right moment had come. The time was now ripe for a more dynamic confrontation of the monuments. The time was ripe for certain things to go ahead, because we take their fortunes into our own hands. And we help them to proceed. We take part in their development. The time was now ripe for creating a Movement of Citizens, of a large group of people, which can see beyond the miserly limits of a short-sighted age, which feels the primary right to demand transcendence of the dreary daily routine, by including monuments in our daily life.
At once I found myself surrounded by an enthusiastic and dynamic group of people, which widened in the blink of an eye. All of them, ‘as one long prepared…’ Scholars, intellectuals, artists, people in local government and pro-active citizens embraced ‘DIAZOMA’. Fellow-citizens who have decided that the research, study, protection, enhancement and, wherever feasible, the use of ancient theatres and other venues for spectators and listeners, such as ancient odeia and stadia, are also their concern. And they are resolved to take these monuments’ fortunes into their own hands, to work together dynamically, as helpers of the State and the services responsible, in the major task of including ancient theatres in modern life.
In this section, Mr. Stavros Benos, chairman of “DIAZOMA“, shares his impressions from touring all over Greece. Joining him in these visits are the heads of the regional services from the Ministry of Culture, local authority representatives, residents and “DIAZOMA” members from each particular area.
These tours have three main objectives:
to help compose a well-defined “monument inventory”, both in the scientific and sociopolitical sense (availability/response of local communities etc.)
to bring together in joint action all parties necessary for the restoration/showcasing of important monuments (archaeologists, local authorities, etc.)
to raise public awareness about the tremendous value of these monuments, not only in the context of historical and cultural heritage, but as a part of contemporary Greek society. This can be achieved via press conferences and open debate sessions with the public.
Become a member If you believe that the most beautiful and the most symbolic monuments in Greece, the ancient theatres, should be brought back to life. If you believe that for great plans and grand dreams to become reality they must be embraced by us all.
In this section, Mr. Stavros Benos, chairman of “DIAZOMA“, shares his impressions from touring all over Greece. Joining him in these visits are the heads of the regional services from the Ministry of Culture, local authority representatives, residents and “DIAZOMA” members from each particular area.
