Saturday, May 30, 2009

Greek Architecture

In this post I am trying to approach the subject Greek Architecture or Traditional Greek houses by referring to the work of Aris Konstantinidis. Greek Architecture is a very difficult subject for study and techinical as well, due to its long history and its very rapid, modern and irregular development.

We might say that Greek Architecture includes all the buildings built in Greece so far. Therefore examples of Greek Architecture are the famous ancient Greek buildings and constructions. By Greek Architecture we also refer to the modern or new buildings of Athens. If we focus on Athens particularly, typical examples of the Greek Architecture are the houses built by the Greek immigrants from Mikra Asia (Ionia, now is part of Turkey, Turkey's Aegean coast line) known in Greek as "Mikrasiatika" or "Prosfigika" and the new-classic houses of Athens built at the beginning of the 20th century. Prosfigika Houses can be found in many suburbs of Athens like Nea Philadelfia and Nea Ionia, to name some. Some characteristic images of the Prosfigika and how they look today, are:

















Back now to the work and theory of Aris Konstandinidis we should say that his work can be considered as the fist examples of modern Architecture in Greece. Is very likely by visiting Greece, especially Crete or Andros, Mykonos, Athens and Halkidiki to see some of his projects. Unfortunately enough, many of his buildings are not in good condition and are abandoned. The main technical reason for that, is that many of his works, are hotels owned from the Greek Public Institution of Tourism (E.O.T); a public enterprize with serious financial problems today. Thus, due to the limited funding, these beautiful hotels, known as Xenia, in nowdays are empty and many of them destroyed. An example, is the following hotel in Halkidiki:












Some more photos can be found here: Xenia Hotels

His architect has some clear features. In his buildings is always clear the main construction elements of the houses. That is, Konstantinidis separates the different layers of the houses: internal and external. Another important element of his work is the size of his houses. Konstantinidis was inspired from the domestic architecture, houses that they look like the Prosfigika. In other words, his houses are houses with gardens and outside constructions for making shadow over the summer, houses with clear structure of their construction and of a relatively small height.

Is almost impossible in this post to discuss Konstantinidis's work in detail. I hope that this post will motivate you to visit some of his projects. A detailed list of his projects with locations can be found here: Konstantinidis Projects

Konstntinidis's Biography, written by his son, Dimitris Konstantinidis also an architect can be read here: Biography .

Regarding modern and commercial houses for sale in Greece please have a look here: Properties in Greece.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Are you ready?

Are you ready to visit Greece? Are you surfing the Internet few hours before travelling to Greece?

Well, in this post we try to keep you company before arriving in Greece and in Athens, in particular.

Where to Go?

There are many places to visit in Athens. I am strongly recommending to visit Plaka, the tube Station Acropolis and Acropoli of course. The area around the tube station Acropolis still keeps some characteristics of how Athes was before the second world war. Another tube station to visit and the area around it is Monastiraki. By Monastiraki you could walk the main shop street of Athens, Ermou street. Thus, Ermou is a good choice for a walk and shopping over the day. Over the night you could again choose Monastiraki since many restaurants with good food surrounding Monastiraki's square. Another good choice is Plaka and its square where again many restaurants are available for locals and tourists.

Where you should not go?

Unfortunately there are couple of times that I see tourists around Omonoia square and especially at the streets Peiraios and Athina and them to look completely surprised and lost. They are surprised because just few meters from their luxurious hotels or near to the
down town, hundreds of poor immigrants, many people under drug influence occupy most of the streets. The area is not clean and over the night is not safe for tourists. This does not mean that
Athens is not safe, but please keep in mind to avoid over the night that neighborhoods. For giving you a better understanding how these streets are, just recall some images from East London or Newmarket in Amsterdam after midnight.

We stay for couple of days, where else shall we go?

If you are lucky enough to have couple of days to stay in Athens then there are many of places for you to explore.

An interesting street is Patision. Patision is quite long and hosts many shops, theaters and cinemas. Patision is fully served by public buses that you could easily use. Exarxia square, near to Panepistimiou and Patision, is for those seeking to see and to feel the underground life of Athens. Couple of clubs there for drinks. If you have time, seek to visit Rosalia restaurant, near
to Exarxeia square. Good food and reasonable prices. If you are looking for music stores then Panepistimiou near to Patision has couple of them. Metropolis is one of them.

Solonos, near to Akadimias, is full with bookstores and small shops for your coffee.

Gazi, near to Omonoia, is the main spot for evening enternaiment.

Many music pubs are available playing foreign music.

Food

I am strongly advising you to visit Plaka's restaurants. If you are looking for a fast food, Goodys chain is very popular in Greece with good varieties; their club sandwich is quite good.

Souvlaki! I am sure that you want to give a try. Arahova is a good souvlaki shop, near to Kanigos Square, towards Akadimias street. But please ask some guys from your hotel to advice you for a good, local, souvlaki shop. You will feel for a while Greek :)

Transportation

Public transportation is not bad at all. You could buy bus tickets from metro-tube stations and from local shops. "periptera", those yellow street shops, most of the times sell tickets. Please note that tickets should be validated when you entry the bus by using some clear indicated machine boxes. The duration for a single trip is one hour and half. Athens's metro is quite modern and convenient. You could visit the main spots by using only the tube.

Anyway, I am wishing you a nice trip and to enjoy your stay in Greece.

And if you are looking for a house in Greece, please visit this website: House for sale in Greece

We will post again soon, stay tuned.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Relaxing....

Dear All,

Because life is not only work, business, money and worries, I decided to share with you a song that I really like:



Lily Allen, a relatively new song from her brand new album. Nice, Nice, Nice! I like the fact that the music is smooth electronic and the rythm is so playful. The video is also clever, so colourful. Lyrics are far strong and as always Lily does not afraid to say some truths. Some clever points that I caught from the lyrics are:
  • Now everything's cool as long as I’m gettin thinner
  • And i’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless;Cuz everyone knows that’s how you get famous
  • fu...ing fantastic.
Well I am looking forward for her new albuls; Is so promising artist.

I hope that this song will keep you a company while you are staying in Greece or you are looking for your house in Greece. If you seek for a prompt advice here are some houses for you to look at:

Thats all for now, keep tuned!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Greek News Papers

Hi There!

In one of our last posts we talk about Greek Media. In this post I am presenting you some information about the Greek News papers. Suprisingly enough there is a big number of news papers published in Greece.

Of course you might be interested in English papers published by Greek publishing organizations. We list of some of the major news papers and a long list is available here.
  • Kathimerini (Daily in English). Kathimerini has a well maintained English version and its link is this one: Kathimerini. Kathimerini is considered to be affiliated with what is called center-right. Kathimerini is also publishing in Greece, the English version of the The International Herald Tribune.
  • Ta Nea (The News, in English). Ta Nea is a paper of high circulation considered to express the center-left. Their page is: Ta Nea and is worth noting that they do not offer an English version. Nea and Vima (The Tribune), are two of high circulation papers published by the same publishing organization Lambrakis Press (www.dol.gr). Vima's online version also lacks an English edition. Lambraki Press is also the owner of the well established portal: www.in.gr.
In Greece of course there are some more political news papers targeting specific readers. For instance, Rizospastis (Radical) is a historical political paper associated with the Greek Communist Party. I Avgi (The Dawn) is also a well known old political paper affiliated with the Coalition of Left Parties.

Apart of many news paper titles in Greece, sports news papers are amazingly popular. The majority of the Sports papers are affiliated with a football team. Olympiakos, AEK and Panathinaikos for instance have their own papers like: Protathlitis (Champion, http://www.championsday.gr/), Dikefalos, Derby and Prasini, respectively.

There are also some very popular and well maintained sports portal like: www.contra.gr

Very popular are also the betting papers, specializing in the betting football predictions. There are plenty here: www.12x.gr (one of the oldest) and KingBet (http://www.kingbet.gr/).

I hope that you found the post interesting and you might choose some news papers while you are enjoying your holidays in a house in Syros or in a villa in Santorini or in a house in Mykonos.

If you are looking for Properties in Greece or a house for sale in Mykonos, a house for sale in Lefkada or a house for sale in Skiathos, please take a look at the Greek Properties.

Ciao for now!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Bookstores in Athens

Athens is a real book center!

Greeks according to latest researches might not read much, but the number of book titles published by Greek publishing companies has significantly increased. Of course the majority of the book titles in Greece are in Greek Langauge and many translations of foreign editions are published as well.

As I said, many Greeks do not really love reading, but for those buying books are strongly dedicated to different sort of books.

This post though is not about whether Greeks are reading or not. Is about the numerous book stores at the center of Athens. We could say that some streets of Athens host only book stores.

I will start with the Ikaros publications located at the heart of Athens near to the Old Parliament and near to Ermou Street. Ikaros has published the majority of the books of the two Nobel prizewinners George Seferis and Odysseus Elytis. Ikaros has dedicated friends and if you ever visit Athens, I am strongly advicing you to visit that small but so significant book store. Note that at Ikaros signficant Greek Poets were meeting regurarly for exchanging thoughts and reading poems. Ikaros website is: Ikaros

A second bookstore that I am strongly recommending you to visit, is the bookstore of the Estia Publications. Estia publications and its bookstore is one of the oldest ones in Athens and their library has a significant collection of Greek books by famous Greek Authors like Kazantzaki, Tsirka and many more. Estia book store is located at Solonos near to the Law School of Athens.

For those of you looking for English Titles you might interested in Papasotiriou and Eleutheroudakis bookstores. Eleutheroudakis main bookstore is located towards the Panepistimiou Street and their website is: http://www.books.gr/. Papasotiriou on the other hand offers many technical book titles and their website is: http://www.papasotiriou.gr/. I am recommending you to visit their Patision and Stournari branch and you to have a look at their Greek or Modern Architecture section.

Off course, for those of you looking for a completely different book market you should visit Monastiraki where many second hand old books can be found. If you like visiting free markets, then Monastiraki is a place you should not miss!

Another street with many bookstores is Zoodoxou Pigis. Near to Akadimias.

I am promising you to post again about the Greek Book market. If you want any more information or help please drop me a line as a comment and we will keep in touch.

And if you are looking a for house in Greece, please have a look here: Properties in Greece where recently a magnificent house in Galaxidi has been posted: house for sale in Galaxidi

All the best!
 
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