20 Santa Clauses descend a gorgeous canyon in Crete (Photos)

They wanted to welcome the festive season in their own special way.

 

Twenty fans of canyoning descended a beautiful canyon in Crete, as part of an original event that was organized by the Cretan Canyoning Association.
The annual Christmas descent of the association took place in the canyon of Eligas, which is located at Emparos.
20 members of CCA, including men and women, dressed as Santa Clauses and descended the canyon in order to welcome the festive season in their own special way.

The Cretan Canyoning Association started operations ten years ago, with the purpose of mainly educating young people according to the standards of French and Italian canyoning schools.
It also aims to the preservation and repair of secure locks, the exploration, the security and the mapping of new canyons in Crete and in Greece in general.
 (Source:protothema)

German tourists prefer Greece

A 18.6% increase in traffic compared to 2013

The upcoming summer tourist season is on its way and everything shows that it will be successful, based on German statistics evaluating the 2015 summer season.

This year’s winner in the choice of destinations of Germans is Greece. “No other country experienced higher growth in 2014”, said DRV’s director, the biggest German tour operator and travel agencies operation. Based on the German statistical office, 2,060,000 tourists flew from Germany to Greece between April and October 2014. This is an increase of 18.6% compared to 2013 (1,860,000).
(Source:protothema)

Forbes: Britain must return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece

Making specific reference to the recent loan of a Parthenon statue to Hermitage Museum in Russia, she notes that this gesture was a stinging insult to Greece.

 

In an article published by Forbes magazine, Leila Amineddoleh, partner at Galluzzo & Amineddoleh and executive director of Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, explains why she believes that the British Museum must return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
Characterizing the Parthenon as one of the most recognized symbols of Western Civilization and the highest architectural achievement of the Ancient Greeks, Ms. Amineddoleh underlines that, for Greece, these amazing sculptures are “a symbol of their culture, heritage and past.”
“In the same vein, art historians and archaeologists argue that the sculptures are integral to the ancient temple structures still standing in Athens,” notes the successful lawyer specializing in art, cultural heritage and intellectual property law.
Making specific reference to the recent loan of a Parthenon statue to Hermitage Museum in Russia, she notes that this gesture was a “stinging insult” to Greece, who has been requesting the marbles return for many years now.
The author believes that it is “disheartening to view the marbles in London after learning that their removal damaged one of mankind’s crowning achievements” and states that the only moral solution would be to return them.
(Source:protothema)

Photo of the Day..

December in Plakias, Crete!!

http://www.plakiassuites.com/

New Greek Christmas stamps!

New stamps by Hellenic Post (ELTA) to celebrate the festive season.
 A festive season of stamps have been issued by Hellenic Post. The series, titled “Children’s Christmas” circulate in 10 items. The QRC-styled stamps can be read by smartphones and are of the latest technology. The Greek Typaldou children’s choir is featured in the series.
(Source:protothema)

Amphipolis, Greece: One of the top 10 Discoveries of 2014. (A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America)

Ever since the discovery of the largest known Greek tomb was announced in August, archaeology buffs around the world have been eagerly awaiting each successive bit of news from the site. The Amphipolis tomb, which dates to the time of Alexander the Great, is a prime example of how archaeology can captivate the public imagination and easily earned a spot on our list of the Top 10 Discoveries of 2014.

Equally impressive was the discovery, after decades upon decades of searching, of a ship that sank in Arctic waters in present-day Canada almost 170 years ago while looking for the Northwest Passage. That find was deemed so momentous that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper took it upon himself to make the official announcement.

Archaeologists were also hard at work in the lab squeezing as much insight as possible out of limited evidence. Analysis of 6,000-year-old funerary wrappings established that ancient Egyptians practiced artificial mummification much earlier than had been thought. Genetic material from a skeleton found in an underwater cave in Mexico helped shed light on the relationship between the first people to arrive in the Americas and modern Native Americans. And a clever approach to interpreting the genome of Neanderthals revealed factors beyond the raw genetic code that explain how they differed from modern humans.

This year’s finds span the globe and tens of thousands of years, but are united in demonstrating archaeology’s ability to uncover hidden truths. What better example than the revelation via remote-sensing technologies that Stonehenge is surrounded by thousands of yet-to-be-interpreted Neolithic archaeological features? The discoveries on our top 10 list stand as a reminder that there is always more to learn about our past.
Greece's Biggest Tomb 
(Source: http://www.archaeology.org/)

Low cost airline Niki launches new flight to Athens

The new connection to Athens will operate daily (except on Saturday) with an Airbus A320

Austrian budget airline Niki, a subsidiary of Air Berlin, has announced that it is extending its service to Greece: Athens will be included in the flight plan for the summer of 2015, with flights to the Greek capital every day except Saturday.
With the inclusion of Athens in April 2015, a new Niki destination will thus be added for the mainland of the southern European country, supplementing popular Greek holiday islands in the Mediterranean, such as Crete, Rhodes, Santorini and Mykonos.
The new connection to Athens will operate daily (except on Saturday) with an Airbus A320 and provide additional flexibility and the best connecting flights for holiday and business travelers to Greece.
According to the airline’s announcement, Niki (HG8640) will take off from Vienna at 11:30 and land in the Greek capital at 13:35. The return flight (HG8641) will leave Athens at 14:25 and land in Vienna at 16:45.
“Greece has become the strongest growth market for NIKI over the past few years,” says Niki’s Managing Director Christian Lesjak. “The recently decided-upon fleet conversion and our position as market leader will enable us to offer more flights from Vienna to Greece in the future.”
(Source: protothema)