Dora's Greece

09/04/2024

Totally agree with Forbes. I love ! One of the on next year’s itinerary!

Hermoupolis named as Europe's most hospitable city by world renowned FORBES magazine !😍🏅Proud to be part of this beautiful location and looking forward to hosting you 🙌

09/03/2024

Athens,
Temperature: 18°C high; 12°C low
Season: autumn

makes a brilliant and warm weekend city break or a week long getaway, where the new youth culture is breathing life into this historical city and hip young start-ups are booming in the face of austerity. Performances spaces, art galleries and quirky bars have sprung up in once-gritty neighbourhoods, and high-end shops have been reborn as restaurants. Go in November, when it's cool enough to wander around the and the and still have a crisp blue-sky backdrop to your Instagram shots. The fact that you'll also skip the crowds is the cherry on top.

So who wants to come with me in November?

09/02/2024

🍂✨ Kalo Mina. Welcome, September! 🌟

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08/31/2024

I have seen this! Come with me and you will too!

The Queen's Bath and its reconstruction in the Palace of Knossos, which belongs to the Minoan civilization. 16th century BC. Crete, Greece. The Minoan civilization, which emerged in 3,500 BC, lived its brightest periods between 2700-1450 BC. Later, it lost its former power and Mycenaean culture began to spread on the island. The name Minos was coined by British archaeologists excavating in Crete.

According to Ancient Greek Mythology, Minos is the son of Zeus and Europa, who gave the European continent its name, and is the legendary king of the island of

08/31/2024

Athens Acropolis, temple hill, 1869

08/31/2024

Next year!

10,000 Followers, 194 Following, 3,785 Posts

08/31/2024

Church of Agios Dimitrios Lumbardaris

would takes us to this church on our walking tours through , never understanding the significance of the area, until now!

The church, a vaulted, single-aisled basilica with a cylindrical roof covered with stone slabs, was rebuilt in the 12th century on the site of an earlier 9th-century church. Today it is a chapel of the Clergy Insurance Fund (T.A.K.E.).

Over the years, it underwent various changes, most recently the addition of the narthex and the decorations of the external masonry, with depictions of Byzantine and archaic character made by Dimitris Pikionis, in 1955. Inside the church, some remarkable Byzantine frescoes of 1735 are preserved, which were revealed under newer ones, but unfortunately they are not in the best condition.

According to the legend, the epithet " Lumbardiaris ", which means "gunner", is related to the large cannon (the Lumbarda) that the Guardsman of the , Yussuf Agas, had installed with other smaller ones in the of the Acropolis, intending to fire cannons from there at the temple and to kill all those gathered for the celebration of Ag. Dimitriou faithful (26.10.1656). But, shortly before the firing, a storm broke out and a bolt of lightning destroyed the gunpowder store, the cannons, but also the Propylaia, killing Yusuf himself and his family at the same time.

08/30/2024

Oh oh

Tourists travelling to EU countries this year may face issues and delays at airports regarding their hand luggage, experts have warned

08/30/2024

I have seen Macbeth here, attended a concert, and so much more. Making your way to the , you walk by this impressive place and you get this view from up there! Have you experienced the ?

The Roman Odeon of Herodes Atticus, built in 161 AD. With a capacity of 5000 spectators, the ancient theater has survived almost in its original form, despite its impressive age. Athens, .

08/29/2024

Last night, Alex and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary, reminiscing about our wedding in so long ago (but still feeling like yesterday), in the hottest day of the year (it was 48C at 9pm at the time of the ceremony and 41C at 1am when the dancing started)! I was telling him about off-season articles I was reading. He said, "So why don't you offer trips in January, February and March?" And I thought to myself, if people are willing to go to Italy in low season, maybe there are those who want to visit as well!

I have looked at flights from Toronto to Athens and there are no direct non-stop flights (logical but hopefully our airlines will realise that there is a demand for this jewel in the year-round). However, two of the best airlines, and , offer very reasonable prices from January 12 up until March 2 ($838 with carry on), and then again March 10 and 11th, and to the end of the month with some dates being higher. April has excellent flight prices as well until the 20th. After that prices go over $1000. What I also love is the chance to extend the layover by 10-13 hours and enjoy either Paris or Amsterdam!

Islands like get visitors all year round as does , , , , , and . Many of the foreigners who live on these islands in the winter will insist that it is the winter months that they like the best. The island of , which is not dependant upon tourism, has a rich atmosphere in the winter since the town of is the capital of the and people come there to do business. Islands with large cities like Rhodes, , and Crete are like cities anywhere. They don't close for the winter. Life just changes. People spend more time indoors, but the restaurants and cafes, bars and clubs are still open and on warm sunny days people still sit outside to eat and drink, at least in the day. The same goes for and .

If you are interested in seeing what Greeks are really like, without the heat and hustle-n-bustle of tourists bumping into you with every step you take during peak season, then these are the months for YOU!

WHO WANTS TO GO?!

08/27/2024

08/25/2024

UPDATE: I have priced it out for 9 nights - $4825 + flight!!! Includes 4/5 star hotels with breakfast, transportation, excursions, ferry, domestic flights, cooking class and/or olive oil pairing menu with wine tastings, Akrotiri, Knossos and the museum with a guide, tour guide and entrance fees to the Acropoli and her Museum, and of course a walking tour of Athens with Gina!

Someone asked me “Why don’t you have tours in November?” And I thought to myself “Why DON’T I?!” The weather is in the mid 20’s, less tourists, and better prices!

I like direct nonstop flights and right now Air Canada has until the end of November. So let’s have a tour from Saturday November 9 to Tuesday November 19th, with an option of staying until Monday November 25th ( last day Air Canada has nonstop flights).

2 nights , 4 nights / , 3 nights . Extended itinerary includes and mainland , working our way down from , with stops at the Museum of the Royal Tombs of Aegae, with her stunning , and .

Price is based on how many join me - a minimum of 3 plus me.

Who wants to come?

08/24/2024

📌✒️Sir Alec Constantine Issigonis (1906-1988) was the man who designed the famous Mini car. Issigonis was born in Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey). His father was a marine engineer of Greek origin. Her mother was of Bavarian origin.😜😜😜
His grandfather Dimosthenis Issigonis emigrated to Smyrna from Paros in the 1830s and gained British citizenship through the work he did for the Smyrna-Aydin railway built by the British.
Since holding a British passport, the Issigonis family were evacuated from Smyrna just before the Great Fire in September 1922 with other British subjects. The family were evacuated to Malta but his father died shortly after. The following year Issigonis and his mother arrived in Brittany.
Issigonis has worked as an engineer and designer for a number of automobile companies in Great Britain. He was also successful in racing cars in the 1930s and 40s. Working at Morris in the 1940s, Issigonis designed the Morris Minor, a small economic vehicle that was manufactured from 1948-1971.😍🤩
In 1956, while working for the British Motor Company, Issigonis was asked to put into production a small fuel-efficient vehicle due to the Suez oil crisis that had caused fuel shortages at the time In 1959, the car was launched as a What a mini minor. It later became simply known as the Mini. Variants of the car were also manufactured and included the Austin Seven, Austin Mini, Mini Moke and others.
The car remains in production today in a fundamentally unchanged shape. In 1999, the car was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century. Issigonis was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1969.
Photos :
Top: Issigonis standing next to a 1959 Morris Mini Minor.
Bottom left: 1963 Morris Minor.
Bottom right: 2020 Mini One (BMW)

08/22/2024

This is why I take my groups to the just before sunset!

Gorgeous Athens
(Quote from Malina Zorzos)

08/21/2024

My group’s hotel was the top left in the square. Electra Palace Thessaloniki is elegant, great location, excellent staff, great views, and amazing breakfast! My choice for my groups!

Aristotelous square, Thessaloniki

08/19/2024

“This is Sparta!”

📍19 August 480 BC: at Thermopylae the Spartans and a thousand other , in particular Thespians and Thebans, led by King Leonidas, held off Xerxes' army for three days, while at Artemisio the fleet resisted the enemy. The Spartans were asked by the Persians to surrender and to hand over their weapons in exchange for their lives. Leonidas would then have replied, laconically: "MOLON LABE!" ("Come and get them!").
The following day the Great King also sent the 10,000 immortals against them, who broke against the -Spartan wall.
Only the betrayal of the shepherd Efialte and the circumvention of the mountain passes decreed the defeat of the (the Phocians that Leonidas had placed in defense of the path ran away from the Persians' sight). It also seems that when the Persians, annoyed, sent an ambassador to ask for surrender, the Lacedaemonians refused. It was then that the Easterners threatened to bury the under arrows, so many as to obscure the sun and that the Spartans replied: "then we will fight in the shadows".

08/18/2024

This Is Why You Bloat on Planes

It’s not just in your head — plane bloat is real. The combination of cabin pressure, lack of oxygen, and turbulence can disrupt your digestive system, making people feel bloated when flying. Here are some reasons you might develop a “jet belly” and how to prevent it.

Why You Bloat
Though commercial airliners cruise about eight miles/13km above sea level, the cabins are pressurized to simulate the air pressure at 8,000 feet. The shifts in pressure cause the air trapped in the cavities in your body to expand and contract. This expanded air can make your ears pop, and your belly feel uncomfortably full.

Air also feels thinner at high altitudes because lower atmospheric pressure decreases the amount of oxygen available to our lungs. This reduced level, known as hypoxia, slows down digestive enzymes, stalling our stomach’s ability to move food through the gastrointestinal tract. Slow digestion means more bloating.

How to Avoid Bloating
Salty, heavy foods will sit in your stomach and may increase discomfort while you’re in the air. Don’t eat at least 30 minutes before boarding, and choose to snack on small portions of non-fatty, non-salty, non-fibre-rich foods while in the air. Lean protein, yogurt, nuts, and berries are all good choices.

Staying hydrated is also crucial. Drink plenty of water and avoid caffeinated beverages, alcohol, and carbonated beverages. Herbal teas like peppermint, ginger, and chamomile aid digestion and reduce bloating. Keeping Gas-X or over-the-counter simethicone on hand can also help break up the gas bubbles that cause that bloated feeling. Also, make sure to get up and move around while in the air to help encourage the digestive system.

08/18/2024

See you in October!

Send a message to learn more

08/17/2024

The August Full Moon is revered in Greece! Songs have been sung, poems have been written, festivals have been created. If you are in Greece, you are in for a magical treat!

From August 9 to 25, over 100 cultural venues in Greece will welcome the public to celebrate the full moon with many of them offering free admission.

08/17/2024

Corinth Canal in Greece 🇬🇷

08/16/2024

I can't wait to see it again this October!

📍🏦 The incredible eyes of Chariotis of Delphi, also known as Eniochos that magnets. Perhaps, no other statue gives this unique feeling.
It is one of the most important sculptures of ancient Greek art of the First Classical Era. Its creation is set immediately after the Persian wars, while Pythagoras by Regio has been proposed as its creator.
Classical period, 478-474 BC Χ.
Location: Delphi, north of the Temple of Apollo
Archaeological Museum of Delphi

08/16/2024

Every summer, the same story. The forest is slowly disappearing, the pines that marked our childhood have been "proclaimed" as flammable, the heat is becoming more and more unbearable.

I remember sitting on our veranda in Athousa, eating watermelon. Alex and our dog Shadow playing. Suddenly commotion. The adults of the neighbourhood went out into the street, and began to talk among themselves anxiously. Everyone congregated to the plateia in front of our church. Fire. The first one for Alex and I. We didn't know what that meant. We went back to our house, my pappou Manolis and yiayia Thodora's house that they built stone by stone after the war, and started to do what we were told. Alex took all three water hoses and turned them on, one in our veranda, one in our backyard on the third level, and one on our terraza (flat roof). We heard the sirens, we saw the crimson fire engines. The scariest sound you will hear is the popping of pinecones, exploding in all directions and causing micro fires that become huge, disastrous flames.

Suddenly, a blue and white patrol car passed our street with a megaphone yelling "Evacuate the houses immediately , evacuate now..." Panic. I will never forget the huge flames leaping over the trees behind our home.

At this point in our lives, Alex and I had never been as scared as we were at that moment. We stuffed our clothes in garbage bags, threw in the car my dowry of hand-knit blankets from my yiayia, grabbed my photo albums, put Shadow in our car, and started heading down the only paved road out of Anthousa. We were one of the first down the hill - we didn't care about 'stuff' because we had insured our home, a Canadian mentality - and wondered why people were taking so long to leave! I found out later that they didn't have house insurance and were trying to save what they could - tvs, electronics, dishes, you name it! Whatever they could fit in and on their cars.

Thankfully, Anthousa's houses were saved. "At the last moment, the wind changed," said the men of the village when they gathered once again at the plateia.

The fire that ravaged the area again this week is finally out-until next time (photos: this week's fires)

08/16/2024

I walked through the underground tomb last October that was discovered in Veria and got to see the amazing treasures found, including this! Come with me next year and see it for yourself!

🔷The Golden Larnax contains the remains from the burial of King Philip of Macedon and the royal golden wreath. The larnax was placed in the marble sarcophagus. It was made of 24-carat gold and weighing 11 kg. Inside the golden larnax were Philip’s bones and a golden wreath of 313 oak leaves and 68 acorns, weighing 725 grams. Formerly it was exhibited in Thessaloniki’s Archaeological Museum, Since 1997 it is located at the original site of discovery in Vergina !!

08/15/2024

It is still safe to travel to Greece, but constantly keep checking as wildfires are unpredictable.

Although many of the fires have been put out, there are concerns that more could start - and much of southern Europe is on high alert for wildfires too.

08/15/2024

This is my husband Alex’s favourite place! Come with us next year and let’s make it yours too!

08/15/2024

The of ‘sinks’ with all the people that come on a pilgrimage to visit the Church of the Virgin Mary today! Χρόνια Πολλά !!

08/15/2024

15 August - Assumption Day - Dekapentavgoustos
Happy Name Day to all who celebrate today ❤

15 August, Assumption Day, Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Greek: “Dekapentavgoustos” and “Koimmisis Tis Theotokou”, is the third most important religious celebration in Greece, after Easter and Christmas and commemorates the death of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Mary spent her final days living peacefully in Ephesus (Modern day Turkey), tended to by the apostles, who accompanied her on frequent trips to Jerusalem.

After her death, Mary was laid to rest near the Garden of Gethsemane, Apostle Thomas, who was away travelling in India at the time of her death, immediately returned to Jerusalem to pay his respects.

On entering Mary’s tomb, Thomas discovered her body had disappeared and her tomb was now filled with sweet-smelling roses and lilies.

Looking upwards, Thomas had a vision of Mary ascending to heaven, at that moment Mary untied her sash, which fell at the feet of Thomas.

The apostles assumed that God had retrieved the body of Mary and reunited it with her soul in heaven, from this derives the name Assumption Day.

Mary is one of the most popular Name Days as Mary; (Maria) is the most common female name in Greece. Despina, Thespina, Marios, Panayiota, and Panayiotis (Peter) are also celebrated.

Most towns and villages of Greece, have their own fifteenth of August traditions, invariably involving huge communal feasts, accompanied by traditional dancing, fueled by gallons of local wine.

To learn about them, click on the link below; below:

https://greekerthanthegreeks.com/15-august-assumption-day/

Image:

The Assumption of the Virgin by Spanish artist Juan Martín Cabezalero , from around 1665. Prado Museum, Madrid