Latest news with #Athens-based
National Geographic
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- National Geographic
A Greek revival is underway along the Athenian Riviera
In its late 1960's heyday, there was arguably nowhere on Earth as discreetly glamorous as the Athenian Riviera. A nearly 40-mile stretch of sun-kissed coastline stretching from the port of Piraeus to the southernmost point of Attica at Cape Sounion, the Athenian Riviera has been a popular destination for decades. Celebrities, socialites, and locals seeking a mix of serenity and solitude would come to unwind, basking in the crystalline waters and palm-fringed beaches. Stories of a bikini-clad Brigitte Bardot seen dancing barefoot on a local beach in Glyfada, and the late-night serenades of Frank Sinatra from the terrace of his Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel bungalow only added to the coastline's illustrious appeal. As the region's star power continued to rise throughout the 1970s and 80s, the area eventually earned the nickname the 'Côte d'Azur of Greece.' The Temple of Poseidon sits at the southernmost tip of the Athenian Riviera, and was built to honor the god of the sea. Photograph by Stefano Politi Markovina, Alamy The Athenian Riviera has been drawing luxury-minded travelers for decades. Photograph by Ioannis Mantas, Alamy 'It's long been a destination where authenticity meets sophistication,' says Chrysanthos Panas, an Athens-based author and co-owner of Island Club & Restaurant. 'It's this effortless blend of ancient history and contemporary Mediterranean lifestyle; you can start your day exploring the Acropolis and by afternoon, be swimming in crystal-clear waters or enjoying lunch by the sea.' Development across the region started to slow in the late 1990s and 2000s, and as travelers skipped Athens altogether in favor of neighboring islands like Santorini and Mykonos, the region lost its sheen. However, the Athenian Riviera has had a revival in recent years. 'Over the years, I've witnessed a truly remarkable transformation,' says Panas. 'Today, the Athens Riviera is a vibrant ecosystem—home to fine dining, five-star hotels, exclusive clubs, and thoughtfully curated cultural experience... But beyond the infrastructure, what truly matters is preserving the soul of the place: The light, the sea, and the timeless warmth of Greek hospitality.' (10 historic Greek wonders away from the islands) What to see and do Lake Vouliagmeni's mineral-rich waters are warmed by underground thermal springs. Photograph by Christos the Greek, Alamy The Temple of Poseidon: Dating back to the fifth century B.C.E., the Temple of Poseidon sits at the southernmost tip of the Athenian Riviera. Built to honor the god of the sea, a visit to the temple ruins is well worth the 45-minute scenic drive along the winding coastal road to get there. Lake Vouliagmeni: Open year-round, this gorgeous lake—its mineral-rich waters are warmed by underground thermal springs—is encircled by towering limestone cliffs. The lake requires a ticket to enter, so make sure you book your spot in advance if you can, otherwise plan on arriving early, especially in the summer. Seats in the main area are first come, first served, and there are also cabanas, and a restaurant and bar. Astir Beach: Astir Beach is known for its crystal clear water and high-end amenities. There are plenty of striped chairs and cozy cabanas available for a fee. There's also a high-end marina with multi-million-dollar yachts. Vouliagmeni Beach: One of the region's most popular local beaches, Vouliagmeni Beach is where the locals and in-the-know visitors go. Lounge chairs and straw-covered beach chairs line the beachfront, and there are plenty of beach bars and local eateries to grab a light bite, as well. Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center: A cultural and architectural treasure, Renzo Piano's Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center is a mecca of environmental and sustainable stewardship. You can spend a day roaming the beautiful grounds, attend a show, and explore the top-floor lighthouse that boasts some of the best views in town. Island exploration: The Saronic Gulf islands are an easy day trip by ferry from Athens. The most cost-effective way to get there is via a fast ferry from Piraeus where you can pop over to nearby Aegina or the charming island of Poros for lunch and still make it back to Athens in time for dinner. You can also opt to take a day cruise, which makes stops at three local islands and includes lunch. Ferry schedules tend to change daily depending on the weather and the season, so be sure to check the ferry schedule and plan accordingly. Where to eat and drink Taverna 37: There's nothing more romantic than dining seaside by candlelight, which is exactly what you'll find at Taverna 37. This charming restaurant serves some of the best mezze's and locally sourced seafood in town. Barbarossa: One of the buzziest restaurants to see and be seen on the Athenian Riviera right now, Barbarossa has a Mediterranean menu that shines a spotlight on seafood. The lobster and crab linguini and the banoffee pie are not to be missed. Island Club & Restaurant: Beloved by celebrities, socialites, and influencers, Island Club & Restaurant has been the go-to dinner and party spot for more than 30 years. And it hasn't lost its touch. Weekends are a great time to dance to world-known DJ's or enjoy dinner overlooking the craggy coastline. Makris Athens: Michelin-starred Makris Athens is housed in a historical building at the foot of the Parthenon, and is one meal you don't want to miss in Athens. With ingredients sourced from chef Petros Dimas' farm in Corinth, the menu draws heavily on traditional Greek dishes served with an elevated twist inspired by the region. Be sure to book a table on the outside patio for incredible views overlooking the ancient Acropolis. Zaxos Grill: You can't go to Greece and not eat your body weight in spanakopita and souvlaki, and in the heart of Vouliagmeni, Zaxos Grill is open for lunch and dinner and is a requisite spot to do just that. It's no frills, and no reservations, but the portions are generous, the fries are perfectly salted, and the vibes are as laid back and authentic as it gets. Papaioannou Restaurant: As fine dining seafood restaurants go, you can't do much better than Papaioannou Restaurant. Pairing some of the Riviera's best views with local seafood and a curated wine list prominently featuring crisp Greek wines, book your reservation at sunset for a memorable meal you won't soon forget. (How to spend the perfect day in Athens, from historic walks to modern art) Where to shop Ioannou Metaxa Street: The main thoroughfare in the leafy residential neighborhood of Glyfada, Ioannou Metaxa Street is lined with Greek designer boutiques and international brands, charming cafes, and restaurants. Don't be afraid to veer off and explore the side streets where plenty of hidden gems abound. The Naxos Apothecary: A short stroll from Syntagma Square in Athens, The Naxos Apothecary is an experiential boutique and a great place to pick up locally made homeopathic bath and body products and fragrances. The products have made their way into local hotels, including 91 Athens Riviera, but it's worth a visit to the beautifully curated, multi-level store. Where to stay Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens: Nestled along a pine-covered peninsula overlooking the glittering Aegean Sea, Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens has served as the crown jewel of the Athenian Riviera ever since it first opened at the Astir Palace in 1961. Highlights among the eight restaurants and bars include Italian trattoria-style restaurant at Mercato, Michelin-starred Pelagos, and traditional Greek seafood and mezzes at Taverna 37. 91 Athens Riviera: If you're seeking luxury meets summer camp, 91 Athens Riviera opened 28 luxury tents called 'luxents' in 2024. The hotel's on-site restaurant, Barbarossa, is extremely popular, as well. Michelle Gross is a Beaufort, SC-based travel journalist and photographer covering the cross-section of sustainable and ethical travel. Passionate about telling stories about interesting people and places around the world, follow her adventures on Instagram.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Inside a Luxe New Resort and Spa That Just Opened on the Greek Island of Crete
A luxe new resort just splashed down in the Aegean Sea—and it has nature on the mind. JW Marriott, the luxury arm of Marriot Bonvoy's hospitality empire, has just opened its first property in Greece. The new (and aptly named) JW Marriott Crete Resort & Spa is focused on allowing its guests to connect with its stunning Mediterranean environs—and it's fairly easy to do just that, since the property sits on over 100 acres of coastline with ever-present views of the sea. More from Robb Report $12.4 Million Home Perched Above the Ocean Hits the Market in Martha's Vineyard This $7 Million L.A. Home by Famed Architect Paul R. Williams Comes With a Speakeasy Russell's Reserve Has Brought Back Its Fan-Favorite 13-Year-Old Bourbon-and It's the Strongest One Yet Athens-based design studio Block 722 tapped into that environment to bring the new resort, which is perched in Marathi (near the charming, popular town of Chania), to life. The team paired modern design elements with more nature-focused touches, such as planted roofs, olive and carob tree groves, and an abundance of wood and marble, allowing you to blend right in with your surroundings. Those same contemporary ideals and earthy hues of terra-cotta and stone extend into JW Marriott Crete Resort & Spa's 160 rooms, suites, and villas—many of which come equipped with their own private pools and terraces for your own private relaxation. Each accommodation has vast windows that show off that ocean view, along with handcrafted ceramic decor that pays homage to traditional Crete stylings. The best place to take in those Aegean sights, though, may be from the pools. You get to lounge around four here, one of which is adults-only with a slew of plush lounge chairs nearby. The main pool, meanwhile, is complete with a sunken seating spot and more touches of greenery. Elsewhere, you can head to the fitness center or the yoga deck for a bit of exercise. Or, for a little more pampering, visit the Anoseas Spa; here, you'll get treatments centered around traditional Creten practices imbued with modern flair, including hydrotherapy. And when it's time to grab a bite, you'll have plenty of eateries to choose from. The JW Marriott Crete Resort & Spa is home to six, each with their own take on the local cuisine. Chef Manolis Papoutsakis mans the kitchen of Anoee, a Cretan open-fire restaurant, while Õnalos offers up a sea-to-table menu. If you have a craving for Italian, Cuccagna can deliver on that front, and Mediterranean dishes can be enjoyed at Fayi. Last but not least, Suncti by the Pool and Eēxis offer up light bites and cocktails for a more casual experience. Speaking of spirits, the hotel has collaborated with Line Athens (the No. 6 bar in the world in 2024) on a mixology program. And here, too, everything links back to nature: Cocktail herbs and botanicals and ingredients found across all the restaurants are plucked directly from the property's garden. 'This extraordinary property captures the essence of the JW Marriott brand, pairing warm, intuitive service with serene, thoughtfully designed spaces that invite guests to be present and truly connect,' Bruce Rohr, JW Marriott's vice president and global brand leader, said in a press statement. 'Crete's timeless beauty and heritage make it an inspiring setting for the brand's first property in the country, and we look forward to welcoming guests to experience our signature approach to hospitality and well-being on this iconic island.' JW Marriott Crete Resort & Spa also offers activities for kids, thanks to its Phestos Den Play area. Plus there's plenty of fun to be found outside the resort; the property can whisk you away on journeys at sea or cultural experiences across Crete. . Best of Robb Report The Ultimate Miami Spa Guide: 15 Luxurious Places to Treat Yourself The 7 Most Insanely Luxurious Spas in the World, From Tokyo to Iceland 17 Reasons the Caribbean Should Be at the Top of Your Travel Itinerary Click here to read the full article.
Hindustan Times
07-06-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Gangs, exploding fingers, black markets: Check out the wild afterlife of trash
It is strange, and sinister, how garbage travels. An empty packet of chips from the US, a diaper discarded in Germany and a plastic bottle from the Netherlands have all ended up with rice farmers-turned-trash miners in Indonesia. Primeval forests are being razed in parts of that country to make space for 'trash towns'. Since 1992, this chain of islands has been 'processing' thousands of tonnes of plastic waste a year, with the mounds turning fields barren and grey. In just one example, in the village of Gedangrowo in East Java, all 150 families have switched to drying the plastic shipped in from the Global North, and selling it to tofu and cracker factories for fuel. Elsewhere, 40 tribes living in Agbogbloshie — now classified as a garbage dump in Accra, the capital of Ghana — hammer out old ceiling fans and pry open motorcycle motors, refrigerators and computers to get at the metals and minerals within. Agbogbloshie is known as one of the largest e-waste 'processing' centres in the world. But all they really do is break the e-waste apart and scavenge from it what they can. There are no safety standards. There is no regulation. Some of those who scavenge here, for instance, spend all day burning plastic wiring to get at the metal within, which they then exchange at nearby units for cash. India, meanwhile, takes in millions of tyres, to burn in pyrolysis plants to extract either a dirty industrial fuel or steel. These plants, often unlicensed and unregulated, emit clouds of carbon dust that hang over cities ranging from Indore in Madhya Pradesh to Palghar in Greater Mumbai. Pyrolysis releases toxic heavy metals such as benzene and dioxins into the air, and into local water bodies. In Malaysia, similar sediments in water bodies have led to mass hospitalisations. And on and on it goes… Trash Talk How did garbage become the stuff of a globalised black market? Athens-based journalist Alexander Clapp, winner of the Pulitzer Center Breakthrough Journalism Award, began researching this question five years ago. His findings make up his first book, Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash (February 2025). The idea for it took root in the wake of China's ban on plastic, in 2017, he says. 'I began seeing all these stories pop up about containers of trash getting sent to countries that weren't expecting it, or didn't want it. In Romania in 2020, I stumbled upon all this plastic waste and started realising one could tie all these different geographic threads — Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe — into a single story about where the West's trash ends up, and why.' He spent the next two years travelling across five continents, talking to port workers, scavengers, recyclers, activists, environment ministers. 'What countries have the luxury of exporting trash? Which ones are desperate and must accept trash?' he says. Examine this and it is clear 'that the waste trade has become a barometer of global standing. Much as one could write a book about the 16th century told through the spice trade, our present world can be understood through the globe-spanning movement of waste.' Organised grime In his book, he writes of how, 'for hundreds of years, European empires enriched themselves by taking what they needed from the Southern Hemisphere.' As hypercapitalism spawned mountains of waste, he adds, 'In the 1980s, the so-called Global South became not just a place to take from — but also a place to put things… Poor countries no longer just propped up your living standard; they also cleaned up your environment.' As oil prices shot up in the '70s, raised by Arab countries to protest the West's support for Israel in the midst of an ongoing conflict, debt mounted to critical levels in the impoverished former colonies of the Global South, and currencies weakened. When garbage from the North was positioned as an opportunity, many of these countries signed on, not out of desire but desperation, Clapp says. Former colonies were given millions in down-payments, and decades of debt relief, particularly if they accepted radioactive and industrial waste. Soon, plastic and e-waste were added to their heaps. 'Investment' in roads, hospitals and other infrastructure was linked to deals around trash. The result of these agreements: it cost less than $3 to bury a tonne of the West's toxic material in Africa. 'Many supporters of the waste trade argue that countries like the Philippines and Nigeria willingly accept the West's waste, and that's true. They do. But if you examine the history of how and why the waste trade started, it's clear that many such countries have long felt they have no option other than to accept such garbage. It's been either poverty or poison,' Clapp says. 'I think this is precisely how capitalism works: through the exploitation of people and states that have negligible means of fighting back.' To add to the complications, these countries had little to no history of dealing with toxic waste, since they produced little to none of it themselves. This meant they had an incomplete picture of what they were taking on, and an even less-complete idea of what to do with it. There was no real know-how in the field; no real disposal facilities. The result is that toxins leached into land and water; fingers were blown off in makeshift 'processing' units; air was polluted and landfills grew. It is only lately that the ramifications of more than four decades of this trade are being acknowledged and discussed, Clapp points out. Meanwhile, the numbers continue to climb. Electronic waste, the fastest growing category, has grown by 82% between 2010 and 2022, according to the fourth United Nations Global E-waste Monitor report, released in 2024. Volumes are expected to rise further, from 62 million tonnes a year in 2022 to 82 million tonnes, by 2030. Less than 25% of this waste is documented and recycled. The rest is still pouring into places such as Agbogbloshie in Ghana, and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Beltline Road repaving to affect drivers
Jun. 3—Road work will begin Monday on a 5-mile section of Beltline Road between U.S. 31 and Gordon Terry Parkway. The project will likely take several months to complete and will include milling the pavement, resurfacing the road and adding new traffic stripes and pavement markers, according to Alabama Department of Transportation North Region spokesperson Seth Burkett. "It's standard maintenance resurfacing," Burkett said. "This is about ensuring the longevity of the pavement and making for a smoother ride for the traveling public." Burkett said the project should be mostly completed, if not wholly completed, by the end of 2025. Work will occur between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday nights through Friday mornings. "The stuff that really impacts traffic will primarily be done at nighttime, so as to minimize daytime impact," Burkett said. This stretch of Beltline Road can see between 30,000 to 40,000 vehicles per day, according to ALDOT. With most work happening at night, Burkett expects evening and pre-rush hour morning drivers will experience the biggest traffic impact. He recommends travelers wanting real-time updates on lane closures and traffic check or the ALGO Traffic app. Work will be split into two segments. It will begin with the section from U.S. 31 to Danville Road. Then the northern segment from Danville Road to Gordon Terry Parkway will be repaved. "At least one lane in each direction will remain open at all times," Burkett said. "But I would expect at least a single lane closure if they're out there milling or paving at night." The project will cost $3.35 million, according to Burkett. Grayson Carter and Son Contracting Inc., an Athens-based company, will complete the work. This is a standard job for the company according to Steve Turner, the paving and milling manager. He expects traffic to be affected for a minimum of a month. As far as delays to the project's timeline, Turner said the weather could play the biggest role. "Everybody knows lately just how much rain we have had," Turner said. "If that trend continues, then it's definitely going to cause that job to be extended, but we hope that rain is just about over with." Turner encourages the public's cooperation to keep the area safe during the repaving process. "We ask for the public's patience as we're working," Turner said. "We want our people to come home safe, so try to obey all the traffic controls, the signs, and the people that are out there guiding traffic control... . We're definitely not trying to impede your day, so we don't want to get hurt in the process." — or 256-340-2437
India Gazette
29-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
India will no longer differentiate between state and non-state terrorism: DMK MP Kanimozhi
Athens [Greece], May 29 (ANI): DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, leading an all-party delegation to Greece, said India has made it clear that it will no longer distinguish between individual acts of terror and state-sponsored terrorism. While interacting with the Indian diaspora on Wednesday (local time), she added that the government's outreach, which includes opposition MPs, reflects a united stance against cross-border terrorism and a firm resolve to say 'no more' after years of suffering. 'Our Prime Minister and the Government of India have made a decision to reach out to countries. In our delegation, except Capt Brijesh Chowta, all of us are from the opposition parties. Our Prime Minister and the country have clearly stated that we will no longer differentiate between state-sponsored terrorism and terrorist activities of individuals and groups. India has suffered enough, and the time has come to say no more,' Kanimozhi said. Earlier, an all-party delegation led by Kanimozhi interacted with the Athens-based newspaper Kathimerini in Athens on Wednesday (local time) as part of the government's diplomatic outreach to highlight India's stance on terrorism. 'The members of the delegation led by Kanimozhi held a constructive interaction with the editorial board of Kathimerini during which they conveyed India's 'new normal' policy on terrorism. They emphasised India's firm stance against terrorism in all its forms,' posted India in Greece on X. The delegation, led by DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, also includes Rajeev Rai (Samajwadi Party), Mian Altaf Ahmad (Jammu and Kashmir National Conference), Brijesh Chowta (BJP), Prem Chand Gupta (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Ashok Kumar Mittal (Aam Aadmi Party), and Former envoys Manjeev S Puri and Jawed Ashraf. The delegation aims to brief international partners on India's response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and its broader fight against cross-border terrorism while engaging with leaders in Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Latvia, and Russia. The multi-party delegation, consisting of seven groups led by one MP each, has been initiated to counter global misinformation and highlight India's zero-tolerance policy on terrorism. (ANI)
