Spetses Spotlight Vol. 2 by Spetses Marathon

spotlight Spetses

spotlight Spetses AUTUMN 2014  ISSUE 2

Top destination the Argolic Riviera

Emerald seas, charming scenery and discreet luxury. Be seduced, be inspired, be there!

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blues!

New Frontiers

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spotlight Spetses AUTUM N 2 0 1 4 I SSUE 2 EDITOR Marina L. Coutarelli -----------------EDITOR - AT - LARGE Stella Lizardi CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lia Galanou -----------------CONTRIBUTORS Ioanna Alexatou, Andreas Alysandratos, Amanda Dardanis, Alexandra Gardenioti, Rania Georgiadou, Paris Kormaris, Thodoris Koutsogiannopoulos, Isabella Zabetaki FOOD & WINE EDITOR Niki Mitarea

Photo: Giorgos Kaplanidis

Copy Editor Cordelia Madden Kanellopoulou

Νο one can stay immune to the charms of September! It is the most magical month: the sea is still superbly warm and the sweltering August nights have given way to cool breezes which simply beg you to sip another glass of wine while star-gazing. It is also a month of anticipation of things to come - new plans, a new school year, new projects being unveiled. Even as a child, I used to love September (yes really - I was one of these nerdy kids who actually enjoyed going back to school!) and now somehow this enduring love has caught up with me as, for all of Spetses, September signifies the Armata festival, but also more importantly starts the final countdown to the Spetses mini Marathon in October! Through this unique athletic event, we feel that we have contributed even further to the development of the "Emerald Seas" - as Rania Georgiadou, poetically describes the area in her article - or the Greek Riviera, as it is often referred to - and the extension of the tourist season in Spetses all through the autumn months.

MARKET EDITOR Iris Leontariti -----------------CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Alexandros Ioannidis, Nikos Karanikolas, Panagiotis Mavromattis, Costas Picadas, Ioanna Roufopoulou, Lisa Stathatou -----------------ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE Elfi Alexandroglou, Nely Xenaki -----------------Advertising & Media Inquiries Ms Ioanna Kozadinou jkozadinou@clab.gr 210-8015954 -----------------The Spetses Spotlight magazine is published by Communication Lab (www.clab.gr) -----------------All rights reserved

Spetses Spotlight was indeed conceived during last year’s event and I was truly blessed with a formidable team of women some of whom you will meet in this issue - who made it happen! I was deeply touched by the countless emails and letters we received after our inaugural issue and hope you enjoy this one even more! Personally, I have now vowed to visit Aegina (long overdue), eat the perfect green leaves which Sotiris Lyberopoulos lovingly sources, and follow Niki Mitarea’s footsteps on a gastronomic journey of Spetses (the calories will be burned off during the Spetses mini Marathonone hopes!). MARINA L. COUTARELLI

Cover

Photo: Costas Picadas

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LIFE IS A SMILE H A P P Y S P O R T A U T O M AT I C

CHOPARD BOUTIQUES ATHENS: 2 Stadiou Str., tel. 2103250555 · Hotel Intercontinental, tel 2109249823 MYKONOS: Tria Pigadia, tel. 2289026406 boutique.athens@chopardgreece.gr Also available at www.kassis.net PROTIPI SPOTLIGHT.indd 1 155ERI_210x280_Kassis 12.11.13.indd 1

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contributors

Amanda Dardanis September is the month that I reclaim my favourite Athenian Riviera beaches from the adoring masses; Autumn’s magic carpet of wildflowers starts to erupt; and the light is just perfect for those early-morning hikes near our hillside home in Panorama. My most memorable travel experience is a tie-

breaker between falling head over heels at first sight with Santorini (age 21) and The Sound of Music tour in Salzburg where my best friend and I got to prance around the von Trapp gazebo in the rain just like Liesl and Rolf the postboy!

At the moment I

am listening to London Grammar (for those lazy balcony nights) and Editors (after hearing them storm Ejekt Festival in Athens this summer).

Cordelia MaddenKanellopoulou Ioanna Alexatou September is the

perfect month to restart with a new exciting project, redecorate by changing colours and fabrics, restyle with smart accessories, reunite with friends, re-evaluate habits, rediscover the small life pleasures that keep you smiling and going.

My most memorable travel experience would be

Ravello in September, a weekend with desert safari in Dubai (flying with Emirates Α380 on the way back), a New Years eve in Amsterdam dancing like there’s no tomorrow, an afternoon walk with my favourite friend in Chatsworth’s gardens during Sotheby's Beyond Limits exhibition, Miami beach all the waymy last trip without kids waiting back home…

At the moment I

am listening to Cyndi Lauper’s Time after Time, feeling nostalgic.

September is the

Isabella Zabetaki

month that I aim to participate in my first triathlon, having finally started swimming lessons to learn proper front crawl, rather than my usual sedate headabove-water breast stroke.

September is the

My most memorable travel experience: The

My most memorable recent travel experience was a weekend in

road trip from Athens to Oxford with my parents and sister, with two dogs and four cats; a cacophony of distressed meows, laughing with my sister till tears rolled down our cheeks, mouthwatering meals in humble out-of-the-way inns, and a puncture just before Calais in a car that, upon arrival in the UK, was instantly deemed unroadworthy and crushed complete with all remaining debris (CDs, maps, souvenirs) from our journey.

month that got left out of summer for no good reason. It is the ideal time to travel around Greece and enjoy warmer seas, higher level of service and smaller crowds.

Andros where the Location Manager of “Micra Agglia” showed me around to some of the meticulously selected places where the movie was shot.

At the moment I am listening to Tranquila and other obscene latin hits.

At the moment I

am listening to the song of a thousand cicadas reverberating from the surrounding trees around our apartment.

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table of contents

AUTUM N 2014

4 Editorial 16 Aegina a hidden gem perfect for a week-end escape. 18 Cocktail Hour Skippers and Participants of the SCYR 2014 exchanged stories of the sea and naval encounters over exquisite tailor made CHIVAS cocktails! 21 Kyriaki Gerontaki Ceramics revisited by a formidable artist who has recently moved back to her native country. 30 Active Life Sport Clothes take on a new city chic style. 40 Natalia Mela Spetses’ Grand Dame welcomes us into her home. 44 Paul Efmorfidis The multitalented and multi-dimensional personality behind the CocoMat success story! 48 Spetses Mini Marathon 2014 Rising to the challenge of the biggest race yet! 52 Tourism Landscapes Professor Yiannis Aesopos explores the role of tourism in the modernization of Greece, for this years’ participation in the Venice Biennale! 56 Emerald seas With its spectacular seaside and scenery – the Argolic Gulf makes for one of the top destinations in Greece. Get the insider’s view on one of the country’s fastest developing areas. 68 Sotiris LyberopoulousForager par excellence who has traded in the city life for the sirens of nature and the countryside. 72 Who’s counting calories? Indulge in a gastronomic tour of Spetses.

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tes minuality of quy time l fami petses in S

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PEOPLE, PLACES, TRENTS, NEWS...

Start,

Spetses Secrets

Unlocking a treasure chest of heroes and pioneers. Taking a walk from Dapia to Kounoupitsa bay, you can walk in the steps of some of Spetses’ most prominent historic personalities and discover some unexpected facts about their lives. By Isabella Zampetaki

or end, your walk by visiting the house museum of fealess Laskarina Bouboulina, the only female admiral in the 1821 Greek war for Independence. Her house is right in the center of Dapia, next to the colorful playground. On the opposite side of the playground stands the once glorious mansion of Sotirios Anargyros, a visionary who dreamt of turning Spetses into a top vacation destination in the 1900s. Look for the Egyptian Sphinxes in his mansion’s courtyard and try to imagine what he dreamt of building in order to attract the elite of his times to visit Spetses. Walking towards the seafront and turning to the left, you can marvel at his creation, the majestic Poseidonion Grand Hotel, built in 1914. Can you tell

which part of the hotel is an addition to the original building? Continue walking along the seafront and you will come across another hotel also linked to Spetses’ history. Nisia was originally founded by Dimitris Daskalakis as a thread factory, in 1920. A pioneer in his era, Daskalakis also created the island’s first electricity company, as Top: The house of Sophia Altamoura, the first woman painter in Greece. Running along the dock across from the city hall. Bottom: The doorknob to Sophia Altamoura’s house. Anargyrios & Korgialenios School was founded in 1927 with the aspiration to serve as a leadership incubator. The statue of Laskarina Bouboulina in front of the Poseidonion Grand Hotel.

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Clockwise: Once Spetses’ thread factory, now Nisia hotel. Spetses’ city hall has in the past welcomed Nobelprize winning poet Odysseas Elitis. Sotirios Anargyros’ impressive mansion. The entrance to Laskarina Bouboulina’s house museum.

well as one that sold ice to fishermen and homes. Further along, the building that houses the city hall, has in the past welcomed Nobel Prize - winning poet Odysseas Elitis on his summer vacations. What poem would you write gazing at the sea from the city hall’s balcony? Continue walking and you will come across a mansion that used to belong to Sophia Altamoura, Greece’s first woman painter. Altamoura went to art school in Italy disguised as a man, and returned to Spetses where, apart from painting, she also married and raised 7 children. What pebbled mosaic would you design for the entrance to your home? Anargyrios & Korgialenios School at Kounoupitsa bay is the final stop on this walk. This pioneering boarding school was

founded by Sotitirios Anargyros and Marinos Korgialenis in 1927 with the aspiration to serve as a leadership incubator. Facilities included a cinema, an observatory and a printing house. What headline would you choose to describe your family exploration of Spetses? On the way back to Dapia, look for the house where Laskarina Bouboulina was murdered. The admiral who survived a multitude of battles, ended up assassinated in her very own summer home. It all happened when her son fell in love with a girl whose parents did not approve of their romance. The young couple fled to Bouboulina’s home and the girl’s relatives came after them. During a dispute, Bouboulina was shot dead. A story with an unexpected ending… 

Inside Laskarina Bouboulinas’ house!

The excellent guided tours in Bouboulinas’ house are the best way to discover what life was like in Greece in the 1800s. Enter Bouboulinas’ living and dining room, the room with the secret escape exit inside the closet and marvel at the hand-carved wood ceiling built in Florence. Other objects collected from journeys all around the world include furniture and porcelain made in France, Great Britain and China and Bouboulina’s African poison-dipped knife, a gift from the Russian czar. Equally impressive is the admiral’s strongbox, locked with three keys and a secret keyhole. At the gift shop you will find replicas of the Greek Revolution’s flag and a comic book about Bouboulina’s battles.

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Cozy and beautifully designed this concept store combines Greek style with an international flair.

Greek Style With an ambience of a small gallery this beautiful concept store

by Stelios Athiniotakis promotes Greek craftsmanship at its best. It is

considered to be one of the most chic shops in Spetses – if not the regionand a point of reference for the island’s cosmopolitan guests when it comes to special gifts, classy objects and of course outstanding jewelry. Nicely placed in the posh pedestrian street Stavrou Niarchou, this island style concept store with three names, “Benaki Museum- E. Athiniotakis and Mati”, is cozy, friendly and tastefully designed.

By Ioanna Alexatou

Its owner, the renowned Athenian jeweler Stelios Athiniotakis, decided to invest in his beloved island along with his partner Maousi Tsaldari – a woman of unique style and culture, President of Lyceum Club of Greek Women. A passionate supporter of the so popular athletic events such as Spestathlon, Spetses Classic Yacht Race and Mini Marathon, he is behind the winners’ medals from day 1. Coming from a

family with long tradition to high jewelry (a favorite of Greece’s royal family), Stelios Athiniotakis has masterfully combined Greek folk and traditional art with craftsmanship and style. Distinctive objects from Benaki Museum’s art shop but also unique creations of talented Greek designers compose a fascinating “Made in Greece” collection, including from lovely ceramics, tableware,

mini sculptures and silver replicas to cufflinks with semi-precious stones, worry beads, handcrafted objects and decorative items of excellent taste. Do not miss the beautiful lace cuffs by Elena Kougianou, the charming necklaces by Alexandra Tsoukala, "The bronze collection" by Paulina Cassimatis and the artfully made ceramics by Alexandra Solomou. Benaki Museum, E. Athiniotakis, Mati, tel.: 2298075259.

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Unique

The ‘Pistacia Lentiscus var. Chia’ tree –indigenous to the Greek island of Chios– gives mastiha, a natural resin renowned since antiquity for its health benefits. Apart from scientifically proved anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities, mastiha also gives a distinctive flavour to ‘Mastiqua’, a unique Mediterranean sparkling water, which can either be enjoyed on its own, or as part of imaginative cocktails. * www. mastiqua.com

Clockwise from top: Juergen Teller, “Helmut Lang backstage series, Spring Summer 2000, New York, 1999, No.6”. Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Matthew Monteith, “The Look”, August 2013. MM Paris, 2008. Leather top by Comme des Garçons. Patrizia Cavalli, “Feathered, at a Slant”, 2010.

What lies ahead

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Synergy A project conceived in 2007 by the DESTE

Foundation, the “destefashioncollection” annually commissions an artist to select five pieces from the season’s international fashion collections and create artworks which “consider and trouble the boundary between art and fashion”. The first eight years of the project are showcased in an impressive setting at the “DESTEFASHIONCOLLECTION: 1 to 8” exhibition, at the Benaki Museum (Pireos Str. Annexe Building). * Through October 12, 2014 – www.benaki.gr Juergen Teller. Diller Scofidio + Renfro. MM Paris. Alexandra Arg yri.

Kois Associated Architects

By the end of September, the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens will be welcoming its visitors through a brand new entrance, as part of a refurbishment which will also include the Aethrion at Cycladic Café and the Art Shop. Designed by Kois Associated Architects, the area is set to become an oasis of light and vegetation in the interior of the museum’s building block, fulfilling high aesthetic and functional standards. In the forthcoming season, the museum will present two major exhibitions, “HYGIEIA: Health, Illness and Treatment from Homer to Galen” and “Thereafter: Death and the afterlife in Ancient Greece”. * www.cycladic.gr

Video still from the online project “we are everybody's contemporaries”. Courtesy: Tassos Vrettos.

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The essence of femininity

Mario Testino has collaborated with Wolford in a visual journey which highlights the brand’s true spirit. This summer,

famous fashion photographer Mario Testino has created a whole new visual world for Wolford. Testino’s work has appeared in the world’s top fashion magazines, such as Vogue and Vanity Fair, and has influenced the fashion world with his aesthetic. His images for Wolford capture the provocative yet stylish and sensual spirit of the brand in a unique way. With selected pieces of Wolford hosiery, such as lingerie, bodysuits and classic pieces as his subject, Mario Testino has emphasized the feminine figure and the attraction of the modern woman through his lens. This unique collaboration between Wolford and Testino will be on display in Wolford boutiques worldwide, as well as on videos, social media channels and advertisements. alex andr a gardenioti

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The temple of Aphaia was built on a spot that forms an equilateral triangle with the Parthenon in Athens and the temple of Poseidon in Sounion. In Aegina’s lively fish market you will find not only fresh fish, but also local delicacies such as the katsoula. Unique to Aegina is the experience of buying fresh fruit and vegetables off a boat in the harbor. You can sink your feet in the sand and enjoy the catch of the day at tavernas such as Babis and Skotadis.

Under the radar

Aegina is an island so close to Athens that it usually gets overlooked. Only an hour away from Piraeus, it is rich in history, culture and gastronomy and makes for a perfect weekend trip. By Isabella Zampetaki, Photos: Lisa Stathatou The impressive tower of Markellos is a medieval construction that once housed Greece’s first national Treasury. Palaiochora, a 15th century fortified city with 365 churches, was built on a rocky hill to protect its inhabitants from the pirates.

The city of Aegina

The most scenic way to get acquainted with the city of Aegina is by taking a horsedrawn carriage along the seafront. Ask your driver about the history of the buildings that catch your attention. Unique to Aegina is the experience of buying fresh fruit and vegetables off a boat in the harbour and the liveliness of its central fish market. Continue your exploration of the city by walking its alleys and end your walk by the sea, near the ancient temple of Kolona, of which just one pillar remains today. Right next to the archaeological site stands the country’s first archaeological museum, built in 1828. Greece’s first capital

Aegina was the liberated nation’s first capital back

in 1826. A number of public buildings of that era – including the mint, a massive orphanage and the impressive tower of Markellos that housed the national Treasury – remain to date. The streets of Aegina city are dotted with elegant neoclassical mansions built by government officials as well as by wealthy sponge merchants in the early 1800’s. The ancient temple of the “vanished” goddess The small but wellpreserved temple of Aphaia (Greek for vanished) stands on top of a pine-clad hill on the way to Agia Marina. It is said to be the place where a Cretan goddess fled to escape the undesired attention of both King Minos and the sailors on

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istachio Aegina P2014 Fest al Pistachio

1, xth annu Aegina’s si eld September 18-2 h d e e k ill b freshly pic Festival w rs can buy ducts from o it is V . 14 20 pro and other who pistachios 0 local producers, 6 d n a lin th s stand e more goods at he ir T e t. th n r o e fr ff a o ity’s se c a in ig lk A fo riety of up along ludes a va s festival inc e and arts events, a tr a e s th ie , it c v si ti ac mu ucational well as ed hildren. c for

the boat that brought her to Attica. On a clear day, from the temple of Aphaia you can also see Athens’ Parthenon and the temple of Poseidon in Sounion. These three shrines were built to form an equilateral triangle. A city of 365 churches

Palaiochora was a 15th century fortified city built on a rocky hill to protect its inhabitants from the pirates. About 20 of its 365 churches and chapels remain intact, some with impressive frescoes. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes and plan your visit for the early morning or late evening.

Greek artists: the bluewindowed house of the author of Zorbas, Nikos Kazantzakis; the studio and house of painter Yiannis Moralis, and the house/ museum of modernist sculptor Christos Kapralos. Heading back to the city of Aegina, the Aiakeion is a café that was frequented by Moralis and other artists and is famous for its almond sweets.

the other half is pine-clad and inhabited by deer and goats. Apart from turquoise waters, you will also marvel at peacocks ambling around the sun-beds! Another similarly exotic beach is that of Kleidi, also close to Perdika. Fresh fish and pistachios

Aegina boasts seas rich in fish and seafood. You can enjoy the catch of the day Moni islet at tavernas such as Skotadis If you ask a local where to and Babis, as well as that of swim on Aegina, they will Aegina’s Sailing Club (all tell you to simply drive three in the city of Aegina) around the island and pull and at Nontas’ in Perdika. over wherever you see a Worth trying is katsoula, sandy cove that catches your a type of fish found in this eye. Aegina is not famous for area of Greece only. Also its beaches, but it does have unique to the island is the The way of the artists a couple of unique places to variety of pistachio that Driving north of the city swim. One of them is Moni grows here. You can buy of Aegina, along cape islet, reachable by caique it raw, roasted or salted Plakakia, one can see the boat from Perdika. Half of from stands along the homes of three prominent this tiny isle is steep rock and seafront. 

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Tracks we love listening to: The Burger P roject Take My Bre ath Away Beats Intern Dub Be Goational od To Me Bruno Mars Treasure Ennio Morr Chi Mai icone Dodgy Good Enou gh

The streets of Aegina city are dotted with elegant neoclassical mansions built by government officials back in the 1826, when Aegina was the liberated nation’s first capital.

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scrapbook A hard day’s work at Spetses Classic Yacht Race is always rewarded with a regal cocktail.

Chivas’ cocktails served On the Verandah. Christophe Lemarie, CEO of Pernod Ricard Hellas. A day at the races. Hand-carved ice is one of those small details that make all the difference. The Spirit of Chivalry – Chivas Honour Award. Yiannis Samaras, Chivas’ guest bartender in action.

The spirit of sailing Whether the

Anna Andreadis, member of the SCYR Organizing Committee and Dimitra Soukara, Marketing Director of Pernod Ricard Hellas.

day was spent taming the waves or watching the 72 historic vessels race off the coast, Spetses Classic Yacht Race 2014 nights were dominated by Chivas Regal cocktails. Served on hand carved ice with names inspired by the regatta (such as marine twist and moon sail) these exquisite drinks combined Chivas 12 y.o and Chivas 18 y.o with ingredients such as ginger beer and "Soumada" and accompanied the exchange of the day’s sailing news among captains, crews and spectators. Top bartenders practiced their art to the sounds of Chivas’ Jazz Quartet

and entertained a lively crowd of race participants and fans of sailing. “Spetses Classic Yacht Race highlights team spirit, authenticity, culture and fair play in the best possible way” stated Christophe Lemarie, CEO of Pernod Ricard Hellas, while awarding the crew of the Savannah with the cross category Spirit of Chivalry – Chivas Honour Award. The Spetses Classic Yacht Race was held between June 19th- June 22nd, organized by the Yacht Club of Greece (Race Organiser) and the Poseidonion Grand Hotel as Hospitality Organiser. www.classicyachtrace.com

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marcobicego.com tel. +302103310601

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From left to right, clockwise: Small handmade box “Freatio”, inspired by the hand holes encountered on the streets of Greece. Printed porcelain platter “Miss Tomato”, from “Greek Flavoured Ladies” set. Wall mounted Donkey. “Miss Salt & Miss Pepper” Salt & Pepper porcelain set. Cotton pareo “The Fishmarket.”

Revisiting Greece The We Design team: From left Sergios Fotiadis, Theano Petridou and Philippos Photiadis.

Talent

, inspiration, expertise and a strong dose of humor characterize this brand new collection by We Design, one of the most prominent design studios in Greece. In “Greece Revisited”, as the name implies, Greek culture is creatively reinterpreted using modern language, craftsmanship, and deep knowledge of design. T shirts – with reference to 1821 Greek Revolution heroes- cups, pareos, boxes, sous plats, bowls, hangers, door stops, even temporary tattoos of Greek Mythological personas, compose an imaginative collection of decorative and fashion items that make everyday habits – such as drinking your Greek coffee- a fun experience. Among the products, one can distinguish a stylish set of plates, inspired by traditional Greek cuisine recipes passed down from generation to generation by our grandmothers, “kanati”, a handmade ceramic pitcher with reference to the cult metal funnel, and an ingenious cotton pareo, resembling the wrap paper of a Fishmarket. Designing from a house, to a functional product, and from corporate identity to branding, We Design (www. wedesign.gr), design anything that can be designed. Uniting forces, by bringing together their different

Cult items of Greek folk and tradition turn artfully into design products of everyday use for eating, drinking, wearing and using. By Ioanna Alexatou

fields of expertise, Sergios Fotiadis (product designer), Theano Petridou (graphic designer) and Philippos Photiadis (architect) offer the most suitable design solution, balancing between concept and functionality. Throughout the years, they have established valuable collaborations with other professionals such as typographers, engineers, manufacturers, designers, depending on the requirements of each project. “Greece Revisited” is their first integrated design collection and can be found in selected shops around Greece and in We Design brand new e-shop at www. wedesignshop.gr. www. greecerevisited.com.

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Function ΑΝD FORM

After more than two decades in the UK, Greek ceramist Kyriaki Gerontaki moved back to her native country. By Paris Kormaris It was her

mother’s collection of ceramics that first caught the attention of Kyriaki Gerontaki, and her grandmother’s small but significant collection of Greek, Italian, British and French pottery. A family friend introduced her to the secrets of the potter’s wheel and she was hooked for life. “I have been involved in ceramics for over 24 years now; it is the love of my life”, she says. “I have never had a moment which made me dislike it or lose interest in it. I love clay and its plasticity. It is a beautiful material which gives great results when you’ve got the knowhow. By adding knowledge of the glazing technology, one can achieve many different textures, along with a big variation of colours too”. Born in Greece, Gerontaki moved to the UK in 1990, where she studied

at Middlesex University and opened her own studio right after graduation. Last year, though, she decided to move back to Greece: “It was not an easy decision to make. It took me two years. My love for my country is what brought me back”. Her work comprises of both functional and decorative pieces: “My decorative pieces –white forms and black mushrooms– demand a lot more time as their scale is much bigger. This work is about volume; one piece alone is never good, having more than two on display conveys the right message to the viewer. My latest series – sculptural tableware– is more complicated in terms of forms and combinations, but it gives me great pleasure to find new ideas and new ways of displaying them”. * www.kikiceramics. com – Facebook: Kyriaki Gerontaki-Kiki Ceramics

From top: Sculptural ‘Kiki Ceramics’ tableware. Kyriaki Gerontaki working on a pierced saucer. Various functional pieces. Two tone white decorative vessels.

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COMPETITOR

Usain Bolt

The World’s Fastest Man. (Enough said.) DIAFIMISI.indd 4

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D O M I N AT O R

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1 3 4

trends By Iris Leontariti

desert TONES Urban desert meets utility in the latest fall runway trend. Faded hues of browns and a touch of exoticism are the keys for ultra feminine and adventurous looks.

r y ki e S o n ia

1. Bracelet, Apriati 2. Wallet, FolliFollie 3. Hat, Rag and Bone 4. Sweater, Marni 5. Platforms, Christian Louboutin 6. Trenchcoat, Burberry 7. Dress, Donna Karan 8. Belt, Givenchy 9. Ring, Marco Bicego 10. Bag, Antik Batik 11. Scarf, Wolford 12. Sandals, Chloe 13. Bag, MCM 14. Shorts, Valentino 15. Re-Belle Watch, CVSTOS.

p h ili

p li m

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The new color for health

Everything about your health, is now in orange. Contact us today, to learn about the Orange Cross available packages, offering amongst other: • Premium hospitalization in Greece and abroad • Check-up & diagnostic examinations • Emergency transportation in Greece and abroad • Doctors’ visits to your home

• Dental coverage • Physiotherapies • Second medical opinion

ING Greece | ING.gr

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trends

color BLOCKS

Add some pop of color to your outfits and brighten up in style your everyday looks. Bright color combinations are among the hottest newest trends.

7 spor

tmax

10 6

Dsqu

ared

8 1. Iphone case, Marc by Marc Jacobs 2. Pumps, Christian Louboutin 3. R2R Atokos, Salty Bag 4. Bracelet, Marco Bicego 5. Color Dreams Watch, Frank Muller 6. Sandals, Aquazzura 7. Dress McQ Alexander McQueen. Attica 8. Skirt, RoksandaIlincic 9. Bag, Carven 10. Shirt, Diane Von Fursternberg 11. Body, Wolford 12. Sunglasses Prada, Luxottica 13. Belt, Wolford 14. Bag, Chanel

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trends

Headpiece, Maison Michel. Sunglasses Polaroid, Safilo. Samantha cottonjersey hooded sweatshirt, Karl Lagerfeld. Sneakers TRINOMIC-XT1PLUS, Puma. Hooded shell jacket, Burberry Brit.

Shell jacket, Valentino. Bluetooth tracking band, Jawbone. Backpack, MCM.

waterproofs On a rainy day or not add a touch of this world traveller trend. Waterproof jackets are sure to keep you dry and stylish, whatever the occasion.

Leggings MCQ Alexander McQueen, Attica. Forerunner 15 GPS Watch, Garmin. Bag, Balenciaga. Bikini, Lisa Marie Fernandez.

Shell Jacket, Adidas by Stella McCartney. Shorts, Zimmerman. Tribeca parka, Closed. Wellington boots, Sebago.

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T-shirt, Givenchy. Bike, Paul Smith.

trends

Hooded jacket, Tommy Hilfiger. Mille Miglia Watch, Chopard. Sweatpants, Puma.

Sweatshirt, H&M. Vivofit wellness band, Garmin.

Bag, Lacoste. Bracelet, Apriati. Boots, Sebago

active players

Being active never looked so good. Active and casual menswear, mix together in a new sportsluxe trend. Backpack HUGO, Hugo Boss Stores. Sunglasses Persol, Luxottica. Sneakers, Rick Owens.

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- Promotion -

The running lifestyle

More and more people of every age in Greece are beginning to embrace running as an exercise for both their body and mind. Holmes Place, a ‘members only’ fitness club situated in Athens city center, Maroussi and Glyfafa, started the Holmes Place Running Club three years ago. Its main goal is to encourage more people to join this new way of life, with the support of the Running Club team, which consists of Athanasia Tsoumeleka, Olympic Gold Medalist in 20 km walking & Nikos Dimitriadis, M.Sc. Holmes Place is ready to meet your highest expectations through its friendly atmosphere and highly experienced staff, while at the same time Running Club members can enjoy exclusive benefits, such as running equipment, accessories and nutrition supplements. The Running Club consists of three different groups. For those who are ready to take their workout to the next level, there is the ‘How to Run’ group. For runners who need a structured training program tailored to their goals and strengths there is ‘Personal Run’ and finally there is ‘Personal Run Open’ offering the same opportunities to those who love running, but are not Holmes Place members. The Holmes Place Running Club has already earned respect in the running community, by winning first place at the Athens Classic Marathon in 2013, in the Health Club category. In addition to that, it will participate for the first time, as a wellness partner, in Navarino Challenge, Race for the Cure, Ladies Run (for the 3rd year) and Spetses Mini Marathon (for the 2nd year). By joining the Holmes Place Running Club you will have the opportunity to change or improve your health, physical condition and your way of life, an invaluable gift for every age!

For those who want to make a positive change in their everyday lives and invest in their wellbeing, Holmes Place has created the Running Club.

For more information: www.holmesplace.gr /holmesplacegreece Holmes Place Athens: Voukourestiou & 4 Stadiou Str., City Link Shopping Center, Athens, tel. 210 32.59.400 • Holmes Place Maroussi: 40 Ag. Konstantinou Str., Ethrion Shopping Center, Maroussi, tel. 210 61.96.791-2 • Holmes Place Glyfada: 83 Gr. Lampraki Str., Glyfada, tel. 210 96.90.096.

Summer 2014

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around the globe By Paris Kormaris

Prime TIME A retrospective

of the art of Jeff Koons marks the Whitney’s last exhibition on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Before

moving to its new Renzo Piano designed premises in downtown Manhattan, the Whitney Museum of American Art bids farewell to the Breuer building on Upper East Side with the most comprehensive retrospective ever devoted to Jeff Koons. “Never before have so many of his works been on view together, nor has the Whitney ever devoted so much space to a single artist,” notes Adam D. Weinberg, the Whitney's Alice Pratt Brown Director. “We felt it was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the closing of our uptown building with an exhibition of great scholarly rigour that also promises to be a major international cultural event.” * Through October 19, 2014 – www.whitney.org

Clockwise from top right: New Hoover Celebrity III's, 1980. Loopy, 1999. Metallic Venus, 2010–2012. Aqui Bacardi, 1986. Moon (Light Pink), 1995–2000.

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The National Portrait Gallery in London presents the first major exhibition to explore through portraiture the life and achievements of Virginia Woolf, one of the most important and celebrated writers of the twentieth century. “Virginia Woolf: Art, Life and Vision” explores Woolf as a novelist, intellectual, campaigner and public figure, featuring painted portraits of her and of those she was closest to, photographs, drawings and rare archival material, such as letters to and from her friends and acquaintances, and extracts from her personal diaries. * Through October 26, 2014 – www.npg. org.uk

Irving Blum and Peggy Moffitt, 1964

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Virginia and Leonard Woolf by Gisèle Freund, 1939. Virginia Woolf by Vanessa Bell, c.1912.

Ideal couple

The VitraHaus loft in Weil am Rhein has been transformed into the home of a fictitious Finnish-German couple, as a result of the first joint installation of Vitra and Artek, curated and designed by London based studioilse, run by Ilse Crawford. Harri is a musician, Astrid a set designer and their home is filled with objects that tell the story of their lives. * www.vitra.com

Lost & found

cquired by the Royal Academy of Arts in 2001 and relaunched in 2012 as its new space to exhibit contemporary art and architecture, Burlington Gardens hosts “Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album”, an exhibition of more than four hundred original photographs taken between 1961 and 1967 by the late American actor, film director and artist. Personally selected and edited by Hopper for his first major exhibition in 1970, those vintage prints were only rediscovered after his death in 2010. * Through October 19, 2014 – www. royalacademy.org.uk

Estate Gisèle Freund / IMEC Images. Estate of Vanessa Bell, courtesy Henrietta Garnett / Photo: © National Trust / Charles Thomas. © Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. w w w.dennishopper.com

around the globe

Up close

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Condé Nast Publications, Inc. The Ir ving Penn Foundation. Photo by James Ewing Photography, New York / Courtesy of Madison Square Park Conser vancy.

Bring together

an iconic piece of British design and an iconic British fashion designer and what you get is the Anglepoise + Paul Smith special edition lamp, available worldwide from the 11th September. * www. anglepoise.com

Three follies

Grand Master

The first major exhibition dedicated to Irving Penn in Italy is currently on view on the second floor of Palazzo Grassi in Venice. Bringing together 130 photographs, taken between the end of the 1940s and the mid-1980s, “Irving Penn, Resonance” gives a broad overview of the legendary American photographer’s work through platinum prints, gelatin silver prints, colourful dye transfer prints and internegatives, which will be shown to the public for the first time. Beyond their apparent diversity, all the themes dear to him capture every facet of ephemerality. * Through December 31, 2014 www.palazzograssi.it

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Poppy: Showgirl, London, 1968. Lion (Front View), Prague, 1986.

New York sculptor Rachel Feinstein pictures her first public art exhibition in the U.S. as “an empty Felliniesque set dropped into the middle of a lush green wonderland in the historical Flatiron district of New York City.” Installed in Madison Square Park, “Folly” comprises her largest sculptural works to date, ranging from 7.5 to 26 feet tall. * Through September 7, 2014 – www. madisonsquarepark.org

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around the globe

Left: The “elBulli 2005-2011” volumes in their Perspex slipcase. Right: Two caviars (Tapas, 2008). Below: Spherical-I green olives (Snacks, 2005). Ferran Adrià. Flower paper (Snacks, 2007).

Catalogue raisonné

The legacy of elBulli, including hundreds of recipes created during the restaurant's most creative period, has been recorded in a seven-volume publication, which showcases a phenomenal accomplishment in culinary history. Cala Montjoi, a bay on Catalonia's Costa Brava, elBulli rose to eminence after Ferran Adrià became its sole head chef in 1987. Having held three Michelin stars from 1997 until its closure in 2011, it only opened for six months per year and could accommodate 8,000 diners each season, despite receiving nearly two million annual requests for tables! A sevenvolume compendium titled “elBulli 20052011” provides the first-ever insight into the kitchens of what is still considered to have been the most exciting restaurant in the world. Over 750 exclusive recipes are included, with detailed instructions for making every component, notes on hard-tofind ingredients, new techniques, finishing and presentation, while the seventh volume provides an evolutionary analysis of the restaurant. * www.phaidon.com/ elbulli

Francesc Guillamet.

Overlooking

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aroundcinema the globe

Boyhood

AN ASTONISHING MICRO-EPIC OF THE ROCKY JOURNEY INTO MANHOOD The truly great movies about eternal themes, such as the search for identity, hardly ever warn audiences of their intentions, nor heavily impose life lessons upon the viewer. "Boyhood" fluidly implicates us into a slice of family growing apart and together, masterfully assembled and movingly executed by Richard Linklater. It already ranks among the best movies of 2014. By Thodoris Koutsogiannopoulos

Richard Linklater,

the Oscar nominated director of the Before Sunrise trilogy, had an ambitious idea more than a decade ago: use the same actors in order to tell the story of the growing up of a boy, revolved around his family. Every summer, he summoned professionals Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, the unknown protagonist Ellar Coltrane and his own daughter, Lorelei Linklater on location in Texas, and filmed sporadically according to budget and availability. The screenplay is

a textured backbone that seems to employ the bare essentials rather than the mechanics of overreaching fiction, and the mise en scene observes carefully and sensibly, without a trace of voyeurism or exploitation. The passionate result is "Boyhood", arguably the best coming of age film and a cinematic gamble that stunned audiences and criticsalike in Sundance and Berlin film festivals, with its cohesion and intimacy- an incisive observation of the human psyche that only a talented therapist could have

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"Ellar Coltrane in different phases and ages, as seen with his "family", Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and Lorelei Linklater".

achieved with such accuracy. The thing is that Linklater, alas, is a talented filmmaker, not a doctor, and his minimal masterpiece is all about faults, errors, tribes and tribulations, the arresting moments of truth, the fleeting outbursts of adults and pensive silence of troubled youth, expressed precisely, yet tenderly. We know that adolescence is a tough beast, a rite of passage that everyone has to endure and often appreciates only in retrospect, and in the eyes of Mason, the charming, cute little boy that became an alienated teenager, up until the threshold of coolness and manhood, we see parts of our lives- the joys and disappointments, the haphazardness of behavior as well as the intensity of frustrations. The magic is in the psychological scruffiness: how Mason and his sister witness the bickering and spats of their parents, that eventually lead to a bitter divorce, the strenuous efforts of the mother to sustain the kids and find the path to her stability and happiness, the broken promises and earnest bonding of a flawed father trying to connect and provide, and the funny, awkward and rewarding details that breathe in between. Linklater is not an engineer of plot. He prefers letting the storytelling reveal itself, and not rape the characters with hasty twists and heavy meanings. He has been doing that for 30 years and now he reaches his peak with "Boyhood". The filming that lasted 39 days in 12 years with the same cast of locals and "movie family" could have turned into a disaster, because nobody can guarantee the outcome of such a risky premise. However, Linklater was methodical, energetic and very lucky with his choices. Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke were never better and moving in film, and untrained Ellar Coltrane captured the heart and soul of boyhood with enviable flow and authenticity. It is potentially eerie, almost harrowing, to watch the

same people physically transforming and growing up within a fictional content, like old pictures or home movies coming alive. But nothing feels artificial in this film. Reality is unforced and life is being instilled with restraint and wisdom. Boyhood is not just an excellent dramatic film, but an unparalleled experience, small in scale yet grand in emotion and rich in nuance, an alternative achievement to rival the vast outpour of synthetic and, frankly dumb Hollywood. In selected theaters, from September 11

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Idyllic Spetses A Grande Dame of Athens and a Spetses enthusiast, the sculptress, Natalia Mela, salutes her beloved island. BY R ANIA GEORGIADOU

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Natalia’s Mela Archive, Natalia Tsoukala (The Faros Promenade), Dimitris Tamviskos (Collage)

Left hand on: The Faros Promenade, the Mermaid. Natalia Mela at Spetses. Collage “Spetses”.

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Up: The Faros Promenade, the Bull. Down: Barbatsis the Arsonist at the Kanoniostasio (Cannon Station) grove.

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She came to know and

love the island of Spetses since she was a child, and considering that the hale and hearty Mrs. Mela is going through her tenth decade, denotes that Poseidonion did precede her, yet she follows equally majestic and historic. “All the kids, then, were wondering around free and lone. We were getting about on the hoof, on carriages and little barges with sails – for us, nippers, Spetses was paradise”, she reminisces. “I was to go, every summer, with my mother. She had many friends who were vacationing there – Koula Kalligas, her daughter, Maya, who was throwing those great revelries, Costakis Matsas and his wife, Joy, the Zarifis family, the Oratises, Mrs. Bouboulis. At Marina Ladas’ home, my childhood friend who was married to Schultzberger, the famous American journalist, you’d meet, at their gatherings, celebrities like Vivien Leigh, Greta Garbo and Niarchos. Spetses was charmingly rustic and beau monde cozy, because it was very close to Athens – I remember, as a kid, the ladies dancing at Poseidonion, wearing evening gowns with décolletage, while everybody in the orchestra was dressed in frock coats!” When she got married (to Aris Konstantinidis, the, subsequently, iconic figure of Greek architecture), she continued looking in on Spetses. “It was, still, compose, a marvel! In the beginning, we stayed at my mother’s house. When we decided to have our own, we chose to build one – we didn’t want an old, vast house”. “Spetses has always been a very important island/locale to me. This is where I built my house, we became its inhabitants in 1963 – my husband designed it, I solely had good times in it. All moments of my life had been interestingly pleasant, but, only in Spetses I felt complete. That scattering of the houses, not being one on top of the other – which is about to become – they were still in the open, there was space in between. I, also, liked colors, very much. That transparent grey which is, for me, the utmost nautical color; I did like the boats, too, and the other gray one paints around the windows, the doors… Those dry haystacks imbued in ochre, that small part of soil which was, also, ochrecolored, and the priming of the boats. That deep blue of the sea, which, often, altered to mauve. Αnd I, like you, could see the islands from afar, as if they were propping up on the horizon. I don’t know why this place has inspired me, as much. I did my most interesting

collages in Spetses. As far as the Faros (Lighthouse) promenade sculptures go, Mrs. Schlumberger had commissioned them, one by one. The works were set on [Spetses] when Yorgos Thymaras was the Mayor – it was with Annette Schlumberger’s subsidy the ‘Faros Promenade’ was whittled and the sculptures were put in”. There are two more works of hers in Spetses – Bouboulina, in the Dapia area and Barbatsis the Arsonist, at the Kanoniostasio (Cannon Station) grove. Inevitably the last question, refers to how often she goes to Spetses these days, and the answer is as immediate. “I go as soon as I can, I love it very much, it’s a fantastic place, my house there is really ‘my home’. For me, Spetses is bliss”.

Up: Natalia Mela swimming around the Kounoupi islet. Down: with Georges Moustaki at Spetses.

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“It’s the little things that please the most…” B y A m a n d a Da r d a n i s

Paul Efmorfidis has been

“off-radar” for a week now. With the deadline for this article just days away, I’m feeling a little anxious. It’s exactly two years ago since I first interviewed Efmorfidis, the supernaturally charismatic founder of global Greek bedding and hotel empire Coco-Mat. Summer 2012: Greece’s economy was bankrupt-in-all-but-name, along with so many of her businesses. CocoMat was a rare beacon of hope. Not only was Efmorfidis and his family-run company challenging international perceptions of what a Greek business could be; CocoMat was defying all crisis-logic too. Their seaweed-filled mattresses had never come cheap (beds cost anywhere between €2,500 and €13,000). And yet somehow, CocoMat was thriving. Posting profits during the global slowdown. Opening new stores all over the world– Russia, China, America - even here in recession-blighted Greece. But then Efmorfidis - who famously came up with the idea for Coco-Mat while napping on a comfy bed of seaweed on a beach in his native Sparta - has never been your typical Greek ambassador. The 56-year-old former physical education teacher is a vegetarian who doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink or own a mobile phone or car. Instead, he rides his 

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The “all-natural” approach of Paul Efmorfidis has elevated Coco-Mat into a thriving global bedding and hotel chain, trading in 13 countries – and counting.

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‘Our success is about being simple; being ourselves. We are presenting Greek hospitality to the world and producing something honest and pure.’

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Coco-Mat’s trademark “filoxenia with flair”, at Serifos (top) and on effortless display at Kifissia’s Nafsika hotel (bottom).

bike to meetings and offers his employees pay rises if they take up cycling and quit cigarettes too. Where Efmorfidis’ “Greekness” becomes abundantly clear is in his legendary hospitality. “Filoxenia” has always been the backbone of the Coco-Mat philosophy. To treat people with care and flair. In Coco-Mat’s flagship store in Manhattan, stressed-out New Yorkers may take free hour-long power naps with no strings attached (enhanced with classical music and shower suite). Walk into a Coco-Mat store in Greece and you will be offered a mountain tea; horiatiki if it’s lunchtime. Chat to the high-octane Efmorfidis for more than half an hour and you’ll be invited to pick fresh vegetables from the garden plot in Coco-Mat’s Athens headquarters, near Kifissia. Or to bring your family to stay at his luxe Coco-Mat hotel in Amsterdam, where he resides with his wife and four children. His employees meanwhile, must be among the happiest in Greece. ‘I have a Coco-Mat residence in northern Greece, in Xanthi, near our factory, where our staff can come to relax,’ enthuses the unpretentious Efmorfidis when I finally catch up with him the next day. ‘It’s near the river Nestos and there are little houses by the seaside where you can do yoga, go rafting or walk in the mountains. Nobody pays.’ ‘Our success is about being simple;

being ourselves,’ continues Efmorfidis, a business masters graduate and one-time journalist. ‘We are presenting Greek hospitality to the world and producing something that is honest and pure.’ Coco-Mat’s hand-crafted mattresses are made from all-natural materials like coco fibre, eucalyptus, horsehair and seaweed. Instead of harsh metal springs or synthetic padding, the beds’ firmness comes from natural tree rubbers; while the ergonomic bases are made from reclaimed wood. The company boasts a near-perfect recycling rate, with 96 percent of all left-over products being re-used. Fast-forward to mid-2014, and I discover that Efmorfidis has good cause for being “missing in action”. For the past ten days, he’s been riding his bike doorto-door in Dusseldorf, from 7am until 10pm, personally delivering catalogues for the new German store (each one presented in a Coco-Mat carry bag, made by a disabled person in Greece). ‘I have found that it is the little things that please people the most,’ says Efmorfidis with conviction. How very inspiring in these cynical times, that this environmentally-astute entrepreneur still “walks the talk”. Since we last spoke, Efmorfidis has achieved his goal of penetrating Germany with a new concept store in Berlin, along with the Dusseldorf opening. By Christmas,

Coco-Mat will have colonised Down Under too, with its first Sydney branch. Plus, there are advanced plans for a second Athens Coco-Mat hotel in Kolonaki sometime next year, to join the Nafsika hotel in Kifissia. But the next “big idea” is to bring wooden bikes to the people of Athens. It’s an ardent dream of Efmorfidis’ – inspired by a new community transport scheme in Manhattan. ‘By April 2015, Athens will be known for its wooden bikes,’ pledges Efmorfidis. ‘They will be made by Greek people for Greek people and you’ll be able to rent them for the hour, the day, the week. New York has 6,000 wooden bikes, but we are a smaller economy, so we will have 1,000. We will show the world that everything is possible when you have passion.’ ‘In Greece, we have the sun, the sea and the islands and we are a beautiful country. But the crisis was a result of our arrogance,’ insists Efmorfidis. ‘We believed we suddenly became Gods and we took everyone for granted.’ ‘To be truly successful in tourism, is to show your heart and your eyes and to be authentic. To dedicate your time and to be nice to people. Not just to build big hotels with no soul. At the end of the day, success comes down to little things.’ Shortly, the tireless Efmorfidis will take his summer holidays, as always, back in his beloved Greece. Each year, Paul and his brother Mike (the financial brain of the Coco-Mat partnership), their nine children, and their mother gather together for a month by the sea, 100 km south of Sparta, where the brothers grew up. Predictably, “leisure time” Efmorfidisstyle does not involve lying under a tree with a good book. “We spend all day windsurfing, swimming, water-skiing, wake-boarding and eating watermelon and feta,’ recounts Efmorfidis joyously. ‘Everyone is welcome. You should come too,’ he says in the next breath. ‘Bring your whole family. And if there aren’t enough beds, we will make more outside. We will sleep under the sky.’ And with that, we are back where it all began. Full circle. Sleeping on nature. 

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S p e t s e s M i n i M a r at h o n

Rising to the challenge When the islet of Spetsopoula smudged onto the horizon, weary seafarers returning home to Spetses would rejoice, knowing that their voyage was almost at an end. For runners of the Spetses Mini Marathon, the island looming into view across the glittering Saronic is an equally welcome spectacle, signifying the start of the final homeward stretch towards the race’s end. By Cordelia Madden-K anellopoulou

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From the sun-baked

stretches of hills along the western fringes of the island, where the silence is broken only by the scratched song of the cicada and the slap of running shoes on hot tarmac, they gather speed down through the town where spectators line the road’s edge, with cheers and applause rising to a crescendo as, tired but triumphant, they race over the cobbles across Dapia to breast the finish line before the Poseidonion Grand Hotel. In just four years since the first edition of the Spetses Mini Marathon, this annual athletic festival has exploded in popularity. The inaugural event in 2011 attracted 600 participants for two races: the 25km mini Marathon around 

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To win is to participate! For athletes and amateurs alike, there is an irresistible lure in combining a fulfilling open-water swim with a physically challenging run. the island and a 5 km fun-run through the town. The 2014 version, which takes place October 10-12, is nearly sold out of places in all of the now seven different races – a 10km run, kids’ swimming and running heats, plus 3,000m and 5,000m swimming races across the channel separating Spetses from Porto Heli have joined the roster of attractions. For athletes and amateurs alike, there is an irresistible lure in combining a fulfilling open-water swim from A to B (rather than the usual triangular arrangement around a series of buoys) with a physically challenging run. More exerting than a half-marathon, but without the sheer exhaustion of the full marathon, the satisfaction lies in completing an entire circuit of the island, pacing through a shifting scenery from grand coastal mansions to deserted bays, from shady forests to sun-raked hills, and finally, after the heartening glimpse of Spetsopoula, back along a seafront decked with vivid pennants in the orange, crimson and turquoise of sponsors ING, Puma and Wind, through throngs of locals calling encouragement from their balconies and shopfronts, towards the music, applause and glorious finish. To find out more, log onto www.spetsesmarathon.com 50 Spetses Spotlight

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A view from the past: Megali Akti Beach at Vouliagmeni, Attica, with a building by architects Prokopis Vassiliadis, Emmanouil Vourekas and Periklis Sakellarios.

Land of hospitality From left to right: A landscape photo by Panos Kokkinias. ‘Ahotel’, a new project proposed by ksestudio. A photo from the ‘identity elements’ section, by Panos Kokkinias.

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Professor Yannis Aesopos. Left: A visitor at the Greek Pavilion.

Tourism is hailed as the ‘heavy

Photographic Archives of Benaki Museum. Leonidas Kalpaxidis. Yiorgis Yerolymbos.

industry’ of Greece, thanks mostly to the country’s natural beauty and climate. In a year marked by a record-breaking number of visitors, tourism also holds center stage in the Greek Pavilion at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition ‘La Biennale di Venezia’, where the exhibition “Tourism Landscapes: Remaking Greece” is currently on show. “The Venice Biennale is without question the most significant architecture exhibition in the world, attracting more than 150,000 visitors in its sixmonth period, from June to the end of November”, says Yannis Aesopos, Commissioner and Curator of Greece. “The Venice Biennale showcases the

new tendencies in architectural practice and thinking world-wide; and it is in Venice that these tendencies are presented and debated. Within this perspective, it is really important for Greece to be part of this international event and to present, in the stateowned Greek Pavilion building, its own architectural production and thinking to a global audience”. It was Aesopos, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Patras, Greece, and Visiting Professor at Columbia University, New York, who suggested the theme of the exhibition: “It came as a response to the general thematic framework titled ‘Absorbing modernity 1914-2014’, which was

prescribed for all national participations by the Biennale’s Curator, renowned architect Rem Koolhaas. ‘Tourism Landscapes: Remaking Greece’ explores the role of tourism as a vehicle for the continuous modernization of Greece through the emergence of constructed tourism landscapes: hotels and resorts, archaeological sites and museums, public spaces, sea-side facilities, traditional settlements turned-tourist-complexes and infrastructure. Moreover, it addresses the concurrent (re)shaping of Greek national identity that is enhanced by tourism. This commission gave me the opportunity –within a very short period of time– to access, research, understand and present a huge stock of architectural 

THE GREEK PARTICIPATION IN THE 14TH INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION ‘LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA’ EXPLORES THE ROLE OF TOURISM AS A VEHICLE FOR THE MODERNISATION OF THE COUNTRY, GOING AS BACK AS A CENTURY AGO AND LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE. B Y PA R I S K O R M A R I S

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From top to bottom: A landscape photo by Yiorgis Yerolymbos. Xenia Motel at Kalambaka, by architect Aris Konstantinidis, 1960. A landscape photo by Panos Kokkinias.

work created for the tourism sector in Greece during the last 100 years. I got to know and present the work of architects that were more or less absent from architectural historiography, but had, indeed, a significant contribution to the field of tourism architecture”. The exhibition consists of 2 parts, explains Aesopos: “An archival part, featuring architectural projects over the last 100 years, and a new projects of, featuring new designs for a contemporary tourism inhabitation in the landscape. The archival part is a continuous surface –a collage– of photographs placed on the walls of the pavilion’s interior. It consists of 3 sub-parts: photos of landscapes, natural or man-made, are placed on the lower zone of the walls, so as to recreate ‘topography’; they are crowned with images of tourism architecture (photos and drawings) and punctuated by images of ‘identity elements’ which introduce an anthropological consideration. The new projects part consists of new designs by 15 architectural offices –10 Greek and 5 foreign– and is presented through large models on identical stands of various heights that create an interior ‘island’ landscape’. These proposals for a new tourism inhabitation in the post-crisis era were commissioned specifically for the Venice Biennale exhibition. The 5 foreign offices –from the US, China, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland– were directly selected by the Commissioner, while the 10 Greek offices were chosen

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Aris Konstantinidis Archive / Courtesy of Dimitri Konstantinidis. Leonidas Kalpaxidis.

IN 1914, THE GREEK STATE ESTABLISHED THE “BUREAU FOR FOREIGNERS AND EXHIBITIONS”, ATTEMPTING TO MANAGE TRAVEL AND TOURISM FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. from a total of 90 offices that expressed their interest in participating in the exhibition, following an open call coorganized by the Commissioner and the Association of Greek architects; the selection by the Commissioner was based on the applicants’ curriculum vitae and a statement of intent describing their take on the exhibition’s theme”. “From a tourism perspective, the ‘experience of place’ has in recent times become a key element in attracting tourists to a destination”, said Olga Kefalogianni, the Greek Minister of Tourism, at the opening of the exhibition. “This experience, is constituted by a composition of tourist assets: the cultural and natural landscape, the beaches, the sun, the hotels and resorts, the events and the other attractions but also by the broader context, which includes the level and quality of services, the opportunities for recreational and cultural activities, and a lot more. The ‘image of a place’, that is, the ‘tourist landscape’, which is the main theme of Greece’s contribution to this year’s Biennale, is indeed part of the experience of travelling. For the Ministry of Tourism, the year 2014 marks an anniversary, since 100 years ago, in 1914, the Greek state established the ‘Bureau for Foreigners and Exhibitions’. It was the first effort to create a public entity that would manage the travel and tourism affairs of that time. So, this exhibition comes at a very important year for the development of tourism in Greece”. Comprehending the century-long evolution of tourism architecture in Greece allowed Aesopos to clarify the

directions we should be following in the future. “Given that we are now at a turning point –entering what I would call the ‘post-crisis period’, which is characterized by limited resources– it seems clear that the reassessment of priorities and the reestablishment of values appear compulsory”, he says. “I believe that we should work towards a ‘new tourist architecture paradigm’ which should be based on a fundamental, ‘selfrestrained’, even ‘ascetic’ architecture, that prioritizes the necessary, interacts harmoniously with nature, deciphers the local, however, remains inventive – I would describe it as a ‘new architecture of less’”. As for the current state of architecture in Greece in general, he finds

it very promising: “The work currently produced is of a much higher standard than that of 10 or 15 years ago. During the last years, more foreign architects have realized projects in Greece, this way turning the Greek architectural scene more international. There are many talented young architects in Greece, most of them have studied abroad and are trying to be part –to a larger or lesser degree–of the global architectural debate. However, it is clear that not enough opportunities are offered to them so as to realize their ideas – the economic crisis has only but severely worsened this situation”. * Through November 23, 2014 – www.tourismlandscapes.gr

The Greek Minister of Tourism, Olga Kefalogianni, and Yannis Aesopos (in the middle) with the Commissioner's Assistants, on the opening day, 06.06.2014. Top left: ‘100 Etchings: A Journey Within’, a new project proposed by Neri&Hu Design and Research Office. Top right: Entering the Greek Pavilion.

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Clockwise from left: Alexandra Tsoukala's RIB, "Minimum" anchored in a quiet Aegean bay. An opening night at the Hydra School Projects. The magnificent Costa Bianca sunset. Refined relaxation- Zege Architects. Crystal Turqoise waters at Hinitsa Bay. Lounging in the serene Amanzoe main pool.

Turquoise waters with emerald-green nuances and pine groves sprawling down to the beach, nature and culture- when the inland and the islands fuse into a single entity, one has reached the Argolic Riviera of Hermionida. BY R ANIA GEORGIADOU

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Emerald Seas

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Not one or two but 17 small beaches form the coastline of Costa Bianca in Saladi Beach!

he historic Argolis intimately rings an 80 km shoreline, where olive groves, vineyards, pine trees and schinus bushes descend to the sea, forming bights, seaboards and coves with crystal-clear waters. The archaeological sites of Tyrinth, “golden” Mycenae, Argos, Epidaurus and the patrician capital of the prefecture, Nafplion, daze even the most exacting of history enthusiasts, while Hydra and Spetses, both majestic islands, add to the charm ofvthe region. Nowadays, in Argolida traditional villages coexist with country houses, hotels of apical luxury and cosmopolitan exhibitions of contemporary art with fetes (plus hootenannies) and “A List” parties, secret inlets with a la mode beach life. Beach-combers, intimate lovers area, furnish and disclose its whereabouts, yet, through their eyes, one discovers hidden Shangri-las, crystal-clear waters, manor houses, villas, yachts, kings and boatmen, all in a place softly calm, beautiful and civilized- so close, yet so far from Athens.

Idyllic Landmark

Costa Bianca is a holiday making village on Hermionida’s Salanti beach- it sprawls through the beautiful grounds of approximately 3,850 acres, draping toward the lengthened shadow of a peaceful mountain, that of Melissovraho, while bellying up to the sea of 17 secluded , private beaches. Having spent 40 of his summers by the sea in the Saronic Gulf, Konstantinos Saradopoulos was very demanding when it came to suitable piece of land for the development of an iconic holidaymaking village. His nonnegotiable prerequisites were simple: proximity to Athens, a crystal-clear sea and a virgin territory. Some time, in 2003, he found himself in Salanti. “It was an afternoon, during the month of October, and I sat on a little rock, where the taverna is these days, and I could see, in the translucent water, every single pebble”, he recounts. In this primeval place, two steps and two miles away from everything around, he started

building Costa Bianca- Saradopoulos’ goal, as well as that of his partner, began, through the design of architect Manolis Koutsoudakis, to assume shape and, consequently, the form of a neighborhood. Nowadays, 10 years later, in a stunning rural environment, they have fashioned a landscape of a prototype contemporary Greek village. Mediterranean colors and tiles from old building sites, rounded up and tidy, garden enclosures filled with flowers and bougainvilleas, olive trees all around, venia (Greek cedar trees) and schinus bushes define a familiar, protected, yet rarely seen, environment of high aesthetics. Costa Bianca, as if it has always been there, receives its residents, both old and new owners, with a soothing tranquility and a settled proposal for a vacation in nature, on the sea- the very substance of the Greek summer.

Hidden Paradise

“Spetses! I’ve traveled to so many beautiful islands, possibly more attractive,

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but for me Spetses is a sacred place” asserts designer Alexandra Tsoukala. “I’ve been going since I was born. Although we had a house when I was little, my mother brought my brother and I to the other side of the island to camp under the pine trees, on a beach called Vrellos. We were taken there by a boatman who would leave us for three to four days. We’d pitch army hogans and grill an octopus or some small fish, if we caught any. We brought along zwan cans for fallback purposes. At night, our mother made us to keep a watch in shifts, wielding pieces of wood as weapons. Shoes we never worn, we were barefoot all summer… To this day, every time I arrive in Palaio Limani with my little boat, the loveliness, the repose, the houses, the colors, they all rejoice me”. ΗΕR FAVORITE beaches • For swimming, we go to the rear side of the island, to “Pisines” – three

little coves with crystal clear waters • Other times we go to Zogeria – there is a little taverna there, which has stayed exactly the same since I was a kid and the food is as it was back then! Roast chicken in tomato sauce with potatoes or pasta. It’s so wonderful to sit in the shady canopy and have a view of the sea and the pine trees. It is not secluded, by all means, for many yachts anchor throughout the day. Nonetheless, it’s so pretty, the sea bed is sandy, full of carapaces of sea urchins and, though rare now, sea turtles • Opposite, on the Peloponnese’s coastline, next to Costa there is Costoula. One of the most delicious beachfronts- tiny pebbles on share and sand further in, absolutely perfect! Every year, we celebrate, my mother’s namesday with a picnic in the sea. We pitch tents in the sea and we have floating tables, we rope them securely on the sand- and feast on  Alexandra Tsoukala with a fish caught at Zogeria bay. The traditional picnic in the sea in Costoula to celebrate the Namesday of Natalia Mela and her granddaughter Natalia Tsoukala.

one discovers hidden Shangrilas, crystalclear waters, manor houses, villas, yachts, all in a place softly calm, beautiful and civilized- so close, yet so far from Athens. Spetses Spotlight 000

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ouzo and “ mezedes” (tapas)! • Another two places one could go to, alas, only by boat, are the Kalafatis islets, next to Spetsopoula. One of them has a miniscule beach - so narrow that two people can barely fit! • Last, one of my most favorite places is Kounoupi, a tiny, rocky islet with not even a single tree on it- you swim its circumference, where a puny sandbank exists and you cross it by foot, the lower part of your body in the water to cool off…

Innovative development

“’The Unique Ermionida’ is a phrase I heard some years’ back from a local and early on I understood what he meant” remembers Katerina Katopis, Investor Relations and Marketing Director of Dolphin Capital, owning company of Amanzoe and Nikki Beach Resort and Spa. “The translucent waters, the little coves with pine trees which descend to the sea, the plethora of activities, even places such as the Fragthi Cave, Kratires in the hamlet of Didyma, the monastery of Avgo along with many other of the area’s historical treasures, are some of the reasons why Hermionida has gotten my vote. The nearby islands of Spetses and Hydra possess an exceptional beauty and

basically complete the “tromp l’oeil” with color, tradition and island-like magic”, she concludes. “Professionally, we chose Hermionida as the flagship of our Greek operations for the simple reason that it exemplifies the “absolute” Greek beauty, so indissolubly connected with a low profile international jet set. In general, we opt for destinations that haven’t reached a saturation point, where we can find large pieces of land, necessary for the composite touristic developments in which we specialize in. In terms of up-market touristic infrastructure, the location was totally pristine- the “Porto Heli Collection” came to fill that niche”. Our first project and first Aman Resort in Greece, Amanzoe in Porto Heli opened in 2012. “With tenacity and determination, our venture, amidst the crisis, turned out bravura in the sense of doing the impossible”, muses Katerina Katopis. “Our collaboration with the Asiatic chain of Amanresorts, leader in its kind, is well-grounded. From the first year of our operation, Amanzoe received dithyrambic praise along with numerous international press awards. The ‘Greek Riviera’, as the area is often referred to, has become a magnet, sending a worldwide message that Greece can attract highend, quality tourism. This year, the expansion of Amanzoe continued with

cabanas on the beach, while in August, Nikki Beach & Spa opened its gates in Porto Heli, being synonymous with the enjoyment of the good life with “right” dose of luxury mixed in!. Recently, the strategic investment project of “Kilada Hills” has come to fruition and will include an 18 hole golf course, designed by Jack Nicklaus , as well as a Chedi Resort with an up-scale, luxury hotel as well as Chedi Club Suites”. ΗΕR FAVORITE beaches With regards to the sea, I will be frugal in my suggestions, for a gaze, a dive in these waters or a picture are worth a thousand words. •Korakia, where the Amanzoe’s Beach Club is located for the crystal-clear waters and the lush vegetation that surrounds them •Zogeria on Spetses, for the emeraldgreen hues of the sea and the peacocks that often turn up there •Hinitsa, for the golden sand and the translucent, turquoise waters •Lepitsa and the little surrounding coves, in conjunction with the cozy, sandy beach and the sunset which magically reflects upon it •A beach, which I am not going to disclose its location, as each one of us should discover his/her own little cove for a summer day truly “a la Greca”!

Left: A pavilion at Amanzoe. Right: The entrance of a serene summer house- Zege Architects.

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Contemporary architectural interpretation

“The larger Hermionida area is an extremely familiar location for us, since we’ve studied many houses there, especially opposite the Hinitsa islet”, Zege architects, Tassos Zepos and Eleni Georgiadou, tell us: “We’d say that our interpretation of the area’s vernacular model is mostly based on the adaptation of the main morphological elements one encounters here, yet interspersed with supplementary ones as found in other areas of the Mediterranean with a common climate. The existing factor of the roof, the openings, the local materials being used and the earthy color palette indicate choices purposely taken to cater to the assimilation of the building within the environment it belongs. Hermionida remains an especially active locale, oriented toward a specific tourist profile of a targeted interests and character. We regard the creation of hotel units, such as that of Amanzoe, as a very important move, which chart the future development of the area and of expectations therein. The entire coastline and its relation to the islands across, discloses escapes of unparallel beauty and unexpected surprises. If we were to choose certain places we love, this is owed more to the memory of these particular locations: “Spetses, the fishing village.  Spetses Spotlight 000

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Photo: Costa Picadas

Dining al fresco with a panoramic view of the olive groves.

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Kate Moss and her husband Jamie Hince visiting the (O) IKEA exhibition at the Hydra School Projects. The tiny school courtyard in Hydra.

Gratitude expressed to Konstantinos Saradopoulos, Alexandra Tsoukala, Dolphin Capital, Zege Architects, Katerina Katopis, Hydra School Projects and Folli Follie for the given material.

Amazing Sea

Photographer Costa Picadas has been living and working in New York for the last twenty years. During this season, he finds himself in the Hamptons. Knowing that he has visited innumerable resorts and photographed many mythical houses, both in Greece and around the globe, we dared to pose the (surreal) question to him – how do the Hamptons with their posh manor houses, the endless seafront, and the Europeanized finesse compare to the Argolic Riviera. “The sea in Porto Heli is unique” was his instantaneous response! Forty five summers spent at Porto Heli sharpcut a heart-to-heart, genuine comment. “Porto Heli hasn’t changed in scale; aesthetically, I believe, it has improved. In fact the mayoralty of Dimitris Sfyris’ who’s an architect, has been conducive to this outcome. The balance within the greater area has been maintained. The houses of the bourgeois or those of the royals, hidden in nature on the slopes, don’t “stick out”, either in size, or luxury. Right next to them, there are accessible, little coves with crystal-clear waters. In my opinion, from the famous Hinitsa beach to Kounoupi, an islet reachable only by boat, one finds incredible waters, the best in Greece”.

Stylish Island

The Hydra School Projects (HSP), the annual contemporary art exhibition, curator and visual artist, Dimitris Antonitsis, created 15 years ago, is the quintessential Greeksummer answer to a contemporary art meeting; a highly estimated, décontractée, charming get-together, which fits de rigueur within the milieu of elegant Hydra. The statement of its creator-provocateur tracks back to its genesis “from boredom on the island’s practically non-existing beaches”. “In 1998, I was working at Pauline Karpidas’ exhibition space, whose collection, by the way, always fascinated me. In 1999, I decided to start up in Hydra my own project space as a

platform for dialogue between Greek and foreign artists. Provided with assistance by the then Mayor of Hydra, Costas Anastasopoulos, who granted to me the Grammar School building in the beginning, and then the Sachtoureion High School, along with Dimi Anastasopoulou’s endowment, Hydra School Projects came into life”. How come it was so successful and its fame spread so fast? “First, I’m totally devoted to the island, and, second, the natural beauty of the island helps; so exaltedly praised in travel guides and narratives. From the beginning, the critique was very corroborative, avid and forthcoming and thus HSP, soon enough, attracted the interest of the art lovers. Every year, the biggest art collectors visit us in fact some are such loyal fans that they haven’t missed, a single exhibition over the years, in 2004 we hosted a reception for the Patrons of Tate Modern, through the patronage of Dakis Ioannou. Isn’t he bothered that, because of Hydra, the Projects have a lifestyle nuance attached to them? “You cannot imagine how much I like the fact that all the ladies, in order to come to the exhibition, climb up the two hundred and fifty steps of Lignou Street (aka the donkey shit lane), which leads to the school, stepping on mule dung! I have no problem if our openings have a lifestyle element to them, but, all ‘n all, it’s something that I’m not interested in, not in the slightest. Our audience consists of locals, sojourners and students of the Athens School of Fine Arts, who stay in dormitories on the island and, of course the celebrities”. One of the precious few Hydriots who cross-over to the Peloponnese, Antonitsis sums it up, in style, “Henry Miller likened Hydra to a long loaf of bread. The perfect location to realize that is at the tavernas at Kala Pigadia, on the opposite shoreline of the Peloponnese- from there you could see the whole sculptural extent of the island. The supernatural occult of the place stretches so much that one time our whole group, albeit after repetitive winetesting, thought that Hydra was actually flying!” 

“Henry Miller likened Hydra to a long loaf of bread.

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)

Read

John Fowles "The Magus" set in Spetses and offering a vivid account of the island in the 60s. Patricia Storace's controversial "Dinner with Persephone" which is more than a memoir, rather a critical look at modern greek culture and family life "How to be Both" by Ali Smith is short listed for the 2014 Man Booker Prize and is a wonderful novel about the versatility of art- fast moving and genre bending between forms, times and truths it will surely inspire, especially if going to the HSP Finally, if all you feel like doing is "Eat, Drink, Nap" bring with you the homonymous title by the Soho House and decide for yourself how life on the Argolic coast compares!

Image from the s/s 2014 Folli Follie campaign shot in Greece. Ketty Koutsolioutsos, Vice President of Folli Follie Group.

Crazy for Greece

In 2012, Folli Follie chose to photograph its spring/summer collection in Greece; in fact its fall/winter 2013-14 campaign was shot at Amanzoe, as was the s/s 2014 one. Mature and concise in her speaking, the Vice President of the Folli Follie Group, Ketty Koutsolioutsos, backtracks on decisions and milestones. “For Folli Follie, Spetses has always been a dearly special place, a location which encapsulates the real core of modern Greece. A historic and picturesque island, it vividly projects all the elements of the Greek heritage. The year 2012, was an especially difficult period for our country. Amidst the vortex of an international economic crisis, Greece, more than ever, had to project positive messages, while, simultaneously, there was a distinct need for private entrepreneurship to reinforce, the country’s image abroad. Within this framework, Folli Follie created a campaign to specifically promote Greece globally through a photo-shooting with a protagonist who is very well known and loved, especially in Asia. This large scale production was named ‘Crazy for Greece’, and the photos featuring both the Greek flag and the cosmopolitan island of Spetses in the background, aimed to promote the country and the exquisite Greek summer all over the world. This international campaign bears testament to the fact Folli Follie never fails to express and demonstrate its ‘greekness’ abroad, not only during the periods where Greece is en vogue, but, mainly, when it is imperatively necessary. Through a strategic communication plan, our aim was to promote Greece in the most creative fashion and to attract international travelers, with an emphasis on Asia, but also from all over the globe. For Folli Follie this endeavor constituted a pledge, not just a haphazard move. The enthusiasm with which this campaign was embraced, inspired us to ‘stay’ in Greece. The majestic caldera of Santorini, the magical shoreline of

the Peloponnese, the breath-taking beauty of Athens as viewed from Lycabettus Hill formed the perfect background for all the rest of our campaigns that followed from 2012 until now. The footage of the campaigns in conjunction with the “behind the scenes’ material and the great videos, in fact form an up-to-date and trendy tourist guide of contemporary Greece”. In the past, Folli Follie has supported both the Spetses Classic Yacht Race and the Spetses Mini Marathon, initiatives which contribute to the development of the island and the respect for its environment and culture. Can you elaborate on this commitment? “Folli Follie’s commitment to the promotion of Greece’s contemporary physiognomy is substantial and, during these last two years, has been expressed in the same, undeterred manner. This large-scale effort, which, for all of us at Folli Follie is a gamble and, yet a very significant commitment is also expressed on a different level through the support of initiatives that creatively improve and showcase the country, as well as highlight the noble ideals which are associated with its identity. All these elements, combined with the special ties Folli Follie has with the island of Spetses, highlight our support towards the Spetses Classic Yacht Race and the Spetses Mini Marathon. “It’s worth mentioning’, Mrs. Koutsolioutsos concludes, “that within the framework of the company’s sponsorship of the Spetses Classic Yacht Race in 2013 with the express purpose of promoting a different side of Greece which would attract tourism, Folli Follie organized a large-number expedition of journalists from China. The most important and significant Chinese television networks and life style magazines visited Greece as our guests to cover the regatta. The splendor of the Greek seas, the historic vessels and the beauty of Spetses and the Greek culture traveled all the way to China, making all of us at Folli Follie extremely proud”. 

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The emerald coast.

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Love at first sight 10 reasons to fall in love with the brand new Nikki Beach Resort & Spa in Porto Heli. By Ioanna Alexatou

1. The different lighting moods in your room, to match your energy levels.

2. MyBar - Nikki Beach’s unique version of the minibar. Personalized and customized.

3. The unlimited free movies that can be

streamed to your own handheld device and can be viewed throughout the property.

4. The crispy white, cool design by Gasterelia Design in association with Athens based Arch Group.

5. Marina Vernicos’ artwork. A dive into the deep blue. 6. The Malin & Goetz products in the bathroom 7. The aromatherapy massage in the Nikki Spa 8. The gorgeous sunset from the Pearl rooftop lounge paired with mouth watering sushi.

9. The seductive pool. 10.The vibe - definitely Nikki style. Tel +30 27540 98 500, www.nikkibeachhotels.com Spetses Spotlight 67

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life pleasures

Some of Sotiris’ “fiercelyfashionable” greens: "bread of the rabbit" (left) and centavrium (right); Field work: Sotiris foraging near his home in west Messenia.

Now, Forager

Friends and family feared he was crazy - but food scout Sotiris Lumberopoulos is proving that ancient ways are exactly what a new era wants. By Amanda Dardanis

‘I don’t take summer

holidays anymore,’ admits wild food scout Sotiris Lumberopoulos. ‘I don’t need to. My life is very nice.’ For Sotiris, who has turned the ancient art of foraging into a buoyant entrepreneurial endeavour with his company Radiki, this wasn’t always the case. Several years ago, he was living in London, putting his multiple university degrees to good use, working in econometrics for large corporations. But despairing that something vital was missing. ‘I was very tired of city life. What do you see when you wake up in the morning? You see cars and so many humans and everything is all about the money,’ Sotiris, now 34, shakes his head as we sit over a plate of his wild greens at Alatsi, one of the award-winning restaurants he

supplies, in central Athens. So Sotiris courageously quit “city life” and retreated to his tiny family village of Kyparissia in west Messenia, one of Greece’s most exquisite corners, to find out if he could become selfsufficient; to nurture himself entirely on the land as his ancestors had done generations ago. ‘I decided to spend a winter there just to get my head right,’ recalls Sotiris, a former vegan-now-turnedvegetarian. ‘No wine, no women, no kids, nothing.’ Under the tutelage of an elderly aunt, Sotiris learned all about the immensity of crops that spring up year round in the surrounding mountains (wild garlic, artichokes, chicory). And about the ancient delicacies that line the Ionian shores such as samphire, asparagus and the succulent weed portulacas that makes such a

marvelous salad garnish in the fall. With zero capital, a basket and a knife, Sotiris began knocking on the doors of Athens’ finest restaurants. In the beginning, many in the Greek culinary world refused to give him the time of day. ‘Even my family and friends told me I was crazy,’ confesses Sotiris with a laugh. ‘That I was wasting all my studies.’ Undaunted, Sotiris visited some of the top chefs in Paris, who immediately loved his wild products. Now, he has ten other people foraging for Radiki and supplies his fiercelyfashionable greens to some of the leading gastronomic restaurants in both Paris (Septeme, Le Chateaubriand, Le Comptoir du Relais to name a few) and Greece (Alatsi, Hytra, Costa Navarino). ‘Somewhere along the line, we forgot about these ancient foods and turned instead to the supermarket,’ says Sotiris, who lives with his yoga teacher wife Alkimini and their 14-month-old daughter. ‘Radiki was created to remind people of the pure and beneficial foods of the Greek earth.’ These days, when Sotiris wakes up, it’s to a very different view. Lush green valleys, vineyards, olive groves. The glittering Ionian sea and smogfree air ripe with birdsong and the scent of wild oregano. Little wonder he no longer feels the need to escape. For more information about Sotiris and his foraging, visit www.radiki.com

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life pleasures

The founders of Incrediblue, a community marketplace for boat rentals.

Travel tech Four Greek

startups redefine the way we travel. By Isabella Zampetaki

Inspired young Greek entrepreneurs have surprised the world travel market with a number of innovative applications that change the way in which we seek information and services when we travel. From experiencing a city like a local to renting a yacht and from getting realtime recommendations about where to eat to choosing a vacation destination based on aerial photos of the country’s coastline, read on for some of the most popular travel tech novelties. Tripinview.com Find the beach of your dreams Tripinview.com is a site that features 200.000 aerial photos and 120 hourslong high definition videos of the Greek coastline. Its goal is to help travelers choose their ideal vacation destination from the 15.000kms of coastline featured. After discovering the beach of their dreams, users can also find information about nearby hotels and other places of interest. Tripinview’s helicopter flew over Italy and Spain during the summer and the company’s future goal is to cover the entire of the European Mediterranean.

Dopios Insider’s information Dopios, which means local in Greek, is a community marketplace that connects travelers and locals around the world in order to offer tailor made travel experiences curated by locals. In less than 2 years, Dopios has added more than 2.500 locals to its databases, spanning 337 cities in 81 countries. Featured activities range from a history tour around the Acropolis to shopping in Portobello market and from practicing yoga in Playa del Carmen to shiking the gorge of Samaria in Crete. You can choose an arts lover, a foodie or a night owl as your guide to the best of town or simply for mobile support on your phone while you travel. Incrediblue Boat rentals’ central Incrediblue is an award-winning community marketplace for boat rentals, connecting travelers with trusted boat owners in several countries across the world. Featuring a growing community of users and a wide range of boats, including sailing boats and motor yacht charters, Incrediblue offers worry-free vacation experiences to match any budget and need.

Dopios community helps travelers experience a genuine flavor of the destination visited. This view of Spetses is just one of the 200.000 aerial photos of Greek coastline to be found on Tripinview website.

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addresses

Locish Do as the locals Locish is a Q&A mobile app that enables users to ask like-minded people for real-time recommendations about where to eat, drink and have fun. Each response is specific to the user’s individual inquiry and matched to their personal preferences. Locish helps travelers “do as the Romans”, by giving them a digital insider’s perspective to the city they are visiting. You can also ask for a recommendation from Locish on twitter simply by using the #AskLocish hashtag. Since the application's relaunch this May, Loconauts in Athens, New York and San Fransisco have exchanged more than 4.000 recommendations about 3.000 cafes, bars, clubs and restaurants. 

The founders of Locish, an app that allows you to seek realtime recommendations from locals while you travel.

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Adidas by Stella McCartney: www.adidas.com Antik Batik: www.net-a-porter.com Apriati: 3 Stadiou Street, Syntagma Square, Athens, 10563, Greece, Tel. +30 210 3229183 9 Pentelis Street &Mitropoleos Street, Athens, 10563, Greece, Tel.& Fax +30 210 3229020 29 Pindarou Street, Kolonaki, 10673, Greece, Tel +30 210 3607878 Matogianni, Mykonos Town, Greece CavoTagoo Hotel, Mykonos Greece 54 rue du Four, Paris, 75006, France, Tel +33 (0) 42221542 Neumarkt 24, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland, +41 43 244 88 33 www.apriati.com Aquazzura: www.net-a-porter.com Attica: 9 Panepistimiou street, Athens, tel. 2111802600, 37A Kifissias Ave., Μarousi, tel. 211 181400 Burberry: www.burberry.com Carven: wwww.carven.com Chanel: www.chanel.com Chloe: www.chloe.com Chopard Boutique: Stadiou&Voukourestiou Street Athens - Greece T: +30 210 3250555 Christian Louboutin: www.christianlouboutin.com Balenciaga: www.balenciaga.com Diane Von Furstenberg: www.dvf.com Donna Karan: www.net-a-porter.com Franck Muller Boutique: Voukourestiou21 ,Athens, T: +30 210 3628003 8, Rue Kolokotroni 14561 Kifissia T: +30 210 8015400 E-mail: kassis@ hol.gr Enoplon Dynameon St rTria Pigadia 84600 Mykonos Greece T: +30 228 9022 922 E-mail: kassis@hol.gr FolliFollie: www.follifollie.com Garmin: www.garmin.gr Digital Tracer Electronics SA 10 Poseidonos Av. Alimos 17455 Greece Tel. +302109840144 Givenchy: www.givenchy.com H&M: www.hm.com Hugo Boss Stores: Athens BOSS Store 19 Amerikis Str. Kolonaki Phone 210 3389080 BOSS Shop Attica at Golden Hall, Marousi Phone 211 1814322 Kifissia BOSS Store 15 Kyriazi Str. Phone 210 8011503 Glyfada BOSS Store 20 Lazaraki Str. Phone 210 8986378 Heraclion Crete BOSS Store 6 Daidalou Str. Tel. 2810 241047 Kassis Cvstos: Athenaeum Intercontinental Hotel, tel. 210 3628003, 8 Kolokotroni street, Kifissia, Westin, Astir Beach Resort Vouliagmeni, Mykonos, www. kassis.net Lacoste: Matogianni Mykonos, 22890/22609, 22727 A. Metaxa 31 Glyfada, 210/8982204, 8982205 Iroon Politechniou 31 Peiraias, 210/4226085, 4226084 Golden Hall, 210/6899728 Τhe Mall Athens, 210/6300040,

6300041 Mediterranian Cosmos Marousi, 2310/ 474480 Lisa Marie Fernandez: www.lisamariefernandez.com Luxottica: LeoforosAnthousas 3, Pallini, T: +30 210 3310601 Maison Michel: www.michel-paris.com Marc by Marc Jacobs: www.net-a-porter.com Marco Bicego: www.marcobicego.com T: +30 210 3310601 Marni: www.marni.com MCM Boutique: 2, Xanthou Str. &Anagnostopoulou Str., Kolonaki, Athens, Tel. +30 210 7225910 Email: store.athens@ mcmworldwide.com Paul Smith: www.mrporter.com PUMA: PUMA EXCLUSIVE STORES Peristeri, Kifisou Avenue 86-88, Tel: 210-5758450 Piraeus, Gregoriou Labraki 138, Tel: 210-4224606 Kifisia,Kifisias Avenue 242 & Panagitsas, Tel: 210-8085828 Ptolemaida, Vasilissis Sofias 4, Tel: 24630-54078 PUMA CORNER STORES Syntagma, Attica, Panepistimiou Str. 9, Tel: 211-1802600 Rag and Bone: www.ragandbone.com Rick Owens: www.mrporter.com RoksandaIlincic: www.net-a-porter.com Safilo Hellas: 1 Alimountosstr& 563 Vouliagmenis Ave Ilioupoli, 16341 Athens Greece, T: +30 210 5322566 Sebago: Attica Citylink T: +30 211 1802789 Attica Golden Hall T: +30 211 1814341 www.sebago.gr Tommy Hilfiger: Marousi "Golden Hall" 37A Kifissias Av., Τ. +30 210 6837898 Marousi "The Mall Athens" 35 A. Papandreou, T. +30 210 6109490, T. +30 210 6195576 Glyfada 14 Ag.Metaxa St., Τ. +30 210 9681276 Ag. Dimitrios "Metro Mall" 276 Vouliagmenis Av., Τ. +30 210 9764900 Shop-In-Shop Tommy Hilfiger Athens Attica Panepistimiou St., Τ. +30 211 1802630 (6 Shop-in-Shop) Attica Golden Hall 37A Kifissias Av., Τ. +30 2111814000 (4 Shop-in-Shop) McArthur Glen Designer Outlet Athens Block Ε71 Gialou Spata, Gialou region 3 klm north of Palini, exit16 of Attika road, Τ. +30 210 6638008 Factory Outlet Faliro 76Ν Pireosst., N. Faliro, Τ. +30 210 4812904 Valentino: wwww.valentino.com Wolford: Wolford Boutique Athens 20 Kanari Str, 10674 Athens Greece T: +30 210 3632353 Wolford Boutique Kifisia Shopping Land 1, KolokotroniStr 14562 Kifisia GreeceT: +30 210 8016340 Wolford Boutique Marousi Golden Hall 1st floor - 37A, Kifisias Ave 15123 Marousi GreeceT: +30 210 6855218 Zimmerman: www.zimmermanwear.com

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life pleasures By Niki Mitarea

Around Spetses with a fork

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Tarsanas “Soupiada”: finely chopped cuttlefish, fresh tomatoes and garlic with fragrant basil.

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Tarsanas

With the sweet colours of the sunset on the horizon, the caiques slicing through the sea and the aroma of ouzo tantalising your appetite, Tarsanas fish restaurant is the ideal summer spot. In this relaxing environment, looking across the Old Harbour, you can’t help but be in a good mood. Let’s take things from the top. Minas Kaloskamis, a Spetsiot born and bred, decided to reclaim the fish his family’s fishing boats were catching to sell, and instead serve them at his

Photo: Panagiotis Mayromattis

Patralis

" What did you use to eat in Spetses? " When finding about the island’s culinary heritage, who better to ask than Argyris Patralis? Along with his brother Nikos, they are the fourth generation of their family at the helm of the island’s oldest fish-taverna, Patralis. His answer is succinct: “Kakavia (bouillabaisse) and fish a la Spetsiota.” Theirs is a story that dates back to 1935, when fisherman ‘Barba’ (Uncle) Panos used to serve up whatever fish he had just caught to eager diners in the small cobbled courtyard of his grocery. Time and tides drifted by to 1972, when the courtyard was transformed into a beautiful salon, hugging the small bay known as Kyra Leni, with views across the endless blue. The menu is also blue – the sky-blue and white of the Greek flag – and it takes you on a culinary journey through traditional tastes and seasonal dishes. The focus is on the net caught fresh fish. The kakavia is skilfully cooked, letting its fine ingredients do the talking. It’s one of those soups that you reminisce about, the delicious tang

own restaurant. And so, 26 years ago, Tarsanas was born. Minas’ vision and passion are shared by his wife Vivi, who holds the reins in the family’s kitchen. “We always have fresh fish from our caiques, and our own stand on the island’s fish market,” he says. No detail here is left to chance, with the restaurant’s impeccably-set white tables, the pristine white gravel, and the polite service. The culinary journey begins with octopus, perfectly cooked with fresh tomato and wine lingering on the palate to lure you back for more, again and again. The fish a la Spetsiota is similarly memorable – a generous hunk of Greater Amberjack cooked with onions, fresh tomato, garlic, wine and olive oil, every mouthful of which is truly scrumptious. Mouth-watering crimson shrimps are cooked with the merest touch of ouzo, which blends perfectly with their fresh sea smack for a provocative combination of flavours. Chef Christos Kritsidimas faithfully follows in the culinary steps of Vassilis Patralis, who presided over the restaurant’s kitchen for 40 years. One of the most distinguished dishes is the fragrant mussel pilaf, beautifully cooked with a homemade feel. Foreigners succumb to the charms of the olive oil-based summer vegetable dishes – stuffed tomatoes, aubergines imam and green beans. Meanwhile, the spoonsweets are homemade by Mama Pelagia, lovingly crafted with the skills that only an island housewife possesses, adding a sweet finale to the meal. Patralis, Kounoupitsa, Spetses. Tel 22980-75380 or 72134

sauce, a sophisticated dish that complements the island’s sea breeze. The Soupiada, with chopped cuttlefish, fresh tomato, a hint of garlic and fragrant basil, is well cooked by an experienced hand. Next to arrive on your table is a pot straight out of the oven. Inside, you find pasta, which you learn has been patiently handmade by nuns at the Monastery of All Saints, cooked in a seafood medley with mussels, octopus and shrimps. Flawless. With its homely taste of pasta, it is

a dish that could convince even those who are not wild about seafood to sink their forks into the pot again and again for one more try. Meanwhile, the grilled mullet is a masterpiece. It exudes the scents of the sea. Vivi, always with a warm smile, cooks with love. The sweet epilogue is cinnamon halva, the likes of which you have never tasted before, and a terrific baklava with a crunchy phyllo pastry from grandma’s recipe book. You leave with a joyful smile. Tarsanas, Old Harbour, tel: 22980 73490

Patralis

Freshly caught shrimp makes for a delicious lunch!

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life pleasures To nero tis Agapis The taste of the sea in each mouthful: fresh limpets and “Throumbili”. Delectable Octopus Carpaccio.

To Nero tis Agapis

Legend has it that the prince drank water from this well in an attempt to extinguish the flame of his love for a beautiful girl who he’d seen swimming in the waters of Kounoupitsa. Thus, the restaurant featuring the legendary well at its entrance is aptly named “The Water of Love” (Το νερό της Αγάπης). Hospitable owner Minas Kaloskamis, born and raised on Spetses, proudly welcomes you

into his stylish restaurant. The scenery is magical. Wooden decking and an enticing balcony embraced by the waves set a romantic mood. The menu is Mediterranean, with an emphasis on fresh seafood. Chef Tassos Boufis serves dishes with a creative touch, so beautifully presented that they manage to tempt your gaze from the mesmerising seascape beyond. An octopus carpaccio with green olives, Florina red peppers and fragrant throubi herbs lands on your table: an exquisite

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Bikini

sizeable, and comes with a fragrant tomato and basil sauce, al dente pasta and an assortment of sea shells on the top. Served in tea-spoons, the limpets and local seasnails called throubili are the height of simplicity and freshness. Surrender yourself to the authentic, unembellished flavours. In his restaurant’s kitchen, Minas Kaloskamis honours the fruits of the sea and the fresh vegetables grown in his garden. Here, you will be happy! The Water of Love (Το νερό της Αγάπης), tel: 2298074009

A charming veranda that embraces the sea, where white wrought iron juxtaposes against the sky’s deep blue. Mix and match on the waves. Bikini is tasteful and gleeful, with great music and inspired cocktails. An interior ‘dressed’ in pebbles, a big bar and a comfortable space where you can spin to the rhythms of the DJ. What more could you want for your holidays? You take in the idyllic landscape while sipping on your Bikini Zone cocktail, skilfully prepared by bartender Konstantinos Stefanakis, and accompanied by an interesting selection of eats prepared by chef and owner Christos Fasseas. After culinary studies in the USA, Christo went on to master Italian cuisine and has worked in numerous restaurants both abroad and in Greece. You can discover the skills of this cheerful and hospitable chef in a very tasty tuna tartar with

avocado, a savoury salmon tartar served on crispy Japanese seaweed, or an exquisite smoked eel that is deliciously combined with yoghurt and sweet-and-sour cucumber. Delicate tastes and great food styling. Try the cheese and cold cuts platter to discover the explosive aroma and taste of pecorino with truffle or pear, and the similarly pungent cacciatore salami uplifted with honey, white truffle or wild blackcurrant jam. Before you leave this playful bar, have a spoonful of salted caramel ice cream or lime sorbet, for a sweet ending to a beautiful evening. Bikini, Old Harbour, tel: 22980-74888

Bikini

A great sunset cocktail.

combination of colour and flavours. The tuna carpaccio is served in a shell, its appearance as impressive as its velvet taste. Ronaldo’s love for this dish, which he chose when he visited the restaurant, is completely understandable. Next in line is the mullet, served with a clear fennel sauce. Wet your lips with a sip of cool white wine, a meeting of aromas with the mullet, while also unravelling the pungent ribbons of fennel in your mouth. The Fisherman’s spaghetti is satisfyingly

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life pleasures

Poseidonion Grand Hotel Pork fillet with fresh tagliatelle and yoghurt.

On the Verandah

A hundred-year-old history magically unfurls at the Poseidonion Grand Hotel and its elegant restaurant On the Verandah. Regal and unique, the exquisite beauty of this belle époque jewel wraps you in a joyful veil of luxury. Seated in a comfortable armchair on the restaurant’s veranda, I close my eyes and dream of its glorious times. It’s almost as if I can hear the music from the luminous functions, and the heels of Athenian high-society ladies, tapping to the rhythm of a waltz. There is an aura of aristocracy. You take it in greedily as you let yourself be cajoled by the polite waiters, who treat you as if you were their only customer. Turning my focus to the present, I look through the menu of traditional Greek cuisine with modern touches, courtesy of chef Yorgos Papaioannou, and my eye is caught by the entry ‘The Green Beans’. This simple title doesn’t do justice to this complementary composition of flavours and freshness. The beans are full of life, harmoniously combined with marinated courgettes, cherry tomatoes and countless leaves of fragrant spearmint. You will wish that this delicious journey through the much-envied kitchen garden of the restaurant never ends. The entire summer in one dish. Next up was the grilled squid, bathed in a warm lemon and olive oil dressing, and resting on a salad of crushed chickpeas

and chives. You can feel the taste vibrating through the delicate chords of your existence. And then there is the grilled pork fillet, on ribbons of fresh pappardelle, with a wild mushroom sauce that gently tickles your nose. A touch of cool yoghurt bestows the necessary lightness to the dish. Finally, you bow sweetly at the sight of the deconstructed galaktoboureko, perfumed with saffron crocus and crispy honey-glazed phyllo layers. Congratulations! On the Verandah, Poseidonion Grand Hotel, Dapia, tel 22980 74553

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Orloff

Seated on the comfortable terrace of Orloff’s restaurant, with its white marble tables, red geraniums and the sparkling blue of the sea beyond, your mind wanders. You can’t help but be charmed by the post-Byzantine building of 1802 – where the island’s first Port Authority was housed – which has been the home of Orloff restaurant since 1991. That Christos Orloff has taste and passion is evident right

from the start, from the decor, setting, the painted menus created by English painter David Webber, and the cornucopia of fresh ingredients bursting out of his kitchen. The marinated fresh tuna fillet served with fresh green salad and cherry tomatoes is exhilarating, while the white fish roe salad, perfectly sour with a velvety texture, even impressed one of the greatest legends of international cuisine, Michel Roux, when he tasted it. The moussaka is

innovative and exuberant, made with a ragout of octopus, potatoes and light frothy béchamel. Unique culinary tricks! The chef, Kostas Stavrou, cooks with cheer and great skill. You can tell by the way the barley tastes, cooked with fresh prawns, tomato and just a touch of truffle oil. It’s a dish overflowing with taste. The menu explores the pathways of Greek cuisine, with the chef using Greek elements as a tool for creative research. You can taste that from

the first bite of honeyglazed tenderloin that has been slowly cooked in beer and enthroned upon a smoked aubergine ‘heart’. The playful touches of this dish are the golden ‘straw’ fries, crunchy and chopped to the size of a matchstick. Finally, the lemons that grow in abundance on the island presented the chef with the idea to bake a fragrant lemon pie, which will sweetly ‘seal’ the dinner. Orloff, Old Harbour, tel: 22980 7525 

Orloff Chef Kostas Staurou creates a beautiful dish of pork fillet served on a bed of smoked aubergine and hay-like fried potatoes.

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1. By helicopter is perhaps the most enviable, but a high-speed ferry is the best in terms of minimizing your carbon footprint without making the journey too long or uncomfortable. Correct answer: B 2. Walking -and biking- are not only the healthiest, but also the most nature-friendly ways for sightseeing. Taking a horse-drawn carriage is acceptable as a traditional means of transportation, but automobiles are not allowed on Spetses island, with a few exceptions for some local vehicles. If you choose to rent a moped, please do not forget your good manners towards pedestrians! Correct answer: B 3. Plastic bottles account for most rubbish created during travel - even more so when travelling to warm places in the summer. If possible, try to buy or bring along a reusable drinking bottle. Correct answer: A 4. People are 70% less likely to worry about saving water when on vacation and 40% less likely to turn off the lights when leaving a hotel room than when at home. Do your best to save water and energy and you will have earned your right to sneak some of those collectable toiletries into your suitcase. Correct answer: C 5. Changing your towels every day requires lots of water and electricity. You know the international code: leaving your towels on the floor means "wash", and hanging them means "I’ll reuse them". Do not indulge in requiring fresher towels than you do at home. Correct answer: A 6. It is good to prefer items made locally and with natural

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products but not when they end up being stashed in a drawer. Buy things that you'll be able to use or consume back home: anything from local herbs to Salty Bag handbags made from upcycled sails. Correct answer: D 7. Even though bringing your own towels and toiletries does help limit use of water, energy and plastic, vacation use of cameras accounts for buying and disposing of several billions of dry-cell batteries. Remember to pack your rechargeable batteries and charger. Limiting use of telecommunications is not as much of a green travel concern as it is a means to ensure that you will recharge your own batteries. Correct answer: C 8. The 3% caused by air travel might look like a small figure but it is more than all automobile travel combined. Correct answer: B 9. The further you travel, the more gas you use and the more CO2 emissions you produce. Choosing destinations that are closer to home is the best way to make your vacation greener. Correct answer: D 10. Copenhagen, European Green Capital 2014, boasts The Crowne Plaza Towers, a hotel which obtains all its energy from alternative sources, has organic decomposing toilets and a gym that produces electricity. It is worth noting that Greece has progressed significantly in terms of sustainable tourism practices during the last two decades and that an increasing number of hotels have earned their Green Key, or equivalent certification. Correct answer: C

Answers 3. Most rubbish generated during travel comes from..? A. plastic bottles B. paper C. plastic bags D. product packaging

5. What's the greenest choice you can make while staying at a hotel? A. reuse your towels B. avoid room service C. bring your own toiletries D. turn off the air-conditioning

4. Which of the following do people tend to waste more of when travelling than when at home? A. food B. toiletries C. water D. electricity

6. What is the greenest souvenir you can buy? A. souvenirs that don't weigh too much B. souvenirs made with natural products C. souvenirs produced locally D. souvenirs that are useful

2. Which is the best way to see the sights? A. bike B. walk C. automobile D. horse buggy

life pleasures

1. Which is the eco-friendly way to reach Spetses island? A. car B. high-speed ferry C. helicopter D. long-distance bus

How much do you know about sustainable tourism? How concerned are you about your travel footprint? What are the simple things you can do to green up your vacation in Spetses’? Take our green quiz to find out!

10. Which country boasts the greenest hotel in the world? A. Switzerland B. United States C. Denmark D. Greece 9. What's the single best thing you can do to keep your vacation green? A. don't buy any souvenirs B. don't eat at fast-food restaurants C. take an eco tour D. stay close to home 8. What percentage of total global carbon emissions is caused by air travel? A. 1% B. 3% C. 6% D. 12% 7. Which is the smallest big-impact change you can make to green up your travel? A. bring your own towels and toiletries B. avoid buying food on the go C. use rechargeable batteries D. limit use of mobile devices

Green up your travel!

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SHOPPING LIST

Scoot and Ride!

The Scooterise company specialises in sustainable mobility products and services. Scoot around Athens (or indeed Spetses) on one of their unique electric Trikkes for a feel good about the environment vibe combined by a thrilling riding experience. "Sweat less, see more" was our motto for the day, as we sped across the city of Athens! www.scooterise.com

Travel Essentials

Known for the high quality and unique design of its products, Rimowa presented its vast variety of luggages, laptop and beauty cases, at New Hotel Art Lounge in the center of Athens. With 11 different collections- Salsa, Salsa Air, Salsa Deluxe, Bolero, Limbo, Bossa Nova, Attaché Pilot, Topas, Topas Titanium, Topas Stealth & Classic Flight-, Rimowa’s products have become must-haves for frequent travellers and trendsetters who like to travel in style. Rimowa: Golden Hall, 37A Kifisias Av., Marousi, 210 6858664.

Athenian Chic

Athenian landmarks and stylish creations are the two key elements of Folli Follie’s new campaign for Fall/Winter 2014-15. The international lifestyle accessory brand has chosen the city of Athens as the background its newest collection of jewelry, watches and accessories, which are famous for their unique design. A stylish journey through FolliFollie’s fascinating creations and breath taking views of the Athenian landscape. www.follifollie.com.

The New Power Tool

Originally pioneered by a team of Seattle based engineers, Clarisonic combines proprietary technology with a revolutionary vision to redefine skin care. Millions of enthusiastic consumers have added

this innovative skin cleansing solution to their beauty regime. Day and night, our skin is subject to oil, perspiration, debris, makeup and environmental pollutants, resulting many times in a sticky stubborn pore clogging film that can make the skin look unhealthty and dull. With a patented technology

of sonic frequency to drive between 300 to 350 movements per second, skin is immediately transformed in texture and appearance. A plus – we get a surge of power with the gadget in our bathroom! Εxclusively available at Sephora. www.facebook. com/clarisonicgreece

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Volvo Ocean Race

Meet the Hilfigers

The essence of femininity

With famous lingerie and swimwear brands, the new Magnolia Grace boutique has opened its doors at the center of Kifisia. In the welcoming and atmosphere of Magnolia Grace boutique, one can choose between classic and contemporary styles from brands like Wolford, Basmar, Emar, Miss Emar and Pluto Nightwear. This new space is decorated with the subtle tones of the magnolia flower, a symbol of femininity, beauty and youth.

Get ‘Polarized’

The new line of Polaroid sunglasses and lenses where presented at a specially designed space, at the Dock of Flisvos in June. Visitors were able to try the ‘polarization’ experience, and to try on the new styles of Polaroid eyewear. The Polarized lenses are especially designed to protect against the harmful UV4OO rays, while providing perfect vision and style. Polaroid sunglasses are manufactured and distributed by the Safilo Group.

The preppy heritage of Tommy Hilfiger is emphasized in the brand’s new global campaign for Fall 2014, called “La vie en rope”. The all-American Hilfiger family travels to lake Tahoe, where Nevada and California meet, this time accompanied by a Saint Bernard called Buck. High- peak parkas, snowlines of shearling, blazers and bungee ropes, along with shirt dresses, leather jackets and boots, are the main characteristics of Tommy Hilfiger’s new line for Fall, while the famous red, white and blue logo has also been revised.

The Toughest Sailing Race in the World

We can't wait for October 4th when the 2014/2015 Volvo Ocean race will begin in Alicanteand end on June 27, 2015 in Gothenburg. With a record number of 11 ports in 11 different countries the Volvo Ocean Race has earned its reputation as the most challenging, dangerous and thrilling sailing race in the world with huge changes in temperature to endure and some incredibly complex weather patterns to negotiate, while the teams perform a truly global circumnavigation. Although we wish the best of luck to all the teams, we are routing for the first all-women team in a decade to participate in the race, who are pitted against Volvo Ocean Race veterans and first time rookies. Bold and experienced sailors from China, America, the Netherlands, Abu Dhabi and Spain will gather to face the most grueling of sailing race of all times. www.volvooceanrace.com

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carnet de voyage By Paris Kormaris

Dance rituals Since 1995, Kalamata boasts of an annual International Dance Festival which attracts in the capital and central port of Messenia, in the Peloponnese, a multinational audience. This year, the city’s Archaeological Museum also focuses on dance with the exhibition “Mythical Dances of Messenia”, which presents relevant antiquities in dialogue with the modern dancing culture. Ancient objects from several archaeological sites of the region are displayed along with archival photographs and video recordings, showing that dance and music remain inextricably linked through the ages, as an expression of inner human needs. * Through September 30, 2014 – www.archmusmes.gr

Courtesy of the 38th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities.

Above: A view of the exhibition’s third section, focusing on Kalamata as the “City of Dance”. Below: Students of the Municipal Dance School of Kalamata in “Lux Aeterna”, a dance performance created by the school’s director, Katerina Kasioumi, especially for the exhibition.

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Tel : 210 9249824 Athenaeum Intercontinental Hotel - Kifisia, Kolokotroni 8 - Westin, Astir Palace Beach Resort Vouliagmeni - Mykonos Info@kassis.net - www.kassis.net