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Smartwings: New destinations in Greece

SmartWings offers two new regular flights from Prague to Greek island of Skiathos and from Ostrava to Mytilene.
Flights to Skiathos will operate two times per week on Tuesdays and Fridays, flights to Mytilene once per week on Sundays.
 

Ryanair Routes Between Greece and the UK

To and From Corfu "Ioannis Kapodistrias" International Airport (IATA Code: CFU):
  • Corfu (CFU) - Leeds/Bradford (LBA) - Start date Thu 29 Mar 2012
  • Corfu (CFU) - London Stansted (STN) - Start date Thur 1 March 2012
  • Corfu (CFU) - Glasgow Prestwick (PIK) TBA - New Route in 2012
 
To and From Kos International Airport (IATA Code: KGS):
  • Kos (KGS) - Leeds/Bradford (LBA) - Start date Wed 28 Mar 2012
  • Kos (KGS) - Liverpool (LPL) - Start date Sun 25 Mar 2012
 
To and From Rhodes Diagoras International Airport (IATA Code: RHO):
  • Rhodes (RHO) - Liverpool (LPL) - Start date Mon 26 March 2012
  • Rhodes (RHO) - London Stansted (STN) - Start date Tue 27 March 2012
 
To and from Thessaloniki, Macedonia International Airport (IATA Code: SKG)
  • Thessaloniki (SKG) - London Stansted (STN) - Flying Year round
 
Normally, Ryanair's Summer flight schedules to/from Crete and the rest of Greece end around the last week in October each year, depending on the days of operation.
www.britsincrete.net
 

British Library digitises Greek manuscripts

27/09/2010
The British Library has digitised over 100,000 pages of its Greek manuscripts and made them freely available online.
Digitised Manuscripts
The library was able to digitise, for the first time, over a quarter of its Greek collection (284 volumes) after receiving a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation - the international organisation offering grants in the areas of arts, culture, education, medicine, and social welfare.

The microsite - www.bl.uk/manuscripts - provides researchers with access to high quality digital images of a major part of the library’s Greek manuscripts collection, supported by enhanced metadata which enables users to search using key words.

The digitised materials provide witnesses of the rich culture of the Greek-speaking peoples from the time of the Iliad and Odyssey throughout the Hellenistic, early Christian, Byzantine and Ottoman eras and beyond. They are fundamental to understanding of the Classical and Byzantine world, according to British Library.

Mary Beard, professor of Classics, University of Cambridge, said: "The British Library has one of the world's great collections of Greek manuscripts. This is exactly what we have all hoped for from new technology, but so rarely get.

“It opens up a precious resource to anyone - from the specialist to the curious - anywhere in the world, for free. I'm looking forward to a new wave of fascinating and important work on this material, made possible by this new electronic open access."

British Library holds over 1000 Greek manuscripts, over 3000 Greek papyri and a comprehensive collection of early Greek printing, making the organisation one of the crucial centres outside Greece for the study of over 2000 years of Hellenic culture.

The Greek manuscripts contain rare and rich information for researchers working on the literature, history, science, religion, philosophy and art of the whole of the Eastern Mediterranean in the Classical and Byzantine periods.

Among the digitised materials is the Theodore Psalter- the highly illustrated manuscript produced in Constantinople in 1066. it is considered one of the greatest treasures of Byzantine manuscript production and of pivotal importance for the understanding of Byzantine art.

Other highlights in the website include Illuminated Gospels -a late 12th century gospel book which is rare because of its integration of images of Christ's life into the Gospels; Dialogues of Lucian - the oldest surviving manuscript of the works of second-century author Lucian; Babrius's fables- the manuscript that contains 123 Aesopic fables and was corrected by the great Byzantine scholar, Demetrius Triclinius; and Breviarium Historicum - a late 9th-century manuscript of the history of the Byzantine Empire from the death of emperor Maurice in 602 to 713.

Scot McKendrick, head of History and Classical Studies, British Library, said: “The website offers everyone, wherever they may be in the world, the opportunity to engage for the first time with over 100,000 pages of digitised manuscripts which provide direct insights into the rich written legacy of the Greeks of classical antiquity, Byzantine times, the Renaissance and beyond.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, which funded this project, has agreed to fund a second phase and the library will present a further 250 manuscripts in full in 2012.
 

Olympic Air and Sky Express at 9 arid lines

Olympic AirThe period from 1.06.2010 to 31.03.2012 at Olympic Air awarded the routes from Athens to Karpathos, Kythira, Ikaria Skiathos and vice versa.
At Sky Express awarded the lines: Athens - Lesvos - Chios - Samos - Rhodes
Alexandroupolis - Sitia
Aktio - Sitia
Athens - Skyros and Thesaloniki - Skyros.
 

Greece is the fourth most popular tourist destination in the EU for the year 2010

Greece is the fourth most popular tourist destination in the European Union for the year 2010, according to the EU Eurobarometer poll. The most popular tourist destination in the EU is Spain, followed by Italy and France. Responding to the question "where do you intend to go for holidays in 2010," 8.3 percent said Spain, 6.1 Italy, 5.8 France and 3.9 Greece.
According to Eurobarometer, in 2010, 76 percent of Greeks intend to take holidays in stay Greece while 2 percent intend to visit Italy and Germany.
Some 80% of Europeans continue to travel for their holidays according to a new Eurobarometer survey on ‘The attitudes of Europeans towards tourism 2010’. Only 20% of over 30,000 randomly selected citizens were almost certain that they will not travel in 2010, which is significantly below the proportion of non-travellers in 2009 (33%). EU citizens increasingly prefer to spend their holidays in traditional tourist destinations (57%), while 28% would rather go “off the beaten track” to emerging destinations. Tourism is one of Europe's most important service industries, accounting for 5% of Europe's GDP and 6% of employment.

(Source: ANA MPA) Invest in Greece; Europa; Balkans.Com
 

Promotion of Greek gastronomy

Greece should focus on promoting gastronomy as an additional tourism attraction in the next five years, by investing around 400,000 in marketing actions, the country’s Federation of Tourism Enterprises (SETE) said on Tuesday.
The plan was presented during a news conference as part of a SETE initiative to upgrade the quality and enriching the country’s portfolio in tourism services and products. SETE said a precondition to promoting Greek gastronomy abroad was including gastronomy in the portfolio of Greek tourism and adopting full employment of a group of professionals in the field.
SETE also called for the transformation of Hellenic Tourism Organisation to a marketing organization for Greek tourism.
 

Greece Tourism Report

Following a poor outturn for foreign tourist arrivals in 2008, the global downturn appears to have hit Greece’s tourism sector relatively hard in 2009. According to official figures, the number of tourists arriving at Greek airports fell by 8.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the first seven months of 2009. However, there was positive growth in the number of visitors to Athens in July. Data also show that destinations such as the Ionian island of Kefalonia were badly hit, with arrivals down by 24% y-o-y. In addition, there was a substantial fall in the number of tourists from Germany and the UK – Greece’s two most important source markets – to the island of Crete.
Read more...
 

Enthusiasm about Greece’s presence at the International Tourism Exhibition in Vienna

Indications about an increase this year in tourist traffic to Greece from Austria appear to be encouraging, following Greece’s successful participation in this year’s International Tourism Exhibition in Vienna. After a 4-month duration, the fair closed, having hosted some 147,000 visitors in the Austrian capital.
The large number of visitors is considered very positive, particularly in view of the ongoing repercussions of the global economic crisis and the cautious attitude taken by Austrians towards scheduling and booking their next vacations, as well as the general decline in the tourism market.
 

Greece at Vienna Tourism Fair

Greece will participate in the Vienna International Tourism Fair with an impressive stall of the Greek Tourism Organization (EOT) and various regional tourism organizations. The fair, which is expected to attract roughly 150,000 visitors, opens here on Thursday and will run until Sunday with the participation of hundreds of exhibitors from roughly 60 countries.
The Greek pavilion will host a number of events including meetings with reporters and tour operators, Greek music concerts, wine tasting and Greek cuisine presentations.
 

Greece in top 10 countries for 2010

From its just-published "Best in Travel" guidebook for 2010, based on the opinions of the well-traveled Lonely Planet staff, Greece is included in top 10 countries for 2010.
More specifically about Greece indicated that seldom does a travel destination really deliver on the claim that there's "something for everyone," but Greece truly does. From ancient ruins to idyllic beaches to serious partying, Greece will leave you clamoring for more.
 
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