3...2...1...liftoff! (Let's go!)

We're just about ready to take off now!  We are so excited to see all of you in Greece...and I think we can promise each of you an unforgettable trip.


To hopefully make things just a bit easier, we've assembled this "to-go kit", which includes the following:

• Schedule of events

• Phone numbers 

• Greek phrase list (though there will be plenty of English-speakers, it's always nice to have this handy)

• Maps of Mytilene and Pamfila, with important locations marked

• Directions to the Grammatas house in Pamfila (for the pie-cutting)

• Directions from the Church to the Hotel Loriet (reception venue)

You can download and print the to-go kit here.


See you soon!

Mosquitos in Lesvos

Mosquitos in Lesvos during the summer month is a common thing, however some years are more than others.

An intresting fact, is that mosquitos are born in watery places, so the more water and moisture there is the more mosquitos there are. This year we had a lot of rain to the island and that resulted to have much more mosquitos to other year

For that reason we would highly recomend that you bring repellant, or buy some when you get there!

Basic Travel Greek

Friends,

Very soon will be the time for all of us to be at the beutiful island of Lesvos for our wedding!

We are thrilled to see you there!

80% of the Greeks talks English! So that ensures that you can get buy and have fun just with the use of English.

However as part of traveling the world is experiencing the different cultures, and part of that is trying to talk some basic words in the native languange. For this reason we provide you 3 short videos, one table with basic greek words and more resources for you to spent some fun time to familiarize yourself with tha languange and ideally learn something ;)

One thing is for sure that even if you say one word like "Yassou" which means hi, the greeks will love you 100 times more and get super exited and will enhanse your travel experience!

Enjoy!










Additional words:

Efharisto = Thank you Parakalo = Your Welcome Milate Anglika? = Do you speak English? Milate Yermanika? = Do you speak German? Then katalaveno = I don't understand Pos se lene? = What is your name? Me lene ... = My name is ... Apo pou eisai? = Where are you from? Eimai apo Anglia = I am from England Thelo ena kafe = I want a coffee Thelo ena tsai = I want a tea Thelo mia mpira = I want a beer Thelo ena poto = I want a drink Thelo ena thomatio = I want a room Ehete thomatio? = Do you have a room? ya mia mera = for one day ya thio meres = for two days ya mia vthomatha = for one week ya thio vthomathes = for two weeks

Poso kanei? = How much is it? Poso hrostao = How much do I owe? Logariasmo parakalo = The bill, please. Mporo na bgalo mia fotografia? = May I take a photo? Ela = Come Fiye = Go away! (fi as in fish, ye as in yellow) Ise omorfi = you are beautiful M' areseis = I like you S' agapo = I love you M' agapas? = Do you love me? Agapi mou = My love, Darling Filise me = kiss me Fili = kiss Filos / F ili = friend (male) / (female). Pay attention to the small difference from "kiss". Eho filo = I have a boyfriend Eimai pantremeni = I am married (female)

Other sources:
http://www.greece.org/gr-lessons/gr-english/tourists.html
http://www.agni.gr/learn_greek/learn_greek_online.asp

Athens To See & Do

Okay Athens is Great in all its meaning. It is wonderful to explore it. It is worth it to buy a travel guide or download one for your phone.  Here I will provide you with a small list of things to see within 2 or 3 days:

Parthenon & Museum

That should be priority 1. It is the Parthenon!

I would give 1 full day for this activity, as there are various historical places around Parthenon that you should see as part of the visit. In addition if you really want to know about the history hire a travel guide these are money well spent and they are not expensive.

As part of you ticket to the Parthenon you will gain access to numerous (over 10) other archeological places in Athens, it is a great way to explore Athens by visiting them if time allows.

After you visit the Parthenon make sure you stop to the new Museum of Parthenon, which is in my opinion one of the best Archeological museum world wide. The collection is outstanding, the way they display the collection is amazing and the architecture outstanding. No exaggeration. Make sure you have at least 4 hours to drift.

So in the begining I said 1 day for the Parthenon, and thats true if you see thinks relatively fast and are there for 12 hours. Ideally you would do two visits.

Plaka / Thisio / Psiri / Monastiraki

From the Parthenon in a radius of 1km north there is all the atmosphere of the old and new Greece, enjoy by drifting around the streets.

• Plaka, is the old athens build under the parthenon walk around the streets to have some "retsina" at one of the numerous tavernas.
• Thisio, is the area on the back of the Parthenon, and you can walk there straight from the Parthenon. It is a pretty walk. Thisio is great to see the sunset and see the sun fading away from the Parthenon. Many coffe places and tavernas to eat.
• Psiri, it used to be one of the infamous areas of Athens but now is one of the most vibrant and hype ones. It is quite magnificent how many bars, coffee places and tavernas there are per square meter.
• Monastiraki, is a very touristic assortment of streets with a lot of small retailers and various merchandising. You can find nice small gifts to keep your Athens memory alive. Its a very distinctive place and worths walking.

Kavouri

Few tourists will go there, mostly locals. It is a very picturesque beach with a small castle in the see, sandy beach, bars and wonderful views of the Athenian coastline. It is a great reason to go and have a swim and by doing so see a different aspect of the town and its beauty.

Sounio

Cape Sounio is far from Athens town it is 2 hours drive or 2 to 2:30h with the bus. If you do not rent a car, take the bus or you can arrange a day trip with a travel agent.

So what is there? As you can see above it is a temple, and this is the Poseidon temple! Which in my opinion is the most cool of all the Gods. In addition the view there is magnificent as you can tell.  Another bonus of going there is that you will see all the coastline of Athens, and that is something that you will love, great ride!

The above activities will take you 2 days minimum to do. There are so much more to see in Athens and for that reason is highly recommended that you take a good travel guide.

I highly recomend this TripAdvisor mobile app, it has many walks that are very good, I used it for Barcelona and was awesome!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g189400-d644888-Reviews-Athens_Walking_Tours-Athens_Attica.html

Geia sas!

Mytilini Resources

Here I provide you some good resources / travel guides for Mytilini:

• http://www.lesvos.com/index.html
• http://www.lesvosgreece.gr/
• http://www.lesvosisland.gr/en/
• http://www.lesvosisland.com/Home/483/default.ecms
• http://www.lesvos-travel.com/
• http://www.travel-to-lesvos.com/

And here some of the Islands reach History as seen in Wikepidia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesbos

History

View of the Roman aqueduct.

In the days of Sappho by John William Godward (1904).

According to Classical Greek mythology, Lesbos was the patron god of the island. Macar was reputedly the first king whose many "daughters" bequeathed their names to some of the present larger towns. In Classical myth his "sister", Canace, was killed to have him made king. The place names with female origins are likely to be much earlier settlements named after local goddesses, who were replaced by gods. Homer refers to the island as "Macaros edos", the seat of Macar. Hittite records from the Late Bronze Age name the island Lazpa and must have considered its population significant enough to allow the Hittites to "borrow their gods" (presumably idols) to cure their king when the local gods were not forthcoming. It is believed that emigrants from mainland Greece, mainly from Thessaly, entered the island in theLate Bronze Age and bequeathed it with the Aeolic dialect of the Greek language, whose written form survives in the poems of Sappho, amongst others.

The abundant gray pottery ware found on the island and the worship of Cybele, the great mother-goddess of Anatolia, suggest the cultural continuity of the population from Neolithic times. When the Persian kingCyrus defeated Croesus (546 BC) the Ionic Greek cities of Anatolia and the adjacent islands became Persian subjects and remained such until the Persians were defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis(480 BC). The island was governed by an oligarchy in archaic times, followed by quasi-democracy in classical times. For a short period it was a member of the Athenian confederacy, its apostasy from which is described in a stirring chapter of Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War. In Hellenistic times, the island belonged to various Successor kingdoms until 79 BC when it passed into Roman hands.

Map of Lesbos by Giacomo Franco (1597).

The entrance of Ipsalou Monastery.

During the Middle Ages it belonged to the Byzantine Empire. In 803, the Byzantine Empress Irene was exiled to Lesbos, forced to spin wool to support herself, and died there.

After the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) the island passed to the Latin Empire, but was reconquered by the Byzantines in 1247. In 1355, it was granted to the Genoese Gattilusi family for economic and political reasons. The island was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1462. It remained under Turkish rule, named Midilli in Turkish, until 1912 when it was taken by Greek forces during the First Balkan War. The cities of Mytilene and Mithymna have been bishoprics since the 5th century.

The oldest artifacts found on the island date to the Paleolithic period.^[3] Important archaeological sites on the island are the Neolithic cave of Kagiani, probably a refuge for shepherds, the Neolithic settlement ofChalakies, and the extensive habitation of Thermi (3000–1000 BC). The largest habitation is found in Lisvori (2800–1900 BC) part of which is submerged in shallow coastal waters. There are also several archaic, classical Greek and Roman remains. Vitruvius called the ancient city of Mytilene "magnificent and of good taste". Remnants of its medieval history are three impressive castles.

Lesbos is the birthplace of several famous persons. In archaic times, Arion developed the type of poem called dithyramb, the progenitor of tragedy, and Terpander invented the seven note musical scale for the lyre. Two of the nine lyric poets in the Ancient Greek canon, Alcaeus and Sappho, were from Lesbos. Phanias wrote history. The seminal artistic creativity of those times brings to mind the myth of Orpheus to whom Apollo gave a lyre and the Muses taught to play and sing. When Orpheus incurred the wrath of the god Dionysus he was dismembered by the Maenads and of his body parts his head and his lyre found their way to Lesbos where they have "remained" ever since. Pittacus was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. In classical times Hellanicus advanced historiography, Theophrastus, the father of botany, succeeded Aristotle as the head of the Lyceum. Aristotle and Epicurus lived there for some time, and it is there that Aristotle began systematic zoological investigations. In later times lived Theophanes, the historian of Pompey's campaigns, Longus wrote the famous novel Daphnis and Chloe, and much later the historian Doukas wrote the history of the early Ottoman Turks. In modern times the poet Odysseus Elytis, descendant of an old family of Lesbos received the Nobel Prize.