Maximos Mansion in Athens

18 August 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Rakoon

© Rakoon

The Maximos Mansion has been the official seat of the Prime Minister of Greece since 1982. It is located in downtown Athens, Greece, near Syntagma Square. The building houses the offices of the Head of the Greek Government, but it is the residence of the Prime Minister. The Maximos Mansion is located at Herodes Atticus Street 19, next to the Presidential Mansion and the National Garden of Athens.   read more…

Antiparos in the Cyclades

8 February 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Castro architecture © Dimorsitanos/cc-by-sa-3.0

Castro architecture © Dimorsitanos/cc-by-sa-3.0

Antiparos is a small island in the southern Aegean, at the heart of the Cyclades, which is less than one nautical mile (1.9 km) from Paros, the port to which it is connected with a local ferry. Saliagos island is the most ancient settlement in the Cyclades, and Despotiko, an uninhabited island in the southwest of Antiparos, is a place of great archaeological importance.   read more…

Corinth Canal in Greece

20 September 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

© Nicholas Hartmann/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Nicholas Hartmann/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Corinth Canal is a canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland, arguably making the peninsula an island. The builders dug the canal through the Isthmus at sea level; no locks are employed. It is 6.4 kilometres (4 mi) in length and only 21.4 metres (70 ft) wide at its base, making it impassable for most modern ships. It now has little economic importance. The canal was initially proposed in classical times and a failed effort was made to build it in the 1st century CE. Construction started in 1881 but was hampered by geological and financial problems that bankrupted the original builders. It was completed in 1893 but, due to the canal’s narrowness, navigational problems and periodic closures to repair landslides from its steep walls, it failed to attract the level of traffic expected by its operators. It is now used mainly for tourist traffic.   read more…

Kalymnos in the southern Aegean

27 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Cruising near Pserimos © kallerna/cc-by-sa-3.0

Cruising near Pserimos © kallerna/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kalymnos is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese and is located to the west of the peninsula of Bodrum, between the islands of Kos (south, at a distance of 12 km (7 mi)) and Leros (north, at a distance of less than 2 km (1 mi)): the latter is linked to it through a series of islets. Kalymnos lies between two to five hours away by sea from Rhodes.   read more…

Symi in the southern Aegean

19 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Karelj/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Karelj/cc-by-sa-3.0

Symi is a Greek island and municipality. It is mountainous and includes the harbor town of Symi and its adjacent upper town Ano Symi, as well as several smaller localities, beaches, and areas of significance in history and mythology. Symi is part of the Rhodes regional unit. The shipbuilding and sponge industries were substantial on the island and, while at their peak near the end of the 19th century, the population reached 22,500. Symi’s main industry is now tourism and the population has declined to 2,500.   read more…

Mystras in Lakonia

23 September 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Mystras and Sparta plain © Bgabel/cc-by-sa-3.0

Mystras and Sparta plain © Bgabel/cc-by-sa-3.0

Mystras is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Sparti, of which it is a municipal unit. Situated on Mt. Taygetos, near ancient Sparta, it served as the capital of the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea in the 14th and 15th centuries, experiencing a period of prosperity and cultural flowering. The site remained inhabited throughout the Ottoman period, when it was mistaken by Western travellers for ancient Sparta. In the 1830s, it was abandoned and the new town of Sparti was built, approximately eight kilometres to the east.   read more…

Kalamata on the Messenian Gulf

21 September 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Kalamata's promenade © Pfloros/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kalamata’s promenade © Pfloros/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kalamata is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. The capital and chief port of the Messenia regional unit, it lies along the Nedon River at the head of the Messenian Gulf. Kalamata is renowned as the land of the Kalamatianos dance and of the Kalamata olives. In independent Greece, Kalamata became one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean sea. It is not surprising that the second-oldest Chamber of Commerce in the Mediterranean, after that of Marseille, exists in Kalamata.   read more…

Karytaina in the highlands of Arcadia

22 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Nochoje/cc-by-3.0

© Nochoje/cc-by-3.0

Karytaina is a village and a community in Arcadia. Karytaina is situated on a hill on the right bank of the river Alpheios, near its confluence with the Lousios. Karytaina is 54 km (34 mi) from the capital of Arcadia, Tripoli, 20 km (12 mi) from Megalopoli and 17 km (11 mi) from Stemnitsa, built on the slopes of the hill of Achreiovouni, some 550 m above sea level. The village dates back to the Middle Ages, but its history is unknown before the Crusader conquest ca. 1205. Karytaina became the seat of a barony under the Frankish Principality of Achaea, and the Castle of Karytaina was built in the mid-13th century on a steep rocky outcrop by Baron Geoffrey of Briel. The area returned to Byzantine control in 1320, and came under Ottoman control in 1460. After a brief period of Venetian rule (1687–1715), Karytaina returned to Ottoman control, and prospered as an administrative and commercial centre. Karytaina and its inhabitants were among the first to rise up during the Greek War of Independence of 1821–29. Today Karytaina is a protected traditional settlement and has, alongside the remains of its Frankish castle, several other medieval and Ottoman monuments.   read more…

NASA and ESA

12 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

NASA

© nasa.gov

© nasa.gov

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.   read more…

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