I have been seeing a lot of excitement on the Greece tourism scene. Changes are happening at all levels.

Recently the Tourism Development Minister for the national government announced an “accelerated” program to create a 35 km bike and pedestrian way next to the sea starting at the Faliro stadium (edge of Microlimani at Pireaus) South to the upscale resort of Varkiza, that includes the length of Glyfada – thus a “grande esplanade”.

This is on top of the Greek National Tourism Organization approving 22 conference centers, two golf courses, a ski resort and eight thalassotherapy (sea water) spas over the past two years.

I have previously written about the deregulation of the ferry business. I need to write more about all the new direct flights from the USA and on to Greece. There is even talk of customer service training for employees in the hospitality industry—that flies in the face of tradition.

I got the biggest laugh, however, from an announcement by the KKE, Greece’s largest far left political party. They claimed that employees in hotels and the tourist industry were required to work "in galley-like conditions for pitiful wages." Over my years traveling in Greece I have seen a lot of employees. With one exception I have seen none over worked or in substandard conditions; the one exception are those who operate the gyros cookers in the summer—that is hot!

The KKE has also extended human rights to include “the right of working-class families to go on vacation”. What they want is the government(taxpayers) to pay for resort hotels and the like. Of course, we do that now for pensioners so low-income voters may not be far behind.

The news reports came from Athens News Agency.

One reason I haven't blogged lately is because I have been over at Squidoo having fun. Squidoo is hard to define; mainly it is an internet community where it is quick and easy to set up web pages on any subject you want--and free, of course.

Take a look and browse around starting with their home page.

If you decide to join, please use THIS LINK so that I get credit.

One of the pages that I just created is to solicit comments and votes for your favourite Greek island.
Do your duty. Vote!

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Yesterday was Clean Monday. Also known as Pure Monday and Ash Monday, although the Orthodox do not administer ashes as the Catholics do. It is the first day of Lent and the first day of 40 days of fasting for the devout.




Popularly here in Greece it is considered the first day of Spring and is a national holiday. Most offices and stores are closed and the bakeries only sell a traditional flat bread. The main meal is done picnic style and it is the one day of the year for kyte flying.

How many kytes can you see in my photo. There were at least a dozen in the sky, but I couldn't capture them all.






The wind was light and unsteady; crashes were plentiful.









But our friend Sity from Holland knew what she was doing.

For more information about Greece see our full service Paros web site.

Did you readers outside of Greece see the news reports about a new study showing that napping at least three times per week for at least an half-hour was associated with a significantly decreased risk of death from heart disease?

The study involved more than 23,000 Greeks aged 20-86. You may not know it but part of the Greek culture, especially in the islands and especially in summer, is to have a quiet time or siesta from about 3 P.M. to about 6 P.M. Karin and I have always honored this but rather than sleeping we usually go to the beach in the summer or take a walk in the winter. Then we usually go to bed at night much earlier then most Greeks. Now with this study maybe we too will start napping; that sounds like a good way to stay healthy to me.
From NEW YORK(ANA-MPA / P. Panagiotou)

Update: 28 Feb 07 This is from the New Scientist Newsletter:

WHILE YOU SLUMBER, YOUR BRAIN IS PUTTING THE WORLD IN ORDER
Ever wondered why sleeping on a problem works? It seems that as well as strengthening our memories, sleep also helps us to extract themes and rules from the masses of information we soak up during the day.
Bob Stickgold from Harvard Medical School and his colleagues found that people were better able to recall lists of related words after a night's sleep than after the same time spent awake during the day. They also found it easier to recollect themes that the words had in common - forgetting around 25 per cent more themes after a waking rest. "We're not just stabilising memories during sleep," says Stickgold. "We're extracting the meaning."

Staying home in bed may keep us from getting run over by a truck as well. In the same news report the European Union’s statistical office announced that the three regions with the most victims from traffic accidents are in Greece. This is based on fatalities per number of registered vehicles. Our southern Aegean region is in sixth place. I know Greeks can be reckless drivers but I didn’t think it was that bad. Maybe it is due to another Greek trait of avoiding taxes by not registering vehicles; maybe it includes boats?

Why travel to Paros, Greece to work on your project? The House of Literature in Lefkes lists many advantages but let me first provide some background.

The Greek island of Paros has long been a haven for artists of all types. I am not referring to the ancient Greek sculptors using the famous Parian marble or one of the first Greek poets, Archelogos, who lived here. I mean since the 1960’s when modern tourism was born on the Greek islands. Many visitors with an artistic temperament fell in love with the light, the air, the cheap living and ended up staying.

Now Paros has a thriving art community of expatriates as well as Greeks. Most visible are the many oil painters and sculptors that have studios and galleries throughout the island as well as in the two main towns Parikia and Naoussa. Local and visiting artists alike love the picturesque mountain village of Lefkes. I have written before that when walking its narrow streets it is impossible to contort yourself to not see a painting or photograph composition.

For the last two years this delightful village has been the home of the House of Literature. This former hotel is a joint project between the Municipality of Paros in their effort to advance cultural tourism and the European Translation Centre for effecting a closer contact between Greek and foreign literatures. They have created an oasis of ideal working conditions for writers and translators, including sleeping rooms, a sitting-room, fully equipped kitchen and dinning-room, desktop computers and library.

More important, I think, is the tranquility of Lefkes. This out-of-the-main-stream island town is relatively quiet even in high season. Yet never more than a 30 minute drive (1 hour by bus) from anywhere else on the island—busy or quiet beaches, busy towns or quiet villages, antiquities, museums, windsurfing, all that a Greek isle has to offer. One can even walk the Byzantine Trail from Lefkes to a coastal village. Simply, there is no limit to both inspiration and distraction.

Now for the amazing part! Full use of this facility for up to two weeks is as low as 50 Euros per person, if you meet the criteria. In other words if you are an EU citizen and a published writer or translator—non EU persons pay a little bit more. Non-writing companions are allowed. The application is quite brief and costs nothing. I believe there are many open dates.

So why try to write with the distractions of home or the full cost of a resort when you can travel to our piece of paradise on Paros and work in serenity or be distracted by the Greek island culture?

For further information about travel to Paros or Greece see our full service Paros web site.


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The following story caught our interest because over the past few weeks all of our neighbors have been pruning their olive trees. This news must not have reached them, however. They have either been feeding the leaves and twigs to their sheep and goats or burning them. Maybe we should go stand in the smoke or buy some meat from them.

Olive Leaf Frenzy Strikes Greece
"A nationwide media frenzy in Greece over the alleged cancer-fighting properties of fresh olive leaves mashed and mixed with water has stripped trees of their leaves and put prices for a package of olive leaves in the stratosphere, with some stores charging up to 50 Euro a kilo. " Read More By Traci deRegula of Greece for Visitors

This next entry falls under the weird category. We appreciate people coming to Greece for all reasons, BUT why spend the money on airfare when you can "get hammered" at home? Rhodes, Corfu, Ios and other Greek islands do have quite the party reputation. Paros is relatively tame, I guess. Of course how would I know--though I have seen young people coming home at dawn on the very few occassions that I have been up and out at that time of the morning.

Let Joe Go to Greece to Get Hammered With His Friends Fund!
This is a not(really)-for-profit fund attempting to further the life experience of a one Joe. He wants more than anything in the world to travel to Rhodes, Greece with his old friends to participate in their drunken senior trip merriment. Unfortunately he is not made of money and is a poor college student. He needs our help...
read more digg story

By popular request -- Thanks for the comment, Nick! --I am posting a couple of our most recent photos. Both taken by Karin in January 2007.

Webshots! Over 20 MILLION FREE screen saver
and wallpaper photos!

Sometimes things get a little slow around here. We usually do one or two jigsaw puzzles a year. Somewhat of a Christmas tradition in our family. This year there was no time when we were in Oregon, but there is plentiful time here on Paros. I will say, though, we find artist's brush strokes much more difficult than photographs.

Read more about our expat lifestyle on our full service Paros web site.

While we are on the subject of work at home on the beach, or how to live and work abroad let's look an example of a Mexican dentist and his expat partner.

Every year we receive enquiries from people looking to escape from their hectic, high maintenance life styles and relocate to the slow pace of a sunny island. The big question, however, is how to pay for it. No one over 20 wants to live in a grass shack with no running water and plentiful running bugs. Most peoples' set of skills will pay for a summer season of fun, whether it is setting up a barber shop on the beach or the more typical waiting tables at a bar. It is the long, slow off season that requires some sort of off-island income.

I recently ran accross this site which should bring hope to dentists everywhere. --Doctors too, I read where medical travel is one of the fastest growing segments.

Is this ancient Paros symbol now a wireless antenna?


Last year I noticed a small news article that wireless broadband access would be brought to Parikia center. I thought at the time "I'll believe it when I see it." So I was very pleasantly surprised this morning when I read an announcement in Paros Life that already Parikia and Naoussa, our two largest towns, had full coverage and the rest of the island, including our Aliki would be following.

"The speed is currently 2 Mbps with plans to eventually upgrade the whole system further to speeds of 4 Mbps and later 16 Mbps and to set up additional aerials to expand the hotspot areas to gradually cover other parts of the island including Lefkes, Kostos, Golden Beach, Aliki and other areas. "

This is such terrific news. Currently our broadband access is either DSL over a land line or very expensive cell phone broadband. Of course, I don't know how expensive the wireless will be but based on the fact that the local government is a sponsor I am sure it won't be too expensive. Certain services such as tourist information is supposed to be free, also free VOIP using Skype.

So this will not only make internet life so much better for the current residents, I think it will usher in a whole new era of work-at-home or in our case "work at the beach" e-commerce entrepreneurs. (That link is to one of several posts that I have already written on the subject.) Next month a friend from England who does computer programming and web site development is moving to Paros to run an internet cafe and scuba equipment rental during the season. Of course, the fact that he is marrying a Greek girl may have something to do with it.

I have also posted before about setting up a wedding planning business, maybe I ought to add relocation planning. Or I could expand my Paros workshops to include work at home internet business.

But I have a problem. Moving my laptop away from the phone plug and out to the veranda or occasionally over to the village taverna will require some sort of sun screen to reduce the glare. Does anyone have any suggestions? Please comment.

Read more about our Paros lifestyle on our full service Paros web site.