Where to eat seafood in Athens – best kept secret!

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A the risk of appearing to spend all my time in Athens going out for dinner, I do have to share this latest one with you – not new, but so well hidden you might not know it.  Psariston, on Kalavriton 16, Neo Iraklio   www.psariston.gr

The name is a pun on Psari – which means fish, and Ariston, which is ancient Greek for the Best, which I would say is a very good name that hits the nail on the head.

A dazzling variety of  fish, crustaceans, molluscs, shellfish with astonishing names, sea-urchins, all fresh and prepared with light, and simple sauces – lemon and mustard, tomato and oregano, wine and onion, in a deeply cool, laid back  and rather retro taverna, in a run-down area of Athens, that was full even on a rainy Wednesday evening in October. Live music from a couple of guys with bouzoukia, old songs were sung and a couple of diners got up and danced the lovely old introspective solo dances that Greeks do when the spirit or wine moves them, I took a video but I am too technologically challenged to embed it – where is a child when you need one.

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4 Savvy Tips To Manage Your Holiday Cash

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Today’s guest blog is courtesy of David Abrahams, founder of Mytravelmoney.co.uk.  His tips might be useful for you:

I’m very grateful to the Five Star Greece team for inviting me to post on a topic that has become somewhat of an obsession. Around four years ago, I was holidaying around Europe & got totally ripped off on my travel money.  We’re talking horrific exchange rate galore & overcomplicated card charges. So, armed with an international management degree and vision to clean up foreign currency, I launched MyTravelMoney.co.uk.

In today’s post, I’ll aim to provide 4 key ways to maximize the value of your holiday cash. With a few simple steps, you’ll get the best euro exchange rates on your next trip to Greece.

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Eternal summer gilds them yet; Lord Byron’s guest blog

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Don Juan  Lord Byron’s greatest, last poem, is a rich seam of humour, wisdom, satire and lyricism – also travel writing;

“The isles of Greece! The isles of Greece

Where burning Sappho loved and sung,

Where grew the arts of war and peace,

Where Delos rose and Phoebus sprung!

Eternal summer gilds them yet,

But all , except their sun is set”

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Captain Corelli revisited

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The cool Greek Alpine Ski corps – complete with cigarette

“The real star of the film of course was Cephalonia itself,” said Susie Pugh Tasios, the producer of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin which I watched again last night. Susie died last year of cancer, and is dreadfully missed by her friends and family. I remember the gusto with which she spilled the beans about the crises of filming –  Nicholas Cage’s hairdresser dramas, getting the Greek airforce to send old planes over without alarming the Turks, the day all the extras walked out as the left-leaning ones objected to the role written for the left-wing Partisans, while the right -leaning ones objected to the left-leaning ones objecting.. I believe she drafted in Albanian workers who didn’t give a damn either way…

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Martha Graham Dance Company comes to Ithaca

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Errand into the Maze

Five Star Greece was proud to join the sponsors who brought Martha Graham to Ithaca, as part of the Return to Ithaca open air festival.

After a party the night before hosted at the grandest villa in Ithaca,  (yes, for rent through us,) the great day dawned wild and stormy. By nine o’clock in the evening, massive thunderhead clouds were piled up over the mountain opposite, partly obscuring the stars,  “The gods of the wind danced with us,” as the director  said in her introduction,  and the inhabitants of Ithaca, some lucky yachters, a couple of tonnes of Greek shipowners, Athens artists and a contingent from New York’s dance scene were treated to a magical evening, probably unlike any other Martha Graham evening ever before…. Apart from anything else, there were no tickets and the evening was free for anyone who wanted to come.

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Koufonisia and Schinoussa – the Lesser Cyclades.

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Koufonisia and the Lesser Cyclades

Koufonisia is really the playground of the islands;  no need for a car, you can walk from one end to the other in 40 minutes easily, and if you take the coastal path, you can stop and swim in a different little beach every 50 metres, and have a drink, a fresh fish or a salad in a little taverna or cute beach shack every 100 metres. So really, I told you a big lie there;  it takes all day to get from one end to the other.

My big problem here is that everyone thinks I photoshop the colours. I don’t.  That is the colour of the water.

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Sifnos the Siren

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My trip to Sifnos was to look at villas  that Evi had seen but not me. Well, any excuse really to hire a fire – engine red,  open-top jeep, head for the islands in their May magic,  and delay returning to London…

Sifnos is a wonderful island that really showcases the best of the Cyclades in a completely genuine way. Sifniots have always been famed as excelling in whatever they do –  cooking, ceramics, farming, sailing, fishing, embroidering,  the Scots of Greece but with better food,  (Sifnos provided most of the chefs to the Sublime Porte and the Pashaliks during the Ottoman occupation),  and a much better climate. Funnily enough, the mountainous landscapes cut with blue bays and dotted with white crofters cottages do bring the Highlands to mind – but as I said, with better food and sunshine, and water you can actually swim in without going blue and  numb and shrivelling up and dying.

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The problem with the new Amanzoe hotel

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The real problem with the Amanzoe hotel in the Argolid hills near Porto Heli, the huge elephant  in the room, the glaring flaw that no-one wants to mention, is that it renders you completely incapable of dealing with the outside world, unfit for anything that has not been filtered through the prism of Aman sensibility, training and  polishing.

In the Aman world,  lofty halls and soaring columns reflect in pools of cool water, artfully placed cypresses wave gently across the sky, the breakfast eggs have been hand-picked by  Chef Boutsalis from Mr Paschalis’ chicken coop in the farm in nearby Fourni,  mountain tea has been spiked with cardamom and herbs from the mountain behind,  and lavender, thyme, cystus and white oleanders bloom quietly on all roof tops and path verges.  Angels glide around silently, dispensing chilled towels, cold drinks, and smiles, yoga mats in the yoga platform  are placed to face the wonderful views. 

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