Following their Dreams, 16 Couples from China Get Married in Crete

Photo time at the Fortress,  Ancient Aptera, Chania, Crete

 Exchanging wedding vows - Ancient Aptera, Chania, Crete

Blue skies and beautiful weather - a wonderful omen - awaited 16 couples from China who chose the  historic and idyllic Ancient Aptera to exchange their wedding vows in Chania, Crete on Friday 25 April 2014.

 

The 16 couples arrived on the island on ANEK Lines' luxurious Elyros FerryBoat and got a taste of Crete's legendary hospitality from the moment they stepped on board. 

 Photo opportunity in front of ANEK Lines Elyros

 ANEK Lines - Traditional Cretan Weddings- Wedding Tourism

ANEK's management, headed by owner Yiannis Vardinogiannis, pulled out all the stops to make this unique event  truly memorable for the young couples, welcoming them as only Cretans can do, with traditonal music, dancing and lots of food! 

 

 Cretan Dancers welcome the Chinese couples on board the Elyros

           With ANEK Lines owner Yiannis Vardinoyiannis and Minister Olga Kefalogianni

It was a great opportunity for Greece's Minister of Tourism to promote Crete and Greece as an ideal destination and she did it beautifully! Minister Olga Kefalogianni, a Cretan herself - and a cousin of Yiannis Vardinogiannis - personally welcomed and toasted the first 16 couples to get married in Crete as part of the Chinese Rose Wedding scheme at the banquet on board the Elyros.

 With ANEK Lines owner Yiannis Vardinoyiannis and Minister Olga Kefalogianni

On Friday, followed by their families, the couples walked in a traditional Cretan wedding procession to the ceremony accompanied by music played by the island's famous Lyrarides (The Lyra players) and showered with rose petals and rice by the locals. The wedding ceremonies began with a welcome by local officials and  speeches by the Mayor of Chania, Manolis Skoulakis and Deputy Regional Director Apostolos Voulgarakis. After the exchange of rings, the drink of wine and blessings,  each couple was offered the traditional wedding honey and walnuts sweet and a white Cretan headscarf by the locals.

 

Rose Weddings: 16 Couples from China Marry in Crete
Photo Source: Haniotika Nea

We wish each of these couples a long, happy and blessed life together. 

Na zisete! 

Santorini and Mykonos play quite a large role in wedding tourism in Greece.

We look forward to seeing this sector which has so much potential in Greece expand and develop in the rest of the country too, providing much needed economic stimuli and resources.
Kai sta dika sas! 

Think about it! 

Do what these couples did.

Make your dream come true too.

Exchange your wedding vows in the most beautiful country in the world,

GREECE

Oh, and if you need a wedding dress, we have a Global Greek multi-award winning designer based in Athens whom we recommend highly! 

Just let us know!

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows! 

 © GlobalGreekWorld 2014 All Rights Reserved

20 Question Time... Global Greek Style: Conversation with Matt Barrett - Everyone's Favourite Greek Travel Adviser

His Hellenism gave him a purpose,
and every day he convinces people to visit Greece...

  20 Question Time... Global Greek Style

with Everyone's Favourite Global Greek Greek Travel Guru

 

 

Matt Barrett

one of our amazing Global Greeks
who shares his time between Greece and North Carolina and
took time out from writing about the beauty of Greece
to hold this conversation with us...

---

Hellenism is…

 A state of mind, not anything genetic

Did your Hellenism help get you where you are? How?

It gave me a purpose besides playing rock and roll

Being Greek: Best Part….

Going to Greece and feeling at home

Being Greek: Worst part….

I had hoped that by the age of 60 I would have stopped thinking about sex

Greeks who inspire(d) you…

Kazantzakis, 
Socrates (the man and the rock group), 
The Artist known as DEL, 
Savopoulos, 
Dino Nichols, 
Jimmi Quidd, 
Frank Zappa, 
Wayne Kramer

Greeks you like…

Most of them

Greeks you don’t like…

None in particular.

Your favourite Greek word…

Ipomoni

Your favourite Greek spot in the world…

Fokionos Negri

Your favourite Greek song…

Zembekiko by Savopoulos

Your favourite Greek meal… Who cooked it?

The katsiki lemonato at Rolando’s in Kea

Your favourite Greek book…

Zorba the Greek

Your happiest Greek memory….

The Olympics

Your saddest Greek memory…

Leaving during the forest fires

Global Greeks at the Nobels  - Who would you nominate? Why?

Ask me after the crisis

You meet the Prime Minister of Greece on the beach this summer…What would you tell him?

Forget about getting re-elected and the people you owe favors to and do the right thing.

You are the Prime Minister of Greece… for a week!

What three things would you do first? 

1. I would give the Athens mayor more power and separate the Athens police from the national police and clean up the city neighborhood by neighborhood, planting trees and pedestrianizing more and more streets. 
2. I would pursue a disarmament treaty with Turkey so both countries stop wasting money they don’t need on weapons they will never use.
3. I would invite successful Greek-Americans to come back and teach everyone how to run a business and a country.

You’re one of our several million Global Greeks who are Greece’s Ambassadors in the World. Public Diplomacy at its best!  Have you done something to help Greece today?

Today I convinced several people to go to Greece this summer and helped them decide where to go.

Who would you include in a ‘Global Greeks for Greece’ Dream Team? 

I don’t know. I am pretty much of an outsider. But I would probably include

Renos Haralambidis (filmmaker), 

Greg Pappas, 
Tom Mazarakis (Baseball coach in Athens), 
Costa Gavras (filmmaker), 
Wayne Kramer (MC5) and  
Giannis Antetokounmpo

And now for the best part… 
Create a picture of YOUR Greece … what would you put in it? 

Happy people working together to make things better for everyone.

Thank you Matt - Great Talking to you!
Ευχαριστούμε πολύ!

---

More about Matt

If you have ever surfed the internet looking for information about where to go and/or where to stay on your next trip to Greece, there is a 95% probability that you have come across valuable tips and pointers provided by one of our very talented and accomplished Global Greek Ambassadors in the World -  Matt Barrett  - via his very popular, detailed and user friendly Greek Travel and History Guides. 

Matt is a writer/photographer and founder of Matt Barrett's Greece Travel Guides at www.greecetravel.com, the Athens Survival Guide at www.athensguide.com and the History of Greece at www.ahistoryofgreece.com. He has spent his best and especially formative years in Greece where he attended Deree - The American College of Greece in Agia Paraskevi. His love for the country shines through like a beacon as he tries to make sure he has the best and latest available information for visitors on one of the first travel blogs to go online, in 1995. 

We consider the work Matt does of tremendous value and have featured his sites and his All my Friends from Greece video on our sidebar for a while now. With the amount of voluntary work he puts into promoting Greece and the great things our country can offer visitors, we strongly recommend that Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni offers Matt at least an honorary spot in her Ministry! It would surely be to Greece's benefit. 

Minister Kefalogianni, please note! 

Join Matt Barrett's Greece Travel Guides Group on Facebook

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows!

© GlobalGreekWorld 2009 - 2020 All Rights Reserved

Photo of the Day: Χριστός Ανέστη! Christ is Risen!

Το Άγιο Φώς - The Holy Flame, 

 lights up the world and sends out its own message 

of hope for peace and unity around the world

Χριστός Ανέστη εκ νεκρών, 

θανάτω θάνατον πατήσας 

και τοις εν τοις μνήμασιν, 

Ζωήν χαρισάμενος

----------

Christos Anesth ek nekron 

Thanato thanato patisas 

Kai tis en ths mnimasi 

Zoi xarisamenos 

 ---------

Christ is risen from the dead 

Crushing death with His death

Giving the gift of life

To all those lying in their tombs

 Easter is being celebrated throughout the Christian world today and as Holy Week, the most important week in the Orthodox Church, ends with today's Easter celebrations, it is wonderful to see our Global Greek Communities keeping the traditions alive wherever in the world we are.

To all our friends celebrating today

Χριστός Ανέστη!

 Καλό Πάσχα & Χρόνια Πολλά! 

Christos Anesti! 

Kalo Pascha & Chronia Polla

May the flame of the Resurrection keep  burning in our hearts

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows!

 © GlobalGreekWorld 2014 All Rights Reserved

Megalo Savvato - Holy Saturday: Don't Forget to break off Kyra Sarakosti's Seventh Leg

Lady Lent (Κυρά Σαρακοστή) 
is always depicted with 7 legs,

one for each of the 7 Saturdays of Great Lent.

Hands crossed in prayer, 
mouth sealed because she is fasting 

and bearing a cross because she is going to church,
Kyra Sarakosti is one of Greece's oldest traditions - 

made of paper or out of flour and water with plenty of salt to preserve her.

One leg is broken off each Saturday, 

starting on the Saturday after Kathara Deftera, 

while the last one comes off today, 

Megalo Savvato, 

the last, and strictest, fasting Saturday of Great Lent.

Once broken off, it is wrapped up and hidden in either 

the Easter bread or amongst dry figs and walnuts, 

and whoever finds it is considered very lucky. 

Happy breaking! 
Kali Anastasi! 
Καλή Ανάσταση!  

PS As you can see from our picture, 
we bought our Kyra Sarakosti from Hamogelo tou Paidiou, 
a Greek  children's charity which does amazing work for children.
Check out the Hamogelo tou Paidiou site
 to see how you can help it continue working 
so that no child is left underprivileged and mistreated.


At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows! 

 © GlobalGreekWorld 2014 All Rights Reserved

20 Question Time... Global Greek Style: Conversation with Olympic Composer John Psathas

His Hellenism pushed him to get where he is today 
and his Global Greeks for Greece Dream Team would be food-based...

John Psathas took time out from his very busy schedule to take part in our 
20 Question Time... Global Greek Style 

 

John Psathas

Wellington, New Zealand 

One of our very talented and accomplished Global Greek Ambassadors in the World
 Celebrated Athens 2004 Olympic composer, Professor of Music, 
New Zealand's busiest composer. 

John is in Greece at the moment to catch up with his family, take part in the Evmelia International Music Festival in Volos,  and record at Athens' Sierra Studios for the Greek and Armenian Genocide 100 year commemorations.

---

20 Question Time... Global Greek Style 

Hellenism is…
 A love of life.

Becoming brothers with a fellow Hellene in a matter of minutes.

Celebrating life through music, dance, and good company.

Self-confidence.

Did your Hellenism help get you where you are? How?

Yes. 

As a composer in New Zealand, my Hellenism pushed me beyond the more restrained Anglo-Saxon approach to music making and gave me the confidence to create more intense, hot-blooded music. This intensity, more than anything else, has underpinned my international career.

Being Greek: Best Part….

Family - Music - Food – Dialogue

Being Greek: Worst part….

Weight problems!

Greeks who inspire(d) you…

My Father.

Dalaras.

Kazantzakis.

Theodorakis.

Musicians I work with;

Sofia Labropoulou

Manos Achalinotopoulos

Petros Kourtis

Vagelis Karipis

Spiros Sinopoulos

Andreas Pappas 

Kostas Theodorakos

Greeks you like…

Greeks you don’t like…

Know-it-all’s who don’t stop talking

Your favourite Greek word…

Kali Orexi….

Your favourite Greek spot in the world…

The front porch of my parents house in Michaniona (photo below)

Your favourite Greek song…

Mana Mou Ellas (as sung by George Dalaras on the Xarhakos album the “Live at the Pallas”)

Your favourite Greek meal… Who cooked it?

Moussaka. 
My mother, who else?

Your favourite Greek book…

Zorba the Greek

Your happiest Greek memory….

Easter with my family in Michaniona
Opening ceremony of Athens2004
‘The New Zeibekiko’ concert in Auckland 2011 
(where 2500 New Zealanders were stomping for more encores from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Manos Achalinotopoulos and Petros Kourtis)

Your saddest Greek memory…

Saying goodbye to my family as I return to New Zealand (repeated many times)

Global Greeks at the Nobels  - Who would you nominate? Why?

You meet the Prime Minister of Greece on the beach this summer…What would you tell him?

I would be speechless, unable to put my thoughts and feelings into words…………..

You are the Prime Minister of Greece… for a week!

What three things would you do first? 

1.  Reduce Inequality
2. Eliminate corruption
3. Motivate the Greeks that are leaving in a new diaspora to want to stay and make Greece a better place for their descendants

That’s all!

You’re one of our several million Global Greeks who are Greece’s Ambassadors in the World. Public Diplomacy at its best!  Have you done something to help Greece today?

Yes. 
Organized recordings at Sierra studios with musicians listed above. These new recordings will be combined with video and shared worldwide to commemorate (in 2015) Genocides of 100 years ago, including our own and Armenia’s.

Who would you include in a ‘Global Greeks for Greece’ Dream Team?

It would be food-based;
 the best Greeks-of-the-kitchen (maker of the best moussaka, best stifatho, baklava, trigonakia, melitzanosalata…..
(this list is very long, should I continue….?)

And now for the best part… 
Create a picture of YOUR Greece … what would you put in it?

A modern society based on the best of what we have in us as Greeks;

compassion, strong family and community foundations, curiosity, creativity, and our beautiful love of life.

Thank you John - Great talking to you!
Ευχαριστούμε πολύ!

---

More about John Psathas

John’s Official Website

John Psathas at Wikipedia

John’s My Space

View from Olympus

John’s Music Videos on You Tube

Follow John  on Twitter

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows!

 © GlobalGreekWorld 2014 All Rights Reserved

Global Greek Yannis Simonides takes 'Socrates Now' Downunder: a MUST SEE!

Socrates Now is in New Zealand at last!

  

Yannis Simonides portrayal of one of Greece's most famous philosophers, Socrates, is a masterpiece!

Take a seat in the court of ancient Athens as Socrates goes on trial for his life. 

Hear the godfather of philosophy face his accusers with his trademark wit, cutting logic, and the courage of his ideals. 

Consider his arguments on virtue, justice, politics, civic duty, love of life and hope in death, and make your own judgment.

Engage in the post-performance "Socratic" discussion and opportunity to discuss your verdict with the actor.

Think.   Question.   Change. 

Socrates Now brings to life one of history's most famous trials, as reported by the great man's faithful student Plato, in the timeless classic The Apology of Socrates. 

Socrates does not apologise to his accusers, he defends himself with humour and wisdom-against false charges of not believing in the gods of the state and corrupting the Athenian youth, and against a guilty verdict and sentence to death.

Emmy Award winner Yannis Simonides channels the eccentric and magnetic personality of Socrates and offers a profoundly social, political, but above all human work which captivates the audience with its immediacy and simplicity.

The wisdom of the Ancient Greek philosopher is, in an ever-changing world, and in the search for a life of meaning, more relevant now than ever before.

As this amazing one-man act continues to captivate audiences in Greece and around the world year after year, Yannis Simonides brings his Elliniko Theatro to New Zealand after his successful and highly commended performances around Australia.

You can always see it close to home in Athens, but if you can't, we highly recommend you see it whenever it comes to a theatre near you, wherever in the world you are! 

 Yannis Simonides
A consummate actor,
A superb Socrates, 

a unique and mesmerising performance,

a chance in a lifetime! 

Don't miss it!

Greek New Zealand Film Maker Vicky Yiannoutsos,

one of the people who helped make it happen, 

 standing proudly in front of the Socrates Now New Zealand Tour poster.
When Vicky saw Socrates Now in Athens,
she made it her mission to get it to New Zealand ... and with a bit of help, she succeeded!

Don't miss your chance to see this unique performance if you are in New Zealand.

Scheduled Performances (in English)

Wellington

 James Cabaret (Greek Community Hall)

5th April 8 pm

7th April 1 pm 

 Palmerston North

 Massey University

9th April 12.30 pm

Auckland

Concert Chamber

 12th April 8pm 

Selwyn College

 14th April 11 am

 Check out the Socrates Now website 

and book your seats now!

Yannis Simonides

Born in Constantinople and raised in Athens, Yannis is a Yale Drama School trained actor/writer and Emmy winning producer. 

He was professor and chair of the NYU Tisch Drama Department, producer of GOTelecom and director of Hellenic Public Radio in New York. He is the founder and director of the Greek Theater Foundation (Elliniko Theatro) of the U.S.A. and Greece, now in its 35th successful year. 

His performance work ranges from Euripides to Shakespeare to pieces adapted from the writings of Cavafy, Makriyannis, and Gogol. Among his patrons are the National Endowment for the Arts, The Greek Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, The A. S. Onassis, Time Warner and Mobil Foundation.

Yannis has embodied the role of the great philosopher for Socrates Now  in 300 performances at theatres, festivals, schools, organisations and universities, in 15 countries. He has staged marathon audience-participation Readings- Celebrations of the Iliad and Odyssey at the Library of Alexandria, the Dahesh Museum and the 92nd Street Y in New York, and in Troy, Chios, Kos, Delos, Pylos, Malta, Sicily and Ithaca, at the Getty Villa in Malibu, at the Halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels and at the Hellenic Centre in London for the 2012 Olympic Games.

In 2009 Yannis Simonides was honoured by the city of Athens as Ambassador of Hellenism for his lifelong service to Greek culture worldwide. 

In 2012 he was invited to speak at TEDx ACADEMY  and in 2013 performed for the Ecumenical Patriarchate. 

 

I cannot teach anybody anything. 

I can only make them think.

Socrates

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows! 

 © GlobalGreekWorld 2014 All Rights Reserved