Fact: Ouzo is Greek. So is tsipouro.

The English-language daily Kathimerini reports that Greece secures rights to ouzo
Ouzo and tsipouro are to be recognized as Greek products by the European Union and will be regarded as drinks that can only be produced in Greece, Agriculture Minister Evangelos Bassiakos said yesterday.
Following an EU meeting of agriculture ministers in Brussels, Bassiakos said that the [...]

Fact: Three Greek Books

Book One: Greece: Splendours of Ancient Greece 
by Furio Durando
Ancient Greece was the cradle of western civilization; its influence reverberates today in almost every sphere of life, from philosophy and politics to literature and art. This volume explores in almost 400 stunning colour photographs the best of its architecture, paintings, sculptures and brilliantly sophisticated pottery and [...]

Fact: Greek Sport Newspapers

Greek football league update: Olympiakos lost to Atromitos on Sunday, but remains 5 points ahead of arch-rival Panathinaikos, reports the International Herald Tribune.
The Greek sport newspapers show a prostrate Olympiakos and a hopeful Panathinaikos (they play AEK Monday and a victory will lessen Olympiakos’s lead. Something they could not do all last season.)

The Greek headline [...]

Fact: Quick update

European football champions, Greece, face major challenge to uphold title, says The Guardian.
Schoolkids revive ancient Greek culture with sheets and theatre masks. And have lots of fun, says Newsleader.com.
Moldova and Greece sign a tourism cooperation, to strengthen ties, increase tourism education and investment, says Travel Daily News.
A fisherman finds Aphrodite’s love den, says The Scotsman.com.
A [...]

Fact: Ancient Greek jokes still funny

Boston.com reports that the Franklin Performing Arts Company are presenting their version of Aristophanes’ classic comedy The Acharnians. While they’ve called it “Abrumpo’s Peace” the features the age-old silliness, slapstick, and “a slew of rather unusual togas.”
“It’s one of the oldest comedies still around. It’s nearly 2,500 years old, but it’s still funny,” said Paone [...]

Fact: Greek Sport Newspapers

The Contra.gr pressroom gives a daily rundown of the Greek sport newspapers, headlines, first pages. Greek football (soccer) season has well and truly begun and the two arch-rivals Panathinaikos and Olympiakos are having to deal with their own past mistakes and gains. Panathinakos begins with a new coach, the Spaniard Victor Munoz. “The 49-year-old former [...]

Fiction: The priest, his car, my tears, and my embarrassment

I walked past the priest on Pendelis Street. He was unlocking a shiny black bug. I was down. Athens was already crushing me. I knew the city was dangerous. I already sensed the chaotic cadences and perilous passions. I was already scared. And yet, this fear I felt transformed me. Slowly, of course. At first [...]

Fact: City life in the Polis

A Greek city was once a polis.
A short history of the ancient Greek polis, thanks to Wikipedia.com:
The bounds of the ancient polis often centred around a citadel, called the acropolis, and would of necessity also have an agora (market) and typically one or more temples and a gymnasium. Note that many of a polis’ citizens would have lived [...]

Fact: Ancient Greek (mastic) beauty secret

Canada.com reports that Greek-Canadian Dia Scoufaras is selling beauty products – facial creams, shampoos, body lotions, soaps, 175 products in all at her Mastic Spa store in Quebec (other stores all over Greece and in New York)- based on an ingredient used by the Ancient Greeks: mastic. Mastic is a resin produced by trees naturally [...]

Fact: Ancient Greek hair and makeup

Did ancient Greek women prefer to wear their hair long or short? Did they adorn their heads with bands or diadems? Did they apply their make heavy or light? Some of the answers may be found here.
Discover how these ancient Greek ladies – * Artemis * Athena * Aphrodite * Cassandra * Demeter [...]