The 28th Athens Fun Run on May 15th

The City of Athens and its Youth and Sport Organisation (ONA) will stage the 28th Athens Fun Run, the biggest mass sporting event organised at local government level and a city institution, on Sunday, May 15, 2011, at 10:00, with athletes ready to depart from the Panathenian (Kalimarmaro) Stadium.

This year’s Athens Fun Run is dedicated to the Special Olympics World Summer Games Athens 2011 and aims to spread a message of participation, brotherhood, social solidarity and the acceptance of individuals with special skills who will take part in the Fun Run.

Tourists prefer Rhodes

Tourist arrivals at the airport of the Aegean island of Rhodes increased by 132 percent last month, compared to the corresponding month in 2010, according to data announced by the Civil Aviation Service.

Tourists arriving in Rhodes with charter flights amounted to 67,692, while during the same month last year they had totalled 42,495. The increase in April was in the region of 132.54 percent, a percentage that was surely unexpected despite optimism over the development of the month's movement.

Last month services of the Civil Aviation Service had recorded the movements of 945 aircraft, while last year the corresponding figure was 436 and in 2009 558.

The increased tourist movement in April is due to a certain degree to the fact that this year the Orthodox and Catholic Easter coincided, while also contributing to this development was the continuing unrest in countries in North Africa that turned European tourists to safer countries.

Source: http://www.athensnews.gr

Why we must eat like Greek…

Greek researchers offered fresh evidence of the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, reporting in a large study that it helps improve several risk factors linked to diabetes, obesity and heart disease.

The Mediterranean diet is high in monounsaturated fats such as olive oil and also relies heavily on whole-grain cereals, fruits and vegetables, fish and low consumption of animal fats. It has been shown in numerous studies and clinical trials to reduce mortality from such causes as cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Experts believe the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits of the foods associated with the diet confer health benefits across a variety of diseases.

In a new analysis that pooled findings from 50 different studies involving a total of more than 500,000 patients, researchers led by Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos of Harakopio University, Athens, found the diet had beneficial effects against five components of a prediabetic condition called the metabolic syndrome. The analysis found that adherence to a Mediterranean diet was associated with a 31% reduction in risk of developing the syndrome.

The constellation of components of metabolic syndrome include waist circumference over 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women, abnormally high blood pressure and blood sugar, very low levels of HDL or good cholesterol and high levels of blood fats called triglycerides. Abnormalities in these risk factors are widespread among the growing numbers of people who are obese or overweight or have diabetes.

Heart experts and public-health officials believe effective approaches to helping people shrink their waistlines and achieve normal blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels would help reduce the devastating toll of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The new study, published online Monday by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, is consistent with other findings of the protective benefit of the Mediterranean diet.

Elizabeth Jackson, a cardiologist at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, said the study suggests that "when people are able to make improvements through diet, they are preventing the need in the future to go on medication" to control blood pressure and other risk factors. If doctors make more effort "to counsel patients on what a general healthy-eating diet is like, we can get a lot of bang for the buck," she added.

There were some limitations to the findings. For one, the benefit against the metabolic syndrome was found mostly in studies conducted in Mediterranean countries, and not in countries outside of that region.

Dr. Jackson said different designs of the underlying studies and the duration of follow-up could have influenced the results. She said, for instance, that U.S. studies, including the big Nurses Health Study at Harvard Medical School, have demonstrated the benefits of the diet in a U.S. population.

The results also reflect changes in recent years in how cardiologists look at the effect of diet on heart risk. For years, heart experts were focused on low-fat diets, but "we've really shifted our focus to thinking about other components," Dr. Jackson said. Research into the Mediterranean diet reflects how dietary fiber can affect measures like triglycerides.

Source: http://europe.wsj.com/home-page

Patras Carnival in Greece ...

Patras Carnival in Greece ...

A few days has left before the largest cultural institution in the country during the winter, the Patras Carnival 2011 goes to the end.

The best carnival in Greece and one of the most famous in Europe, which every year attracts and "stealing" their impressions. Satire, and strong caustic humor, combined with unchanged inspiration of Patras citizens, create a unique image. Approximately 40,000 to assemble the two carnival parades of the last big weekend of Carnival, which dance and entertain until the early hours.

One of the innovations of the Carnival is the Bourboulia. Dance is considered one of the oldest events of Carnival and started according to scholars of the history of Carnival just after the completion of construction of the Municipal Theatre "Apollo" by Ernst Ziller, around 1872.

The peculiarity of this dance, whose name means nothing more than boiled meat, bite snack, food on foot (one and when they started dancing was not prepared ... and it was handy as snacks), continues to this day to move and causing dozens of surprises. The Bourboulia are dances where men are not disguised, while women remain anonymous under a black tile and a black mask.

Apart from Bourboulia should mention the floats manufactured by craftsmen and Patras is really amazing. But this year there is another innovation in Patras Carnival. For the first time in history, the queen of the carnival will be black. A motion was made by the Municipality of Patras and has received many comments.

Georgia V.

Patras Carnival 2011

Patras Carnival 2011

The Patras Carnival is starting. The start of great celebration took place ten days ago and now all the inhabitants of the Achaean capital, moving to carnival rhythms. In fact a world first prototype for the Patras Carnival is the Internet interface based modeling channel (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002022074970&sk=wall) which will be broadcast worldwide and disseminate news, events and historical evidence of the Carnival. In the coming days is expected to be operational even while in terms of the Carnival events are evolving day by day. The festival events include parties, exhibitions, theatrical performances, film screenings, the game's hidden treasure. On 27 February will be held the kids carnival with the big parade, and on 6 March with the parade of big involving more than 40,000 Patras and visitors from around the world will end the Patras Carnival 2011. For more information visit www.carnivalpatras.gr.

Most popular destinations in Greece

Some unexpected places as well as many of the usual suspects are among the most popular tourist destinations in Greece, according to the results of a vote on the awarding of tourist prizes that took place on Thursday night in the framework of the Philoxenia exhibition, in Thessaloniki.

Following a vote held through the website of Helexpo's exhibition agency, the five most popular seaside Greek destinations for 2010 are Samos, Crete, Lefkada, Santorini and Halkidiki.

The preferred mountain destinations are Old Agios Athanasios Pellas, Zagorohoria, Mount Olympus, Parnassos and Pilion.

The five most popular cities are Nafplio, Athens, Volos, Thessaloniki and Ioannina.

The competition takes place for the fifth consecutive year and the awarding of the prizes was carried out after Philoxenia's inauguration ceremony by Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Yeroulanos.

Source: www.athensnews.gr

Mykonos voted Best European Island in Conde Nast Traveler awards

The Greek island of Mykonos once again topped the list of best islands in Europe in the annual Conde Nast Traveler magazine awards for the year 2010.

Mykonos won the Reader's Choice Award for Best European Island for the seventh consecutive year, and the award was presented to deputy culture and tourism minister George Nikitiadis on Wednesday night during a special ceremony at the London World Travel Market international exhibition.

Source: www.athensnews.gr