Transport Minister Kostas A. Karamanlis on Thursday announced the construction of a new metro station in the bohemian district of Exarchia in central Athens.
CITY LIFE
The life of Persons with Reduced Mobility (PRMs) in Greece is hampered by the lack of the necessary infrastructure, according to researchers at the University of the Aegean.
The Thessaloniki municipal authority is meeting Monday to discuss a tender for giving the northern port city’s iconic Aristotelous Square a much-needed facelift.
Crews of the Athens municipality have removed tons of trash since last March from more than 60 buildings that were under occupation by squatters or used as a hideout by petty thieves and drug users.
A large-scale operation by cleaning crews of the Athens municipality to remove smudges and graffiti from building walls, shop shutters, planters, marble columns and phone booths was completed on Tuesday on Ermou, the capital’s commercial high street.
Back at the beginning of March, few would have thought that terms like “restrictions,” “without friends,” “only at home” and “no hugs or kisses” would be a part of any discussion about the Christmas and New Year’s holidays this year.
Environment Minister Kostis Hatzidakis visits a dilapidated factory in Maroussi in northern Athens. There are 9,342 dilapidated buildings in 112 municipalities around the country that have been declared as such to the Environment Ministry so that they can be demolished. Of these, 2,800 are located in the municipality of Athens and about 1,500 on the northern Aegean island of Lemnos. The ministry has pledged to present its proposal for the demolition of dangerous buildings and the subsidy for the repair of listed buildings at the beginning of the new year. "We are preparing a legislative intervention, which, without affecting property rights, will facilitate the municipalities in terms of accelerating demolition where needed," the minister said, adding that special care would be taken to safeguard listed buildings. [Yiannis Liakos/InTime News]
A worker places an ornament on a Christmas tree on the illuminated Syntagma square, during the coronavirus disease pandemic, in Athens, Saturday. [Stelios Misinas/Reuters]
People who often walk in the garden of the Zappeion Mansion in downtown Athens know that they are always in good company, with the statues of great Greek benefactors, poets and philosophers.
The finishing touches are put to a Christmas tree in the Greek capital’s Omonia Square on Wednesday. Resisting the doom and gloom, Athens, Thessaloniki and other municipalities across the country are hoping to spread a spot of yuletide joy. In the capital, the municipal authority promises the brightest Christmas yet and plans to switch on the lights on its main tree, in Syntagma, this weekend. In hard-hit Thessaloniki, the municipality is preparing 5,500 care packages for people in need, as well as offering support to medical workers. Piraeus, meanwhile, promises to regale folks stuck at home with a big fireworks display on New Year’s. [InTime News]
Municipal crews have removed graffiti and paint from Athens’ Stadiou Street as part of a 20-day campaign to clean up the city center.
Saturday evenings and Sundays make you painfully aware that there’s a pandemic, as the center of Athens is like a desert landscape come Saturday afternoon.
People stand in front of a light installations called Moongarden at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, in Athens, on Wednesday, December 2, 2020. Greece announced it is extending it lockdown through Dec. 14 with government officials saying it is too early to say when schools and businesses will reopen due to continued pressure on the state-run health service, with intensive care wards near capacity in parts of the country. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]
The Parabolic Light Cloud installation by Peruvian Renzo B. Lariviere and Australian Simone Chua, founders of the amigo & amigo interactive lighting and design studio, illuminates the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens. The two artists created a spiral of a thousand lights, seeking to capture intense emotions such as love and sadness. The installation located in the Dome at the Labyrinth was illuminated on Tuesday together with the SNFCC’s impressive Christmas decorations and the other lighting installations and sculptures in the Park by leading international artists. [Nikos Karanikolas]
As part of the drive to introduce eco-friendly public transport, a second electric bus, which will be tested in Athens with passengers on board, was delivered to Attica's bus and trolley bus operator, OSY on Friday. As of Saturday and for two months, the Solaris Urbino 12 Electric demo bus will transport passengers free of charge between Pangrati and Kypseli. It belongs to the category of 12-meter low-floor buses, has three entrance doors, an electric ramp for the disabled and can carry 30 seated passengers. Transport Minister Kostas A. Karamanlis said two tenders for the purchase of new buses will be launched in the coming months. "A large number of the 1,300 new buses that we will receive with the planned tenders in Athens and Thessaloniki are expected to be electric." [Alexandros Vlachos/ANA-MPA]
Athens ranks very low in the Expat City Ranking 2020, published on Thursday by InterNations, the world’s largest expat community with around 4 million members.
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