Vancouver winter Olympics torch ceremony

The torch relay for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics got underway on October 22, with the sun’s rays igniting the flame during a brief break in the clouds at the ancient Olympic stadium.

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Greek text jewellery

Greek text on jewelry? A great idea particularly when the text is significant for us. Suggesting 2 silver rings available from Amazon! Please comment with your own suggestions if you have any of your own jewelry ideas to recommend to other readers.

(Clicking on images takes you to size details and ordering information)

For him:

Sterling Silver Greek "Pray Without Ceasing" Men's Ring by Bob Siemon

For her: Agape (love) ring by Bob Siemon - offered in female only sizing.

Bienvenue au Magasin des Bijoux Grecques en francaise!

Bienvenue au Magasin des Bijoux Grecques !

Nous sommes chaleureux parce que le mois dernier notre site a été peuplé enfin par des centaines spécimens de la bijouterie greque,d' une haute qualité , qui ne sont jamais vu sur Internet auparavant ! Ces articles ont été creés dans notre atelier qui s'est logé à Athènes depuis 1928. Notre vaste collection de bijoux grecques anciennes est une des plus grande disponible et notable pour sa solide et sa qualité raffinée en Grèce . C'était un grand projet, puisque il y avait des centaines de conceptions uniques qui couvraient une plénitude d'entités thématiques anciennes avec des articles spécialisés, mais qui n'étaient pas disponibles sur Internet. Beaucoup de nos clients par tout le monde, sont devenus aussi des amis grâce à leur enthousiasme et leur passion pour l'art ancien.On peut trouver la même passion dans la tradition de notre famille, et notamment en ce qui concerne la Grèce Ancienne et plutot les objets grecs anciens, Byzances, le Minoen et les bijoux de Mycenean. On aimerait que vous êtiez à l'aise sur notre site et n'hesitez pas nous contacter avec vos commentaires estimés, vos questions et vos opinions.

Beaucoup de catégories de Bijouterie (comme les bagues & les pendentifs) ont été déjà enricheés avec d'argent grec exquis et des conceptions en'or, presque tous fait à la main, et sont maintenant prêt à acheter en ligne. Cependant il y a plus d'articles pour commander que vous pouvez voir dans le Catalogue de Bagues Grecques et le le Catalogue de Pendentifs Grecs . Certains articles seront ajoutés dans notre magasin en ligne, seulement si vous les demandez, donc si vous êtes intéressé pour quelque objet / bijoux qui n'a pas énuméré pour l'achat, ne se gêne pas nous contacter et nous allons vous aider avec plaisir !

S'inscrivez à notre bulletin (au fond de la page) pour obtenir nos meuilleurs offres et traites de promotion et de plus, gagnez des cadeaux GRADUITS et des prix de concours. Et n'oubliez pas visiter notre gamme de bracelets et les séries qui présente un de nos spécialités internationales: la bijouterie de torc animale !

Si vous voulez, vous pouvez nous joindre en Twitter et Facebook!

Merci pour votre soutien et nous attendons avec impatience de vous aider prochainement !

The authentic Tzatziki recipe - Greek Cuisine

A customer from the United States who is also a friend,recently asked me what the REAL recipe for Greek Tzatziki is. When I first heard her question, I didn't understand her confusion - after all I thought that finding a recipe for Greek Tzatziki was relatively straight-forward on the internet. Right? Wrong.
Upon searching the net and sites like youtube I was MORTIFIED at the terribly wrong interpretations of the Tzatziki recipe by people who obviously had never been to Greece..
Some recipes included red-peppers and even feta-cheese (!!!) in the sauce.. which may be an interesting proposition.. but ask any Greek and they will tell you that it sure ain't tzatziki!!!
Here's a short video I found that shows the authentic traditional recipe. Nice and simple! - Enjoy!

New additions to our range! Hand woven heavy silver bracelets

We're still busy adding a multitude of items to our Greek Jewelry range, most designs of which have NEVER been available on the internet before!

These hand-woven sterling silver bracelets are some of the most exquisite pieces in our range.

Fore more details on size and prices please check the item links below.

	798 Hand Braided Silver Bracelet
	799 Hand Braided Silver Bracelet (M)
	800 Sterling Silver Hand Braided Bracelet

The visit of an Athenian to the New Acropolis museum

As a city-dweller of modern Athens who has been hearing about and awaited the new museum for decades, I did not chose to go in the first week of its opening but I have waited a while for just the right time. After all the initial opening reserved for politicians and lucky people with VIP passes, then came the heards of Athens socialites (class B that is, because they too couldn't get VIP passes), with curious citizens, and bewildered tourists. I say bewildered because unless you had the priviledge of the VIPs arriving in Limos, you would probably be walking out of the metro station and puzzled as to where the entrance is due to the lack of signs. So right now the hype is almost over, the gates have opened for a while now, the visitors know pretty much where it is and how to get there and it the time is right to look at the acropolis museum in more perspective. So I said 'I'ts time to pay a visit!' and what have the flavors been?

Well mine have been good and bad, although on the whole good.

I must say that on arrival, I too, fell for what seems to be the Museum joke or something. When you come out of the 'Acropolis metro station', you can't miss the sight of the huge building. However as you approach it, the question of 'How do I get in?' inevitably arrises. So after a few laps around the huge block and meeting other puzzled visitors with the same question, map in hand, you finally bump into the main gate and then you know you're there.

The management of the museum seems to have overcome alot of the old-school tattyness associated with all other previous ancient sites and museums around Greece and the public sector in general. That is, that the technology in ticketing upon entrance is upto date, the personnel actually have smily faces and don't grunt at you - (surpise huh?) the lighting, the presentation equipment, and even the gift shop is upto the 21st century - an amazement for all of us who remember the old Athens airport (LOL, true vintage) and who have painfully attatched in our minds the concept of travel and tourism in Greece with kitch ouzo bottles in various shapes, scary fridge magnets, and miniature perfume balms in hideous Greek-style vases. So if that's the idea you (justifiably) have of Greece, then prepare for something lightyears ahead.

To their credit, it is strikingly apparent that management have also made the extra-ordinary decision of charging a 1 euro entrance fee for the rest of 2009 and maintain extreemely reasonable prices in the food areas of the museum. Thus, a cup of esspresso is charged about 1.60 e, if I remember correctly, and this is probably the cheapest cup of coffee you'll find in Athens. Not bad, considering that the view up there is one of the best!

Roman and other ruins below the museum site. these are visible throughout the museum through glass floors.

Next to the main point, the sculptures, we have 2 main types hosted in the museum. The first is the freizes that originally decorated the upper fringe of the Parthenon (some are casts of the originals awaiting for their replacement with the originals, which were 'borrowed' by our humble european neighbours, the British, but lets not get into that). The amazing thing, I hadn't realized, even having heard so much about the museum, before getting the chance to actually go there, is that ithe top floor is designed to look like an enclosure of the actual Parthenon itself. What do I mean? Well, the decorative Parthenon marbles which are a fabulous unmatched work of sculpture showing an ancient procession in the 'panathenaia' festivities, which however maintain their excact relative position to the monument and are positioned such that you can walk around the life-size display/installation which is a rectangle, the size of the Parthenon itself. This sounds quite straightforward and an obvious way of presentation, however when seeing the actual Parthenon next to you, through the glass windows, with the same orientation (North,South) the result is senstional.

To the left the freizes in perfect parallel to the monument behind

The second type of marbles are 3-dimensional statues associated to or found the sacred hill of the Acropolis. (Unlike the ones mentionned above, which are relief engravings and not entirely 3D). These are the same ones as the ones previously hosted on the minute museum which used to be up on the acropolis hill. They're beautiful. They're sensational. The setting? hmmm average if you ask me. They have been scattered around a gigantic hall in order to resemble the way they may have been placed on the hill in ancient times, most of them offerings from individual famillies to the gods. The hall is impressively large and the way they are set, does allow you to see the statues from all angles. However as an appreciator of sculpture I believe that the clutter is annoying. I beleive that each statue isn't given enough space to breath and therfore not given justice. Each piece of work is a masterpiece and therefore a degree of isolation could have perhaps reduced the distractions and encourage viewers to study each piece in further depth and to take them more seriously.

Finally the building. Hmmmmm mmm.

Well as I said in the beginning of writing, I am an Athenian who has been hearing of this to-be museum since my childhood as if it were science fiction. So the fact that it has finally been accomplished is an 8th wonder in itself! After bickering over the location for years, then running several architectural competitions for the design, then scrapping them, then running more, all in endless beaurocratic turmoil and red-tape, I am glad that THERE IS a building, and my crititique is secondary.

But here it is..

The upper level almost completely clad in glass is great, the glass flooring which allows you to see the ruins below the museum is wonderful, but to be blatently honest, I simply CANNOT get over that cold-looking aluminium-like metal jacket the outer walls are made of. It's like an industrial building gone arty in its second life. I understand that this may be the concept of Art halls around the world and that the industrial look is fine for a building in London that has been converted from a factory alongside the Thames for example... but for the life of me, somebody explain, why make a brand new building look like a factory? Furthermore, what connection is there between this urban industrial twist and the culture of the marbles it represents?

Airoplane carrier or futuristic sardine can? The metal plates are already a little battered and knocked around at the seams, I hate to think what they will look like in 10 years time.

Having got that off my chest I think I'm going to go there right now. Its 4pm, on a sunny September day and the museum roof garden is simply the nicest place for brunch in town. Anyone care for a cheese platter with me?

Reflections of childhood

I woke up this morning in a nostalgic mood.
Reflections of my childhood & younger years rushed trough me and made me go back to those times were everything seemed colorfull and shinny...

As time goes by we tend to become more & more reserved and we loose our faith to people. I guess this is the price of maturity..! But it would be nice, once in a while, to be able to see things the way we did when we were children. Back to those days when we felt that the whole world was waiting for our presence, when everything was a game and our sences were sharper.

I heard this song today, from Manos Hadjidakis (Greek: Μάνος Χατζιδάκις), an Academy Award-winning famous Greek composer and a picture came to my mind: I 'm around 8 years old in a late summer afternoon, at the beach by my cottage in Greece. The sun is descending and the colours of the sky are ochre, orange gold & deep blue. I remember feeling the summer breeze caressing my face as I was playing with the sand . I had no worries in my head , nor anxiety for anything, simply enjoying the sunset , gazing at the sea, full of hope for tomorrow. I do wish we could feel like that nowdays more often!



This tune made me travel back in time. It 's called : "The Concert" (to Konserto) and it is from the album: "Gioconda's Smile" (Greek: Το Χαμόγελο της Τζοκόντας). The cover and, most notably, the title of the album are explained by Manos Hadjidakis in the introductory note he wrote for the album:

" In the course of a New York City parade, amidst bursts of music and colours and 5th Avenue flooded with people, I found myself one Sunday afternoon in the autumn of 1963. Then and there, I met a little woman walking all alone with a desperate indifference to what was happening around her; nobody noticed her, she noticed nobody; she was desolately alone in the unknown crowd shoving her, passing her by, heedless and hostile, leaving her to drown in the deep flood of the Avenue, inside that sea she was following, inside the wind beginning to blow.

I was riveted there, the only human being who noticed her. I tried to trail after her and follow her till I could get close enough to talk to her, without my knowing what I would say to her; but by the time I 'd made up my mind, I'd lost sight of her. I ran a little way ahead, stood on tiptoe in hopes of catching sight of her again, but the big black sea of people had swallowed her up. Inside me something started throbbing painfully. Without realising it, I'd come to a stop outside Rizzoli's Bookshop and in the display window, exactly facing me, was a book about da Vinci with the Gioconda on the cover. Incredibly enigmatic, she smiled to me, automatically enlarged to the size of the woman who'd just disappeared down the street.
I don't know why all these elements became strangely tangled inside myself, together with an exquisite motif by Vivaldi, which I had heard several days before this and which had continued ever since plaguing my memory tyranically.


No matter what it brings to your mind, I hope you'll enjoy this song as much as I did.

<(For more information about the album click here )