Argophilia

Αργοφιλία: For the love of the journey.

Eastern Europe

Christmas in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Phil Butler

Christmas in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a holiday of love and light, with typical traditions to enchant tourists, good food, and a lot of interesting events.

How to Avoid Europe’s Dark Anti-Santa

Phil Butler

Leave it to the sunny dispositions of the Germans to come invent the Anti-Santa affectionately called Krampus. A product of Norse lore, the half-goat, half-demon, beast, the supposed son of the Norse god Hel, may come and beat the badness right out of your kids. Here’s a dark Christmas tale if every there was one.

The Greatness of Knossos Grows With New Discoveries

Phil Butler

New archaeological evidence suggests that the capital of Minoan Civilization of Knossos was far larger and more impacting than experts believed. The ancient Aegean city, it had been found, actually recovered from the geo-social cataclysm that occurred after the eruption of Thera (Santorini).

St. Petersburg Wins World’s Leading Cultural City Award

Aleksandr Shatskih

St. Petersburg, Russia has won the coveted title of World’s Leading Cultural City Destination from World Travel Awards. The gala events held last Friday evening heralded the city’s cultural importance and potential for future tourism growth.

Christmas in Albania and Santa Claus

Aleksandr Shatskih

Santa Claus is Babagjyshi i Krishtlindjeve, Babagjyshi i Vitit të Ri, or Babadimri in Albanian, each name with its distinctive translation: Grandfather Christmas for the first, Grandfather New Year for the second, and Grandfather Winter for the last.

Greece Celebrates St. Nicholas December 6

Aleksandr Shatskih

For visitors to Greece during this Christmas season, the religious feast of Agios Nikolaos (St. Nicholas) is celebrated each year as pilgrims travel to Naxos for St. Nicholas in the village of Kynidaro, and to the old the chapel of Agios Nikolaos at Faros.

Eurovision 2017 May Move to Moscow

Phil Butler

The organizers of the Eurovision song contest now say Ukraine may lose hosting of the coming 2017 contest to Moscow because the Ukrainian authorities face problems organization the event.

Greece Tourists Way Up for 2016

Aleksandr Shatskih

According to the Leisure Travel Monitor, 2016 has been a banner year for Greek tourism. The German based analysts GfK measured the first eight months of 2016 Greek overseas visitors to the tune of more than 17.2 million compared with 17 million over the same period in 2015.