March 31, 2004
Athens Olympics Flame in Athens
The Olympic flame will reach Athens in the next couple of hours and will be welcomed by Athenians in the Pathenaico Stadium, the original location of the first modern Olympic games in 1896.
The flame will stay in Athens for the next few days until it starts its journey around the world.
March 30, 2004
March 29, 2004
Why an Athens Olympics blog?
We were asked why we chose this way of presenting the information we will slowly adding on the list and not another form of communication (a forum or a portal of some sort).
The answer is extremely simple. We like blogging as we believe it is a remarkably fast and hip way of passing information across to thousands of users. To give you a small example of this let me say that our website has been up only for about three weeks and we already have hundreds of visitors per day (and even more readers of the RSS feed) and we are listed very high in the new yahoo! search engine. Normally it would take many months and a huge advertising budget to get to where we are. We did this at a minimal cost and we hope with very good results.
Weblogs and RSS feeds have another big advantage: They respect the privacy of the viewer of the pages. We frankly do not wish to have any information of the people reading the information we will provide so instead of using a 'newsletter' you can get our daily information with your favorite RSS reader.
The reason we used MovableType as a blogging tool is because we believe it is one of the best in the mareket and we definitely appreciate the fact that it is free for non-profit organizations like ours.
March 26, 2004
Athens 2004 Torch Relat (day II).
The torch relay that started yesterday is on its way around the Peloponese. Today the flame will be carried from Andritsaina to Pylos where it will stay overnight.
Over the next few days the Olympic flame will be carried around the Peloponese passing the message of peace and the spirit of brotherhood, joy and empathy. The flame will be carried to Athens next week where it will start its world wide trip.
March 25, 2004
Athens Olympics Torch Relay
The torch relay just started. Everything went extremely well with the lighting of the flame by the rays of god Apollo and the first torch carrier has started the road that will carry the flame all around the world.
The lighting of the Olympic Flame
Today is the lighting of the Olympic flame in Olympia, the original location of the ancient Olympic games. The lighting of the flame occurs traditionally by the convergent rays of the sun (it is a glorious sunny day today) symbolizing the light and grace of Apollo.
The lighting of the Olympic flame in Olympia has been occuring since the 1936 Berlin Olympic games.
The even will start in about 20 minutes from now so as the thing develops we will be posting new information.
March 24, 2004
Athens Olympics Mobile Telephony
I was asked by a reader on the coverage of the Mobile networks in greece so that he can plan his trip to Athens and Greece this summer. The news are fortunately good in this matter.
There are four different mobile telephony providers in greece:
The coverage of all the providers is excellent and you will have no problems wherever you go in Greece even if you go sailing or mountainclimbing. The websites of the companies have extensive coverage maps if you are interested in a particular area.
Prices vary depending on the program you are going to use, but for the prepaid services (card telephony) there are very small (and frankly insignificant) differences.
March 23, 2004
March 22, 2004
March 20, 2004
March 19, 2004
Volunteers in Athens Olympics 2004
Volunteering for the Athens Olympics is an integral part of the success of the games. The organizing commitee has been flooded with applications for being part of this once-in-a-lifetime event as is viewed by all Greeks The total number of applications so far is very close to 160,000 but there are still many options available for anyone that wishes to help.
If you want to be part of this you can fill in an online form and join us in the Athens Olympics family.
March 18, 2004
Athens Olympics 2004 Security IV
Yesterday we received the following email from a reader:
Dear Basileos @ Athens-Olympics:
I know you have said you feel very confident that Greece is ready for the job of protecting people at the Olympics, however what advise can you give a person who will be traveling there in the near future before the Olympics. Are there any areas of advice you can offer to help me take extra care to protect myself.
The answer to this is remarkably simple. Greece is an incredibly safe country. Those who have visited Greece before know that you can find five year old kids playing outside in the streets at 10 or 12 o'clock at night without any 'fear'. There is no routine 'gunpoint' or 'knifepoint' stealing and your life is certainly in no danger. The 'cool' spirit is something you feel as well as a visitor so almost no visitor in Greece feels threatened.
The only issue you may need to worry has to do with petty crime that every now and then may arise. This basically means that you should be taking care in metro's, buses and crowded areas of any pickpockets and you should be taking care of your bag at all times.
However, the number of police officers on duty and patrols during the olympics will be so huge that I doubt whether even this will be an important danger.
March 17, 2004
Athens Olympics 2004 Security III
Because we received some critical comments by friends and readers of the Athens Olympics 2004 Journal concerning our recent post on the security of the Athens 2004 Olympics we thought that we should be clarifying our position and the situation.
To start let me remind you the words of the great U.S. Statesman, scientist and philosopher Benjamin Franklin: 'They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety'. My personal belief lies very close to this quote since under no circumstances do I believe that the war against terrorism can be fought (and won in the long term) by security measures of the sort that are followed all around Europe and in the USA at the moment (It would be like saying that a cure for heart disease is to build more cemeteries...). It certainly falls far away from the present Journal to list my opinions on what is wrong with this approach and what other approach should be followed.
Back on the Athens Olympics security subject it is a certain fact that extreme security measures will be taken since security has been an issue that the Greek goverments have been worried about so much to invest hundreds of millions of euros in personnel and equipment in order to fight it. As I reported in the past few days the NATO forces will be keeping a special eye in Athens and Greece during the Olympics and the hundreds of cameras that have been placed all over Athens can certainly guarrantee the safest and best guarded Olympics that were ever performed.
March 16, 2004
Accomodation Difficulties in Athens Olympics 2004
A very interesting article in asahi.com talks about the difficulties that travel agents have in Japan of selling travel packages to Greece. Part of the story is due to the fact that there are very few rooms available in Athens for accomodation, and this has boosted the prices at very high levels.
Situation may be hard but it is not that hard. There are plenty of rooms available at this stage so if you want to come over in Athens in August and are having difficulties in accomodation, drop us a line and maybe we can help you out.
March 15, 2004
Athens Olympics Security II
I just wanted to add a few more thoughts on the security of the Olympic games as its is now 5 days since the attack on Madrid, and it appears almost certain that Al Qaeda has quite a bit of involvement in the game.
It is also more or less confirmed now that a rather substantial number of NATO forces will be in and around Greece during the Olympics as an 'umbrella coverage' against any terrorist events.
To be frank I certainly do not believe that all those measures are doing the games any good. I am not saying that we shouldnt be prepared for any terrorsit situation, but I somehow feel that we are going a bit overboard with this and I frankly do not see this working out anyway.
Greece has always been friendly with Arab countries and the NATO umbrella may actually make the relations between us and 'them' worsen. I definitely do not believe that hundreds of security checks, loss of personal freedoms and a 'police state' can prevent terrorist attacks of the type that are organized by the ruthless terrorists of Al Qaeda.
Again, I feel I must repeat that the games are going to be safest ever and by the sound of it 'too safe' for their own good.
March 13, 2004
March 12, 2004
Athens Olympics 2004 Security
The unfortunate situation created the terrorist attack that happened yesterday in Madrid has generated a rather predictable 'reign of terror' over Europe. Wether in the end the terrrorist attack was done by ETA members or not (and chances are at this stage that even if it was ETA's hands that did the killing, there was probably some sort of Al Qaeda extremism behind the act and the planning) is not something that matters so much at this stage. This has been the worst terrorist act in Europe over the past 100 years and is certainly something that will have implications on our every day life. I would like to think (and hope) that we will not sacrifice our daily freedoms for the sake of security but this is something that we may end up doing in the end.
The implications for the Athens Olympic games are going to be many. I have already heard a rumor that the American Olympic team is not going to stay in the Olympic village durinmg the Athens Olympics but will be hosted in an American base outside Athens.
What I am certain of is the fact that the security in teh Athens Olympics is going to be very tight. The fact that this horrible Spanish Tragedy happened just five months before the Athens Olympics will mean that the government will give extra care to security issues and cover things that were not even imagined before. To give an example of the situation the initial security budget for the Athens Olympics was about 150 million euros but the actual budget has ended up closer to 700 million euros.
The news also is that the Greek goverment will seek help (in infrastructure and personnel) of the NATO forces and I am sure that there will be a quite substantial number of American soldiers on Greek ground during the games.
In other words I think these will be (and hope will be) the safest and best guarded Olympic games ever. After all Al Qaeda never strikes where its expected. I just hope that they will never surprise us again.
March 11, 2004
Athens Olympics 2004 Mascot
As you may know the mascots for this year's Olympics are the two 'cute' figures Athina and Phoebos (in Greek Αθηνά - Φοίβος).
The two 'creatures' have been inspired by an 7th century B.C. doll that was found in Mycenae. The tune-covered terracotta doll is bell-shaped and has movable feet. In ancient times such dolls were known as "daidala".
There was a lot of controvery on whether the Athens Olympics 2004 mascots were good or not when they first came out two years ago, but now I beleive we are so accustomed to them we have begun to like them - flat feet and all ;)
Athens Olympics 2004 Countdown
155 days left today...
March 10, 2004
IOC President about the Greek Elections
Here is the announcement of the IOC president concerning the Greek elections:
"Congratulations to Mr Costas Karamanlis on leading New Democracy to succes in the Greek elections. Together with Coordination Commission Chairman Denis Oswald and Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli, I have already met with Mr Karamanlis on a number of occasions. At his kind invitation, I, together with the group of IOC experts, will shortly be making another visit to see him and his colleagues. Prior to and during their campaigns, the leaders of both New Democracy and PASOK assured the IOC that preparations for the Olympic Games would not be negatively affected by the outcome of the elections; we now look forward to very positive next steps for the Games. The IOC is grateful to the outgoing government, former prime minister Mr Costas Simitis, former culture minister Mr Evangelos Venizelos and all their colleagues for the efforts in preparing for the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games".
March 09, 2004
Athens Olympics Tickets
For the people that want to book their tickets online, I want to remind you that there is a special website for booking athens olympics tickets. There are plenty of tickets left at the moment but do not expect this to be like this for long. Prices of the tickets vary from $10 to $1000 (for opening and closing ceremony seats).
March 08, 2004
Election results
The election results revealed a massive loss of the ruling PASOK party and a landlside win for the conservative New Democracy party that has gone back to power after 10 years in the opposition.
As we said yesterday chances are that nothing will change concerning the preparation of the Athens Olympics. Admittedly there are many things that are needed at this stage in order for the works (roads, stadia etc) to finish but I doubt whether any change so late in the process will have any effect.
The amazing is that all parties are unanimus in working together to achieve the Athens Olympics challenge which is just 158 days ahead.
Who are we?
The present weblog will be kept and updated by two people: Basileios and Errica. Basileios is an internet business cosnultant with quite a few extra helpings of other interests and Errica is a financial auditor. We do not have much free time, and we like to spend whatever free time we have together and with friends. However, we do not consider this weblog of information part of our spare time. We consider it as a very important pool of information concerning the Athens Olympics and we want to make sure that our readers will benefit from our suggestions, news, ideas and opinions. We hope you will enjoy our suggestions once you follow them. If you feel you liked or didnt like anything we mentioned here, drop us a line. We certainly want to hear from you.
March 07, 2004
Election day
As you may know it is election day today in Greece. The results are not really that crucial concerning the Athens Olympics as most of the 'Olympic works' as they are called here are nearing completion. The only matter has to do with the political situation in Greece at the time of the Olympics - which are not going to change much whichever of the two main parties gets finally elected.
March 06, 2004
Ελληνικη γλωσσα;
Για τούς Έλληνες, απλώς αναφέρουμε πως το συγκεκριμένο site θα χρησιμοποιεί αποκλειστικά την αγγλική γλώσσα μια που σκοπός του είναι περισσότυερο η ενημέρωση των επισκεπτών από ξένες χώρες και όχι των Ελλήνων. Αν θέλετε κάποιο άρθρο ή κάποια πληροφορία στα ελληνικά στείλτε μας ένα email.
Welcome!
Welcome to the Athens Olympics 2004 weblog! This is a totally non-profit no-string attached weblog that wishes to help the cause of the major event of the year by providing everybody interested with information about Athens, the Olympic games, accomodation, places to eat and anything that can ease your visit or life during the Olympic games.
We believe that we can help the sparse content of teh Greek internet on games/city information. However, it is important that we receive both questions and feedback from you so we can make this site as lively as possible over the next five months.
You can email us at athens-olympics@sporadikos-logos.org