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🇬🇷 WHAT’S NEW IN GREECE

🎾 Greece’s consistent export is confidence under stadium lights as Tsitsipas clinches 2-0 win for Greece vs. Japan at United Cup.

🎤 28 contestants competing in "Sing for Greece 2026" Eurovision selection. Greece's annual ritual of picking someone to not win Eurovision but make us feel represented anyway.

More news from Greece

🤖 Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies offers AI ethics fellowship in Greece (deadline Feb 6) since it’s the Greeks’ turn to weigh in on ChatGPT.

🌊 Greece can't dig anywhere without finding ancient ruins, and now can't explore seabed without finding geological wonders either, as scientists stunned by massive hydrothermal field discovered off Milos coast.

💳 Greece unveils cashless travel system for Cyclades islands, where half the tavernas still don't take cards.

🛏️ Greece is upgrading 12 student dorms—finally, higher education with lower mildew.

☢️ Science delivering the kind of news nobody wants, with Greek professor finding cancer risk rises near nuclear plants.

🪪 Greece reminds citizens to replace old-type pink-paper driving licenses. Bureaucratic requirement that will result in lines, confusion, and Greeks asking "but why can't the old one work?"

🎓 Crackdown on the proud Greek tradition of the 8-year undergraduate degree and Greece cuts university student population in half.

👔 Greek government addressing that public sector employees occasionally need to show up and do work 🤯 

💼 Greece’s unemployment hit 8.2%—not perfect, but better than headlines we used to brace for.

📡 Did radio frequencies go on strike? Greek flights grind to halt at Athens and Thessaloniki airports.

🚜 Farmers preparing to escalate protests with potential tractor march to Athens as highways and airports weren't enough.

🌎️ WHAT’S NEW OUTSIDE OF GREECE

💃 Cretans from across Australia unite for dance night in Sydney. You can take the Cretan out of Crete but the folk dancing follows everywhere.

More news from outside of Greece

🎙️ Greek Australians invited to join national oral history project to document diaspora stories before the generation that remembers "the village" is gone.

Got a burning question about Greek culture, diaspora life, or that family tradition nobody can explain?

💌 Send it to [email protected] - your question might become next week's featured Q&A.

💎 CULTURAL GEMS

🪕 Rebetiko - Greece's Blues Went From Criminal to UNESCO Heritage

Rebetiko is Greece’s blues: raw songs about heartbreak, prison, poverty—and yes, sometimes hashish—carried by bouzouki and baglamas through smoky port neighborhoods where respectability didn’t patrol. It took shape in the early 1900s among working-class Greeks and refugees after 1922, telling the truth about lives that polite society preferred to edit out.

And edit it did. Under the Metaxas era (1936–41), rebetiko was censored and policed for its lyrics, its “eastern” sound, and its association with tekédes—so musicians adapted, coded, and kept it moving through places like Piraeus, where dockworkers and displaced refugees kept the tradition alive in places respectable Greeks wouldn't visit. Instruments were small so they were portable and could be hidden when police raided.

Then Greece did the most Greek thing possible: once rebetiko was no longer dangerous, it became “heritage.” Composers like Vassilis Tsitsanis cleaned it up slightly and made it more accessible. By the mid-century it was being taught, performed, and eventually celebrated as urban folk soul—officially recognized by UNESCO in 2017. The music didn’t change; the national attitude did: what was once “criminal” became “authentic,” and what was once suppressed became proof of culture. (a Rebetiko playlist from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation can be found here)

📆 BEST OF GREEK CALENDAR

📖 February 28 – March 1, 2026, 38th Antipodes Festival, Melbourne

🎦 January 30, and Sunday, February 1st 2026, "Attila 74" Documentary by MIchael Cacoyannis, MOMA, NYC

🧳 TRAVEL NEWS

🏖️ Pelion - Where You Can Ski Morning, Beach Afternoon (If You're Motivated)

Pelion is the Greek mountain peninsula offering ski-and-swim-same-day bragging rights, though realistically most people choose coffee in a stone village and call it adventure. The range sits between Volos and the Aegean, covered in chestnut forests, stone villages fighting for "most picturesque," and beaches on both sides—Pagasetic Gulf (calm) and Aegean (less calm). Winter transforms Pelion into Greece's alternative mountain escape: Agriolefkes ski center operates when snow cooperates, villages fill with Athenians fleeing the city, and the Tsitsanis Museum in Trikala honors the rebetiko legend who put Pelion on the musical map. The appeal is variety without commitment—you're never locked into just mountains or just sea, which is perfect for Greeks who hate choosing and want maximum options with minimum planning.

The villages are the real attraction. Makrinitsa hangs off the mountain like a balcony over Volos, all cobblestones and mansions-turned-guesthouses. Tsagarada sprawls across four neighborhoods connected by forest trails, centered on a 1,000-year-old plane tree that's seen more Greek family arguments than a therapist. Vizitsa preserves stone architecture so well it's basically a living museum. The old Pelion railway in Milies runs summer weekends for people who want scenic views without hiking, and beaches like Mylopotamos, Fakistra, and Papa Nero range from organized to wild depending on your tolerance for effort. Volos serves as the gateway, worth stopping for the tsipouro-and-meze culture where every drink comes with multiple small plates and you end up full without ordering food.

Pelion is where mythology located the centaurs—specifically Chiron, who trained Achilles and Jason. The villages were built by Greeks fleeing Ottoman taxation, choosing altitude over accessibility, which explains the defensive stone architecture and narrow streets designed to confuse invaders (and modern drivers). Greeks also come here for New Year's because it offers flexibility: party in villages if you want crowds, hike if you want nature, ski if there's snow, or just eat and pretend the variety of options counts as activity.

🔍 Hidden Local Gems

🚂 Milies station café on non-train days - Railway café open even when trains aren't running. Mountain views, zero tourists, locals debating politics over coffee.

🍎 Zagora's apple pie economy - Villages sell homemade pies and preserves from doorsteps. Just knock. Cash only.

☕ Any Vizitsa taverna after 8pm - Village empties by evening, tavernas serve locals, fireplaces going, spetzofai always good, nobody's performing for Instagram.

🆕 OBSESSIONS 

The story of Greece’s New Year lucky charms

A Greek Brutalist Gem Wows With Its Reimagining in Athens

🧑‍🍳 RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Spentzofai

Spicy sausage cooked with peppers, tomatoes, and wine—Pelion's mountain taverna staple that proves Greek food isn't all seafood and salads. The dish that tastes better when someone else's yiayia makes it, (or with 3 glasses of tsipouro) but you can attempt a respectable version at home with store-bought sausage and hope.

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💡 INSPIRATION

😎 GREEK FYI

🇬🇷 Greece has approximately 200 official name days in the calendar (which means statistically someone you know is celebrating every other day and you're socially obligated to acknowledge it)

😂 MYTHIC MEMES

That’s it for now. Catch you next week for more news, drama and deep dives. 🧿 Stay Greek and Kali Chronia, Greek Talkers. [email protected]

🛑 Disclaimer

This newsletter contains humor, satire, and opinions that may not represent all Greeks or that one relative who argues at every family gathering. We aim for accuracy, but verify important details before starting WhatsApp drama. Unsubscribe anytime (but we'll miss you).