[Lbw2007] Hellenic proposal for the LBW 2007

[Spiros Bolis]

Hi guys,

as promised I'm sending our proposal for the LBW 2007 before this year
ends (local time :-) )

>From all of us, happy and productive new year

See you in Crete this summer,

Spiros


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Greetings from sunny (but rather chilly) Athens,

We are pleased to propose that the LBW for 2007 take place here, in
Greece, on the island of Crete and more specifically the area of
Hersonissos in Herakleion (Iraklio). We chose that location for the many
reasons we state below (for those impatient, scroll to the bottom):

Touristic Infrastructure:

Crete is a very popular touristic destination for a large part of the
western world and as such it has lots of transportation facilities,
either by sea or by air, and lots of different types of accommodation,
ranging from luxurious spa resorts to small studios and well organized
camping sites.

The airport at Iraklion has, apart from the very frequent local flights
to and from the mainland (mainly Greece's two largest cities, Athens and
Thessaloniki), a constant flow of charters coming and going to and from
everywhere in the world especially during the summertime, so that part
should be easy.

The port of Iraklio is one of the busiest in Greece and has at least two
very large ferries connecting Iraklio with Athens (6-hour trip) every
night, itineraries which are doubled or even tripled during peak periods
in the summer.

At about 15Km from the airport and some 25Km from the port of Iraklio to
the East by the sea is the area of Hersonissos which has two camping
sites and plenty of hotels. Hersonissos city consists of several small
villages and the main tourist destinations of Port Hersonissos ,
Anissaras and Old Hersonissos. Last population count was 4050 citizens
while on high touristic season circulating people reach 50.000!

Sightseeing and other activities:

Crete can accommodate a large number of different vacation types as it
combines vivid night life, antiquities, clear blue sea and nice beaches,
mountains and canyons. To mention some of either popular or
geek-oriented destinations we have assembled a non-exhaustive list:

Samaria gorge, the most popular and well known hiking destination
http://www.west-crete.com/samaria-gorge.htm

Skinakas university observatory, located at a high mountain one of the
best locations in Europe for high quality astronomical observations
http://www.physics.uoc.gr/en/menu/skinakas.php

Knossos and Faistos ruins, these two cities used to be the center of the
Minoan civilization: 
http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21123a/e211wa03.html
http://www.zeus.gr/en/guide/crete/prefecture_of_heraklion/phaistos.html

ITE (FORTH): The Foundation for Research and Technology  Hellas (FORTH)
is one of the largest research centers of Greece with well - organised
facilities and a highly qualified staff. It consists of seven Research
Institutes most of which are located in Crete. 
http://www.forth.gr

Thira (Santorini): day-cruises form the port of Iraklio to the volcanic
island can be arranged.

Boutari winery at Skalani village (8Km south of Iraklio), a very modern
building with guided tours and wine testing seminars
http://www.boutaris.gr/%2876EADF0227D055951393144F46B90B3A67122CB06AC96036%29/ecPage.asp?id=2781&nt=18&lang=1
http://www.boutaris.gr/%28CED762C025E916D1691479F5DFDDE39506F080F0419D7022%29/ecpage.asp?id=2778&nt=106&lang=1

And of course one can do water sports (like scuba diving, canoeing,
jet-skiing, windsurfing, etc) at every organized beach (including
Hersonissos)

Cuisine and Local Spirits:

In the latest years many mentions have been made about the Cretan Diet
and Mediterranean Diet. So it is now well known that the Cretan Diet is
not only aromatic and tasteful, but also extremely healthy. The
incorporation of olive oil in the dietary habits of the Cretans dates
back to ancient times. The writings in Linear A and B tablets ascertain
that Minoans used it in their nutrition dating at least as far back as
1800 BC.

Today, Cretans consume large quantities of virgin olive oil in all their
foods. They use generous quantities in their salads, in their fried
dishes (fish, potatoes, etc.), in boiled greens, in soups, in all oily
dishes, in pastries and even in the preparation of pork!

Raki (or tsikoudia) is an anise-flavored apritif produced by distilling
grapes and is an extract with alcohol concentration between 40 and 80 %!
It is usually accompanied by "meze" (a selection of appetisers or small
dishes of seafood such as "little fishes", grilled octopus, cheese or
ham) which can replace main course. Sitting down for a "raki" in a
kafeneio, you could be served with the most simple but wonderful mezedes
like goat cheese, olives, dolmades (stuffed vine-leaves), grapes,
raisins or rusks.

Wine has been an important part of Greek culture for over 4000 years as
the numerous archeological discoveries throughout Greece have revealed.
The ancient Greeks knew well the nutritional value of wine as it became
an inseparable part of their daily regimen. Wine also played and
important role in the evolution of the local economy.

The first traces of wine production in Greece were found on the island
of Crete, in the middle of the 3rd century BC. Many fascinating insights
into the culture of wine were discovered in the Minoan village of Myrtos
near Ierapetra. Several clay wine presses, wine cups, amphorae and wine
seeds were discovered throughout the island of Crete and brought to
light the important role that wine has played in Greek culture since
these ancient times. Discoveries of tombs in Crete that date from
between 3000-2000 BC portray replicas of winepresses and possibly the
oldest winepress in the world was found in the ruins of Vathypetro near
the village of Archanes

Nowadays there are two main wine producing regions in Iraklion. The
first one is centred in the areas of Archanes and Peza where two
varieties of red grapes are cultivated , "Kotsifali" with a
characteristic aroma and taste and "Mandilari" with a deep ruby color.
Wines made from these two varieties of grapes aquire a color and taste
,quite distinctive. There is also a dry white wine with a distinctive
aroma and fruity taste , produced in the area , from the "Vilana" grape
variety. The second region is centred in the areas of Dafnes and
Arkaloxhori , where the main variety of grapes cultivated is the red
"Liatiko". In general the wines produced in the prefecture of Iraklion
are red and rose . The red ones from the varieties "kotsifali",
"mandilari" , "liatiko", "ladikino", "sirah" and "carignane", and the
rose ones from the varieties "athiri", "thrapsathiri", "silvaner",
"chauvignon" and "vilana". There are four "appelation d'origine
controlee" categories of the wines produced in the prefecture of
Iraklio.

Local Organizing: People and ideas:

We've already recruited 2 more fellow geeks to help with the organizing
of LBW, they're both living in Iraklio, have a lot of ideas and are
willing to do the face to face contacts with the local authorities, the
local tourist agents etc. At the same time the rest of us (two members
of the Hellenic Linux Users Board, all situated in Athens) will try to
secure some short of sponsorship in order a) to make the stay more
pleasant and b) to be able to invite one or two popular figures of the
FLOSS movement (we've already took the liberty of sending some e-mails).

We feel that there's a lot of time to organize and we'll do our best to
show you the Greek hospitality as we understand it. We've also set up a
wiki at http://lbw2007.hellug.gr/ which will be world viewable as soon
as we prepare more content for it and through that we will be expecting
your input

Time of the event:

As August and especially the week surrounding the 15th, the most
important religious holiday of Greece (after Easter), is the busiest
touristic period, we would advise against picking a date then because
of a) the crowd: Everyone who can will be somewhere near a beach,
filling the hotels, etc. We can get around this by booking early (say by
the end of February) but the prices will be the highest one can get and
b) heat: we're talking about sunstroke intensity - it is not unusual to
get peaks of 40 degrees Celsius with and average of 35. If one is not
careful it can get to you, but if a few rules are followed, this too, is
doable.




Concluding, we think that Crete offers all the things LBW would ask for
and we have the people to make sure that everything will run smoothly
and everyone will have fun.

Our first choice of dates would be the 2nd till the 9th of September but
if the majority insists on August we propose the period of 26th of
August till the 2nd of September

On behalf of the Organizing Committee,

Richard Kweskin, president of HEL.L.U.G.

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