Culture and Sports: Mouskouri holds farewell concerts in Athens

23/07/2008

Legendary Greek singer Nana Mouskouri retires from a 50-year career. Also in the news: Kosovo will have a team of tourist guides, and Macedonia's handball team wins a match at the 2008 Women's Junior World Championship.

Nana Mouskouri. [Getty Images]

Famous Greek singer Nana Mouskouri says goodbye to fans in Athens with two concerts at the Herod Atticus Theatre on Wednesday (July 23rd) and Thursday. The concerts are part of her farewell tour of Europe, Australia, Asia, South America, the United States and Canada. Mouskouri celebrates a half-century in music with more than 300 million albums sold worldwide.

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Kosovo will soon have its first team of tourist guides, called Footprints, following a private initiative by two English citizens currently living in Kosovo. Fifteen guides are undergoing initial training with the assistance of the Kosovo Tourism Association and the French cultural office Espace Culturel Francais. The project aims to present the history, culture and natural sites of Kosovo.

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Macedonia's national handball team defeated Australia in the first match of the 2008 Women's Junior World Championship, which began on Monday (July 21st). A total of 20 teams will take part in the competition in Skopje, Ohrid, Gevgelija and Vinica. The tournament ends on August 3rd.

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The town of Palic, Serbia, hosts the 15th edition of the European Film Festival from Saturday (July 19th) to Friday. This year's festival is screening about 70 films divided into nine programmes. The event promotes European cinema.

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Bulgarian swimmer Petar Stoychev won the 22nd Ohrid Swim Marathon on Saturday (July 19th). Stoychev took first place in the 30km men's race, clocking 6h, 14m and 51s. Stefanie Biller of Germany won the women's event. Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski, the sponsor of the event, handed the 15,700-euro awards to the winners.

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The 17th Greek Book Festival took place from Thursday (July 17th) to Monday in the northern town of Alexandroupolis. About 100 Greek publishing houses presented more than 20,000 Greek and foreign titles. The ministry of culture organised the event.

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Reconstruction began at seven house-museums in the UNESCO-listed city of Gjirokastra, Albania. The government has provided 800,000 euros to rehabilitate the houses.

(Various sources – 16/07/08-23/07/08)