By Honorary Reporter Eftychia Dovletoglou from Greece
Photos = Athens International Airport

Athens International Airport, Greece's largest airport, hosts this year Cultural Destination, a global project featuring events at the airport's departure section to promote world cultures. 

After learning of this, I went to the event, and seeing the promotional video on the airport's website made me want to learn more about it and present it to the world.

Launched last year, the project seeks to upgrade the airport experience and highlight the cultures of countries and destinations. The first two countries last year were India and Ethiopia and the third was Korea, whose event was held on Jan. 26 from noon to 2 p.m. 

In collaboration with the Korean Embassy in Greece and the Greek volunteer group K-Wave Greece, an exhibition was held of Hanbok, Hahoe tal (masks) from the 12th century and screen of the sun, moon and the five peaks representing the five traditional elements. 

Embassy staff explained the history of each item or garment. Craft artisan Song Ji-hyun presented her works of Hanji (traditional paper), eliciting many to ask her about her work.

In addition, K-pop was featured thanks to a performance by the Greek K-pop cover dance group Adore Us, who won the silver medal at last year's Changwon K-Pop World Festival. The group danced to K-pop hits like "Kill This Love" by BLACKPINK, "Class" by Stray Kids and "Hype Boy" by NewJeans.  

Another part of the event was tasting Korean fusion cuisine. Theofanis Stathis, a cook at the event, said in a phone interview on Feb. 1 that the first Korean food he cooked was dumplings, which took a long time to prepare, along with vegetables and kimchi, noodles with beef and stir-fried chicken. Around 350 people lined up to try the spicy food there and nothing was left by the end of the event. 

Visitors could also take photos at a Korean-style photo booth against the backdrop of famous Korean landmarks like the palaces Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung.

In an email interview from Jan. 30-31, Ioanna Papadopoulou, the airport's communications and marketing director, said Korea was chosen as the project's first country for the new year given its strong historical ties to Greece and that the main goal is to get direct flights between both countries to increase tourism flow and economic ties. 

jihlee08@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.