In Estonia, one can enjoy Greek flavors in restaurants, both in the country's capital, Tallinn, and in the second largest city, Tartu. In Ecuador, the restaurant "Samos" offers takeaway shrimp pilaf, spinach rice and tzatziki. In Venezuela and Uruguay, there is the possibility of learning Greek dances, while in London there are three Greek bookstores. All of these and approximately 7,500 more Greek points of interest, in Europe, Canada and South America, can be found gathered on the website www. pointgreek.com.
The user of the website can search in a country and specifically in a city - among other things - for embassies or consulates of Greece, Greek communities, schools, restaurants, cafes, media outlets and businesses owned by Greeks.
Behind this effort is the IT company Western Computer Services, based in Agrinio. Ioannis Kotrotsos and Zois Koukopoulos, two of the three partners, pointed out, speaking to APE-MPE, that the next challenges they face are the USA and Australia, with over 10,000 Greek points of interest, while the ultimate goal is to cover the entire globe.
The idea was “born” when their friends, who emigrated due to the economic crisis, looked for ways to connect with their homeland in the host countries. “Our friends left abroad because of the crisis. Talking to each of them, they may have been looking to buy Greek products or wanted to meet other Greeks. In each country, there were individual efforts, so we thought of gathering them and presenting them in an easy-to-use way,” Mr. Koukopoulos emphasized.
As Mr. Kotrotsos emphasized, the next steps are to correct certain technical problems (the website is in beta form) and to implement the application or its mobile version.
The website is aimed at Greeks traveling to or living in the country permanently, philhellenes and people who love the Greek way of life. For now, it does not generate profits for its administrators, who dedicate a lot of time every day to enrich it.
Help from users is welcome and useful, as they can send an e-mail to correct an incorrect entry or to add a new point.
(APE-MPA)
