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Teenagers Carl Evans and Peter Burling from New Zealand, finished an impressive sixth overall in Greece in their first major regatta in the Olympic 470 yachting class.

The two 16-year-olds, who are the reigning 420 world champions, had gone into the European Championships at Thessaloniki hoping for a top-eight placing in the 92-boat fleet. While they achieved their aim, Aucklander Evans and Tauranga’s Burling were still disappointed they didn’t end up higher, having been fifth overall going into the final double-point medal race.

In the RS:X boardsailing European Championships in Cyprus, Barbara Kendall was second overall after six races and going into tomorrow’s rest day. Kendall was eighth in the only race of the day, leaving her nine points behind leader Marina Alabau of Spain.

Jon-Paul Tobin is equal fourth overall in the men’s event, 17 points behind Polish leader Przemek Miarczynski. In today’s race, Tobin fell in the tricky conditions as he rounded the bottom mark in second place, but recovered to cross the finish line fourth.

The Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre celebrates its 15th Anniversary with a season that includes two world premieres by renowned choreographer Pascal Rioult > Symphony of Psalms, set to the music of Stravinsky, and EXP #1, a new work with a score combining electronic music by the English band Autechre with that of J.S. Bach, at the Joyce Theater, June 12 to 17. The season will also feature last yearʼs acclaimed premiere, If by Chance, as well as Black Diamond.

Among the star dancers is Marianna Tsartolia from Greece. Marianna was born in Athens, Greece where she received her B.F.A. in dance from the State School of Dance. In 1997 she graduated from the Merce Cunningham Studio as a recipient of the Onassis Foundation and Merce Cunningham Foundation scholarships. She has performed in the U.S. and Europe with various companies including Harry Mandafounis Modern Dance Company, Octana Dance Theatre, Connecticut Ballet and Analysis Dance Company. She joined Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre in 1998.

For the past four years she has worked as a teaching artist for PRDT’s outreach program DanceREACH. She has taught technique and repertory workshops in the U.S., France and Bermuda and in 2004 she was thrilled to restage Bolero for the State School of Dance.

At The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street, New York.
Tuesday evening curtain time is 7:30pm and the Wednesday evening Gala curtain is at 7:00pm. Thursday through Saturday performances are at 8pm; the Sunday evening curtain is at 7:30pm. Saturday and Sunday matinees are at 2pm.
Tickets at $38, available at the Joyce Theater Box Office or by calling JoyceCharge at (212) 242-0800 or online at www.joyce.org

MYSTIQUE > Santorini island

Lounging on a balcony at Mystique, in the village of Oia, might be the most romantic way to watch the sun set yet devised. It slinks behind Santorini’s volcanic caldera with sylphlike grace. The island is lush with gorgeous honeymoon hotels, but Mystique, opened last month, threatens to beat them all. Its 18 villas are carved into the cliff face, each overlooking the caldera, and every one flat-screened and hi-fi’d. There’s locally quarried limestone on the floor, original art on the walls, cushions clad in antique textiles. Shame that the name conjures up visions of a tight-trousered 1970s lounge band.

Details > tel 00 30 22860 71114, www.mystique.gr; doubles from £280. Excel Airways,  www.xl.com flies from Gatwick, Manchester and Newcastle.

MYKONOS GRACE > Mykonos island

Mykonos is authentically A-list these days, so chic that star restaurateur Nobuyuki Matsuhisa sets up a summer outpost of Nobu there. The island has plenty of fashionable five-stars, but the new-look Mykonos Grace is effortlessly glamorous, and half the price of many of its rivals. The hotel reopened last month after a full-on facelift. The rooms now have a delectable airiness, with lots of trendy Venetian plaster, Starck-esque fittings and spacious terraces, some with hot tubs. The popular Agios Stefanos beach is on the doorstep; thumping nightclubs are a five-minute cab ride away.

Details > tel 00 30 22890 26690, www.mykonosgrace.com; doubles from £100. Olympic Holidays, www.olympicdirect.com has flights from Gatwick and Manchester.

Neilson, www.neilson.co.uk has reductions of up to 56% at its Mediterranean beach clubs. A week on a club-board basis at the four-star-plus Aeolian Village, on Lesvos island, flying from Gatwick on June 21, costs £399, saving £516.

Mark Warner, www.markwarner.co.uk has two-for-one deals in June at its beach clubs in Greece.

In Paxos island, a self-catering week at Villa Eleonora, flying from Gatwick on June 22, is down from £1,179pp to £699pp, including car hire, with Travel a la Carte, www.travelalacarte.co.uk

Check these bargain offers before it’s too late

The Hellenic Shipbrokers Association hosts the third global shipbrokers’ forum “The Metamorphosis of Shipping” within the framework of the international shipping gathering “Pireas 2007″ next Thursday, at 9 a.m. at the Athens Concert Hall.

For more information please visit > www.pireas2007.com 

The International Travel Exhibition “City Break 2007″ opened today at the Faliron Sports Complex.

The complementary conference will be staged at the Athenaeum Intercontinental Hotel.

For additional information please visit > www.citybreakexpo.com 

Greek archaeologists have uncovered four intact tombs some 30 centuries old and Roman baths from a later period in the southwest of the country, the local media reported Monday.

The four tombs date from the Mycenaean period (1450 BC to 1050 BC) and are reported to contain many objects such as toys, ceramics, and figurines. The find was made near Olympia in the Peloponnese region in an area that had been excavated in the 1960s and the end of the 1990s.

One of the tombs found by a team headed by archaeologist Olympia Bikatou was apparently that of a child and held toys, images of protecting deities, and an effigy of the mother, a woman clasping a child.

Bikatou told a seminar at Olympia that her team had found ceramics in the form of boxes, alabaster pots, and amphorae, some of which had four handles, “which give a complete picture of a Mycenaean ceramics workshop.”

One of the objects was a flask showing Cypriot influence, suggesting that there were links with the island. One piece of an amphora has a design showing a body displayed on a stretcher carried by four men, which according to Bikatou, “is the only scene of this type in Mycenaean iconography.”

The tombs also held intaglio work in the form of engraved stones and seals in steatite and jewelry such as necklaces and pearls.

Giorgia Hatzi, head of the regional archaeological department, said that Roman baths covering an area of 1,000 square meters (3,300 square feet) had been found in the region. They operated from the first to the fourth century AD and consisted of 16 rooms around a central marble-clad colonnade. The cloisters were covered with mosaics.