Episode 7. BIRTH AND DEATH THE ATHENIAN WAY Athenians remain attached to the traditions of the Orthodox Church, from lighting a candle in a little church while out shopping to wanting a priest at the major rites of passage from birth to death.
Few Athenians are so-called ‘True Athenians’ and the city often seems like a collection of villagers, refugees and outsiders.
From Bavarian grand plans to “part-exchange” building schemes. When Greece became an independent nation state in the 1830s, King Otto arrived with his Bavarian entourage. They introduced beer… and planned a new Athens inspired by ancient aesthetics. Sofka meets architect Lazaris Zaoussis at the neoclassical Academy to discuss this city of dreams. During the 20th
From a little-known hill to a hidden tunnel. Sofka introduces the series and herself: a British writer and one-time anthropologist, she’s an adopted Greek with a Russian name. We visit an unfamiliar hill – the Tourkovounia. Former US diplomat and archaeologist Brady Kiesling gives a sense of Athens’ geography – an urban sprawl surrounded by
