Waterfront table at Galasio seafood taverna along the Athens Riviera. Photograph: Why Athens
City Life: Culture, Trends, People
What is Athens?
We explore the culture, trends and people that make up modern Athens today. With new ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit, Athens is in the midst of a start-up movement. Our Athenian Stories and Video sections uncovers this new way of thinking that seems to be growing, spurring dynamic change in and around the city.
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Discover the Athens Riviera
Sun, sand and sea go hand-in-hand with the ancient ruins of Athens. Experience good food, great beaches and all round good living along the beautiful Athens Riviera. Time travels evermore slowly along the coast of Athens, that stretches for 55km (34 miles) from Faliro to Cape Sounion. In around 30 minutes from the historical centre,…
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Evzones uniform, the costume of an elite Greek soldier
The Greek Presidential Guard or Evzones are a group of elite Greek soldiers who are trained to perform various ceremonial duties. They stand guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Presidential Palace and also raise and lower the flag at the Acropolis every Sunday. The Evzones uniform is handmade with intricate detail, taking many months to complete…
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Detours in Athens
Everywhere you look in Athens, there’s a story to be told. There are so many things that make this city unique; from its ancient and modern history, to its architecture, food and way of life. It’s the small things too, from sunflowers basking in the summer sun, to the gentle old Greek tortoises you’ll find crawling around ancient monuments.
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The Hills of Athens
For walkers, hardcore hikers or simple nature lovers, the hills of Athens offer a delightful opportunity to escape the city and appreciate Greece’s varied, inspiring, age-old landscape. In ancient Athens, these monumental natural elevations, sharply distinct from their surrounding terrain, were usually not inhabited but reserved for sacred, ceremonial or governmental purposes. More than a…
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Churches in Athens and the remains of Byzantium
The churches and monasteries throughout Athens and indeed Greece represent an enduring tale of strength and defiance through centuries of crusades and occupation that tightly bound the Orthodox Church and the Hellenic nation together. It was in the middle Byzantine period during the 11th and 12th centuries when the most significant churches were built in…
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The Acropolis of Athens in the age of Pericles
The Acropolis, with its towering buttress walls that project dramatically skyward in central Athens, has been a focus of human attention for more than three millennia. Our contributing archaeologist John Leonard explores how the Acropolis, as we know it today, came to be, under the leadership of the influential, democratically-minded statesman, Pericles. By the Late…
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