Tsarouhia are part of the national costume and can be traced back to the time when Greece was under Turkish rule. The tsarouhi, a shoe made of pigskin, was be particularly resistant and suit the dusty and rocky dirt roads of the time. In 1821, Greek warriors went to battle against the Ottoman Turks wearing them. Today, Evzones, the Presid...
Read moreOctober 28 – Oxi Day - is a day to recall Hellenic heroes and the daring deeds of our ancestors who fought so that Greece could be the passionate and free democratic country it still is today. On October 28, otherwise known as Oxi Day, we celebrate the 74th anniversary of when the Greek Prime Minister and Military General Ioan...
Read moreWith their famous pompoms and synchronised stoicism, the elite soldiers of the Presidential Guard are just as much a symbol of Athens as the Acropolis (and every bit as Instagrammed!). We take a peek underneath those 400-pleat fustanellas to hail the unsung heroes behind these proud national emblems. Often the most-photograp...
Read moreIt was ravaged by the Persians before Pericles revived its former splendor. Socrates walked through its ancient alleys. Later, Salamina would fall to Ottoman domination, a Venetian bombing, and Nazi occupation. And yet, this stoic island right on Athens’ doorstep remains the capital of an eternal Greece. Yet despite its longst...
Read moreFrom a retrospective of contemporary African art to Brice Marden's marble compositions, Takis' magnetic sculptures, photography exhibitions, film festivals and more, Athens' cultural scene is thriving, angry viruses notwithstanding. Sam Friedman’s Island at Dio Horia WHAT: Sam Friedman's first solo show in Athens, Island, c...
Read moreIt was on October 4 last year that a bunch of enthusiastic school children from the local Pangrati primary school inaugurated Athens’ new museum housing Modern Art Masters from Basil and Elise Goulandris' private collection. The Museum celebrates its first anniversary by welcoming visitors with free admission via online pre-registration a...
Read moreArt critic Peter Schjeldahl of The New Yorker, described the acclaimed 81-year old artist Brice Marden as "the most profound abstract painter of the past four decades." And for good reason. Some of his paintings have been sold for more than 10 million dollars. He is also a hotelier, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, ...
Read moreA fertile setting for writers in need of inspiration, Hydra's bohemian artistic community in the '60s provided fodder for the literary wizards who'd adopted the island as their muse. From George Johnston's barely-disguised biographies to Henry Miller's transcendental ramblings, Daniel Klein's epicurean musings and Charmian Clift's poetic...
Read moreIn the sixties Hydra became an artists’ colony, even Leonard Cohen couldn’t resist and bought a house there. It has changed quite a bit since then and the simple lifestyle of those days changed into a more luxurious one. One local has been through it all – Stephan Colloredo-Mansfeld, who made his fortune being one of the first rare-record...
Read moreFrom concerts at epic venues, retrospectives on contemporary art, sculptural installations, new gallery openings, ceramic exhibitions, collectible design, tango, theatre and more, Athens Insider rounds up the must-see events for the next two weeks. Kick off the cultural scene this September in style. Monica Bellucci in “Maria Ca...
Read moreGagosian presents an exhibition of paintings on marble and works on paper by American artist and long-term Hydra-resident Brice Marden to inaugurate the gallery’s new location in Athens. This will be Marden’s first solo exhibition in Greece in four decades. Years 3...
Read moreSherri Moshman Paganos revisits both the iconic film location of Zorba the Greek - Stavros beach in Crete - and her memorable encounter with Oscar-winning cinematographer Walter Lassally, the man who made Zorba’s dance immortal, and who would himself spend his final decades living on “Zorba’s Beach”. As evening draws near on S...
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