Listen & Subscribe to our new Podcast Series—Athens Unpacked

A panoramic view of Athens highlighting the Temple of Olympian Zeus

Ep 1: Up Above & Down Below

Walk along any of the major roads of Athens and you’ll find little anchors of antiquity or Byzantine culture—or a really good bakery. “Nearly every step you take in Athens is on top of something remarkable,” says Sofka Zinovieff in this debut episode that explores how Athens sits in its layered landscape; “like an urban octopus creeping and grasping its way up the surrounding hills”. We’ll meet the city’s most public skeleton; climb a lesser-known mountain; celebrate the modern-day goddess of Athena; and go undercover in an ancient aqueduct that’s still active after almost 2,000 years.

Photo by Thomas Gravanis

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A shots of windows on an apartment block in Athens

Ep 2: From Dreams to Demolition

Time to explore the surprisingly diverse fabric of Athens—and why the Greek capital looks the way it does. “We’ll see how Athens went from being a two horse provincial town with some old ruins; to the dream capital of a newly independent Greece. And then how a very Greek system was used to tear that down and replace it with a concrete landscape of apartment blocks,” says Sofka Zinovieff in this second episode devoted to the Athens aesthetic. Hear how a Bavarian Monarch's grand designs on Athens from the 1830s created a neoclassical European city. And why Athenian housewives of the 1950s welcomed the demolition of their former dwellings.

Photo by Thomas Gravanis

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Ep 3: A City of Villages

‘Athens is the most foreign capital in the world,’ wrote the Greek poet Michalis Ganas. Indeed, “True Athenians”—those who have lived in the Greek capital for generations—are rare. Most call another place home; whether it’s an ancestral mountain village or island. Or another land entirely. From the Cycladic islanders who built their picture-perfect settlement on the northern slopes of the Acropolis; to the displaced Greeks of Asia Minor who fled the great 1922 Catastrophe; and the 21st century refugees who risk everything to escape. Follow us as we explore the vibrant collection of outsiders who have made this city their own—and in their wake, created an ever-evolving tapestry of Athenian villages; each with its own distinct personality.

Photo by Thomas Gravanis

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A man squeezing lemon over a dish of greens in Ipirus taverna in Athens

Ep 4: Feasting and Fasting

Bring your heartiest appetite. In this episode, we’re going food shopping the Athenian way, with two local food writers. We’ll scour buzzy neighbourhood markets and exotic spice-scented streets—and along the way, we’ll myth bust the Greek love affair with meat; tuck into Athens’ booming “world cuisine” scene; and meet the Greek superfood served at every taverna in town. Finally, we’ll take a nose dive into the heady aromas of Athens and explore the uniquely Greek approach to fasting. “You can always trust a Greek to turn a fast into a feast,” says your host Sofka Zinovieff in this fourth episode, devoted to the Greek capital’s most enticing perfumes and flavours.

Photo by Manos Chatzikonstantis

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two men playing bouzouki and guitar in front of an ouzeri in Athens

Ep 6: Songs & Poems

Where else but in Greece can you hear the average person singing along to modern tunes on the radio, set to Nobel Prize-winning poetry? Whether you’re into rap or jazz, opera or bouzouki, you can count on Athens to dish up every kind of music. In this fast-tempo episode, we’ll visit a celebrated singer who has worked with some of the greatest Greek composers of the last century, and we’ll unpack some of the city’s most beloved sounds: from the haunting rebetika, born of poverty and catastrophe; to today’s glossy bouzouki nightclubs and the joyous panigiria summer festivals “where all hell breaks loose” in the village and everyone from youngest to oldest joins in the fun.

Photo by Thalia Galanopoulou

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marble graves, pine trees, olive trees and bitter lemon trees in a cemetery

Ep 7: Birth and Death the Athenian Way

“Almost anywhere you go in the capital, there’s a church nearby,” says Sofka Zinovieff in this seventh episode of Athens Unpacked that is literally a matter of life and death. We’ll visit the city’s finest and most famous graveyard—the final resting ground for a pantheon of modern Greek heroes; walk down the street of Eternal Repose; and address the oily business of baptism, Greek style. We’ll also encounter the confectionary treat Athenians turn to to remember their dead; learn about the must-have accessory newborn babies wear to ward off misfortune; and find out why Greeks shout everyone else on their own birthdays.

Photo by Thomas Gravanis

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stavros niarchos foundation cultural centre in athens

Ep 8: From Benefactors to Buskers

Athenians have always poured their pain into poetry, painting and music. Thus, Greece’s well-documented economic woes fuelled a fertile decade of unprecedented cultural growth in its capital city. Art moved out of buildings and into public spaces: from the grandest galleries and boxed-in museums; to pop-up exhibitions in disused shops, alternative culture hubs and politically-charged spray paint on neighbourhood walls. In this bumper final episode, Sofka Zinovieff sets her sights on unpacking Athens’ wildly varied arts scene—and on untangling the fascinating marriage of big money and the arts. We’ll go in search of the boldest buskers and street murals, and hear how the great rivalry between two famous shipping tycoons transformed the city’s cultural landscape. (Clue: it involves an opera legend and former first lady).

Photo by Thomas Gravanis

Listen to the episode below or choose your favourite podcast platform.

Eat & Drink

Eat & Drink

Eat & Drink

Eat & Drink

Listen to Our New Podcast Series – Athens Unpacked

Scratch beneath the surface of our complex and captivating capital in our new 8-episode series, by acclaimed author Sofka Zinovieff.