Corfiot resident and cross-culture explorer Richard Pine thinks laterally about the identity debate that has preoccupied much of Greece and suggests embracing a mindful middleway. We should be celebrating much more, and stop feeling sorry for ourselves. Aristotle must take much of the blame for our current gloom. His idea, tha...
Read moreAs Greece gears itself for its ignominious third anniversary of a near-Grexit, tinderbox referendum and capital controls, Athens Insider investigates whether plastic has come here to stay or whether cash is still king. In stark contrast to countries such as the UK and Sweden, Greece has been card-averse, despite limited cash withdrawals a...
Read moreSmoking a cigar – while not everyone’s thing – always makes a strong statement. Athens remains a city where cigar lovers can still inhale the pleasures of the moment, whether at regular cafes or at elegant bars over polite conversation. Julie-Anne Amiard takes her pick of Athens’ cigar-friendliest addresses – from new hotels to rooftop ba...
Read moreWHAT: The internationally renowned crime fiction writer discusses noir, the metaphysical, and the darkest depths of the human soul this July. Award winning, illustrious Irish author John Connolly is visiting Athens for an in-depth conversation with Elias Maglinis, who is author and editor-in-chief of the Kathimerini newspaper. The two will discu...
Read moreWHAT: Active for the past 20 years, Calexico – named after a town in the Mexico-California borders and originally coming from Tucson, Arizona – have fans all over the world. An entirely new sub-genre, ‘desert noir,’ was coined to describe the band’s idiosyncratic style, a blend of traditional Latin music influences (mariachi, conjunto, cumbia, t...
Read moreWHAT: For one month, city shoppers and passers-by can order a performance from popular Cypriot artist Lia Haraki from their menus. Now here is a pop-up show with distinction. Haraki and other Greek-based artists will set up shop in one of the main retail streets in downtown Athens in this fun and inclusive Athens Festival experience. In an attem...
Read moreWhether it's through archaic Greek films, vintage photographs or exhibitions of extinct creatures, Athens is collapsing the past with the present this July. Insider rounds out some of this month's arts highlights. Exhibitions Athens Twice Seen WHAT: Presented by American photographer Richard W Moore, the exhibition “Athens Twi...
Read moreWHAT: On a six-stop tour with a new production titled “The Very Worst of the Tiger Lillies”, Oliver Award-winning cult British music act The Tiger Lillies is coming to Greece. The show features their “fiercest, filthiest tunes for the perverse pleasure of fans old and new”. This unique, Brechtian street opera trio is currently on a world tour pl...
Read moreWHAT: Featuring in this year’s Ejekt Festival on Athens’ southern coast, Australian rock legend Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds will be playing along with English rockers Editors and Wolf Alice, as well as American act Protomartyr in their first ever appearance in Greece. Donned one of rock’s “most enduring, redoubtable” bands by Pitchfork Media, an...
Read moreWHAT: In her first solo exhibition in her native Greece, Stella Kapenzou explores an imaginary world of symbols and stereotypes, depicting an eternal quest for happiness through superficial affluence in colorful and somewhat amusing scenes that each hold a unique tinge of irony. Following two successful solo exhibitions in London and several awa...
Read moreWHAT: David Portner and Noah Lennox, more excitedly known as Avey Tare and Panda Bear of US experimental pop band Animal Collective take the stage to perform their 2004 album Sung Tongs in its entirety. Founded in 2003 in Baltimore, Animal Collective’s ambiance is characterized by their vocal harmonies and their cross-genre experimentation with fol...
Read moreWHAT: The famed Russian chess grandmaster, writer and political activist Garry Kasparov returns to the SNFestival after a light-hearted showdown in 2017 when Kasparov opposed some of Greece’s young aspiring chess masters simultaneously. He won. This year’s competition vows to be different. At 22, Kasparov became the world’s youngest undisputed W...
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