ATHENS: A REBIRTH (Greece)

foreign once upon a time there lived an ancient civilization that dominated much of the Mediterranean coastline so brilliant was the civilization that it birthed art democracy philosophy and some of humankind's most elaborate structures at the heart of the society was a powerful city-state called Athens today this ancient civilization may have vanished but the ruins of extravagant temples still Loom over the city Testament to the Innovative Flair and pure Genius of the ancient Greeks look closely at today's modern Athens is now inhabited by a different type of civilization one might say cooler edgier artier they are the modern Athenians and they deserve a spotlight just as much as Zeus in Athena [Music] this is modern Athens a rebirth [Music] this neighborhood is called placa it sits at the base of the Acropolis I think for a lot of visitors this is a romanticized vision that they have of Athens the ancient monuments the historical buildings but I feel like if you want to understand what modern Athens is all about and what the contemporary culture is like you need to get out of these touristy areas and visit the more local neighborhoods [Music] I think that there is a massive misconception about Athens and what the city's like a lot of people will come here and you know they'll think it's ancient ruins which you know they've got some fantastic beautiful ancient ruins but I feel like it's so much more than that the contemporary culture that is so vibrant in the city of Athens not a lot of people stay in Athens long enough to kind of feel that Vibe it's a very young very exciting City this neighborhood is called Siri it's just like a really good example of how you know if you take the time to kind of check out the more off the beaten path places you know areas in the city of Athens this is where you get a very good idea of what if young Athenian culture and county you know spend their time you know those cool Street heart very cool atmosphere [Music] thank you foreign [Music] Michelin star restaurants of Athens first opened in this neighborhood Frankie Gourmet so other restaurants that were more like high-end started opening in this area the one that we are going CTC Alexander is a head chef yes he has worked with many famous restaurants abroad and then he came to Athens and he opened his own place and he received his Michelin star we're kind of doing the whole modern Greek cuisine she is yes yes I mean young chefs get inspired by the traditional cuisine of Greece and the local ingredients and you know they tweak them a bit they use them in more creative ways I think that's a contemporary Greek cuisine is wonderful so what's your back I started here in Greece in the beginning and then I moved in France where I lived for almost four years I'm gonna put in Belgium in a Denmark as well in China wow I had a small small Journey when I first left Greece I left in order to gain knowledge gain experience and come back home to recreate what I learned that's why in 2015 I came back and I said I settled down and I said okay but now it's time now we can start we tried to recreate the inspired Gastronomy and make it a little bit more modern so there's a little bit of that experimental more modern touch on Greek plastics exactly how has the restaurant seen in Athens changed would you say over the last decade or so you know you see all these younger generation of chefs that have worked in many restaurants abroad you know they've acquired a different type of knowledge and education and they've managed to adapt that to the local Cuisine and the local flavors and the local ingredients you see young chefs that they open their own restaurants so they are on top of it they're the boss themselves you know they have nobody else trying to work with and trying to communicate which is sometimes very challenging when you're sick oh wow it's really good it reminds me of a fruity Ceviche I love the spiciness from the chili what do you think of the perception of Greek cuisine from abroad I think people they expect all these cliches you know of specific dishes that are mostly represented abroad like souvlaki people also expect to find Souvlaki like Heroes made with lamb yeah it doesn't exist in Greece it's like pork so I don't know why it's a bit misrepresented there's a about marketing let's say Casino abroads yeah and this is one of the reasons I decided to write a book about it and and my book really tried to focus on the history and the cultural aspect of it as well as the regional Cuisines of Greece so I wrote this book which is coming out in March 23. okay it's called salt over there salt of the earth wow okay it's my baby [Music] the texture of the calamari is amazing it's not chewy right it's super good because sometimes calamari can be quite chewy oh that is really nice it does have a little bit of the taste of pesto so your book is really trying to educate people the different regions of Greece have been influenced by different cultures of course throughout history I'm trying to give a general overview let's say of the history the key ingredients and the original Cuisines of Greek yeah [Music] that's like a real mix of flavors from what I can see part of the reason why people are willing to come to Athens and actually spend longer in Athens is because of his whole creative boom which is going on in so many different Industries in Athens Athens is now a destination to go to [Music] of all the creative new Industries modern Athens has to offer perhaps the most exciting one is the Contemporary Art scene and you'll get to explore this with me later on in the video Modern Art in Athens takes its inspiration from ancient Greece it's a bridge between the past and the present however modern Greece is a very different place to the nation we grew up reading about post-pandemic tourism has helped to revitalize the economy but like the rest of the world cost of living is soaring due to Historic inflation just a 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it become more popular like more wine bars opening people drinking when we opened in 2008 we was the first wine bar and now they're around there at least six seven more wine bars I will have more educated people a lot of schools about when knowledge open and the wine lovers learn more and more things about wine and this helps to to grow all the business yeah yeah cheers this is savatiano variety this is a variety from Attica so this Winery is near the airport so basically the area around Athens airports is what very fertile for growing great it's a traditional wine region traditional Winery yeah historic wine region wow so for instance avatiana is the same grape variety they use to produce retina so this was a wine that was invented in ancient Athens it was because in the ancient times a wine was very easily oxidized okay because they were the vessels were ceramic so the air with the oxygen would enter yeah so they needed to find a way to stop this from happening so they sealed it yes with resin all them for us you know yeah and the the wine would keep much better and but also it would get flavored with this resinous flavors one is something that is very deep into our culture food like it has what is cooked with wine yeah everybody drinks wine with food it's something normal even you know when you go to church the the communion you get in the Greek church is wine and it's a country with a lot of indigenous varieties variety probably some of the most in the world considering the size of Greece yeah yeah it looks like the bar scene in Athens is very exciting right now there's I mean just going around a different neighborhoods there's loads of trendy bars craft cocktails wine bars is this like quite a recent thing then I mean the last few years a lot of new wine bars have opened up in Athens and on Islands but you know they're more like funky they address like younger people they're more affordable okay so you don't feel you have to be somewhere very serious you know you can just go and have your wines yeah so the wine bar scene is quite vibrant it is vibrant yes yeah another yamas Yama when the sun goes down and the light begins to fade on the ancient Acropolis that's when modern Athens starts to come alive neon lights emblaze in the city with the slogans of a 21st century Metropolis as young Athenians descend on the city's bars and clubs and the party rarely stops until the Sun starts to rise foreign s are famous for their love of a good party for this is a city that never sleeps [Music] one of the things the city isn't short on is creative talent and graphic designer and author of city guide into Stowers Natasha papa is one of a new breed of modern Athenians she shows you the city's subconscious a backstage maze full of hidden histories and modern hangout spots so this is one of the stores of the heart of our fans as far as a passageway usually linked in two different streets and this installation of like the neon signs who was this done by so this is done by a team called before light with a greeting Dutch people they're based in the Netherlands and they want to bring light in cities and especially in those places so here you have an arcade which used to be full of cars or homeless people so people didn't really pass by although it's one of the biggest passageways in Athens so they put these signs which are actual original signs from the shops that used to be in the area but now they're shut down but yeah the main part point is that when you see the light you're more invited to get inside yeah it's very cool yeah it's like a capsule of graphic design history and typography history you can see different styles and it's interesting to mention this trick so Greek we speak only grease inside losing the Greek diaspora so it's not a very easy to find in other countries it's a different alphabet is more geometric more linear there's another sign at the end a neon sign which says Exit to like a straight which is the exit sign so one thing that all these people value it's that Athens has no regulations it's more spontaneous it's more open to things that's why you see street art everywhere and there's a lot of emotion here like a lot of anger because you know of the situation political situation there's a lot of love because of the ancient Grace or because of the people you've meet so there's plenty of Dynamics there which makes it a quite attractive City and I was going to show you this one here oh this is what and what is this sign it's a sign about the shop like this one for example that used to sell material for installation and you're gonna see the pub next door that actually copied the name I did it yeah you see it vertically it was and they wanted to copy a bit of the style but in a reverse way so they have white inside blue as an outline will use the opposite so it means that you know the collective memory about this place is very strong and we want to replicate it it's a link to the past a link to the rules and somehow they give them uh how long have you been researching so a long time it's gonna be now 10 years next year and you've actually mapped out yes I have this book that was the first book that I did about it I highlight the passageways because they connected to streets so instead of seeing the city itself you see the shortcuts you see the city within the city wow and it's fantastic for Athens because if you have the Sun as we said you can walk through and be more relaxed or if you have the rain the store also the apology it is so you see it in the Agora at the start of a Talus this is where the story philosophy started so it's all about you know walking in the city under the same thinking about Concepts the same typology policy exist now here so you have the bars you have shops this is shaded place it helps you be more relaxed and saying the same thing yeah I think it's so far it happens that a lot of people don't fall unto aware of so yes foreign just 30 minutes from the city center you've got the Athenian Riviera miles of Coastline it's absolutely stunning over the last decade or so this area in Athens is really undergone a boom so you've got a lot of new boutique hotels and Beach Clubs opening up it's become incredibly trendy I'm at one at the moment which is called crabo Beach Club kind of has this Shipwrecked feel it makes me think a lot about mykonore it's kind of that to loom Ibiza Vibe just drinking some gorgeous Greek wine and the menu is very kind of Mediterranean inspired I think this is the kind of place where a lot of visitors that come to Athens don't necessarily know that it's got beautiful beaches don't necessarily need to go to the islands this is a stunning bit of Coastline and the best thing about it is it's relatively undiscovered [Music] this Ceviche is absolutely gorgeous you don't think about creative Mediterranean dishes you never really think about things like furniture people just think the blackian and g-rock but it happens so much more than that Athens is very cool the people here they're setting their own path I think it's got a very prosperous future and I think it can probably come up with a lot of things that are very different a different take on what's cool in the world right now and I like that [Music] [Music] thank you half an hour train ride from the city center and you get to one of the busiest ports in Europe Perez [Music] Perez has for centuries been a Melting Pot of sailors and Merchants arriving from every part of the globe alongside the reams of immigrants and colonizers who have also landed ashore well this area has the name papastratos because it used there used to be a very big tobacco Factory okay in this area and back in the day it gave a lot of jobs to to the immigrants I think it was they were coming here now obviously you've got very cool trendy galleries I think owners that have kind of bought up these old factories and then redone them into these cool galleries why do you think they picked you know first of all there were a lot of big empty spaces here available to be bought or be rented and then I think this messy character and this you know randomness of different people immigrants workers I don't know Travelers because it's the port here I think it was very interesting because you can see so many people and have been inspired by so many people this place is a typical Warehouse from the beginning of the century all the factors had this kind of aesthetic with the wooden roofs and the and the stone walls wow so they want to keep industrial feeling yeah because it's in a way you keep them the core of the and the history of the spaces cosumasi who is the owner Cosmos caravas wants this space to be a bridge between design and artwork so this is the designer called Las Vegas he created this artwork made from Marble and then I think this is a a gold leaf well you will see a lot of artworks made of from Marble because it's the history of Greece you know so it kind of takes the inspiration from it's great it's a whole thing yeah I love it but yeah because you can you know you take material that's so historic and you just turn it and shape it to something totally contemporary so yogis originally from Australia so you grew up the right I was born in New Zealand in New Zealand and I lived a long time in Australia I studied in Paris and moved back to Sydney and now we're like headed to uh to Athens my parents are Greek oh I see so that's why you come back to your roots slime maker sculptures in paintings and I like making large-scale works and in playing with architecture and the patterns involved in architecture okay I like to work with the paintings I I want them to be viewable just as a sculpture so you have to walk around them in order to see the full effect for example this painting over here it's a deep breed and then there's the contrast of the white line but then within that white line there's a line of magenta so you have to walk around that in order to see for everything to be yeah I see that [Music] block and it's actually it used to be one whole unit that was interconnected with different arches that's how you see this because they were repairing a ship ship parts in this building it's very interesting how every piece fits very well into this space yeah definitely the curation or in the space although it is just a block it's just a square the the curation of the exhibitions they're so good that you you you feel like you're in a different space [Music] thank you just sitting at the top of this house got a stunning view of the copless that overlooked the whole city just makes me think that that is a monument that has overlooked the city for thousands of years it really brings together what I feel about Athens which is that it it's a piece of incredible ancient history it's literally the Cradle of Western Civilization but it's also a very exciting modern City to explore I think over the past few days it's really obvious that there is a very kind of vibrant energy to Athens in large part because of the young Athenians that are creative that are Arty that are making the city incredibly exciting I really feel like Athens is an incredible bridge between the past and the present and I think in the future the city is just going to keep on blossoming [Music]

Channel: Malini Angelica

Views: 413,721

Keywords: #athens, #greece, #traveldocumentary, #travelvlog

Id: lRg58H9jbO4

Length: 26min 30sec (1590 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 27 2022