The warm light of Attica, the ancient region that contains Athens and borders the sea to the south and east, is like nowhere else in Greece. The air of the city – and all its inhabitants – has a distinctive double energy: at once totally laid-back, and a hive of activity. Walking these streets, one can flit between the two modes, or bask in the charming contrast that results when when they collide.
The Acropolis and Parthenon that overlook this vast city, for instance, stand as the ultimate, solid symbol of early Western democracy; but just down the streets of modern Athens, life plays out quite differently. Here, the dramatic tradition that was so vibrant in antiquity is still in evidence: the many working theatres dotted about mean that one can see a new performance every night of the year.
To make the most of the light, at sunset I tend to walk up Philopappos Hill and soak in the best views of Athens. At the top, I love to sit and draw in the company of the Acropolis, the islands of Salamina and Aegina and the southern sea beyond. Having grown up here, I have a complex relationship with the city, but I carry Athens with me everywhere I go, wherever I am in the world. As the Greek-Alexandrian poet CP Cavafy describes so well in his poem ‘The City’, one can never get rid of Athens: ‘This city will always pursue you.’
Of the many pathways across the city that I can trace in my memory, among the most characterful are the marble routes through Philopappos park, designed by Dimitris Pikionis in the 1950s. The architect’s track, a modern artwork shaded by pines and olive trees, is made from found stones and artefacts, assembled by a team including his former students over several years. The park is full of history: it hosts monuments such as the Prison of Socrates, the Dora Stratou theatre and the Tombs of Kimon. At the summit stands a monument – the hill’s namesake – dedicated to exiled Roman prince Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos, who lived AD65–116 and became a respected pillar of Athenian culture. Pikionis, also the architect that paved the Acropolis, has shared the same fate.
Poking above the cityscape is the glory of Pyrgos Vasilissis, an agricultural estate in northern Athens: its Neo-Gothic towers. The royal residence, established by Queen Amalia in the mid-19th century, was inspired by Ηochenschwangau in the monarchs’ native Bavaria, which features similar polygonal towers and arched windows. Its romantic interior boasts blue walls, golden geometric decorations, Munich School-style wooden flooring and Gothic-style lighting. Amalia was a pioneer of green space; she founded the Royal Gardens of Athens just before purchasing this lush piece of land in the Kifisos river valley, which had already been planted with grapevines, fruit trees and other farming infrastructure. It was her aim to establish an innovative centre for the modernisation of Greek agronomy here, and she landscaped the gardens with many plants, statues and stables for animals. Today, the villa and estate are open for guided visits that include a tour of the organic vineyard and winery. Details: pyrgosvasilissis.gr/en
While I’m in the north, I never fail to make an artistic pilgrimage to the studio of Yannis Tsarouchis, set within an elegant two-storey Neoclassical house in the suburb Marousi. Both the building and the studio were designed by Greek artist himself, and constructed in the 1960s; he curated exhibitions there and called it the Museum of Marousi. Tsarouchis was a member of the Thirties Generation, the group that spearheaded Modernism in Greece. His figurative portraits, nudes, still lifes and theatrical stage sets reflect diverse influences, from Hellenistic and Byzantine art, to Cubism and Surrealism, to Karaghiozis shadow puppets. Today, the foundation keeps his home alive, displaying his art, personal items and archive photographs for visitors to enjoy. Details: tsarouchis.gr
Antonis Benakis’s gift to Athens in 1931 was a far-reaching one: today, the Benaki Museum is an institution with collections spread across different buildings throughout the city. The one which centres on Islamic art opened in 2004, based between two Neoclassical houses near the cemetery of ancient Athens. Here you’ll find rare and beautiful artefacts of west Asian culture dated from between the 8th and the 19th centuries – particular jewels that caught my eye are the 9th-century carved doors from Iraqi palaces, a certain velvet saddle cloth from Ottoman Bursa, and the glittering trove of Iznik ceramics and Qajar-dynasty jewellery. Not to be missed is the rooftop museum café: its colourful mural, created in 2016 by Navine G. Khan-Dossos, evokes the palm trees that once lined the city streets. Details: benaki.org
Celebrated as one of the most important examples of middle Byzantine architecture and interiors in Greece, the Daphni monastery, located in the northwestern suburb of Chaidari, is a Unesco World Heritage Site. And little wonder: the epic building, constructed in an octagonal Greek-cross plan, was built in the cloisonné masonry style in the 11th-century, in which rectangular blocks of stone are framed by bricks. As soon as you enter, you experience a remarkable interplay of architecture and light, crowned by a radiant representation of the Christian cosmos. Decorative marble, arranged in a careful hierarchy, culminates in a dome of gold-ground mosaics of coloured-glass tesserae depicting Christ Pantocrator (Lord of the Universe) surveying the space below him, surrounded by 16 prophets.
The next stop on my journey strikes quite a different note. Treading the line between preservation and renovation, this 19th-century industrial building has been artfully restored by the roving art foundation Neon. The organisation was created by entrepreneur and art collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos in 2013 with the mission of bringing contemporary culture to a wider audience. After two years of filling the former tobacco factory with art exhibitions and site-specific installations – major contributions all to the development of the contemporary scene in Athens – Neon has now gifted it back to the Greek state, so that it may continue to function as a dynamic and open venue. Though Neon will venture on to new spaces and locations, this building alone is a powerful legacy. Details: neon.org.gr/en
Dedicated to Greek Modern artist Panayiotis Vassilakis – better known as Takis – the Research Centre for the Arts and Sciences (KETE) is an appropriately elevated destination. Active in Greece and the international art scene from the 1950s, Takis was a self-taught pioneer of Kinetic art. Fascinated by the link between art and science, he was known for integrating concerns from physics and the natural sciences within his sculpture. Since 1986, the foundation has been based on Gerovouno hill, at the foot of Mount Parnitha – 19 metres higher than the Acropolis. The museum – which stars artworks by Takis and other Greek and international artists – offers a hybrid experience of art and science, garden and outdoor theatre – modernity, and ancient forces. Details: takisfoundation.org
