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Greece is many things_ but far and foremost Greece is informal and local. Greece is all about localities, about close and intense human relationships and the idea of belonging, of origin. The origin of the topos, the place of birth. Every topos carries it’s own traditions throughout the centuries and that results to a very diverse body of settlements and lifestyles_ I present to you here a small idea of what this diversity refers to, still these are all examples of places with a unique cultural and historical background and places that I believe can be very inspiring for your work as an architect_enjoy!
01_Pelopponese_Monemvassia
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Monemvassia, known by the Franks as Malvasia , is a well-known medieval fortress with an adjacent town, located on a small peninsula off the east coast of the Peloponnese in the Greek prefecture of Laconia. Its remains include the defensive structures and the small adjacent town and Byzantine churches , and its name derives from two Greek words, mone and emvassia, meaning “single entrance”. Many of the streets are narrow and fit only for pedestrians . Monemvassia’s nickname is the “Gibraltar of the East” or “The Rock”
02_Pindos_Zagori
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Zagori, is a region in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. It has an area of some 1,000 square kilometers contains 45 villages known as Zagoria (or Zagorohoria), and is in the shape of an upturned equilateral triangle. The southern vertex of the triangle is the provincial capital, Ioannina, the south-southwest side is formed by mount Mitsikeli (1,810m), and the Aoos river and Mt Tymfi constitute the northern side, and the east-southeast side runs along the Varda river to Mt Mavrovouni (2,100m) near Metsovo
03_Macedonia_Mt.Athos
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Mount Athos is a mountain on the peninsula of the same name in Macedonia, of northern Greece, called in Greek Άγιον Όρος (Agion Oros, transliterated often as Hagion Oros), or in English, “Holy Mountain”. In Classical times, the peninsula was called Ακτή (Acte or Akte). Politically it is known in Greece as the Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain. This World Heritage Site is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Entry to the mountain is usually by ferry boat either from the port of Ouranoupoli (for west coast monasteries) or from Ierrisos for those on the east coast. Before embarking on the boat all visitors must have been issued a diamonētērion, a form of Byzantine visa that is written in Greek, dated using the Julian calendar, and signed by four of the secretaries of leading monasteries.Women are not allowed to enter.
04_Thessalia_Meteora
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The Metéora ( “suspended rocks”, “suspended in the air” or “in the heavens above”) is one of the largest and most important complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Kalambaka, Greece and is second only to Mount Athos.The monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Peneios river and Pindus Mountains, in central Greece. The Metéora is home to six monasteries and is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
05_Dodekanissa_Karpathos
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Karpathos (Greek: Κάρπαθος) is the second largest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, in the southeastern Aegean Sea. The island is comprised of the municipality of Karpathos plus the community of Olympos. Part of Olympos also extends north to the neighboring Saria Island.
The island is located about 47 kilometers southwest of Rhodes, in the part of the Mediterranean which is called, after it, the “Carpathian Sea” (Carpathium Mare). Karpathos comprises 10 villages. All villages preserve intensively the traditional style of the island
06_Creta_Chania
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Chania is the site of the Minoan settlement the Greeks called Cydonia, Greek for quince. Some notable archaeological evidence for the existence of this Minoan city below some parts of today’s Chania was found by excavations in the district of Kasteli in the Old Town. This area appears to have been inhabited since the Neolithic era. The city reemerged after the end of the Minoan period as an important city-state in Classical Greece, one whose domain extended from Hania Bay to the feet of the White Mountains. Today the city of Chania can be divided in two parts: the old town and the modern city which is the larger one. The old town is situated next to the old harbour and is the matrix around which the whole urban area was developed_
07_Back Home
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Back in Athens_ After you are done with the “classical� monuments site-seeing (Acropolis,Thission,Agora etc.) do not miss the opportunity to walk around in the dense noisy dirty everyday part of the city center_ Athens is an extremely lively metropolis throughout the day and night and people literally take over the city. There is something medieval about the city center that is very attractive and inspiring for architects and artists_ In terms of architecture, masterpieces of the neoclassical and eclectical period sit together with the buildings of the modern 1950’s and the everyday vernacular_ There is a type of brutalism that I find is the common denominator of the Athenian urbanscape. It is in the capital that the informal way of living is most celebrated