ATHENS
weekly
Weekly supplement by Insider Publications • www.insider-publications.com • No 113 • Friday, September 2, 2016 David Hammons
A WORLD NOT OURS
PARK your cinema
The George Economou Collection presents an exhibition of rarely seen works by the American artist David Hammons, the first major show of his work in Greece and his first survey show in Europe. Until 30 September, George Economou Collection, Kifissias 80, Maroussi, tel: 210.809.0519
A moving international exhibition about the refugee plight on an island at the heart of the catastrophe, A World Not Ours, runs until October 15 at Art Space Pythagorion, Samos. Curated by Katerina Gregos, the exhibition includes works by Pulitzer-prize winning Yannis Behrakis, schwarzfoundation.com
As part of a series of free events at the SNFCC, Park Your Cinema airs old time classics such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until September 18. The Italian Job screens on September 2, at the Stavros Niarchos Park, Evripidou & Doiranis, Kallithea, www.snfcc.org
TV THIS WEEK
travel
Tyrant 3
An unassuming American family is drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Wednesdays @21.50 on Fox.
Outcast 1
2-night minimum stay at weekends. (+30 22980 74553, www.poseidonion.com) Getting there: Hellenic Seaways goes 3 times daily from Piraeus with a route time of between 2hr10m and 2hr30m. Tickets are €38.50 each way. (Book online through www.viva.gr).
3 Islands
Hydra All it took was Sophia Loren diving for sponges in 1957’s Boy on a Dolphin. By the 1960s, Hydra’s open-air tavernas were alive with the sounds of poets, artists and musicians such as Leonard Cohen who As a general rule, many Athenians prefer to holiday on Greek islands that are convenient to get to – but far away from “the adopted this bohemian island as their masses”. Amanda Dardanis lists her favourite Athenian Boltholes – all within 3 hours of the capital. (Just don’t tell too many muse. others!) No cars, no mopeds, no high-rises; donStay at: Porto Kea Suites, a chic Small and handsome neo-classical sea captain’s keys perform the heavy haulage of luggage Kea (Tzia) From Easter onwards, Athenians weekend Luxury Hotels member overlooking the at- mansions converted into boutique hotels at this cosmopolitan and languid island, mospheric port. One night for two people is and museums. a one-hour ferry ride from Lavrio port, in from € 180, with a 2-night minimum stay On car-free Spetses, chi-chi horse buggies at weekends. (+30 22880 22870, www. trawl fashionable Dapia port where sea eastern Attica. Unusually green for a Cycladic island, Kea portokea-suites.com) taxis bob about underneath wartime canhas an appealing independent spirit and Getting there: The Marmari Express trav- non relics. has successfully avoided mass-tourism. els to Kea about 3 times a day, departing Highlights: Linger over frappé in Dapia’s Many wealthy shipping families own from Lavrio port (1hr south-east of Athens). smartly-decked cafes; enjoy “Fish a la holiday villas, particularly in the upscale Journey time is 1hr. Tickets are €12each Spetsiota” in the aristocratic Old Harbour way. (Book online through www.viva.gr). Koundouros strip. with the swans; go cave snorkeling at Agii Highlights: Fresh fish at Voulkari Bay’s Anargyri where islanders hid during Ottoexcellent waterfront tavernas; trek Kea’s Spetses man raids; Brandy Sours at Bar Spetsa ancient and well-organised panoramic Small exclusive Spetses, ninety minutes with the locals. trails; Koundouros and its sandy beaches; from Pireaus, got both the looks and the Stay at: The Poseidonion Grand Hotel the lofty capital Ioulida, strung out across location. Dubbed the Monaco of Greece, (an island landmark immortalized in John two terraced hills and home to the famous this scenic pine-covered island is a visual Fowles’ “The Magus”). One night for two splendour of bougainvillea, rotund palms, people is from €188-220-258, with a Lion of Kea.
Athenians like to keep to themselves
UPCOMING EVENTS
Well-Being Yoga at the Park Work off your holiday excesses with yoga workouts at the SNFCC Park. Monday and Friday at 7 pm and on Tuesdays and Thursday at 8 am throughout September at the Stavros Niarchos Park, www.snfcc.org
book review
Most of us by now have trudged awestruck through the mediaeval Old Town of Rhodes, up the cobbled Street of Knights and through the echoing, palatial home of the Grand Masters. We’ve gasped dutifully at the seemingly endless battlements, the grand gateways and the blurred limestone coats of arms on the ochre-coloured building fronts. Insider’s own John Carr, too, did this itinerary in 2013 while working on a web documentary about Rhodes. Being a typical hard-nosed journo, he has little use
Dark and Stormy Knights
Insider assesses John Carr’s newest historical opus, The Knights Hospitaller: a Military History of the Knight’s of Saint John, due out at the end of October by Pen & Sword Books, UK, and can’t put it down. for tourist books, but on this occasion Carr’s narrative leads you along relentsomething made him fork over a few eu- lessly. His years as a correspondent ros for one. Once he read what was in it, for the London Times and Wall Street he fired off an e-mail to his commission- Journal Europe have honed his style to a ing editor at Pen & Sword for the green razor-edge. He has, however, a tendency light to go one better: to recount the to overemphasize the religious aspect entire history of the Knights Hospitaller of warfare and place rather too much of Saint John, not merely their 200-year credence on the Hospitaller Order’s own heyday in Rhodes, but the whole gamut sources; however, to be fair, as he admits of their 900-year activity, from their Cru- in the prologue, these are practically the sade-era beginnings in 11th century Je- only serious sources extant. In fact, his rusalem to their presence as a sovereign present status as a correspondent for entity in Rome today (yes, we kid you not, Vatican Radio’s English-language serthey have their own flag, passport and vice, helped him gain an entry into the seat at the United Nations!). Order’s secretive Rome headquarters. Within days, the editor commissioned The most fascinating part of The Knights the book. The result is a good solid his- Hospitaller is the concluding chapter, tory, a fascinating pageant of knights which chronicles the Order’s activities and grand masters, popes and kings, including running hospital trains in both emperors and sultans, battling, praying world wars and flying aid and supplies and intriguing all through the book’s 240 to disaster-hit areas around the world. pages. Much, of course, has been writ- There’s even an aeroplane with Saint ten about the Knights before (plus their John markings in the Italian Air Force Mubrother organization, the Templars, who seum, photographed by Carr and in the were crushed in the early 14th century, book’s black and white illustrations secso don’t be fooled by all those organiza- tion. The Order even had a hand in the tions in Britain and America claiming to fall of the Iron Curtain. Never say the age be Templars – “fakes and scams,” ac- of chivalry is over! The Knights Hospitaller cording to a modern genuine Hospitaller will be available on amazon.com and in leadKnight). Move over, Game of Thrones. ing bookstores in October 2016
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CINEMA THIS WEEK
Cafe Society
Jason Bourne
what grew on their land. The ladies of the family, both old and young, would arise early and start baking bread, kneading pasta, and making preserves to feed the family. It was a production line of humble poor people’s food. My mother’s generation was a generation of hard-working and healthy people, a generation torn through hardship but united around a family table filled with love.
Memories Made in a Greek Kitchen Through exquisite recipes and photographs of her beloved Greece, Australian-born Greek Ruth Bardis shares her family’s stories and regional specialties in her stunning new book “Hellenic Kanella: Memories Made in a Greek Kitchen. An excerpt. Greek at Heart in a Foreign Land Greeks are quick to say “Come in, share what is mine, and make yourself at home!” I saw this lived out in my childhood years. My parents’ home entertained numerous guests and the food was all prepared with joy. My parents both immigrated to Australia from Greece—my father (from Kefalonia) in the ’50s and my mother (from Kalamata) in the late ’60s. My parents recognized that having children in another country required them to be more deliberate in making sure our family maintained our Greek roots. We children attended Greek school, learning the history, language, and way of life as well as learning how to cook Greek food. My food recollections as a child are plentiful and the memories vivid from a very young age. As far back as I can remember, we ate exceptional food. There is a Greek saying indicating the importance of food: “One is born around the family table, and one dies around the family table.” My parents would oblige us to eat a spoonful of honey a day with a handful of nuts. Dad insisted this was our form of natural antibiotics! Coming home from school, we children could smell homemade bread as we dropped our school bags on the floor and ran into the kitchen to tear the bread apart and indulge. No doubt there was a big pot of something healthy cooking away on the stove. To complement the beauty of food, my parents used to engage us in the whole experience of food. We didn’t eat in our
Watch FOX and FoxLife on NOVA, OTE TV, Vodafone, CYTA
The CIA’s most dangerous former operative is drawn out of hiding to uncover more explosive truths about his past. With brilliant performances by Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander
Festival 6th Athens Open Air Film Festival Now a summer institution, see iconic screenings for free alongside less mainstream movies at the 6th Open Air Film Festival, until September 5, in some of the capital’s prettiest parks and squares. For full screening guide, cinema.gr
Kyle and Allison revisit their past; Rev. Anderson gets carried away during Remembrance Day. Monday @ 23.30 on Fox.
Set in the 1930s, Woody Allen’s new movie is about a young NewYorker falling in love with the same woman as his powerful uncle, an agent to the stars. With Jesse Eisenberg, Steve Carrell and Kristen Stewart
GASTRONOMY
Forum Focus on Europe The HAU hosts the first international conference on “Europe in Discourse: Identity, Diversity, Borders” at the Hellenic American College and the French Institute in Athens, 23-25 of Sep. tel: 210.368.0072, www.europeindiscourse.eu
and supplies here. Hydra Life revolves around its elegant crescent-shaped harbour and its year-round cultural festivals. Highlights: Explore Hydra’s purest charms in the steep cobweb of lanes behind the port; relax at cosmopolitan Spilia, a rocky outcrop near the harbour with sublime swimming, cocktails and sunsets. Stay at: Bratsera boutique hotel, a converted sponge factory and one of the few Hydra hotels with a pool. Two nights for two people is from 173€-205€. (+30 2298 053971, www.bratserahotel.com) Getting there: Hellenic Seaways Flying Dolphin goes 5 times daily from Piraeus with a route time of between 1hr10m and 2hr. Tickets are €28 each way. (Book online through www.viva.gr).
home just to sustain our day; rather, eating was a lifestyle, a method of staying healthy and avoiding diseases and future problems that would arise from consuming overly processed and fatty foods. As children, whenever we found fruit trees of any sort, my parents would stop the car and unashamedly pick straight from the trees. As humiliating as it was for us as children, I now see the beauty of it—spontaneous and comfortable, eating off the tree that belonged to who knows whom. My mother, Paula, was raised in Kalamata in a village called Gargaliani in the Peloponnese. She grew up in a small cement home that did not have running water or electricity. An outdoor clay oven was used to prepare meals. Meat was eaten only twice a year, during Easter and Christmas, and in small amounts. They were exceedingly poor, yet they were surprisingly healthy. They ate only
My Story The recipes in this book are an arrangement of foods I grew up with and meals I learned from my husband’s family. This book is a memoir of recipes, each rich with distinct memories. A smell in the air, the feel of a piece of produce, a sensation on my palate—all awaken various emotions that remind me of my family. There may be variances with other Greek cooks, but this is my story, my heritage, my Greek table. The family table is of very high importance. We laugh, we cry, we share, we pray, we talk, we eat, we cook. Food is not used primarily for sustenance but rather as a means to sit together and bond. Without a doubt, ensuring precise measurements was definitely the biggest challenge in writing this book. Greek mothers say, “Just add a pinch. Eyeball that. Smell. Taste as you go. Observe the color and texture; then you will know if it is ready!” As you learn to cook Greek food, you won’t get an exact recipe; you must practice over and over again until you can sense the desired result. It’s all about the love and willingness to serve others in the simplest way! “Hellenic Kanella: Memories Made in a Greek Kitchen” by Ruth Bardis is available in Athens at ELEFTHEROUDAKIS Panepistimou 15 for €35 or from Amazon £47.95