Athens

A night out in Athens

In this 48, Amanda and crew head to the Greek capital, Athens, where local guides Alexia and Dimitris promise to take the team beyond the many monuments of one of the world’s oldest cities.

To see how Greece’s ancient past remains relevant even today, Alexia arranges a visit to the showroom of designer Chara Lebessi, one the rising stars of Athens’ burgeoning fashion scene. On a tour round her showroom we discover how the flowing robes worn by the ancient Greeks are influencing catwalks worldwide. 
 

Amanda and our guide Dimitris

After such a glamorous start to the day, Dimitris takes Amanda to the heart of Greek domesticity with a visit to 30-year-old-lawyer Giorgos who, like the majority of his age group, still lives with his parents. Over a fabulous lunch (cooked by Giorgos’ mother) Amanda finds out how it is not just the luxury of having a full fridge, homemade food and ironed shirts that keep otherwise grown adults at home.

As Giorgos settles down for his afternoon nap, the 48 crew brave the heat to meet a team of experts determined to give Athens a Green make-over, by transforming Athens’ many ugly concrete rooftops into luscious gardens, often resulting in energy savings of up to 90 per cent.

Shipping magnate Evangelos Pistolis

Despite the busy day so far, both Alexia and Dimitris insist the 48 team experience the Athenian phenomenon of the “extreme” night out; evenings of constant entertainment that rival Homer’s Odyssey in their epic nature. Starting with an opera performance in an ancient amphi-theatre, Amanda and the crew are bounced around the city to more venues than most people visit in a week, before the guides are satisfied and allow them to sleep, exhausted but wowed by an early morning surprise.

As many residents of Athens return to their villages and islands at the weekend, so Dimitris takes Amanda and crew to the beautiful island of Hydra. But while Hydra’s car ban also makes it a trendy playground for wealthy Athenians, 48 meets Christos – one of the people who operate Hydra’s famous mule based transport system and find out why he needs at least two jobs to survive.

Our guide Alexia invites us to her wedding

At the opposite end of the economic scale is Evangelos, the shipping tycoon who offers the team a lift back to Athens. As he shows off the extreme luxury of his largest private yacht, Amanda finds out how new players like him are shaking up the established dynasties of the shipping industry, as they react to demand from China and India.

48 hours in Athens ends with a unique evening, as Dimitris guides Amanda through the intricacies of a traditional Greek Orthodox wedding. But this wedding, where the crew attend an ancient ceremony, dance the Sirtaki and gobble down almond sweets, is not just any wedding, but the union of two very special friends of the 48 team.

Watch part one:

Watch part two:

This episode of 48 will be broadcast at the following times GMT (subject to change):
Saturday, October 18: 0830, 2230
Sunday, October 19: 0630, 1930
Monday, October 20: 0300
Wednesday, October 22: 0130, 1230
Thursday, October 23: 0330, 2330
Friday, October 24: 0730, 1730

---

If you would like to find out more about being a guide/fixer on 48, then click here to hear Alexia talking about her experiences working on the Athens show.

If you want to be part of the 48 community, visit our Facebook page. See you there!