By Food and Travel

There are many things you can do in Athens to feel like a local, and these are our top ten picks.

Athens is a unique city, strangely balanced between the East and the West. It is a multi-faceted city that hides a different aspect around every corner. Athens will make you love her but also hate her. It is full of monuments of world value, beautiful neighbourhoods, unique gastronomy, but also of disorderly and ugly urban landscapes. In order to feel and understand the real Athens, you should stray a little from the popular sights and visit the places that the locals like and that are part of their everyday routine and, to some extent, define their way of life.

Skopje is the capital and the political, cultural, economic, and academic centre of North Macedonia. It is an up-and-coming city with a population of 550 thousand, which represents one-quarter of the total population of the country. It has a strategic location on the River Vardar and has been an important trading centre for many centuries. Skopje is a city surrounded by high mountains and unique natural features. It has wide streets, and a large part of its centre is pedestrianised. Although Soviet influences can still be found in many constructions, a large number of contemporary buildings have been built in recent years. Despite the city's and country's turbulent recent history during and after the Yugoslav war, it is now a welcoming city that has sought its place among the other European capitals.

In 2019 the readers of Conde Nast Traveller magazine voted Dresden as one of the "Best Cities in World" and in fact put it in second place. Risen from the ashes of World War II and neglected for many years, Dresden has made an impressive comeback as a beautifully restored city in the east of Germany. It reclaims its position in the elite of European capitals of arts, culture and architecture. Known as the "Florence on the Elbe", Dresden's major growth took place in the 18th century under the reign of August the Strong. Unfortunately, a few months before the end of World War II, on the night of 13  to 14 February 1945, the city became the target of one of the most destructive air raids of all time, which destroyed 75 per cent of the city. But the restoration of the historic sites and the rebuilding of residential areas have given the city special quality and unique atmosphere. The Elbe River divides Dresden into two parts. South of the river is the Old Town with the historic centre and in the north is the New Town.

The notorious Rocambole Gang operated in Athens in the late 1920s and caused fear among the city's residents and upset law enforcement authorities. The gang consisted of brothers Andreas and Kula Christofileas as well as other casual members. The way they acted and the time coincidence with the famous criminal couple of America, resulted in them becoming known in the criminological history of Greece as the Greek "Bonnie and Clyde".

In this article, we combine the narration of the events from the gang's story with a travel tour of the parts of the city where it took place. In our narrative, we follow the chronological order of the events.

During your travels, one of the things you always do is shop and buy special things that you can't find in your country and are typical of the place you are visiting. For music lovers and especially those still buying vinyl and CDs, a visit to a new city is an opportunity to search and find record shops that could offer them the chance to discover music and things they could not find in their city.

They say that the history of a city is written in its buildings. The buildings are the witnesses of the events that took place in the history of a city. There are buildings in our city that we pass every day, stood there forever and are part of our daily lives. Have we ever thought about their stories? Who built them and lived in them? In this podcast, we present eight emblematic buildings of Athens, the stories of which few of us know.

During a walk in the old city of Barcelona, you come across some of the places and buildings that played an important role in the early life o Pablo Picasso. Follow us on a walk that starts at Placa de Catalunya and ends at the impressive Museu Picasso.

Venice needs no introduction. It is probably one of the most famous and emblematic tourist destinations in Italy and in the world. The city has a long and interesting history and its past is full of mysterious stories and legends. A visit to Venice could turn into something unique if you know the stories behind the buildings you encounter while wandering its streets and canals. In this podcast we present 7 of the most famous haunted and mysterious stories.

Although thousands of visitors coming to Athens have learned about its hidden secret, the scenic neighbourhood of Anafiotika in the shadow of the Acropolis, few of them must have noticed the slightly faded relief column dedicated to the hero Konstantinos Koukidis on Stratonos Street. In this podcast you will here the story behind the column.

In this episode of the Food and Travel podcasts we follow in the footsteps of one of the most famous Greek writers, Alexandros Papadiamantis, during his Athenian life. We visit the places where he lived and worked and try to understand the context in which he wrote most of his works.