Stories from Greece

Gerhard sits in a twist on his mat while Tim Feldmann, wearing a yellow hoodie, supports him and smiles. Other people practise behind them.

My legs will never go behind my head

I am lying on my mat. On my back, knees bent. A brief pause in the sequence. I am exhausted and, somehow, moved. If a tear came now, it would not surprise me.

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Paros · 12 min

Black-and-white photograph of a person from behind on a dark path, wearing a hoodie, with a yoga mat under one arm and a bag in one hand.

A retreat with Kino and Tim: what to expect

An Ashtanga yoga retreat is not a spa holiday. Into the shala on an empty stomach. Practise, sweat, shower. Wash your yoga clothes, hang up the mat to dry. Eat vegetarian food, go to bed early. Back on the mat the next morning.

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Paros · Salento · Miami · 10 min

Beige tents beneath trees along a road, with moving and parked cars in the foreground.

The tents on the beach

In 1986, we arrive in Kalamata shortly after the earthquake. We are on holiday; other people have lost their homes. Forty years later, we return with a memory that has barely changed, to a city that has carried on living.

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Kalamata · 6 min

Two gold masks side by side, separated by a white strip; their mouths, chins and cheeks differ in shape.

Agamemnon, with a filter

The copy in Mycenae, the original in Athens. Angie sees a difference. I explain why appearances are deceptive. Then we look more closely.

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Mycenae · Athens · 6 min

Stone tower houses with small windows on a hill among olive trees, with the sea visible to the left.

It’s dark in here

Our holiday apartment above Limeni Bay is beautiful. Angie misses big windows. Driving through the Mani, we discover why people here once had very good reasons to keep their houses firmly closed.

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Limeni · Vathia · Mani · 6 min

Stone bases in the foreground, with a small pedimented building and two columns on the wooded hillside at Delphi.

Greeting-card wisdom, carved in stone

At Delphi, we expect profound wisdom. Then the advice turns to anger, spending and growing old. These ancient sayings would fit neatly on a modern greeting card — and we still struggle to put them into practice.

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Delphi · 5 min

A crowd stands beside the sea in warm evening light, taking photographs and talking.

Everyone else is here too

From good-natured photo queues to uncomfortable crowds: when do other visitors add to the experience — and when does it all become too much?

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Santorini · Naxos · Athens · 4 min

A gold-coloured necklace made of rectangular links decorated with curved lines and dots, displayed against a pale background.

Mycenae: how old is modern?

A necklace in the museum at Mycenae would look perfectly at home in a jeweller’s window today. Some 3,500 years separate us from its maker. Why does their skill surprise us — and what does an iPhone really say about ours?

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Mycenae · 5 min

The upper body of a bearded sculpture of Socrates, with the Acropolis behind it beneath a blue sky.

The cradle of democracy

Many public offices in ancient Athens were filled by lot. An odd idea — until another question takes over: how much of my own time would I give to democracy?

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Athens · Agora · 5 min

The curved seating of the ancient theatre and the columns of the sanctuary overlook a broad valley between steep mountain slopes.

Divine beauty

At Delphi, we stand among the remains of a sanctuary built and rebuilt over generations. Its beauty still reaches us. What would we begin today, knowing we would never live to see it finished?

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Delphi · 5 min

Two plates of spaghetti, tomato sauce on a camping stove, cucumber salad and grapes on a tea towel.

Spaghetti again

We love eating out. Just not every day for four weeks. On holiday kitchens, our peculiar supermarket habit and a dish that still travels well.

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Greece · 3 min