Original subtitles

(upbeat instrumental music)

- Last series, I started in Athens

and visited islands I was really familiar with.

This year, I'm starting in the northernmost island

of Greece, Thassos.

And I'm visiting places I've never been to before.

I'm looking forward to it, man!

In the first series of "My Greek Odyssey",

I began unravelling the story

of this spectacular and historic nation

by travelling from Athens, around the Peloponnese,

and up to the Ionian Islands.

It was a journey that took in parts of the country

that a lot of tourists know well.

But, in amongst the more frequented islands

were hidden gems and places undiscovered

by the holiday masses.

This series, I'm back aboard my beautiful boat Mia Zoi

and heading to a region of Greece I've never

spent much time in before.

The plan is to skip from island to island,

taking in the northern Aegean.

It's going to be a journey of discovery,

where I'll be digging deeper into the fabric

that makes Greece so unique

and immersing myself in a centuries-old culture.

It's unlike anywhere else on the planet.

Along the way, you'll not only see amazing sights,

you'll also meet remarkable characters.

I'll introduce you to the local cuisine,

give you a bit of a history lesson,

and most importantly, inspire you,

so you can make Greece your next holiday destination.

(soft instrumental music)

First stop, Thassos.

It's the northernmost of the major Greek islands

with the mainland only about seven kilometres away.

It's a mountainous landmass,

almost circular in shape

with the towering peak of Ipsarion standing near its heart.

The climate here is fantastic

with cool winters and warm summers.

You don't get the stifling heat experience further south

nor do you have the high winds.

Thassos is also relatively quiet,

even during the peak holiday season.

It's certainly not one of those

highly developed tourists hubs,

where you struggle to avoid the masses.

Yeah, there's a couple of beaches that get quite busy,

but the fertile interior of the island

and coastal areas away from the big towns

give you a chance to escape the crowds

and relax in peace.

Thassos is not for the uninspired.

It's not like your normal Greek island,

everything's at the ready.

You've got to go out and grab it.

You got to get off the beaten track

to find places like this where you can sit back,

do a little bit of work in the best environment.

You can go to a beach that's crowded.

You can go to a beach that's secluded.

Thassos has everything to offer

but you got to go out and find it.

Get off the beaten track.

Greece is constantly evolving.

One island might be booming with activity

while another previously popular spot

may be in decline.

It happens all over the world.

Only here, it's been going on

for a couple of thousand years.

Thassos is a great example of a once-thriving island

that endured some hard times.

Now though, it's on the up.

And one person that's experienced

this change firsthand is Tassos.

He grew up here,

and in 1995, started a beach bar,

setting himself up with an enviable lifestyle.

- Almost nothing here.

Almost nothing.

- There was nothing on the beach.

- Almost nothing, almost nothing.

- And since then, all this has been built up.

- Yes, and year by year, comes more and more

person visit to the beach.

- So does it get very busy?

Do you fill the chairs up here?

- [Tassos] Yes and very busy and we start earlier,

almost the end of the April.

- [Peter] From April til when, how long is the season?

- [Tassos] 15 of October, the last day.

- [Peter] So do you get young people coming

or families, what do you get here?

- [Tassos] For all ages.

- [Peter] Everything?

- [Tassos] For everyone, all ages.

Very young, old persons, is not problem for this

because young person don't need always have loud music.

And for them have relax.

And when, fill the place, we get a lot for them

come every day here.

- Yeah, I need to touch you, Tassos,

because look at you.

You look young, you dress like a young man.

Look at this, fantastic.

- Ha ha, yes, yes.

- You're like a 20 year old.

- Thank you very much, I'm 60 years old.

- You're 60 years old?

- Yes, I'm 60 years old.

(speaks in foreign language)

- That's a thing that we do in Greek you know?

- Yes.

- To warn off the demons.

But you look fantastic.

- Thank you very much.

- Listen, I'm gonna sit here for a while,

do you mind if I sit here?

- Yes, yes.

- Well of course you don't mind if I sit here for a while.

- Because-

- I've been sitting here all day.

- Because I do that, I like it and it make me feel happy

and I think this is, it's come to my face,

come to my show, because I do that I want

and I feel very good for the people I'm around.

- You know what, Tassos?

I'm drinking water, I've been drinking water all day

but now that I'm in the mood,

you've got me thinking about it,

I might have an ouzo, aye?

- Ouze, ouzo.

- Should I have an ouzo now?

- Tsipouro.

- No, not tsipouro, tsipouro kills me, mate.

- It's hard, it's hard?

- Nah, nah, nah, too much for me.

I'm Greek but I'm not all the way, so.

Should we order an ouzo?

- A lot of ouzo, yes.

- Let's get one aye?

- A lot of ouzo, yes.

- Cheers.

(upbeat instrumental music)

All across Thassos, you can find secluded spots

with beaches where people bask in the sun during the day,

soaking up the rays between refreshing swims.

Then at night, the previously quiet bars come to life

as the sunbathers leave the sand

and head for a sunset drink.

It's an idyllic way to spend your days,

albeit probably not the healthiest.

You know, Thassos might be a bit of a sleeper to most people

but it's actually touched us all in some way.

I guarantee it's touched you and you don't even know it.

It's definitely touched me.

Ah, it's definitely touched me with this stuff.

Thassos white marble.

This beautiful crystalline rock

is on bench tops and bathrooms in over 150 countries

in the world.

Over the last two and a half thousand years,

they've been mining this stuff and sending it

all around the world.

You've probably been to a bathroom with this stuff in it.

Anyway, I think it's time for a swim, ah.

(soft instrumental music)

If there's one downside to the brilliant white marble

covering the beach, it's the glare.

If you come here, you'll need some sunglasses.

One of the most unfortunate things about tourism in Greece

is that the majority of the 30 million tourists

that come here every year visit only five islands,

Santorini, Crete, Corfu, Rhodes, and Mykonos.

The reason for this is that you don't hear much

about the other ones, unless of course you're Greek,

have a Greek friend, or were lucky enough to marry one.

The reality is, there are so many other great places

to visit in Greece like Thassos that offer beaches,

restaurants, views, history and culture

just as rich and vibrant as any of those top five.

The best part is, it all comes

without the hustle and bustle.

Mind you, it won't last for long so you'd better

get here fast.

(soft instrumental music)

(upbeat instrumental music)

Thassos has a rich history stretching right back

to antiquity.

Since those times, much has changed.

Empires have risen and fallen,

the culture has evolved and generations of families

have come and gone.

Along the way, the different peoples that call

this island home have left their mark.

To learn more about some of the earliest inhabitants

I checked out the archaeological museum in Limenas

where I met with Tony Kozeli,

a French archaeologist who has lived here for 50 years.

- Hey, kouros, you can see from here.

- Yeah, sure, sure, sure, sure.

- It's beautiful isn't it aye?

Unbelievable.

Wow Tony, so this is the third largest kouros in the world.

- Yes, it's the third place.

- And the second largest fully intact.

- It is three and a half metre.

- [Peter] Three and a half metres, wow, its impressive.

And it's holding the ram, and what's that signify?

- [Tony] It's for sacrifice.

- [Peter] Ah, so they sacrifice it,

because normally the korouses, they don't hold anything.

- But never finished.

- [Peter] Never finished.

- Never finished, it's second work of a sculpture.

I mean, it must be finished in the Acropolis,

in the place.

(soft instrumental music)

- I've learned through my travels

that my expectations of seeing completely intact

ancient works of art and sculptures are not realistic.

Quite often, as is the case with this kouros,

they're incomplete, having been weathered

by Mother Nature or damaged by human impact.

However, no matter what state they're in,

they still tell a story.

So Tony, I'm dying to see something on Theagenes

Because I've read so much about him.

He's a bit of an inspiration to Thassos, isn't he?

- Yes, it's a hero of Thassos.

- I see all these athletic busts here.

I assume this is commemoration for Theagenes.

- Yes, Theagenes is very important for Thassos.

You know, here are fragments of inscription

of all he's won in Olympic games.

- So I understand he won boxing in two Olympic games.

- Yes, he is sure, in Nemea, in Olympia, in Delphi,

in Isthmia, all these important antique games.

- [Peter] And he wasn't just a boxer.

He won 1400 fights in, where they wrestle and box,

where they actually almost kill the other man,

is that right?

- [Tony] Yes, he was very strong.

- It was like UFC, he was probably

the first UFC champion really.

- Possible, yes, yes, I think.

- Honestly, this is the money box isn't it?

- Yes, this is the money box when the people who come

to visit his sculpture in ancient Agora,

they put help money for him,

because after that he was also politician

and this money box is always staying in Agora.

- And that's to help Theagenes because he was

a champion of Thassos.

- Sure he was very, very important for Thassos.

- Fantastic.

- Like athlete and like a politician.

- Fantastic.

Tony I understand, like this,

they say this might be him.

He was a very, very strong man.

- Yes he was very strong man, even when he was

nine-year-old boy, he is passing from Agora from school

and he saw this statue of Euracles

and then he take it and he bring it at home

and after that, the people from Agora

was very scared because Agora disappeared

and then they said it was boy

and didn't believe and the punishment

was that he must bring it back.

And he take it this bronze sculpture and he bring it

in the same place and put it on the base.

This is a story which we know from the inscription.

- Wow, amazing, amazing.

Well it's a shame there's no complete statue

of the great Theagenes.

It at least means I can visualise my own image

of this legendary Thassian.

The museum collection spans thousands of years,

from pre-history right through to the classic

and Hellenistic periods.

They're fascinating remnants of the path

that inspire wonder.

But what's great about Thassos is that beyond the confines

of the museum walls are several easily accessible

archaeological sites.

To show me around, I caught up with Tony Oswin.

He's so knowledgeable about Thassos

that he's created a series of guidebooks on the place.

So Tony, the last time I saw something like this

was the Agora in Athens.

- Well, Limanes was known, which is now known

as Thassos town, was known as the Athens of the north.

It was one of the most powerful of the city states

and they built such a beautiful Agora to complement it.

It was all built of white marble,

which was quarried on the island, down at Aliki,

which we'll see in the future,

and covered the whole of the island's capital here.

- And what sort of buildings are we looking at here, man?

- Everything that's needed within an Agora,

so the Agora bulletarium, which is your council chambers,

the lower courts, and all the ancillary offices

that were required to run the island.

This is where everybody came, this is where it all happened.

People talked, people met, people traded.

It was the hub of the city.

- Now I want to see that ring you were telling me about

earlier, that ring of.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Can we go and have a look at that?

- Yeah, the only one in Greece.

- Let's have a look and have a look at that.

- Over there, mate.

And here's the monument to Theagenes.

- Theagenes, Theagenes is that famous athlete,

one of the most famous in Greece from what I understand.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I love the guy, 1400 fights, fantastic.

Some famous people came from here.

- We're walking the footsteps of so many important people.

We've got Brutus and Cassius who were the murderers,

or certainly were in the front of murdering,

Julius Caesar.

His greatest friend Marc Antony.

Octavian, who came with him, who in the end

became Augustus, the first emperor of Rome.

Hippocrates was here, the father of medicine.

- So where's this ring that you were talking about, mate?

- The ring is down here.

- Oh there it is.

- We believe, it's only been recently found

and we believe it's the only tether for sacrifices

in Greece that's in situ.

So they used to tie the sheep or whatever

up to the ring and cut its throat and sacrifice it

to Theagenes.

- Theagenes?

- Yeah.

- Well he must have been great man.

- They thought that he was such a great man

that he also had powers and became, really, a demi-god.

- I mean, it's huge, this place, mate.

It's not exactly the Athens Agora, but it's almost

up there with it.

It just lacks a stadium, a theatre or something doesn't it?

- There is a theatre and that's up on the hill up there.

- Shall we go up and have a look at it?

- Yeah.

- I didn't know there was a theatre.

The location and prosperity of Thassos

made it an important trade and administrative centre

since antiquity.

Add to this the good climate and you can understand

why this was a place that attracted so many people

of power and wealth.

Naturally, the Agora had to reflect the opulence

of the island and its inhabitants.

Hence the grandeur of it.

(soft instrumental music)

(upbeat instrumental music)

(insects rasp)

Bit of a work in progress.

132 steps, middle of the day, 35 degrees.

Cameraman Sandy, producer and myself,

we're the only lemons that are coming up here.

Even Tony thought we were fools for coming up here,

but we're on a tight schedule so we've got no choice.

He told me the story though, awesome story.

Built in the third century B.C. by the Greeks,

and it was used for plays in the afternoon.

It was then overtaken by the Romans first century A.D.

and they used it as a Coliseum for fights,

gladiator fights and crucifying Christians

and just around here horseback,

all sorts of stuff happening.

Those walls were built by the Romans

actually to keep the wild animals from jumping over

and killing the people watching.

And if you look over there closely in those seats

you'll see some engravings.

And that's engraved names of people

that sat there.

That was actually saying that they had season tickets.

Why don't we go and check it out.

(upbeat music)

While the backdrop for the theatre is one thing

the structure itself is far more spectacular.

For such a small island, it's amazing to find

a theatre of this size and quality,

but that's a testament to just how wealthy and powerful

the people that lived here were.

You don't build something like this

and the nearby Agora without a lot of money

and the need to put that prosperity on show.

Most of the island's wealth came from the mining

of precious metals and marble.

It was also famous throughout Greece

for its wine.

However a lot of the fortune accrued

by the wealthy people that lived here

came from their mining and other operations

on the mainland.

They brought that money here, spending it on a lifestyle

similar to that enjoyed by their contemporaries in Athens.

I think the guys here had it much better

than those in the city.

Thassos would have been far more scenic and peaceful,

not nearly as busy as the big smoke.

You know, I'm so obsessed by the classical period,

300, 400, 500 B.C. that sometimes I think

I may have actually been here.

Now if I was here,

coming to Thassos now, I think I would have liked

to have been here.

Maybe I was one of the Christians, swimming in the water,

enjoying myself, in the Agora,

come up here, caught by the Romans, crucified,

but I'm back.

Or maybe I was one of the politicians

and spent my days debating in the Agora.

Then again, I could have been a military leader,

fighting against the Persians.

Now that would have been cool.

I do like to lead.

Nah, chances are I worked in the marble quarries

or one of the vineyards.

(upbeat music)

(machinery rattles)

One remnant of the distant past that remains in practise

still today is the making of olive oil.

Every island in the Mediterranean does it

and while the techniques might have modernised a little

it's still a basic process that hasn't changed much

in centuries.

Here on Thassos, Sotirelis olive mill

shows you how industrial development took olive oil

manufacture from hands-on, tireless labour

to mass-production.

This particular machine was run by a water wheel.

The continuous flow rotated the huge wheel

which in turn activated the grinding gears.

The heavy millstones would mash the freshly harvested olives

and the resulting emulsion was then layered

between hemp mats and pressed.

A full day of operation would yield 200 kilos of oil.

The system was used from 1915 to 1966.

Electricity was then introduced to the island

and these machines took production to the next level.

They make 400 kilos of oil an hour,

but have been superseded with even more efficient

and modern presses that turn out four times that amount.

That's almost 60 times the volume being produced

a century ago.

For over four generations, the Sotirelis family

have been in the olive oil industry,

so they've seen firsthand how things have changed.

Sotirelis follows in the footsteps of his forefathers

and does so with pride and passion.

It's evident in the way he beams as he shows me

these photographs of his family.

It's hard to fathom how someone

can continuously be inspired by olive oil

for so many years, but after spending a couple of hours

with Sotirelis, you leave with more

than just an understanding

for what he considers to be a craft,

you develop a genuine appreciation for it.

(machinery rattles)

From one staple of island life that's found around the world

to another product you've probably come across, marble.

Now being a builder, I've made my poor wife

move house 17 times and one of the fondest memories

of the first time we built together

was the selection of marble for our bathrooms.

Whether it was through creativity or patriotism,

Helen chose a Greek marble, Thassos white.

At 28 years later, I couldn't miss the opportunity

to visit the place of its origin,

along with the chief engineer of the quarry, Gerasimos.

(speaks in foreign language)

(water splashes and machinery grinds)

So what I've been seeing, the blocks come from the quarry,

they go here and that diamond saw cuts the first slice.

They then lay it on its side, on its flat side,

they can slice it up into slabs.

We're gonna go and have a look at that now.

(speaks in foreign language)

Unbelievable, what's happening now is the block's

being cut into slabs.

It's gonna take 12 hours for those diamond saws

to cut through that slab, unbelievable!

(machinery rattles)

Have a look at this machine.

It looks like parts of the olive press we just saw.

It's that old, but don't let appearances deceive you.

As they say, they don't make them like they used to.

This machine runs 24 hours a day

and it's doing the same work that equipment

a quarter of its age does.

And despite how long it's been in operation,

the end product is faultless.

Looking at the sheets of marble at the end

of the process line, you get an appreciation

for why it's in demand all over the world.

It's nearly perfectly white, geometrically flawless,

and quite simply, beautiful.

You made a great choice, Helen.

(soft instrumental music)

(machinery rattles)

Coming into the quarry, the first word that left my mouth

was an expletive that I'm not allowed to say on television

so let's just say, wow, is an understatement.

(soft instrumental music)

45 years, they've been digging in this quarry for 45 years

and they reckon there's another 50 in it.

What's amazing here is that this marble,

this snow-white Thassos marble

that's loved through the world

is formed here, thousands of years of pressure

on the mountain have created this metamorphic rock,

the dolomite that creates this beautiful stone

that goes to the factory and gets cut up

into kitchen slabs and bathroom walls, it's awesome.

(soft instrumental music)

(speaks in foreign language)

Everybody loves a view overlooking a harbour or beach

and there's always something awe-inspiring

about being on the top floor of a tall building,

taking in the panorama of a cityscape.

But when you're a builder, engineer,

or even a home handyman, there's nothing

like the cavernous expanse of an open-cut mine or quarry

to get the heart thumping.

(soft instrumental music)

(upbeat instrumental music)

Two miles west of Limeni is another Thassos hidden gem,

this beautiful paralia, beach.

It's aptly named Marble Beach

and 7:00 in the morning it's filling up already

so I'm gonna go for a swim.

(upbeat instrumental music)

Water looks awesome.

(water splashes)

(upbeat instrumental music)

I love this place and clearly it's by no means

a secret spot.

It's a famous stretch of sand,

or should I say marble, in a quiet part of the island.

The amazing thing is, the open-cut quarry

is only 200 metres away.

The work going on just over the hill

isn't bothering a soul.

In actual fact, the tailings from the quarry

have given this beach its own identity.

Throughout the summer, it's a busy place,

but because there's no surf, it's quite relaxed

with people lazing in the sun,

lying on deck chairs beneath umbrellas,

or floating about in the shallows.

It seems as the temperature rises

the level of activity goes down.

Come to think of it, I reckon I was

the most active person there.

(soft instrumental music)

Wow, two hours and it's changed completely.

The music's pumping, the place is crowded.

I don't want to leave this place, man.

It's too good.

(speaks in foreign language) , excuse me for the way

I'm dressed but I just got out of the water

at Marble Beach.

I had to catch Kyriakos before he cooks lunch

and it's a local provincial dish of Thassos,

(speaks in foreign language)

- Dill.

- Parsley. - Parsley.

- Spring onions. - Spring onion.

- [Kyriakos] And mint.

- [Peter] And what's this.

- This is vine leaves.

- Vine leaves, vine leaves, okay.

- It's from grapes and it's very nice.

(speaks in foreign language)

- Olive oil, which we need, now some lemon for later.

Pepper and salt, and some rice.

- Some rice.

- Okay, what are we gonna do first?

- We make all this mix here.

- Okay, let's put it in, let's go.

Now this is easy.

This is such an easy dish because you just mix

all the stuff in basically.

(speaks in foreign language)

Just stick it all in, it's that easy.

This is actually the stuffing.

Check this out, look at that, woooah, wow.

(speaks in foreign language)

Local, local olive oil, of course,

but if you haven't got local olive oil,

I don't think that matters and we just mix.

Now this is like (speaks in foreign language),

but the difference between (speaks in foreign language)

and (speaks in foreign language)

is that (speaks in foreign language)

don't have minced meat in them.

Now you can put minced meat in them

and we might do a couple of those for me later,

you know, because I'm not a vegan.

(speaks in foreign language)

I've been told to do some work.

Now what he's gonna do now is he's gonna grab those leaves

that he's been soaking away in water

and he's gonna put them in the colander and dry them.

Let's do that now Kyriakos.

Am I running the show or are you running it?

What's going on here mate?

Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Into the colander.

This looks awesome.

Look at this, it's awesome!

Look, smell it, beautiful,

(speaks in foreign language).

The aromatic herbs that we've put in there

just give it the best aroma, it's awesome.

Now what are we gonna do now?

We're gonna lay the leaves out.

We've got some that are dried.

(speaks in foreign language)

He's making the mix, he doesn't care about that.

Yeah, you want to be sure, you're like the captain.

You don't trust me.

He's like the producer, doesn't trust me at all

with the drone or anything, right?

(speaks in foreign language)

- It's a little bit more hard.

- Okay, so you put the actual root of the leaf up

not down when you're folding them.

So we're gonna put the stuffing in these leaves.

Now it's fairly important that you understand

these leaves are vine leaves from grapes

but you can use any leaf.

My mother-in-law used to use the leaves

from the backyard, any sort of leaf is fine.

(speaks in foreign language)

One spoon, is that all?

We might need two spoons in mine though.

(laughs)

Okay, look at how quickly he wraps, man!

Dude, you're a quick wrapper.

(speaks in foreign language)

Ok well show me, can I?

(speaks in foreign language)

Okay, all right, all right, let me do that.

(speaks in foreign language)

See, anyone can do it, even a builder like me can do it,

look at that.

Mom, watching up there, look at that.

My first one, they look good.

And we're gonna put them in here, right?

(speaks in foreign language)

So tight up against each other.

(speaks in foreign language)

Like this?

So you do the circumference first.

I've never rolled one of these in my life,

but I picked it up pretty quickly,

so clearly anyone can do it.

It's a very simple recipe and complements

many other Greek dishes like egg and lemon soup

or even as an hors d'oeuvre.

Now I sound like some sort of food expert.

(speaks in foreign language)

(both laugh)

I hit my head, I got blood on my head

because I hit this corner of this thing

and I'm blaming the cameraman for that.

He's pushing me hard, I'm working so hard.

The recipe in process is simple enough

but to make a meal's worth of these tasty morsels

it takes a while.

Now this is a Greek household,

so we're not making just a few.

We're churning out 50 of them.

In the meantime, Thesandra grabbed me a bandaid

for my head wound.

This presenting business sure isn't easy.

That's a little bit of olive oil.

Look at that.

Oh, that smells so good.

(speaks in foreign language)

And then we put some leaves on top.

Now this is the trick at doing (speaks in foreign language).

You put a plate on top as a weight.

Look at that.

(speaks in foreign language)

And we put some water as well.

(speaks in foreign language)

So we keep putting water in until

the water covers the plate, basically.

(water splashes)

(speaks in foreign language)

Okay, so the trick is to put it on a low heat

for about an hour so that the (speaks in foreign language)

can take the water in and drink it all.

We can now go for a swim.

(speaks in foreign language)

(both laugh)

An hour later, we opened up the pot and voila,

it's almost done.

The strong aroma of the herbs brought back memories

of walking through my mom's kitchen as a boy.

Mind you, my mother-in-law, God rest her soul,

took these guys to a different level,

a taste sensation.

Now the big taste test.

We have the (speaks in foreign language),

we have a local Thassian wine,

and more importantly, the local Thassian olive,

the (speaks in foreign language),

which you can actually eat straight off the tree.

They're awesome, mmmm, mmm.

Anyway, hands, no knife and fork.

Let's see.

Oh, Kiryakos.

He's done it again.

These (speaks in foreign language), they're fantastic.

Oh, oh.

They're beautiful, mmm.

Cheers.

Mmm, (speaks in foreign language)

The French might be known for their hors d'oeuvres

but we Greeks are pretty good at them too.

Maybe they should add (speaks in foreign language)

to their menus.

(soft instrumental music)

(upbeat instrumental music)

(gulls cry)

In my quest to visit all 227 inhabited Greek islands,

the opportunity often arises to step foot on some

that aren't populated at all but have something

peculiarly worth checking out.

One such land mass is this one, Thassopoula.

Man as you come around this point, look at all those birds.

That is unbel, in the water out there, look at them all.

(gulls cry)

Let's go to that little building over there.

Let's see what that little building is, aye?

(gulls cry)

Now they say that Thassos is the northernmost island

of Greece.

It's actually northernmost main island of Greece.

This is the northernmost island of Greece

and it's uninhabited except for this manmade thing

which we think, Yonni reckons, it's a fisherman's hut.

So Yonni, leave me so I can be here for a while on my own

and just take it in.

There is a population here though.

All these birds.

And now that the sound of the motors have gone,

all I can hear is seagulls.

There's thousands of them everywhere.

Look around, they're in the water, they're everywhere!

Anyway, I'm gonna check out this fisherman's hut.

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This tiny island sits directly between Thassos

and Keramoti on the mainland.

It's part of a Natura 2000 protected area,

one of thousands across Europe that have been established

to protect some of the continent's most valuable spaces

and habitats.

The abundance of bird life is due to the food-rich waters

and plant life of the island.

So I've worked out why they're all here.

All the fig trees and olive trees,

they're eating them all.

Anyway we're going.

See you, Thassapoula!

Move it aye, move, move!

Move, move!

(motor roars)

Thassos has a beautiful coastline,

but when you travel inland to some of the secluded

mountain villages, you get to its rural heart

with a more authentic cultural experience.

Some of these settlements have been here

for many hundreds of years,

relatively untouched by outside influence.

What a beautiful village.

- It's a very beautiful village, very traditional.

Kastra village is one of the oldest villages in Thassos.

It was firstly mentioned in the 12th century.

That was very well-known and famous and crowded.

This village is abandoned nowadays.

All of the houses are used only in the winter time

and all of the owners of the houses are local people

that live in Limenaria.

So no tourists, nobody lives here in the summer.

- That's what I want, I want to meet some local people.

I want to have a coffee with someone local.

- Of course we can.

Let me introduce to Kostas, where you can have

a refreshing frappe and a nice yoghourt

with honey and walnuts.

- Oh that would be great, can we go?

- We will go in the local tavern now, let's go.

- Okay.

Kosta owns the only tavern in the village

but you can imagine that it doesn't exactly

do a roaring trade but that's the way he likes it.

After all, it's his retirement.

He moved back to Greece from Germany

to enjoy the peaceful life he had growing up.

His days are spent serving the occasional visitor

and winter locals and his specialties

are the yoghourt and honey he makes himself.

The only problem is, I'm not exactly a yoghourt fan.

So he wants us to smell it?

- No smell.

- Are you sure?

- (laughs) Maybe a little bit of smell.

- Little bit, little bit.

- Little bit.

- Ah, of course. (all laugh)

- Thank you very much.

- You're welcome.

- Thank you, thank you.

- Bon appetit.

- Thank you very much. - Thank you.

- You should try that.

- No, no, sorry.

Sorry I'm the only Greek that doesn't eat yoghourt.

And I know how good it is.

- [Eva] Really?

- You know what, I might go for the first time

in my life having some yoghourt, ahh.

- Come on, come on funny goat, you can do it.

- Ah. (Eva laughs)

It's not that bad, it's not that bad.

- It's very delicious.

- Love the mulberries man, they're awesome.

I don't want the yoghourt.

They're from that mulberry tree over there, apparently

and there're some walnuts in there as well, aye?

- There are some walnuts, that is honey,

raw honey made from Kostas.

- Oh what a change.

- You will feel like Superman after that.

- Yeah? - Yeah. (laughs)

- Mmmm.

For such a small island, there's an incredible diversity

in the landscapes and ecosystems.

In just a short drive you can go from the coast

to a desert mountain and into a rainforest

that feels like those you find in New Zealand or Brazil.

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It's a multi-layered landscape that's easily discovered

via a myriad of hiking trails across the island.

And if walking isn't your thing,

you can also explore some of them

on a four-wheel drive safari.

I was lucky enough to meet Eva, a local who knows the island

like the back of her hand.

She loves to take visitors to the hidden gems

off the beaten track and not in the guide books.

She's full of information and energy

so be prepared for a big day of adventures and education.

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This is absolutely amazing Eva.

Tell me something.

What is that mountain that I can see on that island

over there?

- This is Mouth Athos, where it stands.

- Wow, Mount Athos, that's where I'm going next!

It's fantastic.

This part of Thassos is like I'm in a different country

to where it is on the seaside.

It's just completely different.

It's green, the trees are magnificent.

- You know something, there's much more to see.

- Let's go, let's go.

- Let's go.

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- Eva this is unbelievable.

I don't think I've ever seen anything like this.

- This is my favourite spot.

- Your favourite spot.

And not many people know about it.

- No.

- Where exactly are we?

- We are at the back side of Ipsarion,

the highest peak.

So behind this beautiful rock formations

you can find the highest peak Ipsarion.

So now we have only a small part of the view

that we will have from the top.

- It's so beautiful.

I look at this and I just want to sit here

in peace for a moment and take it all in

and maybe meditate for a minute.

- I think it's the best place to do that.

- Okay.

(insects whir)

After a brief moment of contemplation

it was a short walk further along the trail

to another magnificent viewpoint

that gave a totally different perspective

of the island.

So Eva, tell me where are we?

- Now we are at Ipsarion, the highest peak.

You can see all the hiking trails that are here

and I'm planning to take one of them,

maybe in October, and reach up here.

- [Peter] All the way up here?

- [Eva] All the way up here, yes.

- When I first came here, I said,

"Thassos is the place that you have to go out

"and find things."

From up here it's all in front of you.

My next destination is right over there at Mount Athos

and I'm really looking forward to that,

but I'm sad that I'm leaving.

Let's go.

But before leaving, I've got a couple more places to see.

One of which is at the southern tip of the island

and harks back to the earliest days of the marble trade

on the island.

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All along the coastline of Thassos

there are hidden gems.

I could spend weeks exploring the island

and still not unearth all that it has to offer.

That's fine with me, because just about everywhere I go

I like to leave a few stones unturned.

That way I have an excuse to come back again some day.

On this occasion, despite being on a mission

to get to our next major port of call

there was one place I just couldn't cruise by

without stopping for a look.

Leaving early, we made our way to the bottom of the island

to a place where you can see the earliest remnants

of the island's mining heritage.

We've travelled from the north of the island

almost to the southern tip.

We're almost there.

We've come to the bay of Alikes,

which is, or Aliki, which is right behind me.

It's named Aliki because this area here

used to be a salt flat and alikes

is basically salt flats in Greek.

But I think the geology of this place isn't natural

and we're gonna find out why.

My man, let's go.

When it comes to archaeologists,

there's certainly no shortage of them in Greece

or at least that's what you'd think.

The problem is, there are so many sites being discovered

every year, there's just not enough money

and therefore specialists, to research them.

But that's another story.

In this instance, I was lucky enough to have Manuela

to show me around.

She's an archaeologist and an architect

and knows everything about this remarkable place.

You're an architecture by profession

and you come from Strasbourg

and yet you're doing archaeology in Greece.

- I was just in love in archaeology and I found a course

on architecture and archaeology in Paris

that brought me in Greece to study

and so I falled really in love in archaeology

and I stay in Greece.

- And you've been here every since?

- And I stay, yes.

- How many years is that?

- 30 years now.

- And you married an archaeologist.

- Of course, an architect and archaeologist together, yes.

- Fantastic.

- Why, because we have to share this love.

- So what I've been really looking forward to, Manuela,

is that you're an expert, a PhD,

on quarries here, on the old ancient quarries, 600 B.C.

Can we go and have a look.

- Yeah, of course, great.

- Let's go, looking forward to this.

Manuela, you don't have to be an archaeologist

to work out that humans were here.

The way things are cut so symmetrically,

looking at this here.

- Yes, exactly, here we will have a nice example

for the first, the oldest extraction

made by the Parians.

You recognise here the wedge holes

for putting the wedge onside.

- [Peter] So that the block would fall off.

- [Manuela] Yes exactly.

- Amazing, so when you say Parians,

you mean people from Paros?

- Yes, people from Paros came here with their hews,

with their tools, and the techniques

for extraction of marble.

- [Peter] So how long ago was that?

- 600, 6th century before.

- So this is 600 B.C.?

- Yes.

- Wow, we should keep moving, this is interesting.

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- So that is biggest cut of quarries, of a front quarry,

in the classic and archaic time.

Every length's a work of the different time of work.

- The Parians would have been here in that.

- On the top we have still Parian traces.

- Parian traces and were they doing this in classic times

as well?

- Yes.

- And what about Byzantine.

Were they cutting here in Byzantine times?

- Byzantine times they go on the sea quarries

that we will see now.

- Can we go?

- Yes of course. - Thank you.

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- Here you have all the Byzantine's quarries.

- Wow, so we're talking sort of up to 600 A.D.

- [Manuela] Yes.

- So from sort of 100, 200, 600 A.D. they were cutting here.

Before that, 600 B.C. they were cutting inside,

the Parians, the classic Greeks.

And then the Romans.

- And the Roman came here.

- And the Romans came here, they plundered, left.

- Yes.

- And the Byzantines kept cutting.

- Exactly.

- Let's keep going, huh?

(footsteps crunch)

Why did they leave it behind, Manuela?

- They left it behind because they couldn't take it away.

This quarry had stopped at 619 by an earthquake

and so the column stays here.

- So this column's 1400 years old, 13, 1400 years old.

- Yes, yes.

- Wow, so.

- And you see it was ready to be taken away

because it's finished.

You have the plate here, you have still the marble.

Everything is done, he is ready to go away.

- How heavy do you think this is?

- About 16 tonnes.

- Wow, unbelievable, 16 tonnes.

The machines they would have had to lift this thing,

1400 years ago!

- [Manuela] A huge machine with the double-hoisting masts.

- [Peter] How do you, you've worked this out.

- [Manuela] Yes I worked it and I wanted to know

how it could be, how big it was,

how it can lift 16 tonnes.

- All right, we'll do the, do the big walk up aye?

- Of course.

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- For more than two and a half thousand years

this island has been exploited for its marble.

You'd think it would have shrunk a little

thanks to so much of it being shipped around the world.

Well in some parts of Thassos,

it has made a significant impact on the natural landscape.

You can see it on this peninsula

where the Byzantines have excavated the marble,

leaving a flat expanse that you can almost think

was a natural low-lying coastal feature.

One thing that has impressed me here

is that you don't need to be an archaeologist,

an architect, or a builder to enjoy this.

The walk is magnificent and at the end

there's this beautiful swim.

So why don't we go for a swim?

- I think so.

- After you Manuela.

Let's go up this way, that's a bit more dangerous.

Look at how I'm...

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In the next episode, I'll be making my final stop on Thassos

before going to one of the most significant religious sites

in Greece, the Mount Athos.

It's the monastic centre for the Eastern Orthodox

and home to 20 monasteries.

There's no wonder it's often called the holy mountain.

It's a part of Greece that's shrouded in mystery

and my plan is to unravel just a little bit of it.

I'll be spending a day in the life of a monk

and experiencing firsthand the lifestyle

of these most devout people.

But don't go thinking the episode is all about religion,

because I'm also be heading to Samothrace,

an island that's off the beaten path

and known only to the more active

and adventurous travellers.

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(flame whooshes)