Context Athens Tour Guides

Fotini Tyrovouzi is an archaeologist who has worked with the Acropolis Museum for many years and has extensive experience with the antiquities of Athens and Greece at large. She did her graduate work in classical archaeology and Byzantine art and history at the Free University in Berlin. She also studied at the University of Maryland and spent one year of high school in the United States. Fotini possesses deep knowledge and understanding of the patrimony of her native city and often works for the Greek Foreign Ministry leading diplomats around Athens.

Vicky Kynourgiopoulou is an archaeologist and heritage management consultant who has worked on numerous digs throughout Europe and North Africa for such NGOs as ICCROM and UNESCO. She holds a Ph.D. in archaeology, architectural history and urban planning and has taught at a range of universities. She is currently heading up a program in heritage management at CEA's Rome campus.

Valentina Di Napoli received her undergraduate degree in classics from the University of Naples, her Masters in classical archaeology from the Italian Archaeological School at Athens, and completed her Ph.D. in classical archaeology at the University of Athens, with a specialization in Hellenistic and Roman sculpture. She participated in many excavation programs in Greece and Italy and collaborated as a consultant with several museums and institutions in Athens. Valentina is the correspondent from Greece for the Italian monthly periodical “Archeo”, teaches ancient Greek art & archaeology in an American university in Athens. She also works at the Swiss School of Archaeology. Valentina has published specialized reviews several articles about the art and archaeology of ancient Greece, and is now completing her first book, “Theatres of Roman Greece.”

Kelly Bourni holds a Master's degree in modern letters from the Sorbonne and a certificate in archaeology from the National School in Athens. She has deep experience leading individuals and groups through the monuments of her hometown. In addition to her years of experience on site in Athens, Kelly has also undergone training in interpretation and museum education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA in New York City and in cultural heritage management at the University of Paris IX. A gifted teacher, Kelly has guided a wide range of visitors to Athens, from members of the International Olympic Committee to heads of state and diplomats.

Eleni Dimitrakopolou is a licensed guide for the city of Athens.

Georgia Sermamoglou-Soulmaidi was born in Athens, Greece. She studied Greek philology at the University of Athens, majoring in classical literature and minoring in linguistics and Byzantine and modern Greek literature. She has a Master’s degree in classics from the University of Virginia, where she wrote her thesis on the poetry of Ovid. She has taught Greek and Latin, as well as classes on Greek mythology and Roman civilization. She is currently working on a dissertation on Plato’s philosophy.

Diane Kochilas is an internationally known food writer and food consultant. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Gourmet, Saveur, and Food & Wine. In Greece, she is the weekly food columnist and restaurant critic for the country’s largest newspaper, Ta Nea. Diane has written 17 books in both English and Greek on Greek and Mediterrranean cuisine, including the award-winning The Glorious Foods of Greece. She is the owner of the Glorious Greek Kitchen cooking school on the island of Ikaria and she is consulting chef and partner at New York’s Pylos restaurant, one of the top-rated Greek restaurants in the city as well as consulting chef at Avli Restaurant in Chicago.

No biography information for Katerina Tavri.

Avgi was born in Cairo but raised in Athens. An archaeology major at the University of Athens, she is also a licensed guide for the city and possesses both a deep and broad knowledge of the cultural history of her native city. Avgi has extensive experience as a teacher and has worked with both children and adults in on-site learning, using the city of Athens as an open air textbook.

Vassilios is a historian who taught for many years in local schools in Athens. He earned a degree in archaeology from the University of Athens, but has done specialized research in the history of the Orthodox Church, Byzantine studies, and modern Greek history. Vassilios is a gifted teacher with extensive on-site experience with adults, children, and families.

Leda Costaki is an archaeologist with a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She is an active member of the American School for Classical Studies Athens and has extensive experience on digs throughout Greece. Dr. Costaki possesses a specialized expertise in walls and Greek road systems and infrastructure.

Yiouli was born in Athens and lives in the city with her family. She studied history and archaeology in the University of Athens, and became a licensed guide for the city of Athens in 2005.

No biography information for Lorenza Berini.

Vanda Refene is a licensed guide for the city of Athens and a trained historian who often accompanies our groups in the city, providing additional information about Athens, Greece, and cultural patrimony.

Renee is currently a Ph.D. candidate in classical art and archaeology program at the University of Virginia. Although her dissertation focuses on the images of women in the archaic and classical Greek world, she is also interested in the material remains from various other time periods, including Minoan, Mycenaean, Geometric, Hellenistic, and Roman. As a classical archaeologist, Renee has excavated at the Bronze Age site of Mycenae; and she spent two summers excavating in the Athenian Agora with the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. As one can only learn so much from books and two-dimensional photographs, Renee has found that her most rewarding teaching experiences have been leading students in museums and on-site.

Although trained as an architect Nikitas Patiniotis lives and breathes Greek cuisine. Beginning at an early age on weekly treks to the Athenian markets with his two grandmothers, Nikitas has surrounded himself with skilled home-cooking and the specialty foods of Greece throughout his life. He has been conducting tours in his hometown for many years: What started as walks with friends from abroad in the late 1970’s has now morphed into critically acclaimed culinary adventures in Athens' central market. Nikitas' walks are equally focused on food as on the people and city that produce it, a rare, insider's insight into the food culture of this incredible city.