Joanna Lumley's Greek Odyssey

High above Athens, Joanna views the painstaking restoration of the Parthenon and battles vertigo. She explores mythical and historic sites in the Peloponnese, meets an Englishman who worships Apollo, visits a hedonistic nightclub, and tours the ancient theatre at Epidaurus with legendary singer Nana Mouskouri, who gives a rare performance for Lumley and a few astounded tourists.

Traveling from the western island of Corfu to the eastern border that Greece shares with Turkey and Bulgaria, Joanna learns how centuries of invasion and occupation have left their mark. She visits a tension-filled military outpost, retraces Lord Byron's journey by horseback through the western highlands,

Greece is a maritime nation with more than 1,400 islands. Each has its own tales to tell and a history spanning thousands of years. Invited on board a shipping magnate's yacht, Joanna visits Crete and learns of its role in the Resistance against the Nazis; travels to Kos, the birthplace of Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine;

Joanna climbs Mount Olympus, home of the ancient gods, and encounters gods of today: athletes who run in the annual marathon. She tours Thessaloniki with its controversial mayor; attends a fortune-telling festival where vulgar jokes are part of a tradition reaching back to Homer's day; and ends her journey in Meteora, where monasteries perch on sandstone pillars in the sky.