A few days ago, I took a walk, beginning from the Byzantine Russian Church on Fillellinon Street in downtown Athens, meandering through the colourful laneways of Plaka flanked by neoclassical buildings all the way to Panagia Kapnikarea on Ermou Street, the church where I got married.

Well, that’s what I did, sort of.

During the coronavirus lockdown, I couldn’t be there physically, but I was able to take a virtual stroll on the Heygo platform from my drizzly apartment in Melbourne at 5pm Wednesday, as the sun shone bright on this 10am Athens tour.

Nota, an archaeologist and expert in Byzantine culture, began with a map presentation, which was interrupted by a passer by who spearheaded a typically Greek interaction which is a mixture of rudeness, familiarity and chutzpah rolled into one.

“I do apologise,” she said to our group. “He told me not to stick maps on walls but I told him it is just for a little while.”

But it wasn’t just Byzantine culture we wanted, in fact it was the joy of just being in Athens, soaking it in, with a real Athenian in real time – that is what we craved.

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Panagia Kapnikarea Church on Ermou Street

Strolling through Plaka

Any Greek tour would have sufficed, but Medieval Athens was good enough, and people popped on as the tour progressed, a number of them with Greek-sounding names.

Our guide stressed the importance of Byzantine architecture, explained the metamorphosis of the Classical city to a Christian one, and pointed out pagan symbols on church walls during a transitional period on people’s faith.

We “strolled through” the historic lanes of Plaka, discussing the destruction, plunder and decline of Classical Greece before the cultural revival in the Middle Ages, followed by the Fourth Crusade, and the establishment of the Frankish-Latin dominion.

“Why is there so much graffiti?” John asked in the chat, and he was told that some of the buildings had been abandoned for so long – a half-truth really. How could Nota explain in a quick Byzantine tour the nature of an entire pressure cooker nation, looking for outlets, ready to burst?

“What type of tree is that?” Siobhan asked, obviously unaware that yes, in Greece lemon trees grow in the CBD, ready to be plucked and squeezed into the salads of office workers.

“Why aren’t people wearing masks?” Ellie asked.

“We are not required to wear masks outside,” Nota explained, despite the fact that the day had already churned out more than 4,000 new cases.

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“That’s the church where I got married,” I said, and a litany of “wows” and “congratulations” were sent to me by fellow Heygo “tourists” from around the world, sitting on their couches, hankering for a koulouri from the vendor we just passed, wishing to light a candle in one of the chapels or just soak in some summer sun.

Nota continued to unravel the palimpsest that is Athenian history, while we did our best to distract her, stretching our ears to hear the sounds of a city in lockdown and straining to see if she would pass by someone we knew, perhaps an old friend walking the streets we once knew so well.

“Hey fancy seeing you here,” we’d yell out from Nota’s phone.

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But we saw no familiar faces this time round.

Many of the shops, theatres, galleries along the way were shut, and I remembered visiting them many times when I lived in Greece. I wondered if they would still be there when I return.

July 2022 seems far, but meanwhile it’s nice to know that there are live tours being offered with no passport (vaccine or otherwise), no plane ticket, no hotel quarantine, no luggage and for free, unless you wish to leave a tip to support these hard-hit tour guides looking for a way to survive.

Take a tour to a destination in Greece or anywhere else on https://www.heygo.com