Located on the Thriassian Plain just a 20-minute drive along the Saronic Gulf coast from Athens, this city of around 30,000 is now largely industrialised (home for example to the country’s biggest oil refinery) but its roots reach back to ancient Hellas. Founded in the 2nd millennium BCE, it became one of the five sacred cities of ancient Greece; was the birthplace of the 5th-century BCE tragic playwright Aeschylus; and the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries, initiations held annually for the cult of Demeter and Persephone and considered the most famous of the Hellenic world’s secret religious rites. These days Elefsina stages the venerable annual Aeschylia Festival, held from late August through September with stage productions, art exhibitions and installations, concerts, and dance events.

Read more about this and this year's two other capitals in my post The 3 European Capitals of Culture for 2023: Elefsina, Timişoara & Veszprém.


Charalambos Andronos