From rooftops to honey jars, Athens is abuzz with urban beekeeping
Nikos Chatzilias spends his days tending to buzzing bee colonies with a unique view out over the rooftops of Greece’s capital.
He is among the dozens of Athenians who have embraced urban beekeeping to support local ecosystems, reconnect with nature and enjoy honey flavored by each neighborhood’s local plants and flowers.
Chatzilias, 37, was a heavy honey consumer, eating it with bread and tea for breakfast and using it to replace sugar everywhere else, including in cookies and other sweets. He grew dissatisfied with run-of-the-mill product and decided to make his own, signing up for beekeeping classes in 2020 and becoming a professional shortly thereafter.
“I saw that it worked really well for the hives. For us, the daily contact with the bees brought us a lot of joy, and that’s why we continued,” he said.
This summer, Chatzilias cared for 30 hives he placed on seven Athens-area rooftops, including one with a view of the Parthenon. The approximately 1.2 million bees in his hives produced 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of honey, roughly the weight of a large brown bear. Each batch was packaged and named for its neighborhood of origin.
https://apnews.com/article/greece-beekeeping-honey-athens-41ab7e1450d09ec423d1d349f8919a16
I can just see the hassle you'd have to go through to do that here. Permits, ecological impact statements, etc. , not to mention objections from the neighbors!