The Monument to the Unknown Soldier stands outside the Hellenic Parliament in Athens, a cenotaph built in the 1930s that honours fallen Greek soldiers without actually containing any remains. The empty tomb commemorates every anonymous soldier buried somewhere across Greece.

What catches your eye, though, are the Evzones: elite guards in white foustanela skirts with exactly 400 pleats, one for each year of Ottoman occupation before the Greek Revolution. Their handmade red tsaruchia shoes have spikes underneath that create that distinctive clicking sound as they march.

Behind them, metal shields mark the Greek regions where soldiers fell defending national borders during both World Wars. One hundred soldiers from across the country compete for the unpaid honour of standing motionless in front of this monument, changing shifts every hour, 24 hours a day, year-round.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours explain how the ceremonial steps honour multiple symbols at once: the flag, the empty tomb, the battlefields inscribed on the walls and democracy itself, connecting Greece's ancient ideals to its modern independence.