Greek Restaurant Owner Living in Alaska Opens Up About her Life

Some 8,500 kilometers away from Greece, Greek tradition lives on.

In a piece for Lifo magazine actress and director Glyka Stoiou narrated her short encounter with Athina Marouda a Greek living in Alaska.

Marouda and her family moved from the Greek island of Zakynthos to the city of Anchorage in Alaska after her brother urged her to move there, at a time when her family was barely making ends meet in Zakynthos.

Zakynthos is an island in the Ionian sea with a population of roughly 40,000. It officially became a part of Greece in 1864. Previously, like most Ionian islands it had been under Venetian rule for a more than 300 years, before becoming a British protectorate in the late parts of the first decade of the 19th century.

In spite of its average 10°C temperature and the distance from Greece, there are around 80 Greek families living in Anchorage Alaska, according to Stoiou.

Marouda and her family have owned the Greek restaurant Pizza Olympia since 1984 when they first moved to the United States.

“Come enjoy authentic home-style Greek and Italian cuisine made by our family since 1984. We take pride in offering fine European gourmet and free delivery so you can enjoy dinner with your family in your home,” the restaurant’s website reads.

Marouda pointed out to Stoiou that Greek Diaspora does not forget their country and stick to their traditions and culture and said that she tries to visit Greece as much as she can.

“Do you know what the first thing I do when I arrive and get off the plane back in the homeland?” she asked Stoiou. “I make a Greek coffee and light a cigarette.”