Athens Daily Photo

The blog is temporarily out of service

2007-12-31T21:14:00.000+02:00

It's been some months that it was impossible for me to keep the promise of constantly updating Athens Daily Photo. Although this city has amazingly lot of icons to show and pictures to shoot, the extremely long working hours keep me away from the streets and where the true heart of this city beats.

So, I decided to take a long break. I will come back as soon as I have a photo inventory large enough to keep the (almost) daily updating.

Thank you everybody so much for your visits and comments.

Hope to return soon.

"Little People"

2007-12-21T21:12:00.000+02:00

Metro art from Yannis Gaitis

Bad Parking again

2007-12-19T21:10:00.000+02:00

Remember these posts about people parking all the time at disabled's ramps and pedestrians-only streets?

Here, they actually park on handicapped peoples' spaces (every single such parking spot is taken but not one wheelchair in the store....hhmmmm).

As if this was not enough, the idiot with the black Peugeot parked on the walkway.

Needless to say, noone is ever complaining, noone is ever been fined.

What happens in your own country?

Christmas is near

2007-12-17T20:39:00.000+02:00

A very nice photo from Maria Evripidou. «I saw on your website that people are allowed to send their own photo. So here is mine for now: fountain at Sintagma during christmas time»

Thank you so much Maria

Fierce and curvy

2007-12-15T20:35:00.001+02:00

Dimitra sent me this nice pic. She says that in Germany, piglets are considered a good luck. Let's hope that it brings some good luck to this blog that hadn't seen a post for a month :-)

A visitor's photo

2007-12-15T20:19:00.001+02:00

G Tas, a visitor to Athens kai to ADP, sent me this nice photograph.
«Here is one I got recently when I was in Athens. There are several irrelevant things together, and the result is unique and Athenian»

Road training

2007-11-15T19:40:00.001+02:00

When trains go astray in the highway. This one almost hit the bridge that was supposed to slip under. I was lucky enough to pass by at the right moment :-)

Olympic fixer

2007-11-13T19:36:00.000+02:00

I took this photo during a visit to Olympic Airlines tech base. It makes me think of all the people who take care of us while we 're up there having the time of our lives.

Where was this photo taken?

The same airplane in airliners.net

Now and then

2007-11-06T21:25:00.000+02:00

Behind the construction equipment of the new Acropolis museum, lies this building that used to be the first military hospital in Athens, erected in 1834.

Some artist depicted it while it was brand new.

(See the two buildings in Wikimapia)

Air plant

2007-10-28T11:00:00.001+02:00

You would think that it was planted and grown right there. :-)

Has the rain stopped yet?

2007-10-25T10:59:00.000+03:00

Too much rain last week in Athens. Now dry.

Inter-dead

2007-10-23T10:53:00.000+03:00

You 've probably heard many stories about people who spent their entire lives in internet cafes, like this for example. The first sign show what happens to a gamer when he spends too much time online.

The second one show what happens to an internet cafe when it's out of business.

Athenian horses and Polish bisons

2007-10-19T15:57:00.000+03:00

Remember the horse from an old, last year's post? Kjola, the daily photoblogger from Katowice, Poland, found a bison in her own hometown! Here is the photo and here is her blog.

Syros island, door and flowers

2007-10-17T16:16:00.000+03:00

Just a summer reminder...

Fierce animals revisited 2

2007-10-15T16:19:00.000+03:00

It's been a while since I posted some dangerous and blood-thirsty animals so here they are.

Chase the moon

2007-10-13T16:17:00.000+03:00

Of men and hands

2007-10-11T15:54:00.000+03:00

When the same gesture, for completely different men, means the same thing. "Lets go!". Humans always used the same body language, either the humble Greek sailor or the ruthless Korean dictator.
(Uknown Sailor, Andros, Greece. Second photo Kim Il Sung, taken from www.anamnesis.fl.ulaval.ca)

Returning to Athens

2007-10-09T13:48:00.000+03:00

After a short break, the blog is back in business.

Jump the park

2007-09-30T11:21:00.000+03:00

In Sintagma square, just opposite the Parliament, the flying skaters are practicing their magic tricks.
No skater was hurt during this shooting :-)

Athens and New York are getting closer

2007-09-23T18:09:00.001+03:00

The first photo is in New York Metro and was taken by my friend Nikos (here is the post in his own blog). I took the second one in Athens. Both are promoting the new Continental Airlines Athens-New York route.

It's exciting to look how the same thing is promoted in both sides of the trip.

...and I 've been drinking like a dog

2007-09-21T18:06:00.000+03:00

Tongue work in Syntagma Square

Summer blues

2007-09-19T13:47:00.000+03:00

Another door to the sea

2007-09-17T13:49:00.000+03:00

After this door in Santorini here is another one in Syros.

Cruiser "Averof"

2007-09-15T21:13:00.000+03:00

Georgios Averof is a Greek warship which served as the flagship of the Royal Hellenic Navy during most of the first half of the 20th Century. It is an armored cruiser and the only such ship still in existence.

Launced in 1910, it served during WWI and WW2 and was decomissioned in 1952.

Today serves as a museum and is docked in Faliron.
In Wikimapia
A photographic tour
Naval Museum
Detailed history of the ship

Doorway

2007-09-14T15:50:00.001+03:00

The official entrance to former Syggros estate (see previous post here).

Big Fish

2007-09-13T13:50:00.000+03:00

A rather unlucky yellow fin tuna.

White on black

2007-09-11T13:51:00.000+03:00

In Kamari, Santorini, the beach is full of black pebbles, probably because of the volcanic nature of the whole island. I took this photo in late afternoon, just after sunset.

Door to sea

2007-09-09T13:46:00.001+03:00

What a letterbox!

2007-09-07T13:47:00.000+03:00

In Santorini.

Summer moments: Blue and sand

2007-09-05T13:44:00.000+03:00

High noon

2007-09-03T16:05:00.000+03:00

Andros town under the sun. The balcony on the front is from a mansion built on the rock. On the middle a little church, the "Virgin of the Sea". The ever-present wind was calm that day.
Andros island

E la nave va

2007-09-02T16:01:00.000+03:00

Early in the morning, minutes before we sail for the Aegean...

Syntagma protest: Silence and mourning

2007-08-31T10:17:00.000+03:00

From the blog of my good friend Nikos
Something is changing - and these viral campaigns of disgust for what happened are gaining momentum.
Thousands gather again in Constitution square to protest about the fires and the non-existent government coordination.

Raging Fire

2007-08-28T17:36:00.001+03:00

Five days now, Greece is being burnt by huge wildfires. In Ancient Olympia the flames reached the first ever Olympic Stadium.
Fighting the flames..
Western Peloponnese, most of the victims were caught here by the fire.
In Google News

Note: These photos are not mine, they are collected from various news sites.

Paradise Lost

2007-08-26T19:05:00.000+03:00

It's a moment of great grief, with hundreds of wildfires raging all over southern Greece. In some years from now, it will be impossible to find places like this.
2007 Greek Forest Fires (Wikipedia)
BBC Coverage

In Santorini...

2007-08-16T14:16:00.001+03:00

Every day, during the sunset, thousands of tourists take position to view and take photos.

M ore info and photos

Greetings from Santorini

2007-08-09T12:33:00.000+03:00

Ovelikios is vacationing but the blogger inside him does not. Greetings to all from the most beautiful sunset in Greece.

On vacation

2007-08-06T18:45:00.001+03:00

Athens DP is "moving" to Aegean sea for three weeks. I may post something from there, so please check back regularly .

Have a nice summer everyone.

Cyclists, AKA negros

2007-08-04T23:53:00.001+03:00

In Athens, cyclists can enter with their bikes on the metro Green Line ONLY on the last wagon through the last door. And I thought apartheid was dead long ago.

As if that wasn't enough, bicyclists can use the trains ONLY at off peak hours. That means, if you like to use your bicycle to go to work, you lose.

On the Blue and Red Line (the newest and the most central ones) bicycles are totally forbidden.

How does it sound to you? Are cyclists allowed in your metro system?

P.S.
As I was taking this photo, a security guard approached me and said that taking photos of the sign is forbidden. I said "oh, my. So I cannot take a picture of a PUBLIC sign!" I hope the metro company won't sue me over this. Or, think about what happens to cyclists with cameras!! :-)

Sappho

2007-08-03T17:54:00.000+03:00

Outside Athens National Gallery, the sculpture of ancient lyric poet Sappho, by Antoine Bourdelle.

Fisherman's Blues

2007-08-01T21:31:00.001+03:00

On a boat, in Varkiza little port.

Summer time

2007-07-30T21:23:00.000+03:00

The houses on the hill seem to blend beautifully with the ship's white deck. Scenes like this make me love the greek summer.
Andros island, main port.
Satellite photo
The same boat outside Tinos island

George Michael in town

2007-07-28T16:06:00.000+03:00

Last Thursday, George Michael gave a big concert in Athens Olympic Stadium in front of 40.000 spectators. It was the last concert of his european tour and one of the best events of the summer for Athens.
Many thanks to Annika for the photos.

The Departed

2007-07-25T20:35:00.000+03:00

These are death notices on a telephone company´s switchbox. In Athens there are no designated areas for such announcements so everyone uses walls, poles and any suitable surface.

It´s common that you can stick your notice or poster on other people ones, last week here was an anarchist movement´s poster, next week..who knows?

Outlaw and disorder

2007-07-21T20:37:00.000+03:00

This area is supposed to be pedestrians only. As you can see, cars are parking even in front of the entrances.
The municipality police is nowhere to be seen. So, the pedestrian's area is turned into a parking lot. Of course, none complains. Everybody wants to park his car right on the front of his store.

So, everyone passes freely from there. They even horn at you when you dare to walk. No surprise none wants to shop at this particular area and the shop owners are complaining. Well, you do can shop there. As long as you are Indiana Jones.

A tail and a tower

2007-07-19T22:50:00.000+03:00

I took this photo seconds before boarding in an Aegean Airlines plane to Rome, at Athens airport.

Athens airport satellite photo

Old Parliament and a hero

2007-07-18T21:32:00.000+03:00

This is where the Greek Parliament was from 1875 to 1935. The equestrian statue on the front is Theodoros Kolokotronis, the most prominent figure of the Greek Revolution of 1821.

The building now houses the National Historical Museum.

See the place in Wikimapia

iPhone is here...

2007-07-16T11:05:00.000+03:00

...well, not exactly. A fully functional piece (although with no SIM card and no EDGE network) is displayed at "Plaisio" computer shops since last Friday and many people have been waiting in line to hold it and play with it. I was out of town for the weekend so I couldn't take photos of people posing with it for their friends.

I went there today, early in the morning of course, and I played with it for 15 minutes or so. It's the most impressive device I 've ever held.

iPhone will not go for sale in Greece (and, of course, in Europe) before Christmas but the sign in front of the device reads "iPhone is here!" They should have put some Santas and elves there. :-)

Plaisio stores

iPhone homepage

Protesting for the forest

2007-07-08T23:48:00.000+03:00

Today, the first ever large environmental protest took place in Athens. People are so fed up with the ineptitude of the state to protect the forests and the environment that they gathered outside the Parliament to protest.
On the very tomb of the Unknown Soldier, protesters left ashes and burnt branches from Parnitha, cigarette lighters and some bricks (symbolizing arson and the subsequent building of the burnt places).

Last week, Parnitha mountain's forest, the one and only national park in the vicinity of the capital, was lost due to a huge wildfire. No emergency plan was carried out, the forest is now gone and the minister in charge of the fire brigade said that the operation was "relatively successful"...
Read more about the protest

Lost

2007-07-04T23:05:00.000+03:00

I took this photo in Parnitha, a few weeks before the fire, at a place that is now burnt.

The aftermath

Grief

2007-06-30T17:32:00.001+03:00

Sadness, anger and huge disappointment. These are my feelings as the one and only national park near Athens is no more. The whole forest in Parnitha mountain is gone as a result of a huge wildfire.

The endangered red deers are (most probably) gone too. I met three of those some weeks ago. It was the last time I ever saw them alive.

What is most painful is that the fire was not an arson. It was just the absolute stupidity of the authorities. They did not manage to contain a relatively small fire on the foothills and the fire went up at 1100m altitude, just because of their complete impotence.

None apologized for this, none resigned. None will ever be held accountable for the total loss of our most precious forest.

I feel like I just lost a beloved person...
The story in BBC news

ADP out of town: Spetses island

2007-06-24T19:47:00.001+03:00

I spent the weekend at this beautiful island (about 2 hours from Athens by hydrofoil). Spetses is mostly known for its great contribution (with warriors, money and ships) to the Greek war of Independence in 1821.
Private cars are totally forbidden so people use horse and carriages, motorbikes or these red sea-taxis to get around the island or to the nearby mainland shores. The little port's entrance gets very busy sometimes...
Spetses in Wikipedia
Spetses.gr (in Greek)
More info (in english)

Summer time in Nafplio

2007-06-21T10:24:00.000+03:00

Nafplio (about 150km from Athens) was the first capital of the Greek state and today stands as one of the most historical places in the country. This beautiful snapshot is from the old part of the town, these houses must be 200 years old.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

2007-06-14T00:24:00.000+03:00

During a visit at old Athens Intl airport (Hellenikon), I stumbled upon this old private airplane. The sign on its side reminded me that no promise lasts for ever...
...no matter how high it flies.

Black and White

2007-06-10T00:17:00.000+03:00

Meeting with...the cavalry in Kea island.
Where is it?

Looking marble

2007-06-04T22:36:00.000+03:00

Diana, a friend of ADP, sent me this breath-taking photo.

As she says...
"I wanted to send you a picture that I took while "doing the tourist thing" one of the days I was there. It is a view of the Parthenon through the columns of the Temple of Zeus. I really like how the color of the poppies just add something to this photo".
.
Thanks, Diana. Wish you a nice time in Athens when you come back

Runner

2007-06-03T18:21:00.001+03:00

"Running" just beside the Hilton hotel, this (not so beautiful from up close) statue is "Dromeas" (The Runner). Built from stacked plates of glass by Kostas Varotsos.

Not many people find it beautiful. When in was first intoduced in Omonoia Square in 1994, people were calling it "The Thing". But now it's considered one of the prominent pieces of modern art.

Tell me what you think. Do you find it good-looking or not?
See it in its previous location
More Dromeas pics at Flickr

Island ranquility

2007-06-01T18:15:00.000+03:00

Afternoon at Kea island.
In Wikimapia

Heavy bird spotting

2007-05-29T11:48:00.000+03:00

ADP proudly presents the Greek plane spotters. Here, outside Athens airport, spotting the unusual heavy traffic the day of the Champions League final. More than 40 people, along with some German and Austrian spotters, were there to welcome the iron birds.
Air-born

Tower and the winds

2007-05-27T11:56:00.000+03:00

The Athens airport control tower playing hide and seek with the sun and the clouds.

Photo Journal: Champions League Final

2007-05-24T14:51:00.000+03:00

A friend of ADP was in the Olympic Stadium during the Champions League final. Many thanks for sharing. The first photo is just before the kick-off.
Seconds before Milan´s first goal...
...and moments after.
The match has just ended...
Fireworks all around.......and the Champions in full glory.

Champions League @ Athens

2007-05-23T17:53:00.001+03:00

My dearest friend Annika sent me this photo of Constitution Square where Liverpool fans are having fun hours before they hit the road to the Olympic Stadium.

Drive and dive

2007-05-20T00:18:00.001+03:00

The swimming pool of Athens Hilton hotel is so close to the road that the people who swim can actually feel the roar of the engines of the vehicles passing by. Not the best environment but, then again, where else in Athens can anyone find such a cool and elegant place?
The place in Wikimapia

Automotive History

2007-05-18T23:58:00.000+03:00

A charming collection of retro sports cars (dating from 1928 to 1975) is open to the public at Peiraios St 83. This MERCEDES-BENZ 190 SL (1961) is only one the beauties I met there.
Alman Sport Historic Cars Collection (in Greek)

House of a tyrant

2007-05-15T18:18:00.000+03:00

In the middle of Parnitha National Park (only a few kilometers from Athens) lie the ruins of a villa owned by the dictator Papadopoulos, head of the military junta that governed Greece from 1967 to 1974.

The villa was immediately looted after the junta fell and he went to jail. Anyone can reach the site now (which features also a heliport and a deserted military camp) by foot or by bicycle. It is unknown why the Greek state hasn´t turned it into something useful like a mountain refuge (it is in 1100m alt).
See the place in Wikimapia

Books and marble

2007-05-14T00:45:00.000+03:00

Last week, under the Acropolis rock, the Book Fair.

Pantheon and manure

2007-05-11T23:53:00.000+03:00

When it comes to decorate your garden, anything goes. The Sphinx, Alexander the Great, an eagle, goddess Athena (again in Athens DP) and other figures are for sale in a local garden shop near the flowers, the flowerpots, the fertilizers and the manure.

Goddess at work

2007-05-09T02:21:00.000+03:00

Next year, the new Acropolis Museum (just below the ancient temple of Parthenon) will be ready to receive the first artifacts. This poster is just outside the works area.
The glass gallery on the top will have direct view to Acropolis.
To read more about the museum click here and to watch a virtual tour click here.
Also this Wikimapia link shows the site before the actual building begun to be built. You can clearly see the ancient findings. The artifacts of this particular site will be displayed in the museum too.

Historic Acropolis Rally

2007-05-07T00:51:00.000+03:00

This stylish beauty, along with other awesome cars, competed for 6th Historic Acropolis Rally. A race for sport cars of age 22 years and more. The cars started and finished their race under the Acropolis.

Windows

2007-05-04T22:43:00.000+03:00

In Greece there are no real TV news. They are merely entertainment programs about what happens in the country.

We call this lay-out "TV windows". The woman in the middle is the host. The guys left and right of her are journalists-commentators who are there every single evening commenting on everything: From the government's budget to the latest crime of passion.

On the second row are two politicians. Politicians have become actual commentators themselves. Since they don't produce any news (except from some scandals) they are there to comment on the news.

(Behind the white-haired man there are pictures of Orthodox Saints. He is the Minister of Interior and this is his office in the ministry. And I thought that the theocrats were in Tehran and Washington DC only, LOL).

What about your country? Are there similar pictures?

Unfitting...

2007-05-02T18:51:00.000+03:00

The same hotel (see previous post) from a nearby peak. It was built on the site of an old sanatorium of the ´20s.
Wikimapia Link

Madonna bringing gifts

2007-04-28T19:09:00.000+03:00

This poster was part of the H&M launch campaign in Athens about a month ago. No, she did not visit :-)

Meeting the wild

2007-04-26T18:17:00.000+03:00

On Parnitha mountain, only 25km from downtown Athens, lives the largest Red Deer (Cervus Elaphus) population in Greece (about 400 deers).
I met a family of three during a walk this week and it was one really amazing and magic moment.

(The photo was taken just a few meters behind the ruined hotel of the previous photo)

Upper Class ruins

2007-04-24T07:48:00.000+03:00

This used to be an upper class hotel back in the '60s and the early '70s. State owned, it was built on Parnitha mountain, at 1050m altitude and it was abandoned in the late '70s. Today is deserted, looted and almost in ruins. The inside is spooky. Totally destroyed, burned furniture and carpets, broken floors. As of today, there are no plans for its future.
This interesting structure, where it used to be the covered lounge of the hotel, has the tree's roots built in this cylinder all the way down to the ground.
See the place in Wikimapia

Meeting with a veteran

2007-04-11T23:04:00.000+03:00

In the porch of soon-to-be-demolished house, an old piano (no idea how old) waits its own fate.

Easter Eggs

2007-04-08T12:43:00.000+03:00

The custom in Greece is to paint eggs red and crush the one on the other in Easter Sunday, the Resurrection Day. The one who will crush everyone else´s egg and keep his/her own intact will have good luck.

Happy Easter to everyone. And to the non-Christians... greetings and good luck.

More Street Art

2007-04-03T10:43:00.000+03:00

The only

Street art

2007-03-31T08:31:00.000+03:00

Grand Dog Hotel

2007-03-29T08:34:00.000+03:00

A few meters from my home...

A King's yard

2007-03-27T23:39:00.000+03:00

These stairs lead to the room where the King's office used to be. Many photos in Greek magazines featuring "family" moments of the royals in the 50's and '60s had the family sitting on them.
(See also previous posts)

..ante portas

2007-03-24T18:24:00.000+02:00

This gate was the official entrance to the palace proper in Tatoi (see previous posts). On the right (not visible) is what remains from the guard's outpost. From this gate would pass every official visitor and on this spot stood the tanks which blocked the palace during the coup d' etat in 1967. (That is, until the moment when the King accepted their "government").

Today the estate is completely accessible to the public (except from any building) and is recommended trip for everyone visiting Athens.

Swimming pool for Kings

2007-03-21T10:47:00.000+02:00

I wonder how many royals had dived in this swimming pool in the former royal palace in Tatoi. Now it's full of leaves and some graffiti.

Tatoi former Royal palace

2007-03-18T23:58:00.000+02:00

This is where the ousted Greek royal family lived from 1871 to 1968. The palace is part of a large property, now confiscated by the state. The building is empty. Most objects, artifacts and precious items were taken by the former King over the years and many of them were auctioned in London some weeks ago.

The place is more than 15km out of Athens and is now part of Parnitha National Park and the whole area is open to the public. I, actually, met many tourists walking the area and many families trekking. The palace and all the other buildings are closed though.

More pictures to follow.

Read more in Wikipedia
See the area in Wikimapia

The automobile fields

2007-03-15T14:48:00.000+02:00

This is Attiki Odos, the newest and fastest freeway in Athens. Today, it was just a an endless queue of cars due to Vladimir Putin´s visit. This road leads to the airport so the authorities saw it proper to close it entirely for 30 minutes till the motorcade of the departing Russian president reaches Athens Intl.
Well, it was an opportunity for the drivers to have a little socializing under the sun.

"300" World Premiere

2007-03-06T23:11:00.000+02:00

Two days before the official release in Greece, the movie about the battle of Thermopylae was screened in a grand premiere in Athens. A whole multiplex (14 cinemas, about 2700 seats) was dedicated to Leonidas and his 300 men who fought the Persians in 480 B.C.

Of course, the movie is based on the "300" comic book which is loosely based on the actual battle. Some in Greece will yell against the "distorted history" but, well, it's just a movie.

P.S.
In the movie, King Xerxes of Persia is pronounced with a "Z". Please, it's X like X-box, not Z like in Xena. :-)

P.S. 2
Look how King Xerxes looked like and how he is depicted in the movie. Good thing this will never be released in Iran. :-)

A ride on the mountain

2007-03-04T17:28:00.000+02:00

This is the teleferique of the Parnitha mountain. It lifts people to the Regency Casino (former Mont Parnes Hotel, alt. 1055m). It is brand new. The previous lift that was there for over 40 years was dismantled. Parnitha is the tallest mountain in Athens and is a protected forest and wild life area.
See the area in Wikimapia

Say goodbye to winter

2007-03-01T10:53:00.000+02:00

First day of spring today. For scenes like this, we 'll have to wait till next winter (at least in this part of the world).

Winter colors

2007-02-28T10:25:00.000+02:00

A little escape

2007-02-27T11:03:00.000+02:00

Two hours drive out of Athens lies this beautiful artificial lake in Feneos, Korinth. The church was constructed there to commemorate the former position of a monastery which was forced to move upper in the mountain when the waters raised.
See the place in Wikimapia (you can zoom out to see where exactly in Greece it is)

Rime and mist

2007-02-26T10:54:00.000+02:00

I guess the friends from the north are very familiar with scenes like this. But in Greece it's not something you see every day. This is what happens when the early morning mist freezes on the little branches when the temperatures gets below zero. Of course, this is a on a mountain.

Build it Up

2007-02-25T13:33:00.000+02:00

For the past seven years, Athens is being rebuilt. No, they don't demolish the monstrous buildings in order to make new modern ones. They tear down beautiful old houses and villas in areas that were countryside but now they' re totally urban in order to build blocks of flats. The land now costs more that the old buildings themselves so the development companies take action. Of course, people who move into these new flats are borrowing the money from the banks. Millions of homes are already built in the greater Athens area and almost all of them are on heavy mortgage deals for 30 years or more.

At local market

2007-02-24T12:51:00.000+02:00

Once a week, in almost every neighborhood in Athens a local market is being set up in 5 o'clock in the morning. They sell mostly vegetables and fruits but also fish, various small home objects and some clothing.
The basic idea behind these nomadic markets is that the farmers themselves can sell directly to the consumer, without anyone reselling in the middle. Therefore, the prices here are lower that those in super markets or the grocery's.
The market occupies an entire street. Motorcars can cross through the market and scenes like this are common.

At 13:00 in the afternoon, everyone packs everything and they go. Tomorrow they will sell somewhere else.

Athens DP is back

2007-02-24T12:32:00.000+02:00

After what ended up as a small adventure with DSL access and my ISP, everything is up and running now and Athens DP is fully back online. Thanks everyone for the nice comments during that short break. Let's blog!

Athens DP is temporarily offline

2007-01-27T10:25:00.000+02:00

Technical reasons, no DSL at home, force me to delay or stop the update of this blog for two to three weeks. (Dial up and photoblogging are a pain in the...line :-) ).

I plan to update from time to time (from wi-fi spots or Internet cafes), I 'll do my best. In two to three weeks time I expect to be fully online again and fully honor the word "daily" on the title.

See you around...

Ovelikios

Buy her a perfume

2007-01-20T09:29:00.000+02:00

This is "Attica" the largest department store in central Athens. It's an old office building of the '30s covering an entire block, completely renovated and now dedicated exclusively to the gods of shopping.

This photo is from the late stages of the overhaul, hence the crane.

It's amazing how similar it looks with another department store in Tokyo. (See it here)

Cheer me up

2007-01-19T00:57:00.000+02:00

Just a remnant from the holiday season, this clown is a much better version of the old circus clown.

Better or worse, most small kids that saw him were scared. That's how Stephen King finds his ideas. :-)

Meet Gwyneth

2007-01-17T00:59:00.000+02:00

She was incognito but I found her :-)

Flower street

2007-01-16T01:00:00.000+02:00

Early in the afternoon, minutes away from the city center. Beautiful flowers give a colorful tone in a winter day.

No respect

2007-01-15T00:53:00.000+02:00

A more than common picture in Athens. It seems that there isn't a single one access ramp which is not blocked by a driving idiot.

Sailing the sun

2007-01-14T00:48:00.000+02:00

From time to time I like to look at older photos just to be reminded of the summer. Here is an Aegean sunrise on the boat to Andros island.