Greetings from Santorini

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

On vacation

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

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

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

Fisherman's Blues

On a boat, in Varkiza little port.

Summer time

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more about the site

iPhone is here...

...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

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

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

The aftermath

Grief

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

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

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.

Read more here

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

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

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

Looking marble

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

"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

Afternoon at Kea island.
In Wikimapia

Heavy bird spotting

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

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

Photo Journal: Champions League Final

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

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

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

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

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

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