Work sent me to Athens a few weeks ago. I was accompanied by my boss, and we had a few meetings with members of the Greek government, the European Commission and academia. These meetings were slightly bizarre and much more political than I am used to in my day job, but I won’t go into details here.
That week, Athens had unseasonally hot weather. But while I generally prefer my summers Scottish, I do enjoy going out at night in a hot country. I spent a few lovely evenings eating out with my boss with various views of the Acropolis by night.
Athens is also known as the Edinburgh of the South. The main feature of its skyline, the Parthenon on the Acropolis, looks just like the Scottish National Monument on Calton Hill.
We got a flavour of the social unrest troubling Greece these days. Demonstrations happen on a daily basis, and no one seems to know much about the different groupings demonstrating, who they are and what exactly they want. The military presence on Syntagma Square was quite disconcerting. I can’t help but wonder if this is what awaits the UK if they don’t get their shit together very soon.
Here are a few pictures, but really it was too hot to take photos.
Plato in the Academy of Athens
The guards in front of the parliament.
Imagine holding this pose at 40 degrees!
Loved the shoes.
Military getting ready for the nightly demonstrations at the parliament on Syntagma Square
Too hot to climb the Acropolis, so I explored Athens’ “Traditional Plottery”
Dinner on Friday night, boss and I shared a litre of wine.
View at dinner
Comments
… or would it rather be Athens of the North? ;)I also would like to have some warm nights here in Germany, but so far it is more like a Scottish summer. - der Erich
Lucky you! - Maike
Exactly, lucky us.:-) Loving it. Off to have pink Guinness now.:-) - Kat
Comments