Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Athens, Greece part 3

Because of poor bandwidth on this internet on the rig, I have had to divide the Athens blog into several parts.  This is the final part of three separate blogs.  




      Very near the Panathenaic Stadium is the Greek Parliament building which houses the Grave of the Unknown Soldier in front of it.   An honor guard of two Evzone (elite infantry unit of the Greek army), now the Presidential Guard, stand watch over the tomb.  Their ceremonial uniform dates back to Kephts who fought the Ottoman Turks.  Their uniform includes a fustanella, a kilt-like garment with 400 pleats representing the 400 years of Ottoman Turk occupation, white shirts with wide sleeves, a waist coat, white stockings, and red clogs with black pompoms.  They carry an M-1 Garand with a bayonet.  During the ceremonial changing of the guard they move slowly with high goose steps. Very impressive to watch the precision and how they can keep their balance when they stop with one leg vertical at waist height.


Honor Guard at the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Changing of the Guard


     Our hotel was very near the Roman Forum of Athens  which contained one wall of Hadrian’s Library, the Tower of the Winds to honor the wind gods, and many remains of other buildings.


The  remains of the Roman Forum of Athens


A remaining wall of the Library of Roman Emperor Hadrian



Sights we observed while walking around Athens



Athens with Mars Hill in the foreground


A neighborhood and street between our hotel and the Acropolis


Olive Trees


Ancient Byzantine Church in an Athens square


A young street musician

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