Enjoyed a more quiet day, one in which I listened to my body & gave myself permission to slow down & rest
Having said that….after another night of broken sleep I ate some breakfast before heading out to watch the Independence parade which started at 11am.
I had read on google that it was a military parade, but that is actually tomorrow. Today it was the children’s turn to march. I followed the crowds to the courtyard outside the Zappeion where the kids were gathering. There were lots of adults in traditional costume & the kids all dressed in what I suppose is their school uniform of white shirt & blue bottoms.
They assembled en masse on Leoforos Vasilissis Amalias (Street) & proceeded to march up to Syntagma Square. A big brass band with booming drum led them along the streets & thousands of proud parents clapped, cheered & snapped pics of their kids.
It was heartwarming to see so many proud family members & the kids looked quite serious as they all marched in time. It struck me, as I watched a granny rushing to kiss her grandchildren as the march was about to begin, that it was very likely this granny had participated in the march when she herself was a child. There’s something really beautiful about the sense of togetherness that I am gleaning from people here, a sense of pride, solidarity & harmony.
Each day I hear over & over the words good, ok & home. I can’t give you any context to the words but just those three words give me a sense of how important it is to be connected to your neighbourhood & those you share it with whilst being good, happy & ok.
Not great pics of the parade but I didn’t want to get too in amongst it!
Following the parade, at a distance, I found myself one more outside the Panaghia Kapnikarea Church, one of the oldest Greek Orthodox churches in Athens. Built sometime in the 11th century, it was constructed over an Ancient Greek temple & is formed by a complex of three different units attached together. This time I went in & lit a candle for a recently deceased family member. I took the chance to sit in silence in this small oasis & gather my thoughts before heading out into the crowds again.
One of the things I fell in love with last time I was here was the blend of old & new. As you can see from this picture there’s an ancient church surrounded by modern architecture & what you can’t see is that the street leading to the church is the main shopping strip, lined with brand stores & buskers galore! I love that I managed to capture the young man here in his traditional costume strolling casually amongst all the tourists!
From here I wandered in no particular direction past squares filled with laughter & music, the smell of food floating on the breeze & crowds of people all joining together to share a meal on this holiday weekend. Ever present is the Acropolis towering over the city & acting as a gigantic geographic marker. As long as you can see the Acropolis you can work out where you are & how to get to where you want to go!
After a very dull lunch of tuna & lettuce bagel (tummy still not quite right!) I took the time to look around the Bath House of the Winds, located just under the Acropolis. This is very like a Turkish Hammam inside & is one of the only remaining public baths in Athens. Dating back to the first period of Turkish rule (15-17th C) it was operated for men & women at different times of the day. In the 1870’s it was altered & operated simultaneously for both sexes until 1965. I didn’t take pics coz it was pretty dull inside & slabs of marble don’t make for great content!
I headed back to the apartment after this, picking up some tomato pasta on the way home for dinner. The couch was calling me & I had a lovely restorative 3 hour sleep. I feel much refreshed & I think my tummy may have, at last, settled itself! Hopefully I can sleep through the night without getting up to eat at 2am 🥱 now if only the dogs upstairs would stop barking!!
I wanted to include this last photo as a nod to all the stray cats of Athens. This one was sitting quietly behind a gate gazing out over the Acropolis, completely unfazed by the hordes of tourists noisily passing by. Think I’d like to come back as an Athenian cat 🐈⬛
