Day 127: Athens, Greece

Well, we came to experience other cultures not just the sights and restaurants. Today we got quite a bit more than we bargained for. Having grabbed a quick breakfast to go, we crossed the crazy traffic around Omonia Square (which is only filled with sketchy people doing sketchy things or yelling or watching people either to eat them or to rob them, hard to tell because the look is so similar) to eat our sandwiches. Moments after we sat down, two men crossed the square and pissed in the bushes (sorta, they didn’t really try to hide). Immediately after, some other guy goes into a nearby area of the same bushes and digs around in some trash on the ground. And immediately following that, the air is filled not only with the now all too familiar smell of piss but also, mysteriously, of shit. We’re both totally disgusted and simultaneously got up and headed off the square.

We hurry up the street away from the square trying to find someplace quiet to finish our breakfast. Unfortunately, Athens has a real shortage of green spaces and public parks. The few public areas that are here almost always do not have benches or seating of any sort. We came to one rare ”park” if you can really call it that which had a few benches. We took the last open bench and suddenly realized this wasn’t really a park for us; the guy on the bench next to us was shooting up, right there in broad daylight with people walking by and us unwittingly sitting down beside him. Wow, this city is messed up. We just decided to walk and eat.

With no plans today and nothing open, we had little else to do but stay in the hostel all day or go wander the streets. After breakfast we came upon a massive protest parading through the city with red shirts and flags and hats washing over the streets. Everything was in Greek of course so we had no idea what the cause was. From the looks of it, it was a political protest of sorts probably fighting for minority or workers (or both probably) rights. There were flags screen printed with Che Guevara, Chairman Mao, the Turkish and Ukrainian flags and a few others. One particular person of importance was being especially targeted with Xs drawn across his face or pictures of him dressed up like the Queen. Lots of shouting and chanting in bullhorns. The most agitated people were in the back and the front quarter seemed to be well-off students and middle aged folks interested in verbally supporting a cause but not really having a true interest in creating change.

Protesters....protesting

We tried to outrun it and get around it as we walked through the mostly empty streets of this public holiday, May Day, but when there are 6,000 people marching through the streets, it’s really difficult to get around them. So we stopped and just watched. Eventually the mass made its way up to the Parliament building where a rather bored looking single line of police with riot shields were waiting. Behind them and ready for immediate backup if necessary were the real riot police in full riot gear complete with gas masks and tear gas canisters should the protest turn into an angry mob. We followed all the way up to Parliament and hung out to see what would happen once the protesters faced off with the police. We were at the very front looking down the line between the police and protesters, but hanging off to the side, clearly not making a stand for either side since we didn’t even know what or who was being protested.

At the line

Serious riot police

After 10 boring minutes, some of the half-hearted protesters began trickling back to their normal lives, fashionable scarves and frappoccinos in hand. Some of the angrier participants from the back of the line began to made their hasty way to the very front, ready to cause a scene with the police. Soon enough the crowd rushed the line of police and it looked pretty serious for about a minute and a half. Everyone backed off and just stood there not doing anything, just waiting for something. Several minutes later a second rush happened and the police set off a couple of flash bombs that sent a lot of people running in retreat. We didn’t stick around either since it looked to be getting more serious with the second rush on the police line but we didn’t want to get too far from the action either. But little else happened besides 2 very stupid young guys taking a club fashioned from a discarded 2×4′ and smashing a security camera on a private business building for no other reason that to cause some trouble under the guise of the protest.

The dissipating crowd

Greece has a reputation for being quick to protest and riot about most anything so we can technically call today a cultural experience. Nothing much besides this for today. Nearly all shops, sights, and most restaurants are closed today so we had little else to do. On our way back to the hostel for some free internet time, we passed down broad avenue where we witnessed an angry pimp loudly berating one of his girls, breast in hand, for not showing enough cleavage. Today was, er, intense.