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I’ve been asked whether or not our lifestyle has changed much since we left the UK.  We are definitely loving moving into new accommodation every month, there is a real feeling of excitement in the anticipation of wondering what the next place will be like.  Airbnb makes this so easy, the choice of accommodation it offers is huge and we happily sit together an evening each month deciding where we should go next.   Our midweek life has not changed much at all,  I retired from work at the end of 2018 and Karyo is still working so, as far as that goes nothing has changed.  Karyo is working his normal 9-5 UK work pattern which, because of the time difference is now an 11-7 working day for him.  The only real weekday change for us is that our usual after-work, midweek exercise regime of run one day, gym the next has now become our midweek before-work regime.  Other than that nothing much has changed, Karyo gets on with his work and I generally potter around.  The noticeable difference, of course, is that our surroundings are constantly changing, from the view from our windows to the people we meet and shops, bars and restaurants that we use.  I can’t imagine this life ever getting boring.

‘ Pedion tou areos ‘ is one of the largest public parks in Athens and, luckily for us, is no more than ten minutes walk from our current apartment.  The park is great for our running, and a couple of laps around it equate to about 5-6k which is just about our preferred distance.

The park is a lovely oasis of nature in the middle of the city, it is well kept and well lit at night making it a pleasant place to visit at any time.  Inside the park are a cafe, a theatre and two churches, miles of walking /jogging paths plus quite a few marble statues including a huge monument of King Constantine 1st  on horseback that welcomes you at the park entrance and at the other end of the park is a really impressive monument of Athena, The goddess of war, standing on the top of a huge marble column with a lion that seems to be guarding the base.

King Constantine 1st

Athena and lion

For our gym days, we have also been really lucky,  Right under our apartment block is’ Chris power gym’, it really could not be more convenient!, it’s run by the very friendly Demetrious, ( I’ve no idea what happened to Chris?)  It’s on two levels,  open seven days a week, is packed full of ageing but all in good working order equipment and at €30 per month, good value.

These muscles won’t build themselves!

What has changed the most for us is the abundance of new things that are always available for us to see and do,  and we can take the most advantage of this at the weekend.  As with most people, we work all week ( well, not me but most people), then look forward to the weekend for our leisure time together.  After so many years in Manchester, our weekends had become a little monotonous, a walk into town, the cinema, an occasional night out with friends in pre-Covid times.  Now it is different, everything is new to us and constantly changing.  I really hope the constant feeling of excitement of the newness of everything around us will never wear off.  This is the part of our new life that I am loving most of all – Oh! – and of course the mild weather 😎

Our Weekend –

Alimos beach – Saturday 25/10/2020

Living in Athens has its drawbacks, Its a bit grubby, noisy and I dread to think what the pollution levels are but a definite positive is that you are never too far from a beach.  This Saturday the temperature was a very pleasant 27 degrees so we packed a flask,  sarnie and beach towel and set off to find Alimos beach.  We had been given some clear directions by John, a friend of ours that is living just outside Athens ( I’ll tell you more about John in a later post ).

Alimos is about 12k from Athens so the best way to get there, we were told, is a taxi to the tram station then a tram to the beach – easy.  Easy for most people that is, in true Dean /Angeloudis form we made a mistake.  We took the taxi to the tube station instead of the tram station by mistake, then took a tube to Alimos but when we left the tube station discovered that instead of ending up right next to the beach as we had expected, we were quite a distance from the coast and still had a very hot 2-3k walk along a really busy road ahead of us!

To be honest, when we eventually arrived at the beach we were a little disappointed  We knew it was a city beach so we’re not expecting the Maldives but this beach is situated right next to what I can only describe as a motorway, the volume of traffic was immense and didn’t, in any way, shape or form say “relaxing day at the seaside”.  What it did say was closer to ” sitting in your speedos on the hard shoulder of the M6″.  Also, the actual beach seemed uncared for, litter on the sand, black bags filled but left to the elements, graffiti everywhere – you get the picture.  I’d checked on the internet before we left and it promised a blue flag beach – I’m not so sure, the sea was warm but not crystal clear as we had expected and seemed to have a shimmer of oil on the surface near the shore.

A quiet beach day

Aminos beach

From a different angle – Main road & Grafitti

Although slightly disappointed with the general appearance of the beach, the day itself was fine,  As the Greeks seem to stop going to the beach and start putting on their winter coats once the temperature drops anything below 30 degrees it was really quiet so we had the pick of a good spot to lay our towels, the sun was shining, and, as the sea takes a long time to cool down after the summer we managed to get a couple of swims in which, let’s face it, we can’t complain about seeing as how we are now heading towards the end of October.

As the sun went down we headed over to the tram stop to save us the long walk back to the tube station.  Unfortunately, a final stroke of the famous Dean/Angeloudis bad luck was waiting to finish our day –  the ticket machine was broken and was only taking cards.  As we only had cash on us this meant, once again, we had to make the long walk back to the tube station Grrr!.

On the whole, our day at the city beach was a good one.  In fairness, this is past the end of the holiday season and I would hope the area would be better cared for when the beach is busier during the summer months.  To sum the day up –  we ticked Alimos beach off our to-do list but probably would not go again.  Another time I think we would go more south to the Glyfada or Voula regions which are slightly farther away from the city.

Oh No! – Card only!

Exarchia – Sunday 26/10/2020

Today we thought we would spend the day discovering the surrounding areas of Athens a little more.  We had passed through the area of Exarchia one day last week and really liked it so wanted to spend a bit more time looking around.  This area is very ‘studenty'( is that a word?), political and anti-police /establishment.  This shows immediately you enter the area by the graffiti that covers every spare wall space available.

Exarchia has a reputation of trouble following the shooting by the police of a teenage boy in 2008, this sparked riots that were covered worldwide on the news and any form of reconciliation between the police and the inhabitants of Exarchia after that event never happened.  Today, the area smells of anarchism.  The police don’t even go into the area as their mere presence is likely to be the catalyst for trouble.  As a sort of compromise, the police now seem to hang around on the outskirts of the area, showing their presence from a distance.

I can see that this might sound all a bit scary and lawless but that is not the feeling we had at all.  To us, it seemed edgy, young, exciting and, well, in all honesty, a rather cool place to hang out.  We didn’t see anything that I would call trouble or scary.  What we did see however, was lots of great coffee bars, restaurants, vintage shops, record shops, the fabulous ‘Talking Breads’ bakery and a real melting pot of characters and styles.  There was a feeling that anything and anybody is acceptable here, except of course the police!

We stopped off at a really nice cafe for a not-too- rebellious cup of tea before moving on.

I would not take my elderly aunt to Exarchia but if you are someone that likes to discover parts of a city off the normal tourist trail and are happy to be mixing with those that may have an alternative lifestyle to your own then it’s definitely worth a visit.

After leaving Exarchia we kept walking and soon came to the very affluent area of Kolonaki which could not be more different than Exarchia. The designer shops mix with designer cafes, designer people and designer cats and dogs – its all very upmarket and, having been stung for twenty quid for two coffees and cakes last week at a cafe here we swiftly carried on to our planned destination which was Syntagma square.

Twenty quid!

It’s so posh here, even the trees have jumpers!

is the most famous square in Athens, Here you will find the Old Royal Palace that now is the home to the Greek Parliament, also here is the tomb of the unknown soldier that is guarded by Greek soldiers (evzones)  dressed in traditional costume.  It has the same feeling as watching the guards at Buckingham Palace and every hour you can see the changing of the guards which is done with much pomp and ceremony including a high kicking and foot-stomping well-choreographed march routine.  An interesting spectacle to watch and they were even treated to a round of applause for their effort which I thought was a nice touch.

The Parliament building

Guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier

On the walk home, we discussed where to go next as our booking here ends in a few days time.  We had thought to go to Malta, Cyprus, Spain or Italy and have been discussing these places for a few days, however, we have enjoyed Athens so much that we have decided to stay another month.  It was a difficult decision as we don’t want to ‘settle’ in any one place, that is the main reason that we are doing what we are doing. On the other hand, we like the fact that we are in the fortunate position to be able to make unexpected last-minute spontaneous decisions if we want to.   So, for  November we are going to move, but not too far, and will find a new area of Athens to call home for another month.

NEXT STOP – More in Athens.  More on that next month.

Until then, as always, Thanks for reading.

Hugs, Colin & Karyo xx

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