From Athens with Love: March 2012

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

In her eyes

Someone has been listening Caribou´s psych-pop-electronic song Sandy a bit too much, perhaps? Anyway, it is a pretty sweet writing on the wall even though it makes me think how it would feel to give this artist a piece of paper and a big box of crayons as a gift.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Buckets full of meat waste

Big buckets of meat waste in the back of the Athens Central Market after a long and hard workday of the butchers in one of the largest market halls in Europe.

The empty stor(i)es

The number of empty stores is growing by the day in Athens. From the recent European Commission survey we can find out that the number of small and medium-sized enterprises in Greece has shranked by 30 000 between 2003 and 2010. The National Confederation of Greek Commerce states that another 53 000 are likely to close their doors soon. It is very sad to hear these news and the real stories of real people behind them - actually about 67 000 new stories soon.

Friday, March 16, 2012

A charming little flower shop on the corner of the streets in the district of Neapoli, Athens. One can see all the colors of Spring blooming all over the flowers.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The colors of the rainbow

These colorful old swings are from a small playground of the Ambelokipoi district, Athens.

Somehow the colors just pops up, between the grey buildings, when you walk by the swings.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

The very existence of Navarinou Park

It is hard to miss the self-organized park in Exarchia even legally speaking it does not exist and you cannot find it from a map. It is a part of the idea to take life back into your own hands, make the urban environment blooming and, at the same time, make some dreams come true.

Like everything in Athens, this park has also its own little history. The area was the location of a clinic called Geroulaneion Institute until 1972 when it was bought by the Technical Chamber of Greece. They demolished the old building but never build a new one and the plot was used as a parking lot with a lease for 15 years - until it was about to expire.

Residents of Exarchia feared that it would be used as a office building space again and in one day, March 2009, over 1 000 people gathered together and in just 12 hours all of the cement was gone and there it was! A real park with trees, flowers, benches, playground for children and a small place for open air theater.

The park is really nice even it´s, well in fact, illegal and protected by residents from the local government and the police to take any actions to close the park down. Nevertheless, it is an good example of how Athenians can combat some negativity surrounding the city and turn it something beautiful and useful.

The park is a hot spot for a lot of events like free open air movies, communal cooking, music, art, children’s events and of course maintenance of the park.