A boy rides a donkey down a narrow street in the village of Artemonas on Sifnos
MyGreeceTravelBlog.com
Photos & memories from our trips to Athens, the Peloponnese, mainland Greece & Greek Islands — plus profiles of places we would love to visit
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The faces of protest at Syntagma Square in Athens
This is part of the crowd gathered at Syntagma Square in Athens on May 29 2011 for one of a series of regular Sunday public protests …
… this is a close-up view of some of the people in the crowd photo above …
… while this a close-up of another group of people in the same gathering. Do they look as scary, intimidating, dangerous and violent as the media suggest?
Everyday People: The economic turmoil in Greece has made headlines around the world for the past year, with international news media regularly reporting on citizen protest marches that purportedly degenerate into violent rampages of widespread damage and destruction in central Athens. If you were to believe the vague news reports, along with countless unsubstantiated rumours that circulate on websites and social media, you would think it would be completely crazy for a tourist to go anywhere near downtown Athens. Or anywhere in Greece, for that matter. Why risk getting firebombed by anarchists, or tear-gassed by riot police? Why visit a virtual war zone on your vacation?
But are the protest crowds really that frightening and violent? Is the area around Syntagma Square and the Greek Parliament building truly too dangerous for tourists to venture on their way to watch Evzones perform the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier? Would it be foolish to even consider travelling to Athens to see the Acropolis, to visit mainland Greece for a drive through the Pelopponese, or to go beach hopping in the Greek Islands this summer? Thanks to the world media, many people now believe so. During the past three days, the Greece travel forum on TripAdvisor.com has been flooded with posts by panicky travellers worried that it’s far too dangerous to holiday in Greece this year.
I have read many of the news reports about protests in Athens (and elsewhere in Greece), and have seen many photographs and videoclips of black balaclava-clad protesters hurling Molotov cocktails at police in central Athens, getting sprayed with teargas or soaked by water cannons in return. If it had not been for friends and online acquaintances in Athens who assured me that the people in those pictures were only rogue hoodlums and anarchistic troublemakers, and weren’t at all representative of typical Greek protesters, I probably would have been nervous about visiting Athens at the end of our island-hopping holiday in May. But I didn’t feel the least bit fearful for my safety when we walked into a protest at Syntagma Square on May 29.
We had just finished an early dinner in Monastiraki and were walking along Ermou Street with throngs of Greeks and hundreds of other tourists headed toward Syntagma Square, where we planned to catch a tram back to our hotel in the suburb of Glyfada. When we reached the Square, we saw that a large crowd had gathered, blocking traffic flow on one nearby street, and preventing trams from reaching the Syntagma Square stop. We were with an Athens friend, who spoke to police on our behalf to ask where we would be able to catch the tram. We were told the trams were running only as far as the Sigrou-Fix metro station, so our friend said she would walk us to a nearby metro stop so we could catch a train to the Sigrou-Fix tram stop. (We decided to bypass the Syntagma metro station because it was jam-packed with people going to and from the protest area.) Our friend suggested that we walk around Syntagma Square on the way, so we could see what a typical Athens protest looks like. She said she wanted us to see that it’s nothing like the media would have us believe, and she was right.
The crowd was a mix of people of all ages, from babies to senior citizens. There were families with children, kids, teenagers, young adults, middle-aged adults and retirees. People were laughing, singing, chatting and taking photographs of each other, and lining up to buy beverages, grilled corn on the cob and souvlaki from the fast food vendors who had set up carts in Syntagma Square. The atmosphere felt almost festive; it reminded me of the many multicultural summer festivals held back home in Toronto. Nobody looked scary, and nobody looked scared. No-one looked intimidating, dangerous or violent. We even saw two wedding parties, including one outside the nearby five-star Hotel Grande Bretagne. Other curious tourists were wandering around the Square, too, while more were standing on the sidelines, watching what was happening. I felt completely safe; the only serious dangers were getting my feet stepped on in the crowd, or tripping on a motorbike kickstand, if I didn’t pay attention to where I was stepping.
Now, it’s true that some Greek protests have turned violent (and once, even deadly), with small groups of rabble rousers and deliberate troublemakers setting fires, throwing rocks at police, and smashing store windows. But violent protests don’t happen only in Athens. They occur at every meeting of the G8 and G20 — remember how downtown Toronto got trashed by anarchic radicals during the G20 last June? — and one happened just this week in Vancouver following the final game of the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup playoffs. What we saw on May 29 was a typical Athens protest attended by typical Athenians, other Greeks and visitors. And it was nothing for a tourist to worry about.
Below are some photos we snapped in and around Syntagma Square as we walked past the May 29 demonstration.
People (mainly tourists) walking up Ermou Street toward Syntagma Square
Walking up Ermou Street, approaching Syntagma Square (that’s me on the right, with the black shoulder bag)
This section of the street to the right of Syntagma Square was closed to vehicular traffic because of the crowds. The tram stop, which is just around the corner at the end of the block, was temporarily closed as well.
These tourists got comfortable on a bench across the street to watch the people coming and going from the demonstration at Syntagma Square
Some of the thousands of Greeks and tourists milling around Syntagma Square
The biggest “danger” I encountered was all the motorbikes and scooters parked around the Square … it was tricky winding our way around them
Protesters (and onlookers) were young and old and everything in between
A souvlaki vendor sets up shop in Syntagma Square as throngs of people pass by
People outside the luxurious Hotel Grande Bretagne, adjacent to the protest site
A wedding car at the Hotel Grande Bretagne, just steps from the protest zone
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On the waterfront: The Mykonos marina project
May 16 2011: The new Mykonos Town marina has come a long way since …
… May 28 2009, when the parking lot & small boat facility was still taking shape …
… and the seaside infrastructure project was a big, unsightly mess even when viewed from a distance, like this hillside near the Fine Arts District of Mykonos …
… but as of May 17 2011, the project looks closer to completion
End in sight?: First-time visitors ask what it is. Returning regulars wonder if it will ever get finished. People considering hotels in the area want to know if it will spoil their views and ruin their poolside relaxation. And local residents have become bored and weary from discussing it. The “it” is a new waterfront marina that has been under construction next to the Mykonos Town Old Port for what seems like forever … and the project completion date seems like it will take forever to arrive, too. But work crews are gradually getting there.
The new marina is actually an extensive mixed-use marine infrastructure project being built on more than 4 hectares of land reclaimed from the Mykonos seafront. Costing millions of Euros, the project was intended to help ease congestion at the overcrowded Old Port area, where ferry traffic was steadily increasing. The Old Port facility could not adequately cope with the crowds that kept queuing up for ferry boarding, let alone with all the taxis, hotel shuttle vans and buses and other vehicles that were constantly dropping off and picking up passengers in a very small and extremely congested area. Besides providing more breathing room for ferry travellers, as well as a new terminal for the smaller highspeed ferries that call in at the Old Port, the new marina would include a large parking facility just a short stroll from Mykonos Town (which has a pedestrian zone of streets that are off-limits to most vehicles), a bus and taxi station, port authority administration offices, a sailing club, fish market, and more. The long, narrow channel to be created between the marina and the Mykonos coastline was intended to provide shelter and mooring space for small fishing boats, sailboats, and other pleasure craft.
Landfill work began back in 1994, creating a huge waterfront eyesore — an unsightly long stretch of brown sand, soil and stones — that slowly grew larger until the mid-2000s, when the EU-funded marina project finally commenced construction. The facility stretches from the Old Port in the direction of the New Port at Tourlos — itself another massive landfill and marine infrastructure project — and extends north to a spot near the coast below the Cavo Tagoo luxury hotel. Much to the chagrin of operators of hillside hotels in the Tagoo area of Mykonos, which directly overlooks the project site, the heaviest and noisiest construction work lasted several years, detracting from the hotels’ otherwise marvellous sea and sunset views and interfering with poolside peace and quiet that their guests were expecting to enjoy during their holidays.
When I returned to Mykonos last month, I was happy to see that the marina looks like it’s nearly complete — and that much of the marina is now open for parking as well as bus and taxi drop-offs and pick-ups at the Old Port. Although the lion’s share of heavy and noisy construction work appears to have been completed, a substantial amount of work remains to be finished, and some concrete pumper trucks and earth moving machines were still operating on the site on the two days I walked around the facility. I did not find the noise to be loud or disturbing in any way, though, and I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t interfere with any guests trying to relax on the decks and in the swimming pools at any of the nearby hotels. The good news, for them, is that the marina looks a helluva lot better now than it did for several years when it was a giant construction site.
What disappointed me, however, was that the “marina” is essentially just an enormous, long parking lot near the seashore. I had read an online report several years ago (can’t remember where, and haven’t been able to find it since) that said the marina would include a nicely landscaped promenade that would give pedestrians a pleasant and safe walking alternative to the dangerous narrow coastal rode that runs from the Old Port to the New Port 2 kilometres away. That narrow, winding road is extremely busy with cars, trucks and buses barrelling full tilt to and from Mykonos Town, and since there are no sidewalks, pedestrians take their chances whenever they walk the roadside. But it doesn’t look like the walkway is going to materialize. A dirt ramp presently links the northern tip of the marina with the shoreline; however, it eventually must be removed to allow sailboat and fishing boat access into the channel. That means pedestrians won’t be able to reach the marina from the north end, so they’ll still be faced with the long walk along the busy coastal road. And unless the marina builders create sitting areas that are sheltered by trees and canopies, and add plants and flowers to different spots along the length of the marina to provide badly-needed colour contrast from the long expanse of stonework , it will just remain as one big long parking lot. It will be a good spot to walk for people who want to look up at the hillside and shoot photos of the hotels where they’re staying, but other than that I can’t see why anyone without a car would even want to go down there. At this point in time, it’s not a particularly pleasant a place to pass time. Fortunately, there are many, many more nice and scenic places to walk on the island instead.
Below are more photos I shot in May showing how the marina looks now.
Mykonos Town waterfront marina construction sign near the Old Port
May 16 2011: Marina viewed from the hillside near the top of the Kouros Hotel
May 16 2011: Plenty of new parking spaces are now available
May 16 2011: There is some landscaping, but the marina needs much more
May 16 2011: A view of the marina, looking toward the Old Port from a road on the Tagoo district hillside above the Apanema Resort
May 16 2011: Looking toward the unfinished northern end of the marina
May 16 2011: Apanema Resort is one of several hotels directly overlooking the marina project; Kouros Hotel and Cavo Tagoo do, too
May 16 2011: An excavator (left) and concrete pumper (rear) at work on the site
May 16 2011: A closer view of construction activity on the boat channel
May 16 2011: The concrete pumping truck doesn’t produce significant noise
May 17 2011: Late afternoon view of the marina, looking toward the Old Port (left)
May 19 2011: The marina links to the shoreline at its northern tip; however, this causeway will ultimately have to be removed to allow boat access into the channel
May 19 2011: Looking south across the marina toward the Mykonos Town Old Port
May 19 2011: Looking north toward cruise ships at the New Port at Tourlos
May 19 2011: The central section of the marina still needs considerable work
May 19 2011: Mykonos coastal road below the Cavo Tagoo luxury hotel
May 19 2011: The coastal road above the Mykonos marina
