Evzone Parade

Trip Start Sep 07, 2008
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Trip End Dec 09, 2008


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Flag of Greece  , Attica,
Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanks to Blink Blink, we learned that the archaeological sites around Athens are free on Sundays now that the tourist season is over. We got up early to see the special parade for the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Parliament building.

There were more than one hundred Evzone soldiers dressed in pom poms on their shoes, tights on their legs, tassels on their calves, pleated skirts around their hips, and billowy sleeves on their embroidered shirts. It's a traditional Greek costume of the klephts who waged the bloody fight for Greece's freedom in the modern age, but it still looks mighty goofy, so they choose the tallest, manliest looking soldiers to pull it off.

The changing of the guard was accompanied by a band, and as they paraded back to the soldiers' barracks, a stray Greek dog decided to take over for the band leader at the head of the pack.
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