Comments on: About those Athens riots …

By: Steve Milbeck

Steve Milbeck — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:24:51 +0000

We are wrapping up our 2 week family vacation and bringing our daughter back from her study abroad program.
We have been all over Athens, to the Peleponesse and to Create and have seen very little damage in the streets anywhere. We felt safe at all times and the one protest we saw last Friday down Immotou was peaceful and was past the apartment in just a few minutes.
It has been a great experience seeing the historical sights of Athens, Napflion, Ieraklion, Delphi, Chania and using the apartment as our home base. The apartment easily accommodated the 6 of us and was is a nice comfortable area of Pangrati where we could walk or take public transportation anywhere. Steve

By: Jim Fischer

Jim Fischer — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 21:25:50 +0000

We enjoyed our time in Athens very much. The apartment is beautiful and conveniently located to all the main sights. We are cetainly happy that we did not postpone our trip because of the Athens “riots” in December 2008. Syntagma Square had very little apparent damage, except for some Graffitti. It was more like a huge Christmas Carnival with mimes, Santas, and even some native American dancers and singers playing Christmas music in their native American headdresses. It was great fun. Thanks Carole for all your great tips. Jim Fischer, Jefferson City, Missouri USA

By: andreas

andreas — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:29:50 +0000

Our family has been walking through downtown Athens for the last few days without any problems. Around Syntagma and Panespistimio there is certainly evidence of the riots of previous days, but now it feels secure and calm. Many stores have had there front windows broked or spray painted. It semms more like vandalism than political expression. We did witness a peaceful “sit-down” manifestation by students in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier.

By: Markus

Markus — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:32:22 +0000

Thanks for that great “embedded” report directly from the scene without the news hype. I am in Denver and you should have seen the army of police in black riot gear during the democratic convention. I don’t know what that says about our democracy. But I also think doing nothing (like in Athens)is not necessarily the answer and more the result of political paralysis than noble democratic principles. And that from a guy who occupied intersections in Zurich in 68 :)

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:12:22 +0000

Thanks for posting this. It’s good to get a reliable first-hand account.