A day in Athens... :)

People use all kinds of things to express themselves... I think for me photography and writing does the thing :) So through my photos and some thoughts I would like to share with you this day that went by in Athens...

It started off in the afternoon, in a japanese restaurant... have a new friend there, people think she doesn't talk, but she observes and knows everything and even more... she whispered to me while going out the door... "time is almost here for you to go back to your life traveling again... this time even further, to faraway lands and people... but one thing that traveling taught you is to seize the day and live and enjoy every moment... so do this today, in this beautiful day in Athens"

I went by one of the most central places, Syntagma square. I saw a homeless dog begging for food in some woman who was sitting on a bench eating something. She wasn't feeling any pity for the dog and was trying to make it go away.
In his eyes, there was just a bit of sadness. But then again, if you looked really into that beautiful eyes, there was one feeling that conquered everything else... "absolute freedom" :) Maybe he didn't manage to get food from that woman, but he would manage from the next one. He is free to do as he likes, even by living on the streets. Absolute freedom comes with lots of sacrifices I guess... but if you taste it, its so sweet, you never want to let it go again...

I proceeded a bit and found this tough pigeon. I was reading recently that in India the eyes of the people talk better than the language. I agree and I will take it even further, not only in India or humans, but to animals as well. So this pigeon gave me this fierce look with his red eyes as if telling me I should get moving not disturbing him. And I did after telling him that I would come back to feed him some corn to ease his heart and mind :)

Then I found myself in one of the touristic spots, the front of the Parliament with the guards and the monument to the unknown soldier. As usual, there was one soldier taking care that everything is in order. His eyes were going around and around on the crowd... I tried to read them and felt like maybe he would like to throw out his military uniform and join the crowd as a spectator as well...

And so these are the soldiers which are called "evzoni". Beautiful aren't they? :)

Started walking away but then I was a bit amazed by one specific pigeon doing some patterns with his feathers. Only for a few seconds, so was happy I managed to catch the moment. Felt like a display of power! But only for a few seconds... and I believe this is the way. The real powerful don't need to show their power. They have nothing to prove because they are content within their souls and minds. Maybe from time to time they just want to remember who they are so they display it only for just a bit, as this pigeon did. And then went back to his humble self... humbleness is a virtue not easily found... I always believed that only by being lower than the lowest, then you can learn to be higher than the highest...

And so continued to one of my favorite places on the center, and one of the few green ones, the national gardens. There is some kind of art exhibition going on with art statues scattered all over, with the name "the soul of the place". One of the security guards was getting a lot of questions from mostly male visitors hihi...

Found this one quite interesting and liked the reflections :)

hehe this priest there for some reason he wasn't really in his best mood... :D

Walking around I stumbled upon this one... dont know exactly what the artist wanted to present, but I guess the beauty of art is that everyone can perceive it on his/her own way :) So for me, this represented the souls of some people... they are in a situation in which its not their favorite, but instead of making the move and changing everything, they compromise and continue doing what they are doing... and the years go by and the "fence" arounds them grows more and more... because there is one thing they can't stop, and this is time going by, which goes really fast.
When the "fence" is still low, if you search deep inside you can find the will and energy to do a big leap and jump over it to the unknown. You will not know if its gonna be better or worse, but you will know you are going for it with all your heart and soul. And if again you find yourself in a situation not pleasant and the fence is building up again, then off you go again... and maybe from leap to leap at some point, you will find the peace somewhere that will not make the fence grow anymore, no matter the years going by... :)

There was this lady sitting very close by. For some reason I wanted to catch her on a photo, but she wasn't very ease with the camera (resulting to really fast shooting->not the best focus). Its always the people who give most of the energy in a place... :)

One of my favorite birds is the sparrow. Im so happy we have many here in Athens, found some today in the gardens as well. So cute small little fellows, they live free flying around, sneaking in and taking food from the pigeons (:D) and being happy... maybe in another life I will be a sparrow too :)

Fly away little sparrow, fly away free... :)

My road took me near Kallimarmaro stadium, its the place where the Panathenaic games took place in honour of the goddess Athena :) So where hundreds of people used to sit and watch ancient greeks compete naked, today was a girl from India taking her small experience of history... :)

The seasons are really overlapping the last few years... transition from Spring to Summer goes so fast... but Spring always leaves some of its marks so we never forget her beauty due to the endless sunshine and warmth of Summer... :)

Afterwards this cat said hi ;) I was entering the cat world which is...

Up these stairs, is my shortcut going home from the center. Apart of being so much peaceful and nice, its a haven for homeless cats.

And there they were, all these homeless kitties... so beautiful in their own special way... :)




I found one nice lady who was giving them some food. We smiled to each other and sat down for some talking, she told me she was vaccinating all the kitties and feeding them. All from her expenses... she is part of one of the animal rights groups of Athens. A few years ago, the state gave them just a bit of money for the expenses and their effort to the homeless population of dogs and cats... now they give them nothing. So they are paying for everything. She told me she was sad because she couldn't sterilize them all due to lack of founds, but she has managed to get good prices on the vets. So nice this lady... and then she told me that the future lies on our hands, the youth! That we should take our lives to our hands, survive and even further, go search for our dreams, be awaken not to be driven like sheep from todays system that makes the world go round... she also told me how happy she was that more and more of the youth are starting to wake up and seek alternative and different things... she added "if you don't seek, you will never find"... I loved her, wanted to take a photo of her but she refused politely cause she told me that many people dont like her helping the animals because they dirty the pavements...
There is another cat lady very closeby there who also takes care of the cats, and this is the entrance to her home where 30 cats find refuge. Its a poem about cats, once I saw her and talked to her, she told me that animals are better than humans and understand so much more...

Once again on my way to home, a happy father was taking his daughter back home after another school day...

I know Athens is definitely not a city which you would call really beautiful, but apart of the overcrowded touristic spots, it has some small little spots like this doorway which I like a lot :)

Passed by this abandoned house (?) which I always felt like that it would a perfect squat :)

And then I entered a church. Im not religious, but I am spiritual. And I have reasons to believe, as life taught me when the hard times were there... it doesn't matter which religion. Culture makes people having their own different religion, but for me, if you are good, feel good and do good, then you are on the right path. Christians, Muslims, Buddists, Hindus... we are all brothers and sisters and we should start focusing on all the things that connects than the things that keep us apart.

I love candles. Good for meditation, good for the soul. A small breath of appreciation for all the gift of life... :)


And once again going home, I just stopped and saw this little colorful shop with all kinds of spices, tea and herbs.. have never seen it before, and its so close to my place. Didn't even think about it, stepped in and smile to smile I found myself chilling and having a nice little chat with the girl owner and her friend. Its two years old and its going pretty well. I told them about traveling and they were really happy. I wished her all the best for her shop and the told me that she believes that if there is good positive energy, than always good things happen... sooooooo nice!!! :)

And so that was one of my regular days in Athens... maybe ordinary, but again, so special on its own way... I enjoyed every moment of it :) I hope you are doing the same, wherever you are, with all the lovely people :) Enjoy, give and receive lots of love and keep on smiling... :)

PS. Entering home I found our dog hiding under a desk, she is so afraid of the rain, with the tiniest drops she gets scared like crazy... :D