A step with a reason
The slow movement keeps blood moving through long standing.
Юкатан — CC BY-SA 3.0 · George E. Koronaios — CC BY-SA 4.0 · George E. Koronaios — CC BY-SA 4.0 · LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0
A memorial set into a wall before the Greek Parliament on Syntagma Square, guarded around the clock by the Evzones. The monument itself is plain: a relief of a reclining ancient Greek warrior, beside it the names of the battles Greece has fought, and two passages from Pericles's funeral oration as reported by Thucydides — words spoken twenty-four centuries ago about the dead of another war. What draws visitors is the guard. The Evzones are a historic infantry unit in a uniform derived from the fighters of the war of independence: the fustanella skirt of four hundred pleats representing the years of Ottoman rule, and the tsarouchi shoe with its black wool pompom and nails that sound against the marble. Their slow, exaggerated step is not only display: it was designed to keep the blood moving through long spells of standing motionless. The guard changes hourly, with the full ceremony on Sunday mornings.
The slow movement keeps blood moving through long standing.
Two passages from his funeral oration for another war's dead.
The tsarouchi is nailed to make its distinctive sound.
Before the Parliament building, Syntagma Square
A Greek presidential guard unit whose members are selected from conscripts by strict standards of height and discipline, and serving in it is a considerable honour in Greece. The uniform derives from the klepht fighters of the war of independence against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. They guard the monument and the presidential mansion in strict shifts, standing motionless for about an hour before each change whatever the weather.
The square is modern Athens's heart and its main metro interchange. Parliament occupies the former royal palace, and behind it lies the National Garden — a large shaded refuge, very useful in summer heat, running down to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Ermou shopping street begins at the square and leads to Monastiraki and the Agora. And the smart Kolonaki district with its cafés is minutes east.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.