Athens

[andybarton]

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Our apartment was literally five minutes from the Acropolis entrance so we got there as the gates opened. It was still getting busy by the time we got to the top, but as with all these over-tourist sites, the experience in the middle of the day would be completely different. Why anyone would want to suffer up there in the middle of the day, I don’t know. 

All of the popular places have “spotters”, but that’s obviously the same in London, or Paris or anywhere that attracts people looking to enjoy themselves and who have their guards down. 

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[Derbyshire Man]

Just back, nothing lost, not a sign that anything might be lost. Clearly it's out of season and was actually a great time to go, 18c and sunny most days. Not too busy and no queues anywhere we went. Food and drink of course fabulous and everyone really friendly (well, apart from one of the butchers in the central market who waved a knife it me rather too vigorously for my liking when I took a photo of him).

Obviously was careful, bag carried to my front, clasp/zips always done up, either the Wotancraft Pilot 7L when I wanted more kit or the Domke F5XB with it's zip and super loud velcro when less. When sat down for meals kept in from the boundary of the restaurant, bag either stayed across my shoulders on my lap or wrapped around my legs. The small black M series were unobtrusive and attracted little to no attention, again other than in the butchery section of the market who I think were just super sensitive to animal rights issues etc. I wish I had better Greek, London is losing its central markets like Billingsgate and Smithfield, Old Covent Garden has already gone. Once these things are gone they are gone for ever and not replaced by a purpose built shed on an out of town industrial estate, despite the fact this almost certainly makes business sense. It was nice to be able to in part document it, if I could explain better my motives in Greek I'd love to go back and spend much longer in there, I suppose taking a local translator is probably the way to go.

[costa43]

Athens is lovely for photography, especially the coastal outskirts. I spend a few months a year in the Peloponnese so visit Athens frequently with my Leica kit. The only time I ran into some dodginess was on the metro when visiting years ago with my wife. She was heavily pregnant at the time and I must have stood out as an easy target. The pickpockets separated us as we boarded the train and they tried to take my wallet from my front jeans pocket with no luck. As I was getting off, he actually started moaning about his failure! 

 

 

[Derbyshire Man]

Surreal!

I agree, I will certainly go back to Athens, met a German guy there who was on his 6th visit. Also met a Syrian who had lived in Istanbul and run a successful business there, who'd moved to Athens to a lower level job as he much preferred the city, people and vibe after visiting

Next time I will probably go for 2 weeks and start and end in Athens but do some exploring in the middle. Trying to organise my work to be 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off, with any spill over possible via remote working. I like my work but you're a long time dead!

The other thing I saw was a whole bunch of Greek photo club walkabouts in all the most touristy areas, so it can't be that awful if you're sensible.

Edited February 8 by Derbyshire Man

[Steven Lane]

Was in Athens last September and walked the streets day and night with my Q2 and all was fine. Had it around my neck most of the time as I was taking a lot of pictures. Was also there a few years ago with a bag of Olympus DSLR and film SLR’s with a bunch of lenses which was a similar experience. My wife also had one of the Leica D-Lux cameras with her. 
 

It is not a city I feel intimidated in, even as a tourist. I feel safer there than many UK cities that are close to home.

Edited February 17 by Steven Lane
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