Today the primary goal was to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This takes place in front of the parliament building. They change guard hourly, but the fancy ceremony occurs only at 11 AM on Sunday morning.

I arrived just as the 10 AM change was finishing. That is followed by a period when tourists can pose for pictures beside the two duty guards. Before 11 the police started moving everyone to one side of the plaza. Fortunately, I was on the wrong side of the plaza. Which meant that I ended up in front of the crowd to observe the change.

This ceremony is led by a band down the main street in front of the plaza. It is followed by three platoons (?) of costumed soldiers. They enter the plaza and stand at one side while the new guards march across the plaza and relieve the duty guards. The band plays the Greek national anthem – or at least I assume that is what it was. Then the band strikes up another march and they march back the way they came.

The costumes worn by the guards and the troops (except for the band) are difficult to describe. There is a tunic similar to those worn by ancient Greeks. There is a sort of overlay cape that hangs down to about the waist. They wear ‘tights’ covering their legs, with a black pompom at the knees. There are also pompoms on the shoes. The shoes have cleats which make a scraping noise when the foot slides on the pavement and makes a loud click when they put the foot down. The uniform is topped with a sort of red ‘beanie’ to which a black tassle which hangs to the waist is attached. They are armed with rifles and bayonets attached.

I wasted the rest of the day attempting to edit the video which is still too long to upload and needs some cutting to make it useful. I am behind on the pictures – that may have to wait until I get back to Dallas and get caught up.

I’ve booked a one day, three island cruise for Monday. I hope to visit Delphi one day and Corinth and Mycenae another day. Thursday will be packing day and transfer to the airport hotel. My plane leaves for Frankfort at 6:15 AM – which I take it means I will need to check in at 4:15 AM. By staying in the airport hotel, I should be able to sleep until 3:15 instead of 2:15 if I stayed in my original hotel.

Canicus Modius.