The changing of the guard

This Christmas morning, after sending and receiving messages from friends and family, we set off to watch the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Presidential Mansion on Syntagma Square.

The changing of the guard takes place every hour on the hour every day of the year. On every day except Sunday the Greek guards or 'Evzones' wear khaki uniforms. On Sundays, however, they wear their ceremonial white dresses which are instantly recognisable throughout the world. And at 11am on Sundays, there is an extra special changing of the guard ceremony involving many more soldiers and a marching band.

As luck would have it, Christmas Day has fallen on a Sunday this year and we are fortunate to be in the city to witness the pageantry.

As our tourist bus tickets were still valid, we caught that from the Acropolis Museum, arriving at Syntagma Square just in time for the 10am changing of the guard ceremony. There were very few people about so we were able to get some good photos and video of what was going on. I really need to do some research on why the guards March in the unique way they do. I'm sure it was them who inspired John Cleese's Ministry of Silly Walks! 😀

After the ceremony, to kill time until the main event at 11, we wandered through the National Garden, a 16-hectare oasis of greenery in the centre of the city. There are thousands of century-old trees and a couple of ornamental lakes with turtles 🐢 and lots of varieties of water birds.

It was a very peaceful way to spend part of Christmas morning - until the peace was shattered by the sound of a band tuning up. We followed the noise and emerged from the south entrance to the garden right next to the guards' barracks where the parade was starting from. How lucky were we?? We walked alongside the band and soldiers all the way to the front of the Parliament building where the changing of the guard ceremony takes place.

Once there, there were crowds of people, meaning we couldn't get near. We didn't care, though. We'd seen it all an hour before!Read more