Having recently scanned all my old film photos onto my computer, I thought some of them could go on Flickr. In January 2003 I went on a two week tour of Egypt (partially to avoid the English winter). The best photos are now a set on Flickr, available here.
Greece is collapsing. The news regularly shows riots in Athens; the papers discuss the dire economic straits. A person here in London could easily form the view the precipice is near.
Having spent a week in Athens last month, I didn't leave with the impression disaster was imminent. People generally seemed to be going about their daily business. There were no clear signs of distress (apart from one incongruity). Indeed, other cities I have visited appeared to be in worse situations. While a large amount of my time was spent in busy tourist throngs around the archealogical sites, I also travelled out into the surrounding areas. What I saw appeared to be a working city. There were numerous storefronts with decent traffic and many business offices. The streets became busier after work hours. Bars and resturants were quiet during the day, but became busy late in the night. At one point we saw a crowd blocking a street near Syntagma, it could have been a well behaved protest, or just as easily people waiting for some celebrity. There was a lot of graffiti, but also a lot of graffiti art. Not so different to London really and there was probably about the same number of unused/abandoned buildings. Although unlike London, many of the occupied buildings appeared quite run-down and not well maintained.
There was one indication of possible problems. On a quiet side street North-East of Omonoia we walked past trees, parked cars, buildings that looked like apartment blocks, and little shops. Then there were two burnt out cars next to each other. They were completely wrecked - the fire destroyed everything. However, there was no damage apart from the cars. Either the fire was somewhere else and then the wrecks dumped there or the immediately surrounding area was cleaned up (but the cars left). Both seem strange. Apart from these wrecks, Athens did not feel different to most cities I have visited.
Cities are ususally places of vibrant activity - normally business related. Visit London, Paris, Sydney, Barcelona or Milan and you feel you are in a working city. There is the sense that the locals are busy getting things done. Travelling around London, I am constantly amazed by the number and variety of business nameplates outside buildings. You can walk for hours from the Shoreditch across to Hammersmith and it is busy offices the entire way. Washington and Rome feel more dominated by tourism and government, but there is still lots happening around you. Two places I feel didn't match this description, at the time I visited, are Lisbon and Tunis. There was a general lack of activity in Lisbon, it seemed almost empty. Never have I seen so many empty, decrepit buildings. Tunis was similar, full of people, but they didn't seem to be doing much. There was always a large number of men sitting in cafes, presumably un- or underemployed. These two cities felt like they were in dire economic straits. Indeed, Portugal is currently mentioned in similar financial terms to Greece, but that situation was clearer on the streets of Lisbon than Athens.
I just got back from a holiday to Greece (Athens and Hydra mainly). Here are the best photos from that trip. The set on Flickr is here.
A while ago I put up some photos from Dougga. Here are the best photos from the rest of that holiday in Tunisia. The set on Flickr is here.
A while ago I put up some photos from Pompeii, and it is about time I put up the best photos from the rest of that holiday in Italy. The set on Flickr is here.
I just got back from a fortnight travelling the Scottish north. Despite comments from workmates, the weather held out for all but the last two days of the trip. Once again I have put the best of my photos on Flickr, skewing heavily towards archaeological sites as I find those very interesting.
Last September I visited Pompeii. Despite spending nearly 6 hours walking around in the sun, I still only saw a fraction of the site. It is truly very impressive. My camera was dying so there are not too many photos, but I have put some of the best here on Flickr.
I recently travelled to Tunisia for a holiday. Visiting the ancient ruined Roman city of Dougga was a highlight. It is quite hard to reach as an independent traveller. First you have to find the Tunis Northern Bus Station (out of the tourist areas), go on a 2-hour bus journey to Teboursouk (the closest town), from there you arrange a return taxi trip to the ruins. Once there though, it is quite impressive. We had the place almost to ourselves for a couple of hours - perhaps we should have arranged for a longer stay with the taxi driver, but we had to catch the last bus back to Tunis! Some of the best photos I took are here on Flickr. In future I will put more photos up under that Flickr account.
Last weekend I finally saw the Tour de France live. I'm a fan of cycling
and have been to the Track World Championships, but never to the Tour. Generally I find road racing uninteresting live - you wait around for ages and then they go past very quickly. I made an exception for the Tour since it is the biggest road race and there could be a good atmosphere.
We arrived at Issy, a suburb of Paris, around 1pm. The tour was scheduled to pass between 3pm & 3:30pm on their way to the Champs-Élysées. The hope was that this would avoid the crowds. A fair assumption since the roads were deserted apart from the police. Settling at a road side bar with a few drinks we waited. After an hour the crowds started to build and cars began to pass us more often. Then came the Tour caravan - a collection of advertising vehicles resembling parade floats. I don't have any photos of this as the crowds were 3 deep (larger than for the cyclists!) and were desperately scrambling for the trinkets thrown from the passing cars. We largely stayed in our seats.
By around 2:45pm the caravan had passed and the peloton was scheduled to arrive soon after. Only they didn't. The schedule was based on an average speed of 38km/h, but the riders were obviously going much slower and arrived around 4:30pm. It was a pleasant afternoon. I'm glad I went and especially glad I didn't go to the crowded end of the stage. I'd recommend seeing it once, but I don't feel any need to go again. Road cycling is definitely a TV sport.
Below is a video of the peloton passing us. The winner Sastre (in the yellow jersey) is in about 5th place, but there is clearly not much racing going on. The overall results had been largely decided by this point.
Here is our location in Paris on Google Maps (with streetview):
