This Is Greece’s Parliament Building!

One of the most enjoyable parts of our recent trip to Greece – our first time ever – was to discover memorable things by accident!

This is the Greek Parliament building in Athens, which happens to be right outside our hotel!

This is the view from our room at the terrific King George Hotel. To the left is the Parliament building – and to the right is an incredible view of The Acropolis above those white office buildings!

In between the two is Syntagma Square, and we’d sit outside on our patio and watch people in Athens outside embracing a re-opened world…and that’s how we discovered something else as well!

The Wild “Changing Of The Guard” Ceremony!

These are the real Guards outside the building – and we discovered that every hour on the hour – all day and night – an elaborate ceremony took place as the Guards changed over!

This three-floor building has two entrances, one of the west side which is used for the entering of the MPs in the building, and another on the front side, facing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

At at the top of every hour, crowds form to capture it – watch this video to see how meticulous the ceremony is!

The building is guarded by an infantry unit of the Greek army, the Evzones. Evzones wear traditional Greek uniforms and their most distinctive part is foustanela, a kilt-like skirt. The changing of the guards takes place every hour. During their service, the Evzones are not allowed to talk or move at all!

Except during this “changing of the guard!”

And by every hour, I mean EVERY HOUR! In fact, here is a shot of the ceremony at midnight, which we captured from our room terrace:

Yes, there were people there watching!

The late night lighting cast eerie shadows on the building:

We loved the pom and circumstance of the ceremony – and yes, we also got to gaze out at The Acropolis at night as well, and what an incredible job they do lighting that up as well – with just a little help from the moon:

Of course, during the day The Acropolis is open to the public, and you can climb to the top to see The Parthenon up close!

Yes, it’s as spectacular as you hope it would be – here’s a look at the tour Alex and I took:

It was located on the southernmost tip of the European continent – and has a wild myth to go with it – click here to find out more:

There were so many incredible aspects to our Greece trip – and the “changing of the guard” ceremony was just one of them.

Of course, this reminded me of another “changing of the guard” ceremony we saw up close:

This “changing of the guard” ceremony took place in Budapest – a unique country for many reasons…click here to see more:

Oh, that was the trip on the Orient Express train that included a special, traditional train engine into Budapest!

A bonus video – you know, when I was rolling WITH MY WINDOW DOWN – wait for it:

It was just one of many magical adventures in this city – click here to see more, including “taking the waters” at their most unique spa!

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