Typically traffic is a congested, smoggy, lawless snapshot of chaos here in Athens. For example, my mother-in-law lives about 6 miles away and it takes a minimum of 20-25 mins to get there by car on a usual afternoon. We prefer to go with our motorcycle - not only does it take less gas, but gets us there a lot quicker since we can weave through traffic and are always at the front of the line at traffic lights.
Summertime is a different story. I remember talking with my husband last August, before I got here, as he described the emptiness of the streets. In the summer, the majority of the city's population goes on holiday, many to their villages, others to the islands and who knows where else.
Now in my first summer here, I can see what he's talking about. There's just no one here. The picture above is one of the main thoroughfares through town which keeps fairly busy even on a Sunday afternoon. See - no one... It's still just July, he says it'll be even worse next month.
I particularly like the effect of this at the supermarket. They are closed on Sundays, so we tend to go Saturday afternoons and get stocked up. Of course, we're not the only ones who do this and we are apt to find ourselves bumping carts at every turn. Yesterday it was heaven, like shopping on a weekday morning. Lots of space in the aisle, no long lines at the checkout... I guess this is the silver lining to the daily heat we struggle with (more on that in an upcoming post).
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