Track shoes ready for another early morning run…
And this time for a change one that will include a case of potential espionage and a visit of the American Embassy….
I am in Athens, in the middle of September. It’s by far not the first time I am here and I just love this city:
I had just attended the annual FECAVA Congress at the local Concert Hall. Here, I had once again the opportunity to see a lot of my international friends and colleagues, to attend a number of lectures to improve and to refresh my veterinary knowledge and – in the evenings – to catch up on the lives, the news and the plans and ideas of my friends, over plates of Tzatziki, Moussaka and Souvlaki, all washed down with decent quantities of Greek wine and Ouzo.
But after every night, there comes a next morning and this one was glorious – as so many mornings in Europe’s oldest Capital city.
Starting my run just before 7 am in the Metaxourgeio area in the centre of the city, I estimated that the broad shoulders of Mount Hymettus in the East might give me about thirty more minutes of shelter from the scorching rays of the late summer sun in this part of the world.
Working my way slightly uphill in a Southerly direction towards Syntagma square and the Monument of the Unknown Soldier, I was surprised by the number of people on the streets at such an early time on a Sunday morning and equally about the numerous homeless people, who seemed to have used any crevasse of the urban architecture as some form of shelter to get a precious few hours of safe and undisturbed sleep.
Taking just a brief look at the elite soldiers at the Hellenic Parliament, in their traditional uniforms which included the probably most impractical foot wear that was ever issued to a military unit, I took the first opportunity to leave the sounds and smells of the early morning traffic behind me and entered the now open gates to the National Garden to my left.
It was easy getting lost here in the labyrinth of sandy trails, that were so much kinder to my feet than the uneven pavements of Monasteraki. The air was now filled with the sounds of small flocks of parakeets and the view was that of a combination of Mediterranean and sub-tropical plants, interspersed from time to time with the busts of long deceased famous members of Hellenic society.
Exiting the garden at the other end, it was just a short distance to the Panathenaic Stadium, the site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Once again, my (and that of a few other morning runners) hope, to add a round on its famous track to my urban excursion was dashed, due to urgent repair work that had started just a couple of days earlier.
So, not point to linger, but to press on along the still empty dual carriage way of Vasileos Konstantinou Ave, towards the main aim of my excursion.
Just as I was falling into a steady stride, I had to make a further stop due to the unexpected encounter with a rather famous fellow pedestrian, who was emerging from underneath the branches of an ancient olive tree.
While the length of my run was not in the least comparable to that of the Salt March in 1930, I now felt invigorated to cover the remaining distance along the road, before the sun had reached the saddle of Mt Hymettus.
Just in time, I reached the perimeter fence of the Embassy, where I took a break to check up on an interesting story I had heard the previous night….
While having dinner with Wendy, my Curaçao born colleague from Luxembourg, images had surfaced of a cat, which had been noticed by several delegates of the nearby held conference for sitting completely motionless and seemingly oblivious to any passing pedestrian, next to the pavement, constantly monitoring the fence and the Embassy building behind it. This unusual behaviour had raised the question, if following the previous examples of trained dogs, rats, dolphins and even beluga whales, foreign adversaries had now enlisted also a cat for their surveillance tasks.
A story just too good, not to be investigated I thought….
Sadly, when I arrived at the pivotal point of my run, there was no cat in sight. Just as I was about to leave though, suddenly, from behind the fence, the infamous feline emerged and after investigating me briefly, continued with her morning routine of cleaning herself and observering the grass on both sides of the fence.
As curious as last night’s story was, here I found just a perfectly normal, clever urban cat, that was using the near impenetrable border of one of Athens’ most guarded residences as a means of camouflage to stalk rodents on the other side of the fence.
After taking a few photos and just before drawing too much attention to myself as a potential spy, I took my leave and was now heading for the physically most challenging part of the run: all the way up the Eastern slope of Lycabettus.
Lycabettus, one of the natural elevations within the inner city, is another obligatory site to visit when travelling to Athens. The somewhat demanding climb, which is best done early in the morning or in the evening just before sun set, to avoid both the crowds and the heat in the middle of the day, will be rewarded with a stunning view of the whole city, of the surrounding mountains and beyond the Parthenon and the Acropolis, of Piraeus and the Mediterranean Sea in the South.
Just as the bells of the Holy Church of St Georg of Lycabettus were ringing for its 8 o’clock service, I had managed to pass the giant amphitheatre, dodged numerous spiky agaves and opuntia cacti and had made the brief acquaintance of more Greek cats, who called this hill their home,
and I emerged at the still fairly empty viewing platform and by this at the highest point of my run.
From here the remaining distance back to my hotel could be covered with ease, as the trail was now downhill and once again in the shade nearly all the way.
Only when I found myself among the high-rise buildings of the city centre, did my body throw a long shadow over the slowly heating asphalt, marking the end of another memorable early morning run.
The Blue Vet Diary 