Syntagma Square Christmas Lights

On Friday, Athens celebrated the turning on of the city lights. Tonight I talked Bob into walking to the square to see them. I walked down during the day to get a shot of what the place looks like in the light, so you can compare it with the night shots.

day

night - notice the boat in the center

day 2

night 2

day 3

night 3

I also saw some ducks while I was down there during the day.

a zoom in on the boat

You'll notice the colors of blue and white, which are the colors of the Greek flag. Greek tradition has one decorate a boat with lights instead of a tree. I found two possible reasons for this online.
1) Greece is/was a nation of sailors, where men folk are often away from hearth and home, for long stretches at a time. On spotting the ships returning to harbour, the women would joyfully rush home to celebrate, by decorating small wooden boats, as a welcome to the weary seafarers.
2) Saint Nicholas is Patron Saint of Sailors. Boats are decorated, in Saint Nicholas’s honor, as a sort of insurance for bringing the sailors into port safely.




I also took a few pictures of other decorations on our walk. There aren't really homes to decorate here, but the public areas and stores decorate.

 

This isn't specifically Christmas but it's a red little train that transports people.

While we were walking around the lights, Bob wanted food, so we broke down and finally went to the Greek McDonald's. It is right next to the square and always packed. Bob said it felt like we were in the US again.

Sorry these pictures are blurry, but this area is very crowded, and I felt like a creeper taking a picture.

Bob wants to go back for a McFlurry sometime. Their flavors were Oreo, Twix, KitKat, and Bounty(neither of us knew what this was). Those first three are some of Bob's favorites.