Evzones/Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The members of the Presidential Guard, called Evzones, are an elite ceremonial unit that guards the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Presidential Mansion. All the Evzones are volunteers from the Hellenic Army's Infantry Corps. One requirement I found interesting is that you must be 6'1.3" to join. The unit is well known among foreigners for their uniforms, which evolved from the
Klephts(ancestors of Greeks who were warlike mountain-folk that fought against the Ottomans). In the photos and videos below, you will see their winter attire.

Here you see one of the two guards with a picture of the tomb in the background.

This man with the mustache was guarding the guards. He made sure no more than one tourist went up to take a picture with the guard at a time, and I saw him yell at a man who tried to throw up a peace sign in the picture. Here he had just finished readying the Evzone for the guard exchange.

I tried to do a zoom in on the shoes here. Slippers are sold that resemble these at tourist shops.

This is part of the changing of the guards ceremony.

Also, I stumbled upon this little fountain I had not seen before. Upon closer examination I saw a turtle in it.

You may be thinking just as I was that a sign fell down in the background. Actually, what I'm guessing is a homeless man seems to have tied up that banner to a set of benches and appears to be living under it as a shelter with two dogs. Otherwise, it's just a really cool fort.

He appears to be swimming to meet a pigeon.

Almost to his pigeon friend.

Upon even closer inspection, I saw another turtle.

On my walk back, I saw Mt. Lycabettus (the hill we live at the base of) from far away and wanted to snap a picture.

Lastly, I wanted to include this picture Bob took from his adventures yesterday because it's pretty. He will be returning back to this location next Wednesday, and I will be accompanying him; stay tuned for that.