Amazing grace

This should probably have been the first post in this blog, given that the place I'm presenting today is very close to where I live :)

Varibobi is a suburb or rather a small settlement to the north of Athens in the foot of mountain Parnitha. It has but a small rectangular square around which there are a few coffee-houses, but one of them stands out for its decoration. 

The place is called "Iones" and the owner has an evident fancy for all things ancient Greek. 

There are two main areas of the place. The shop itself has an entrance with a pediment standing on two ionic columns leading into a small courtyard with an artificial fountain. The fountain is decorated with a life-size "golden" statue of Poseidon holding his trident. 

The door to the shop itself is equally interesting: there's a pseudo-stone coating and a protome on each side: Homer and Herodotus.

The most impressive part of the shop lies on the Varibobi square, where, amid free-standing ionic columns and columns supporting the summer tents, the owner erected an over life-size statue of Athena. 

It stands on a high platform with an inscription in Greek saying "ΙΠΠΙΑ ΑΘΗΝΑ - ΤΟ ΘΕΙΟΝ ΝΟΕΙ". The statue itself is probably made of gypsum (as far as I could say examining it) and is painted bronze. 

There are several more ancient Greek replicas and stuff inside the shop, but I can assure you nothing tops the lovely Athena on the square!

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All photographs were taken by Θ.Σ. - you may click on them to enjoy details in a much larger version.

Olympia revived

Renowned Greek photographer Spyros Staveris took the following amazing pictures in ancient Olympia, during some kind of a revival event of the Olympic games. 

The photographs were published in the Greek magazine "Eikones tou Kosmou" (Pictures of the World). Spyros doesn't recall the exact date of the event, but he places it in the late 1990's, definitely before the 2004 Olympics in Athens. 

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All photographs are hereby reproduced with the kind permission of Spyros Staveris.
You may see more of Spyros' photographs following these links HERE and HERE.

Sincere thanks are also due to Kostas Paschalidis for reminding me of this wonderful set.