Accessible Hotel Room, Novotel Athens

ENAT - European Network for Accessible Tourism is organising an International Workshop on 23 October 2006 in Athens, Greece. The event will take place at the NOVOTEL Hotel, Athens. The hotel has some "accessible"rooms. You can view photos of these rooms.

NOVOTEL_Athens, disabled friendly room

Sep 18, 2006 - 3 Photos

TIM fights VODAFONE's Covert Operations - But What a Mess!

After a telephone-tapping scandal and the dodgy suicide of its technical mananager dragged VODAFONE's name through the Greek mud earlier this year, TIM - the "3rd" mobile phone Cartel member in Greece is now going public in a BIG way. TIM is seeking maximum exposure with its new shop in Ermou St. Marousi, where a 4 metre name sign (probably re-cycled from a motorway rest-stop) now adorns the facade of what used to be the pretty little Café Greco. The neo-classical building, which is one of only 5 such buildings remaining in Ermou St., is now smothered in 1 - 2, yes 3 TIM signs. So surely the citizens of Marousi will never accuse TIM of acting covertly!
But where does the the Municipal Planning Office stand when it comes to shop sign standards? One suspects that despite this huge manifestation of corporate self-promotion, the Municipality fails to see that TIM is despoiling the small-town charm of this pedestrian street.
Do we have any rules and regulations to govern the size and positioning of shop signs? I dunno. But there should be. This kind of "mega-makeover" has no place in a human-scale street.
And what a dilemma for the mobile phone user (me)! After recently cancelling my VODAFONE subscription, due to their 'possibly-nefarious' dealings, I am now faced with the choice of cancelling my new TIM subscription, as my only significant means of protest... But that means I would have to go to COSMOTE!
Oh dear!

Marousi Pavement Cafés - taking the concept to its limits?

Residents in Greece and tourists alike enjoy their refreshments outdoors, and pavement cafés are great places for enjoying a frappé and watching the world go by. Café owners oblige their customers by placing their tables and chairs across the pavement, usually keeping a free passage for the passing pedestrians - who should not be obliged to put themselves at risk by walking in the road.
But too much of a good thing can be a problem. The new trend is for café chairs to become sofas, potted geraniums become plantboxes with palmtrees, and parasols become pergolas with sliding awnings, folding glass partitions and see-thru plastic walls. These architectural features are surely meant to be "temporary" according to relevant Building Regulations and café licensing laws, as they are not part of the premises.
Marousi has a good share of cafés at the Station Plateia, but the pavement and pedestrian area beside the station is rapidly being taken over by more or less permanent structures which have encroached on the pavement, almost to the edge of the kerb. The recent environmental upgrade, which has given us pedestrianised streets with "tactile routes" for the blind is being eroded by this uncontrolled expansion. I wonder why this is not stopped, or when it will end? Perhaps the pedestrians are expected to join the buses, cars and motorcycles on the street? Certainly there are no Zebra crossings here anymore either, (they were not replaced after the recent road re-surfacing) so the whole Station area in Marousi is becoming a "no-go" area for people who walk, push a baby-buggy or (heaven forbid) use a wheelchair.

What does the Mayor of Marousi have to say about the pavements around the Railway Station?
Or his town planning staff?
Or the café owners?
Or the coffee drinkers?