Tag Archives: Street Photography

The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens always attracts a group of tourists, but the soldiers there take their job very seriously. They must stand guard, motionless, for an hour until relieved.

According to this page, the brown uniform these soldiers wear is only worn in Summer.

The uniform consists of:
• the farion – the Evzone’s fez, made from red baize and featuring a black silk tuft and the Greek coat of arms
• a white shirt with loose sleeves
• the fermeli – the handmade waistcoat with several delicate shapes sewn on it
• the fustanella – the Greek kilt, the making of which requires 30 meters of white cloth.
• four socks – two on each leg
• the anaspastos – the leather belt that holds the socks
• the tsarouchia – the red, traditional, leather shoes, with a black tuft in front. Each shoe weighs three kilos.
• blue and white fringes, representative of the Greek flag
• silk garters
• leather cartridge cases
All guards also carry a shotgun. It is the most difficult piece to carry, not only because of its weight but also because of the physical pressure that exerts on the soldier’s body.

This is the official version of the uniform that the Evzones wear only on Sundays and National holidays.
On other days, the white shirt, the fermeli and the fustanella are replaced by the doulamas, a special uniform that the soldiers of the Macedonian Struggle (1904-1908) used to wear. This uniform is blue in winter and brown in summer.

Greeka.com