The Acropolis Rally

The funny thing about the Acropolis Rally is how many times I have just stumbled upon it. You may wonder how someone could stumble upon a major road race featuring world famous drivers in the coolest little cars, zooming out of Athens to drive around the back roads of the Peloponessos at high speeds. But the truth is that several times in the past I happened to be walking past Dionysiou Areopagitou, (the pedestrian road around the Acropolis with the ridiculously unpronounceable name), and found roads closed and racing cars whizzing by. Now that road is a pedestrian street so you can't really have racing cars on it so they have moved to the Zappion Building south of the National Gardens. They don't really race from there. It is more of an introduction and an opportunity for the fans to see the cars up close. And this time I read about it in Kathimerini so I did not have to stumble upon it. I went to see the beginning of the race because that was my intent, not a bi-product of my aimless wanderings. Unfortunately the Kathimerini was unclear about the starting times and the website for the Acropolis Rally was a site only a racing car driver could understand. So I walked to Zappion where they were setting up and asked a worker what time the event started. He told me five o’clock so I had four hours to kill which I did by wandering around aimlessly. When I returned they cars and drivers were being introduced to a healthy crowd, one at a time, before roaring off with a police motorcycle escort. By positioning myself in various locations I was able to get some pretty cool photos. I actually know nothing about rally racing but there was a contagious excitement sort of like being in the same room as a famous person and not being really sure who he is. But the young Greek kids seemed to know who everyone was and cheered each car as it passed, especially the Greek drivers of course.

You can click on the photos to see them full size.