As with most European cities, Athens is very animal-friendly. We saw MANY happy pooches out strolling with their owners. But, Athens has a stray dog and cat problem. Stray cats are everywhere, wandering the streets and flitting about the archeological sites. One particularly friendly kitty at the Temple of Olympian Zeus heard the rustle of a foil chocolate wrapper and came at a dead run. He didn’t seem terribly upset that we had nothing to offer and hopped up onto Amy’s lap giving us a chance to observe his clipped ear indicating he had been fixed. So, somebody is looking out for the stray cat population. It is harder to know what is going on with the dogs. Every site has them. When you look closely, most if not all are wearing some sort of tags. Again at the Temple of Olympian Zeus there were dog houses in evidenced and the dogs were chained near the entrance. Given that they have to be safe for visitors to be around, it is doubtful that they perform any type of watchdog function. Maybe they go home with the workers, or something like that. They are too well fed and cared for to be completely stray and feral. Here are a few of our friends.
A pair of dogs at Hadrian’s Library.
A docent at the entrance to the New Acropolis Museum.
A pair of watch cats at the work zone atop the Acropolis.
A greeter at the entrance to the Acropolis.
And, a groundskeeper on the southern slope of the Acropolis.
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