The Municipality of Athens is celebrating World Car Free Day on Athena Street for the first time with an open celebration organized through This is Athens – City Festival and Development Athens. For this reason, the mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, stated ahead of the holiday that he seeks a city in which the car will not have a primary role.
As stated by the corresponding announcement, for 24 hours, from 8 p.m. on Saturday (21/9) until 8 p.m. of Sunday (22/9), “ATHENS Without a Car” will be converted into a road without motorized vehicles.
In his statement, Mayor of Athens, Haris Doukasemphasizes: “From the center of Athens on September 21 and 22, we will send a resounding message: We want cities in which cars will not have a dominant position. We invite young and old to use public transport and come to this great symbolic celebration, on Athena Street. World Car Free Day is just the occasion. In order to achieve climate neutrality in the coming years, Athens should follow the example of other European cities, focusing on the promotion of sustainable mobility, with the basic condition, of course, of upgrading public transport».
From the side of CEO of Development Athens S.A. Ioannis Georgizaspoints out: “For 24 hours, Athena Street will be a “case study‘, an example of how a busy city street can be transformed into a friendly meeting point for residents and visitors where cars have no place. The This is Athens–City Festival of the Municipality of Athens implements a model program of events in which all the actions aim to teach us the value of moving by bike or rollerblades in a city that we want to remain sustainable”.
The visitors of “ATHENS Without Car”
Residents and visitors will be able to browse the “ATHENS Without a Car” and participate in more than 20 events for all ages. Educational activities with bicycles, traffic education lessons, music events, late-night film screenings and entertainment activities will fill the central artery of the city, replacing cars. Bicycles, skates and rollers will have a special place in this event, which it will stretch between Ermou and Euripidesa few meters away from the Athens City Hall, promoting “green” movement.
Educational activities and musical events for everyone
On Saturday night at 8pm, the events will open with one team “Skating”. For the first time, young and old will cross Mitropoleos Street on bicycles, skates, skates or rollerblades, from Syntagma to Athenas Street. There the evening will continue with a big one street party with the music collective “Agia Fanfara” which with a celebratory mood will stir up the attendees to strong rhythms from the Balkans.
After midnight, Athenas Street, at the point between Ermos and Euripides, will turn into a open-air cinema with screenings of the films “The City Lights” and “The Wings of Love”accompanied by live classical music. Just before dawn, the storyteller Taxiarchis Beligiannis will tell stories for adults.
From early Sunday morning, on World Car Free Day, the orchestra Of PrtheFunds Ensemble will present some of the most famous works of classical musicwhile the Authorized Municipal Councilor for Historical Promotion of the City of Athens, Artemis Skoubourdi will narrate the history of the buildings of Athena Street through a special guided tour.
From 11 am until 5 p.m., parallel activities will be held such as a traffic education workshop for children, bike workshop (bicycle balance competitions), bike art (I paint with my bike) for children and adults, face painting, storytelling for children, experiential activities and theater play on the theme of alternative transportation. Dinoverse, the well-known mascot of Kids Radio, will bring joy to young visitors, while the Kids Radio Band prepares a great live music program for children.
Throughout the day, DJs from the city’s radio stations will accompany the celebration with their musical selections. At the same time, they will be held learn-to-skate and roller-skate seminars, as well as a bicycle stunt racewhere participants will learn how to cycle a distance without touching the ground.
The 24 hours of events will close with a big concert by Locomondoone of the most famous and beloved bands, in an unforgettable dance party.
See the detailed program with all the events at the link
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