A morning walk downtown

A morning walk downtown and couple photos..

Enjoy a walk on the pavement and square...

Segregated cycle facilities (a.k.a. bike lanes)

Total lenght of bike lanes in the city of Patras.

From wikipedia :

Segregated cycle facilities (a.k.a. bike lanes) are roads, tracks, paths or marked lanes designated for use by cyclists from which motorised traffic is generally excluded. The names and definitions of the various cycle facility types vary from country to country, but besides local naming conventions, one of the main subdivisions is whether the facility is physically separated from other (especially motor vehicle) traffic, or whether the segregation is only due to markings.

Motorcycle hit a pedestrian at the new footpath in the center of Patra

Earlier this day a delivery boy hit a pedestrian with his motorcycle, at the new footpath in the center of Patra.
The new footpath of Riga Fereou was built before Christmas, but some citizens keep crossing it on motorcycles.

These photo were taken on New Year's Eve

Unfortunately it's not the only drivers who cross the footpath illegally exposing pedestrians to danger.

Footpath

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

A Footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a thoroughfare intended for by pedestrians but not by motorized vehicles. The term is often for paths within an urban area that offer shorter quieter routes for pedestrians, they may also provide access to the surrounding countryside or parks.

This pedestrian way is newly built. Its purpose was to improve the quality of living in the area and offer a motorized vehicle free area to the students of the school attached. Οbviously, the neighbors thought of it as a new free parking space.

Tax evasion and illegal trade supported by municipality

Due to the economic crisis and the situation in Greece many people and journalists complain about tax evasion by companies and illegal trade by immigrants. Local shop owners focus on immigrants and blame them for dropping sales. Local media reproduce and promote this aspect.

This photos was taken at the local Christmas market. It has nothing to do with famous German weihnachtsmarkt, it's just an open air flea market which sells all kinds of useless crap, irrelevant to its theme which is Christmas.
In order to place a stand who have to get a license from the municipality of Patras and pay a small fee. In order for the sellers on this market to be "official" and known.
The specific stand on the photo belongs to a Greek owner and not an immigrant. He also got a license from the municipality to be at the Christmas market. The goods he is selling are illegally copied cds, not even of good quality, with the worst covers i have ever seen all of them handwritten with a plain marker. The cds are not only illegal but of really bad taste too. Furthermore the seller didn't have a cash register so he wasn't issuing any receipts, a serious crime in Greece, a country in an economic crisis.

My goal is not to focus on this specific salesman but to highlight the hypocrisy of the media and merchants of Patras (and Greece is general) who act racist by focusing on a few immigrants while they hide their illegal business (tax evasion and avoidance , illegal trade) - as if this is also supported by official authorities.

First test post and video.. A small first reference about tactile paving.

From wikipedia:
Tactile paving (also called truncated domes, detectable warnings, Tactile Ground Surface Indicators, detectable warning surfaces) is a system of textured ground surface indicators found on many footpaths, stairs and train station platforms to assist blind and vision impaired pedestrians.
Obviously some citizens of Patra care more for their bikes than for people with vision problems who suffer when they dare to walk in a town with tactile paving