Greece - Athens

These pictures were taken during a trip to Athens in October 1999, when a few of the new VanHool vehicles had been received, but only a handful were running, and several of the Neoplan/Kiepes had arrived and quite a few were running. The remainder of the services were being handled by the old faithfuls, the ZIU's. This very busy city had a fleet of around 400 trolleybuses, so photographs with several vehicles was easy, but tended to have lots of other traffic in the shot too! The contrasts are huge, from bustling narrow streets to wide, fast dual carriageway running, and from the dense urban areas to the seaside at Pireaus.

We returned in 2005 to see more of the new fleet, but I haven't had time to post any pictures as yet. I will also be posting links to videos.

ZIU's on the top deck of  Nea Filedelfia Depot at the end of route 6. Behind these lay several of the old 6-wheel Alfa Romeos decaying away.	At the same depot, all the new VanHool and Neoplan/Kiepes were housed. Here one of the latter (6011) returns to service past several idle ZIU's.
One of the VanHools manoeuvres on its diesel engine from the workshops under the storage yards.	A line up of ZIU's at the terminus of route 13.
Route 1 passes through the street market on Saturdays on the way to Plateia Attikis, where there is a second depot. This last half-mile of the journey can take over 15 minutes! Here 3069 makes the trip.	On the Piraeus section on the route to Psarron (20), the trolleys pass close to the island ferries.
Of course, Athens is not all trolleybuses. Here is the Gateway to the Temple of Zeus!	Route 21 to Nikaia had just opened, and appeared to be over- scheduled. Here 2164 heads a 6-vehicle line up at the terminus.
Rear offside of Neoplan/Kiepe 6007.	Three of the new Neoplan/Kiepes in Nea Filedelfia Depot.