Misty mountain

Since the last Olympic Games 2004 in Athens one of the 'new' for these times service made was the tram. Initially, this service was criticized because the people considered it wouldn't be of any help as the main transport media of bus and metro were more than adequate.

At the end, it has been proved very useful, special for people living and moving near the south coasts of Attica and for people moving towards the beach during the summertime. Only this time, after three years, I decided to use it, just for curiosity. The 'one-way' ticket costs 0.60€ (0.70€ combined with a bus ticket and 1.00€ combined with all transport media, e.g. bus+metro) and valid for 90 min. Leaving my parents' house (Piraeus) I had difficulty to find these 'integrated-type of ticket' (far from the tram head stop). I was told that it is easier to find tickets near any metro or tram stops. So, I got the tram on my return from Glyfada, one of the most famous places near the sea with various coffee shops and nice restaurant where I went to meet a friend.

From the photos you can see that the all construction is not bad. Unfortunately, the whole tram-network is very short, maybe the shortest in Europe (24 km), but from my point of view, it doesn't matter. For start it's something good. Later on, constructing more and updating the technology can help in reducing environment harming media to this as the basic one. Basically, it covers the coast of Athens and it can reach even to the most central parts of Athens. There, probably (I haven't passed these regions) the times should be harder as tram needs to be regulated within the car traffic system.

The maximum velocity it can reach is around 18 km/h. During my route, I tried to evaluate what the effective average velocity was comparing with a bus. I found it just slightly slower, and my opinion is that it could have been faster. I don't know if it's just a policy or technology matter(my impression would rather be about policy). It was a Sunday afternoon. Unlike the metro, it is possible to obliterate the ticket even inside the tram.


Along the coast of Athens, there is nice palm trees and different small yacht ports. I walked along for a while before get the tram. Inside, I found the all space very nice, clean and a digital voice with a color screen provides continuous information about any next stop and connections with the bus/metro system. The closest and terminating stop to Piraeus (main port of Athens) is 'Faliro'.

It was a nice, pleasant experience for a Saturday afternoon.
More information: Athens tram
Additional photos: tram folder Tram of Athens