Walking in Athens

9 CONTENTS Prologue .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The mythology of the landscape .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Who remembers the ‘Kauffman’ bookshop on Stadiou Street? .. . . . 21 Hidden corners of an old commercial district . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The Athenian apartment block and the passerby of tomorrow .. . . . 29 The ‘deep’ twentieth century in Pangrati .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 The forgotten triangle on Michalakopoulou Street .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Questions of urban beauty before a house in Exarcheia .. . . . . . . . . . . 43 Akadimias Street and Kanari Street: The palimpsest of the city . . . 47 The lit entrance halls on Skoufa street .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Modern ruins of Athens .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Cycles of life on Solonos Street .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 A forgotten staircase beside the Acropolis .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 The timeless elegance of the Zolotas’ house .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 The family home of Kyriakos Varvaresos in the Plaka .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 The yellow house on Kapodistriou Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Shadows around Omonia Square .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Scenes of life and mourning beyond Victoria Square .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 The Athenian microcosm of Pamisou Street .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 The apartment block as incubator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 A prize apartment north of Victoria Square .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Porou Street: the attractive simplicity of Athenian life .. . . . . . . . . . . 99 A day in Patissia, 1935 .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Fragments of beauty behind the leaves of Kypriadou .. . . . . . . . . . . 107