Wherefore Art Thou Romaleos?
THE trials and tribulations of young lovers do not seem to change through the ages, although sometimes their ending is a happier one.
Ataturk and Icarus
Mustapha Kemal, on whom the Turkish Grand National Assembly conferred the title of Ataturk (Father of the Turks), was born in Selanik in 1881.
An Athenian Beaubourg?
Every city gets the Cultural Center it deserves. London has its South Bank, New York its Lincoln Center, Paris its Beaubourg and Athens has what some people say is the prettiest of all – a beautiful green area in the center of the city where old people sit and young people play.
Shades of Professor Higgins
A FEW days after last month’s Athenian appeared on the newsstands I received a strange phone call from a mysterious person.
A Green Belt for Athens
On April 13 the Minister of Planning and Environment George Plytas revealed the most extensive redevelopment plan in recent times for the areas surrounding antiquities of central Athens.
Coffee Break
I AM not normally in the habit of communicating intelligibly with my internal organs. Indeed, apart from an occasional rumble from my stomach and an unobtrusive but steady heartbeat, the silence of my insides is exemplary.
Exi Comma Exi
According to the old fabulist Apollodorus, during the Battle of the Giants which took place at a time not precisely known, the goddess Athena heaved a piece of mountain at the giant Encelatus, son of Earth, which flattened him out like a pancake whereupon he was incarcerated under Mount Etna.
Safe, Stiff and Sound
DURING the recent earthquakes in Athens, many families decided the safest place to be was in the family car. The experiences of one such family are described in the following letter, sent to reassure a concerned relative abroad.
A Measure of Misunderstanding
Athens has at least a dozen daily newspapers of varying political hue, and if one had the pattience, the stamina or the curiosity to glance over this rainbow on Friday, February 13, one could only conclude that on the day previous Frederika of Greece had been subjected to at least a dozen funerals.
The Juju in the Doll
AT a cocktail party last month I saw Costaki Dyskilios again, standing alone with a glass in his hand and the customary constipated look on his face. Everybody else was talking about the recent release of the American hostages in Iran and I asked Costaki what he thought about the whole affair.