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insight
My Athens
τhis is the city I arrived in with my parents when I was
5 years old – I was born in New York – and the city that
I always come back to. | Είναι η πόλη στην οποία ήρθα
με τους γονείς μου όταν ήμουν 5 ετών (γεννήθηκα στη
Νέα Υόρκη) και πάντα επιστρέφω.
A thens is the city I love, connected with Giorgos Kaminis
memories from my childhood, youth Mayor of Athens
and university years. And as much as I Δήμαρχος Αθηναίων
admired many other European capitals
and cities during my postgraduate Polydefkis Stathopoulos
studies – Paris, Madrid, Heidelberg, etc. – I was never
caught in a relocation dilemma. And not because I could
not see the “faults”, the disadvantages, the centuries of
an indecisive balancing act – West or East?
The dynamism of contradiction always prevailed in
me. The light, the way the traditional tavernas in the
city centre coexist with the more modern aspects of
the capital, the bookstores, the streets that conceal
the matchless setting of the Acropolis in their dusty
depths, the blending of the old with the new, the worn
out with the unfamiliar, the old friends, the absent
whose memory carries them to the corner of a busy
thoroughfare. Proskopon Square in Pagrati, the lively
conversations, the freedom that someone lives and
breathes in this beautiful city of contradictions.
My duties as mayor have certainly limited my free time.
Nevertheless I always catch a breather, at the small
tavernas near Kotzia Square or Varvakeion Agora, for
good food and conversation. I will always find time to
purchase my favourite spices – yes, I still continue to
cook; to hear fragments of conversations in foreign
languages – I like how Athens has become a popular,
independent tourist destination; to quickly pop into a
bookstore, and in the summer to watch a film at what
has been recognized as the most beautiful outdoor
cinema in the world, with the ancient ruins glowing on
the left, naked, in the lambency of the night.
I know Athens, I have walked the city for endless hours,
when that was possible. I saw it transform itself, and
then put to the test, wounded from the crisis. Just like
every historic city, with tradition, occupation and life
spanning the centuries, such alternations between
cycles of History are almost unavoidable.
Once again, I see the city come alive again. Entering
an upward cycle. Becoming a centre of civilization and
hosting international fairs and exhibitions, such as the
38
My Athens
τhis is the city I arrived in with my parents when I was
5 years old – I was born in New York – and the city that
I always come back to. | Είναι η πόλη στην οποία ήρθα
με τους γονείς μου όταν ήμουν 5 ετών (γεννήθηκα στη
Νέα Υόρκη) και πάντα επιστρέφω.
A thens is the city I love, connected with Giorgos Kaminis
memories from my childhood, youth Mayor of Athens
and university years. And as much as I Δήμαρχος Αθηναίων
admired many other European capitals
and cities during my postgraduate Polydefkis Stathopoulos
studies – Paris, Madrid, Heidelberg, etc. – I was never
caught in a relocation dilemma. And not because I could
not see the “faults”, the disadvantages, the centuries of
an indecisive balancing act – West or East?
The dynamism of contradiction always prevailed in
me. The light, the way the traditional tavernas in the
city centre coexist with the more modern aspects of
the capital, the bookstores, the streets that conceal
the matchless setting of the Acropolis in their dusty
depths, the blending of the old with the new, the worn
out with the unfamiliar, the old friends, the absent
whose memory carries them to the corner of a busy
thoroughfare. Proskopon Square in Pagrati, the lively
conversations, the freedom that someone lives and
breathes in this beautiful city of contradictions.
My duties as mayor have certainly limited my free time.
Nevertheless I always catch a breather, at the small
tavernas near Kotzia Square or Varvakeion Agora, for
good food and conversation. I will always find time to
purchase my favourite spices – yes, I still continue to
cook; to hear fragments of conversations in foreign
languages – I like how Athens has become a popular,
independent tourist destination; to quickly pop into a
bookstore, and in the summer to watch a film at what
has been recognized as the most beautiful outdoor
cinema in the world, with the ancient ruins glowing on
the left, naked, in the lambency of the night.
I know Athens, I have walked the city for endless hours,
when that was possible. I saw it transform itself, and
then put to the test, wounded from the crisis. Just like
every historic city, with tradition, occupation and life
spanning the centuries, such alternations between
cycles of History are almost unavoidable.
Once again, I see the city come alive again. Entering
an upward cycle. Becoming a centre of civilization and
hosting international fairs and exhibitions, such as the
38
