[vc_row heading_color=”primary-1″ padding_bottom=”100″ margin_bottom=”0″][vc_column][grve_title title=”Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens by Sofka Zinovieff” heading_tag=”h1″][vc_column_text]Scorched Earth
The week spent on Patmos restored some equilibrium. The austerity beautiful landscape of bare, rocky hills and small, stony beaches was buffeted by the summer winds. The cool, dark Aegean water refreshed us, and our simple routines provided a return to the essentials. During the day, we read and swam and picked warm, plum figs from the trees. In the evenings, we met up with friends and ate at beach tavernas. The night skies were enormous and brilliantly clear; I had forgotten the joy of looking up into the deep darkness, unpolluted by any urban, orange glare. Sometimes, we would sleep outside on the terrace, watching the glittering galaxies as they were streaked by flitting, black bats and burning stars…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row heading_color=”light” bg_type=”image” bg_image=”11586″ bg_image_type=”fixed” pattern_overlay=”yes” column_gap=”5″ padding_top=”100″ padding_bottom=”100″ font_color=”#ffffff”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1526461068008{padding-top: 3% !important;padding-right: 3% !important;padding-bottom: 3% !important;padding-left: 3% !important;background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.8) !important;*background-color: rgb(0,0,0) !important;}”][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][grve_title title=”Sofka Zinovieff”][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1526461137826{padding-right: 3% !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][grve_single_image image_mode=”medium” image=”11585″ align=”left”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1533650875138{padding-right: 3% !important;padding-left: 2% !important;}”][vc_column_text]British author and journalist
Born in London. She is of Russian descent on her father’s side. She has been a journalist and book reviewer for various British publications.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row heading_color=”primary-1″ footer_feature=”yes” padding_bottom=”100″ margin_bottom=”0″ padding_top=”100″][vc_column][vc_column_text]Plunging In
Coming back to Greece was never going to be easy, but there were two clear points when something changed. The first came on my birthday. The children picked flowers, hung up balloons, and organised a candlelit tea table, helped by a school friend. When they ceremoniously brought in the cake, there was a pivotal moment of hesitation, before they evidently made an unspoken agreement. Rather than appear foreign and different form their friend, they launched into singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me in Greek, something they had never done before. I was surprised that they already knew the words.
‘May you live, little mum, and grow old, with white hair…’ they sang. ‘Chronia Polla – Many Years! And may you live to be a hundred!’ said Vassilis, adding the traditional birthday greetings. ‘Cut the cake, Mama,’ said Lara in Greek.
It marked a change of gear. The children were sweeping me along with them as they became Greek. I realized that this would change me too, and that I wanted to mark that process by becoming a Greek citizen.
Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens by Sofka Zinovieff, 2004
Sofka Zinovieff’s first excitement about Greece happens when she is still a student. When later on, in 2001, she follows her Greek husband, as an expatriate, and settles in Athens with their two daughters, on Eurydice Street, she sees things from another perspective. During her first year in Athens, her view on her new city, new people, new language, and her decision to become a Greek citizen, make her narration an enjoyable encounter of Greece in general, full of little details and descriptions that make this book a must read for everyone who is interested in Greek life.
L. V. Paidoussi
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