Moving house, changing landscape
The Kathimerini English Edition has a new address, telephone and fax numbers. The windows on the fourth floor of the modern building on the corner of Ethnarchou Makariou and Dimitriou Falireos streets (the latter was a leader of Athens in Hellenistic times, according to the encyclopedia) have a sea view, looking out onto the Saronic Gulf and, to the right, the hill of Kastella, interrupted by the giant slipper shape of the Peace and Friendship Stadium. Neo Faliron was a fashionable seaside suburb of old Athens and acquired its first theater in 1870. The Tarantella and the Aktaion hotels have been demolished, along with the segregated bathing areas that stood along the beach before mixed bathing was introduced. The Kifissos River which once flowed by in full flood, is now just a trickle, and is in the process of being covered over. Helbi is writing her column for Kathi in her new office this week, making the trip from her home in Kifissia down to the coast, where she is beginning to feel like a true citizen of Piraeus, after the warm welcome at the newspaper’s new offices from Piraeus Mayor Christos Agrapidis and the president of the Piraeus Municipal Council, Panahitos Kouvatos. The sun and salty sea air come in through the open windows, beckoning us all out for a stroll around the port for an ouzo! Every move has its advantages, as long as we are all together. As Kathimerini’s Editor in Chief Stamos Zoulas said on NET television last Sunday: Kathimerini is its people – its publishers, editors, executives, journalists, administrative and technical personnel. This Kathimerini will never change, nor can it be evicted now! We have left the building on Socratous but we take with us, along with our books and our files, its spirit. Tsochadzopoulos said the State plans to take an active role in limiting the damage. One way of countering the decline in inbound tourist traffic is to stimulate domestic demand.
