Ilias Kanistras in Patras
Ilias Kanistras, now Kathimerini’s Patras stringer, lived in Athens until 1994. He had left Patras in 1987 to study in Athens, and a year later started work at Kathimerini. Although Athens offered him opportunities, Kanistras never managed to adjust. «If you’ve grown up in a two-story house with a garden in a provincial town where everything you need is close at hand, Athens doesn’t suit you,» he said at his desk in the offices of the Peloponnesus newspaper, where he works. Living conditions «Living conditions in Athens were difficult; they didn’t suit me. It was too hard to get around town; I didn’t get to see my friends, the people I was close to. I couldn’t stand it. So I made the big decision to come back to Patras which, although it is a big city, retains the good side of the provinces.» Working at a major daily paper is demanding, no matter where the paper is published. «It’s a lot of work, but the conditions are different. The basic difference is that here you have the luxury of being able to rest at midday and have a meal with your family. You don’t start at 10 a.m. and finish at 10 p.m. It’s easy to keep in touch with your friends; it’s easy to go out and let off steam, without endless traveling. I hope I won’t need to go back to Athens in the future.»
