‘When you live in the center, everything is handy’
Despite those who chose to desert the city center for other locations, there are still some who insist on Athens proper. For instance, when Miltos and Chryssa Lazaridis and their three children decided it was time they bought their own home, the suggestions of their friends that they should move out to the northern or southern suburbs fell on deaf ears. Instead, they bought a neoclassical house in their neighborhood, Kato Patissia, and renovated it. «When you live in the center, everything is handy,» Lazaridis told Kathimerini. «And I don’t only mean that in the literal sense. You feel as if you are in the thick of things. If I lived in some faraway suburb, I would always have the feeling that something was happening back here that I was missing.» As he says, just the fact that downtown residents are able to go to the theater, even if they make up their mind at the last minute, creates a special sense of ease. Moreover, the fact that life away from the city center necessitates the constant use of a car contributed to his big decision. «We didn’t want to get cut off from our friends, with someone who wanted to come and see us having to make an entire excursion. «Besides, places like Filothei are dead. When I visit there, I never see anyone on the street, not even on balconies.» By contrast, Athens has a sense of liveliness, and it has become more attractive lately. «Its the most erotic city. Of course it would be nice if we lived by the sea, but where could we go when we wanted to see something different?»
