Athens

Glanville-Hicks lived in Athens from 1960, first in the Plaka and later in the Makrianni district. In 1958, on her first visit, she rented an apartment on Odos Pharmaki in the heart of the Plaka, on the side of small square with a garden now full of restaurants. It is very close to the church of St Catherine and the Lysikrates monument. According to a letter written later it was owned by a Greek woman and her rooms were at the back, looking onto the Acropolis. On her return in 1960 she lived in a house on Odos Lyssiou in the Plaka, very near the Tower of the Four Winds and next to the church of St Spyridon. She hoped to buy this house, calling it “The House on the Acropolis”, but the sale fell through. She then found a house on Odos Aisxinou, Cycladic in style and very near the Arch of Hadrian. She had five rooms and a garden, the house hidden behind a high iron gate. The street (really a laneway) has undergone much renovation and now houses one of the offices of the Onassis Foundation. Again she considered purchasing a pair of houses and redeveloping one of them but this too fell through and her permanent home in Athens was a house she bought on Odos Erechtheiou, not in the Plaka but in the Makrianni, which she considered one of the poshest parts of Athens. She remained there until her departure for Sydney in 1975.

Featured image: Athens, photographed by Constantinos Kolias. Unsplash.