“I prefer my city as it is. Because in the city, culture is created. In this city, no matter how miserable it may be, we create. If I hadn’t wandered through the streets of the city, I would not have developed spiritually.
I used to wander on Panepistimiou Street, looking at pictures of cinemas, going to Cineak, Rozikler, and Alaska, to Pedion tou Areos, Green Park, the Archaeological Museum, the theaters Peroke and Samartzi, to Victoria and Alkazar, the two cinemas at Larissa Station, to Astra, with the new talents that were nurtured there.
And then I would go to the Athens-Piraeus Conservatory and to the School of Fine Arts on Patission Street, the most beautiful school. (Now that they have relocated it to Gazi, what images will the students gather?)
And then to Syntagma, to Klavthmonos Square, to the Koun Theater. We often sat on the benches in the Royal Garden, where I still go. When I enter there, I always have that smell of the freshness of the trees.
I also liked the statues, the busts that stood out against the green backdrop of the plants. In fact, I painted many works on this theme.”
