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High Life

Taki

Wednesday, 6th August 2008

Greek ruins

On board S/Y Bushido

Sailing into Athens, renamed ‘cemento-polis’ by green-loving Athenians, can be a traumatic experience, for one’s crew, that is. Coming in from the west, crossing Pireaus, my German cook Daniel could not believe his eyes. ‘Was ist das? Das ist furchtbar, abscheulich!’ Daniel is young, a very good cook and as good a pick-up artist as I have come across in my travels. His specialities are English and Dutch girls. ‘I know you will not like me because I’m German but you will come on board for a drink...ja?’ Piraeus now looks like the Albanian coast, without a single tree or bush to relieve the eye from the utter ugliness of a city built by the short-sighted for short-term profit. I was actually embarrassed in front of my crew — New Zealanders and Australians who have travelled the globe and know ugly when they see it. We dropped anchor, the mother of my children flew off to Switzerland and I headed for Athens, a city always present in the heart and mind of anyone who has ever aspired to greatness.

Mind you, the Athens I knew as a child can no longer be glimpsed. A few smells, the narrow streets of Plaka at dawn, the tightly closed shutters of a Kolonaki apartment building are reminders of the once most romantic small capital of Europe. The men who used to sit around the Kolonaki square sipping endless cups of coffee and eyeing the women, dandies, flâneurs, Lotharios are mostly gone, replaced by entrepreneurs talking shop. The old bunch cultivated a certain melancholy, self-pity of sorts, sentimental and nostalgic. They dressed impeccably, and those who couldn’t afford it nevertheless wrapped a silk handkerchief around their necks and played it like Bohemians. It was mostly an act, and a beautiful one. It has been replaced by a harshness which suits cheap Italians but not the Greeks, once upon a time a polite and courteous people. Most of the beautiful 19th-century private houses have been torn down and replaced by commercial centres, although a few wonderful public buildings such as the original University, the Academy and the Public Library remain.

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ian skidmore

August 7th, 2008 2:30pm

whenever I read of Taki's rather tacky High Life I am glad to be comparatively poor

Paskalis

August 8th, 2008 11:35am

Yes, I agree with Ian Skidmore. Now and then, I have looked in on Taki's "writing" for over twenty years and always felt I needed a shower after reading about his spiv friends and tasteless life. His existence seems far tackier than anything he describes in Mykonos or Athens. His endless need for self-debasement would be an interesting study if anyone were interested.

George Kronfli

August 8th, 2008 11:54am

Ian Skidmore and Paskalis are talking junk. Taki is interesting which is why we read his articles. Worse than that, sometimes he says things which make uncomfortable reading, but are nevertheless true. Maybe that's what some people cannot stomach.

Victoria

August 8th, 2008 1:51pm

I went to Mykonos as a child in 1962 on a boat belonging to friends of my parents. It was a beautiful calm place where almost no one spoke English. I rememeber the priests, the pelican and the gentle people who made every effort to help us with our lack of Greek and inability to identify random and unfamiliar foods in the shops. Most of the Med was like that then. I lived in and/or visited many of the islands belonging to various countries in the Med. It is mostly more or less as Taki describes it now-all in just a couple of generations. So sad. I blame the invention of the jet aeroplane and the advent of mass travel. In Corfu,when I last visited a few years ago,buying fish was difficult due to explosives used by fishermen (some Albanian) which has almost wiped out fish from one of the previously richest seas in the world. It doesn't take long as explosives kill all the life in the sea.We truly are the most destructive species. I feel for this poor young man's family.