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Emanuela Karastoyanova

Summer in Athens is always hot. So hot that even the pigeons have difficult time to spread their wings in the almost burning air. People in turn as well... And every summer everybody complains about one thing: "What are these hot days, what is this weather?" And how not a single cold slab is left in the city!

In the summer in Athens clatter of dishes could be heard until late evening. And evenings are really long. Summer here is long. Music, friends, fun, cocktails, beach, sea breeze, long nights, turned on air conditionings, tents put down, and this year also football.

Summers are light newspapers and magazines we read. Or we do not read. And also the books which during the year we wanted to read, but time has given us no chance ...

Summer are the forgotten dreams dusted out.

Summer is .. being negligent and absent minded. Because of the summer breeze or the thoughts which suddenly bursted in your head. The summer is long frappe which you drink in the company with a story. And in the shade.

 I am in the Athenian neighborhood Tisio for a small check . I want to know how the Athenians in town rest of this year and what is for them Athens during the summer .

"Athens is my favorite city" - is the answer of a young girl named Yoanna, who came on this Saturday to have cafe with two of her friends. "I work at the moment and for me the summer vacation would be to enjoy some things more than I do in winter. Summer in the city is calmer. The traffic on the streets decreases, there are not so many people. Overall this is a very nice town"- Yoanna says with a smile. "One can have fun here in the summer as well. But the pace is more relaxed. Athens is always very beautiful. Me personally for the summer I like restaurants in Panormou, Psiri and the pubs on the costal street. Akrotiri, W, Candy Bar, Sissa for example, are very nice." Her friend Nikki also intends to visit the bars in the popular coastal street, but she will not ignore also the buzoukis. Katherine on the other hand is from Arta. She says she has no favorite places in the capital, but if she was living here in the summer she would certainly go to the beach, to meet friends and drink coffee.

Eleni and Alexandra are my other interlocutors in this hot June evening. Just like the others,  they also sitting at the table with the lighted torch started thinking about the city they live in. .. about the summer. Athens in the summer for both girls is summer cinema, festivals, concerts, parks, beach, roof garden around the hotels in the city and favorite meeting point.

Mary, who sits on a table in the adjacent restaurant on the other hand argued that she doesn’t spend the summer well in Athens. "There is nothing much to do here. I like to have vacation in the summer. I don’t have a good time here. I always pack my luggage and go somewhere. "There are so many places where one can go. Why sit in those heats in Athens", her friend Kelly is looking at me questioningly. "But otherwise in the town there are beautiful places in the area of Gazi. However, costal street is dying for me already" - says Maria again. "This is the cas for many years now. It is not as it was before. It has always been snobbish, but now I just do not like it at all". "Yes. The costal street was replaced by Gazi. Gazi is a must for the summer" – starts Kelly again. "Perhaps it is a matter of age now" - thinks about it Mary. "If you go to the costal street now you will see that the average age there is 18 years..." Athens, destroys your psychic, the stress is killing you" tells her Kelly. "That's true. When you go to work, and the temperature over your head is 40 degrees and you have to run up and down and use the public transport you will be very tired". The two friends are adamant that no Greek would not stay in the capital during the summer if he has cash for vacation. And neither one of them know any people who will spend the summer entirely in the city...

On another adjacent table is sitting a beautiful young girl named Eleni. Eleni argues that she likes the summer in Athens. Like most young people she will also spend the sunny months in the company of friends in Gazi or on the costal street. "There is music for all tastes. From rebetiko to dance," says the girl with a smile.