Attic in Greece: a Very English Adventure

By Austen Kark

Book Overview

Austen Kark found an almost derelict house in Southern Greece and, against everyone's advice, bought it. This book is about that house, and is also the story of a love affair with Greece and its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0907237649
• ISBN13: 9780907237648
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Canal Publishing
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Attic in Greece full of 'Greekness'

When Austen Kark retired as managing director of BBC World Service in 1986, he and his wife, novelist Nina Bowden, decided to buy a house in Nafplio, Greece, as a second home. Little did they know they were embarking on a very Greek adventure, to paraphrase the subtitle of this entertaining book. The couple had traveled throughout Greece and decided the charming seaside resort would be an ideal retirement home. Strategically located on the Peloponnesian Peninsula, it would be a convenient base for further in-depth exploration of all of Greece. "When viewed dispassionately on a bad day Nauplion (Kark uses one of several alternative spellings) is a rather scruffy little port, used infrequently by cargo ships, mostly Russian, taking aboard fruit and potatoes, comparatively rarely by yachts (it is said because of high mooring and docking fees) and only occasionally by cruise ships, the largest of which have to lie off. "On a good day it is the loveliest town in Greece," he writes. The account of the Karks' adventure is peopled with fascinating characters, from Nikos and his brother, owners of the three-story apartment building at 19 Kapodistriou St. that they settled on, to Athina Sideropoulos, the couple's optimistic and ever-ready-to-help attorney from Athens. Although her fees were not mentioned, the reader may wonder if Athina was adequately compensated for her frequent trips from the capital to Nafplio -- two hours each way -- to help the Britons negotiate the intricacies of dealing with Greek culture. That included dealing with a slow-moving historical preservation board and lackadaisical materials suppliers. The attorney even took on many of the decorating decisions, informing the Karks that they must choose marble flooring. Wood is too expensive, she insisted, but she did allow Nina to splurge on a small area. The visitor to Nafplio will understand the abundance of marble sidewalks and street paving in the town when he sees the huge mountainside marble quarry south of Corinth. At those times when the future homeowners despaired, she was ready with an encouraging, "Po, po, po," a dismissive phrase the meaning of which the reader can only infer from the its use. Her delightful ineptness with the English language brings a smile to the reader's lips When the Karks finally moved in to their third-floor flat, 19 Kapodistriou, it was a totally new building for reasons I will leave the reader to discover.