My first memory of the Athens that was changing as I grew up and changed alongside it, is a torn-down building on Patission Street.' It was one of my 'favourite' houses, though I was not even five years old. I was impressed by the marble lions at the end of the garden. The pedestal on which they sat belonged to an external staircase with pilasters in the shape of palm trees. The bulldozer and clouds of dust shook me to the core. I like to recall this early memory when I try to pinpoint the origin of my relationship with Athens. As with any relationship, it is more complicated than it appears at first sight; more complex and perhaps contradictory. In any case it is a strong and de facto lifelong one. I was brought up in Athens, though I like to say that Athens brought me up. With hindsight, I understand that my path to adulthood and maturity was joined with the city's own continuous changes. [...]

Prologue
The mythology of the landscape
Who remembers the 'Kauffman' bookshop on Stadiou Street?
Hidden corners of an old commercial district
The Athenian apartment block and the passerby of tomorrow
The 'deep' twentieth century in Pangrati
The forgotten triangle on Michalakopoulou Street
Questions of urban beauty before a house in Exarcheia
Akadimias Street and Kanari Street: The palimpsest of the city
The lit entrance halls on Skoufa street
Modern ruins of Athens
Cycles of life on Solonos Street
A forgotten staircase beside the Acropolis
The timeless elegance of the Zolotas' house
The family home of Kyriakos Varvaresos in the Plaka
The yellow house on Kapodistriou Street
Shadows around Omonia Square
Scenes of life and mourning beyond Victoria Square
The Athenian microcosm of Pamisou Street
The apartment block as incubator
A prize apartment north of Victoria Square
Porou Street: the attractive simplicity of Athenian life
A day in Patissia, 1935
Fragments of beauty behind the leaves of Kypriadou
The girl in the park
Myths of Alexandras Avenue
A Norwegian hero under an Athenian poplar
The rose of Eressou Street
The little house on Lysandrou Street
The eighty year-old Athenian apartment building in Pangrati
In the cracks of Evripidou Street
'Glass Factory' on the Sacred Way
The corpse of Elefsinion Street, Metaxourgeio
The mysterious house of Thiseio
The matchless atmosphere of Eptanisou Street, Kypseli
In the forgotten side streets of Kypseli
The red house on Sonierou Street
The fragment of old Athens at 97 Acharnon Street
Memory games on Derigni Street
The under-appreciated metropolitan culture of 20th century Athens