The quiet middays of summer in western neighborhoods of Athens ΙΧ

Yannis Ritsos
"Midday summer dream 8"
AT NIGHT the almond trees pass beneath our windows slow and sad in their white dresses, like those pale girls from the orphanage returning from a short, Sunday outing, nearly asleep, holding hands two by two, not speaking, not looking up to the stars sprouting one by one in the shadows, distant and happily.

Tomorrow we'll tell the almond trees to go to the beach and wash the dust of our sadness from their faces.

In the evening, when they return cheerful, they'll give us our first words washed clean in the sea, and we'll cry in the open windows for the joy of being able to cry. 

from Midday Summer Dream (1938) [Collected Poems: Alpha ---pg 344]
translated by Scott King

Petroupoli (greek modern: Πετρούπολη, Kathareuousa Πετρούπολις) is a suburb in the northwestern part of Athens Metropolitan Area, in Greece. The two peaks of Mount Aigaleo lie to the north and west of the suburb, and is located ESE of Eleysis, S of the Attiki odos (Exit number 6), W of Kifissou Avenue, and Athens, NW of Poseidonos Avenue and N of Pirus. Its main streets, (25 March Ave., Anatolikis Romylias St. and Perikleous St.), connect the town with Ilio-Greece and Reristeri.

Geography

The areas of Petroupoli were once, as elsewhere in the region, mainly made up of farmlands and pasture farming and groves were common. Urban development replaced much of the farmlands between the 1950s and 1990s, and continued until the late 1990s, though rarely further. Today, the eastern and central parts of the municipality are urbanized or residential. The rocky landscape of Aigaleo with a few bushes lies to the west and to the north, and mining was common in the western section between the 1960s and the late 20th century; one of the abandoned quarries located nearly 1 km northwest was turned into a park, and some also became sporting areas. The area's mountain range lies along its municipal boundary to the northwest, and the northern part of the mountaintop lies north of city hall. The Petra Festival takes place every summer.
The streets in the central part of Petroupoli run southwest to northeast, and southeast to northwest, and the southern and the eastern residential streets are mixed.

 

History

The history of this city is believed to date to the mid-1930s, when a newspaper began to distribute building grounds via coupons to its readers.

Source: Wikipedia