To balkoni

One thing I love about Greece is the fact that just about every home and apartment building built has at least one balcony. Last I remember, balconies were a luxury in apartments in Nashville, and you could expect to pay just a little more if the apartment had a balcony. Here, it's a given. And even in most houses, you aren't just going to get a little porch on the first floor, no, every floor will have at least one balcony.

Most apartments, if you aren't lucky enough to have a "wrap around" balcony (we had one in Athens and again in Litochoro), usually have one longer balcony in the front of the apartment and one small one in the back, usually off the kitchen. Greeks generally use the back balcony as a utility deck - this is where you will find various and sundry ladders, cleaning supplies, laundry lines, often even a waterproof cabinet for storage. For some, though, the back balcony isn't large enough for too much, even standing on. The back of our building is a small area that overlooks the backs of the buildings around us. There is a small area between the buildings, but an agile cat could easily jump from one balcony to another. This space, back here, fascinates me, I don't know why. I often wonder if the ground below can be accessed at all. Is it storage for the people on the bottom floors? But the best thing about these back balconies, and the fact that they almost always are off the kitchen, are the myriad smells that emanate from the multiple kitchens. Day to day, at around 1pm, you can smell the most pleasing smells of someone's midday meal. Greek women here cook, and they cook alot. I am glad my husband usually doesn't arrive home from work until 2:30, so he doesn't smell these smells and wish he had married a proper Greek wife, who would fill his belly with fresh made mousaka, pastitchio, keftides and a variety of Greek staples.

The front balconies often seem to become a competition over who can make the most of their balcony. Granted, the majority of even front balconies are not wide, but they are usually long. Many people make elaborate jungles out of their balconies, with all manner of plants hanging all over. Some get crafty with furniture, awnings, and plants together, some balconies looking quite snug. A lot of people hang their laundry on the front balconies, because the back balconies are usually too small except to hang a few small things.

The best thing about balconies is that for most of the year (whenever the temperatures aren't cold) they are usually rife with all kinds of activity, especially around 5 or 6pm, after siesta. Neighborhoods come alive with chatter, music, children playing, all in the secret life of balconies. It is fun to watch, and to feel part of a city that is alive and breathing, not just with work, but with play.

For now, our front balcony is merely a place for hanging laundry and for me to people watch. I can only watch my fellow "balconeers" (yes, I made that word up) for now, because I get a little sick trying to look 7 floors down to the street below, not to mention the fact that trees obscure a great deal of the sidewalk on our side of the street. But the balconies hold plenty of interest, at least for now. If only I didn't always happen to be outside when an old man emerges to his balcony in his underwear, scratching his balls and watching the world go by. I can certainly live without that.