When I Lived in Kavala - Tapa dura

When I Lived In Kavala is a memoir of my 26 years in Greece. It was begun in 1973 for the purpose of explaining Greece--and myself--to a young relative and has been re-written at least five times, though, in truth, I have lost count of the exact number of re-writings. I found as I revised my manuscript again and again, that, while I was living in Greece, I had been very hesitant--or perhaps craven is the word--about criticizing Greece and Greeks. This final version is both harsher and more truthful. Nevertheless, I was, and continue to be, grateful that my son was able to grow up in Greece. Kavala, and probably all of Greece, was a good place for children and a good place for adults, too. It was also a beautiful place, though I make no mention of that in my memoir, which deals mainly with people.Like small towns everywhere, Kavala was full of 'characters': people who would have seemed eccentric no matter where they happened to be; and people who seemed eccentric to us only because we were not Greek. The reader must judge which group can claim the characters whose remarks are quoted.

Mary ( ne Morrill ) Tius was born in Portland, Maine, in December 1928. After attending local schools, she graduated from Syracuse University in June 1949 and in August of that year left for Izmir, Turkey, where for the next three years, she taught English literature and language to Turkish girls.She lived in Izmir for five years before returning to the U.S. with her husband and their eighteen-month-old son. In April of 1959, she moved to Kavala, Greece, where she and her family lived for the next 26 years. When I Lived In Kavala is an account of her life as a foreigner living in Greece.