In all the years I have been associated with Glasgow, I am only aware of one change of street name. In 1986 St. George’s Place became Nelson Mandela Place. In Greece, changing the name of a street is quite a common occurrence. I first witnessed it shortly after PASOK’s first victory in October 1981. Οδός Κονίτσης (Konitsa Street) became Οδός Γρηγορίου Λαμπράκη (Gregory Lambrakis Street). The former name was not in honour of Konitsa, a small town in Epirus, but after a Greek government victory ther over Communist forces in 1947. The street was renamed in honour of Lambrakis, who was assassinated in 1963. The book and film “Z” (by Vasilis Vasilikos and Costa-Gavras respectively) commemorate the murder. Two things: 1) the word Οδός is rarely used and 2) if a street is named after a person, the first name is usually omitted. “He lives on Gregory Lambrakis Street” is translated as “Ζει στη Λαμπράκη”. Of course, where necessary, the first name is retained to avoid confusion. For example, there is a George Papandreou Street and an Andreas Papandreou Street here in Thessaloniki. If you are wondering why it’s στη Λαμπράκη and not στο Λαμπράκη [or Λαμπράκης], it is because οδός – despite the -ος ending – is a feminine noun (as are its derivatives eg μέθοδος, κάθοδος, άνοδος, περίοδος etc), and names are in the genitive (possessive) case.
Royalty has been installed and overthrown several times in modern Greece’s 200 years since independence. Unsurprisingly, street names have met with the same fate. In Thessaloniki Queen Sophia Street is now National Defence St. Prince Nicholas St., which bisects it, is now Alexis Svolos St. Svolos (Αλέξανδρος Σβώλος) served as president of the Political Committee of National Liberation during the Axis occupation of Greece. So, like Lambrakis, Svolos was a hero of the left. While most royal names have disappeared, Queen Olga has survived. I checked her out. She was a Romanov, but she did a lot of work for charity in Athens.
In the article below, the writer discusses the situation in Athens and how for years afterwards people persist in using the original name. It is true to an extent here, too. Well into the 90s, Lambraki was still referred to as Konitsis.
Antheon in Thessaloniki changed to George Papandreou – something which can be explained politically – but why did Kileler in my village change to Antheon? Kileler is a town near Larisa where landless agricultural labourers staged a revolt in 1910 demanding that the big farmlands (τσιφλίκια) be redistributed, not something that Greeks might prefer to forget. Kileler is a small village on the Thessaly Plain, not far from Larisa. The name comes from a Turkish word meaning lakes or marshes.
This pic shows both street names, the old and the new. But which is which? Usually the sign would say something like ΑΝΘΕΩΝ ΠΡΩΗΝ ΚΙΛΕΛΕΡ (ANTHEON FORMERLY KILELER), but that is not the case here. One can deduce that the street is ANTHEON by the comparative newness of the lower sign.
I haven’t said anything about restaurants and prices. Next time.