Protopsalti Alkistis

I was born in Alexandria, Egypt of Greek parents. We lived there until I was seven and briefly on the banks of the Suez. My father originated from Attalia, Asia Minor and my mother from the island of Chios.
My childhood was extremely happy and I remember it fondly. The warm evenings in Alexandria, the walks I took with my grandfather, the smell of the sea, the sunsets, the rustling of the palm trees along the beach, the fishermen with their rods, the tram, the special sweets I loved, the car rides to the Sahara… The little shop with the colored windows across the road which made falafel and hot pies. This was what specifically awakened my childhood memories recently and I recalled the neighborhood of the first years of my life. Our house is no longer there, having been replaced by a multi-storey building, the Court House of Alexandria.
I mostly remember my naughtiness from my mother’s descriptions, and according to her I was a holy terror! Next to our house on the Suez was a wall, with a wooden staircase, high and straight which my mother desperately begged me not to climb.