the major Greek newspaper Ethnos published on 13th November
this article where our friend Panayiotis Rappas and Yiannis Armadouros
share some memories of Leonard on Hydra:
http://www.ethnos.gr/koinonia/arthro/ta ... -64652678/
Mr Rappas:
Mr Armadouros:"On the day I was born, 29 September 1960, Cohen bought the house on Hydra, a beautiful 19th-century residence in Hillary area overlooking the mountains and the houses of the island. I was a little kid and I was seeing him walking in the streets. Everybody called him Leonardo. Personally I met him for the first time in 1975, when I was 15, at the house of my painting teacher Marios Loizidis. Marios was a close friend of him and one day I found them together with friends drinking retsina and Cohen playing the guitar and singing. Since then I met him a few times. He was a simple and affable man. He was always smartly dressed, I would say conservatively, with plain cloth pants. We never saw him wearing jeans or shorts. He was low profile and had a fine sense of humor. He spoke intelligently about the most simple, everyday things."
"My parents, Kyriakos and Evangelia, were taking care of his home and garden on Hydra. I know him since childhood, I grew up with him. Our houses are next to each other, a wall separates us only. He loved his garden with the orange and lemon trees. Once my father planted a vine and when it made grapes Leonardos liked it much. When he was staying on the island he asked my mother to gather greens from the mountain and to cook them with fish. It was his favorite food. He liked Greek wine, from the barrel ... He went for swimming to Kamini. Some mornings we went down to '' Tsagkaris'' café to drink Greek coffee. Then he worked for many hours in the house. In the evening, if a friend didn’t come by, went with my father together to the taverns. If he found a guitar he would sing. Sometimes they took me with them. He said that he had found calm and peace here. He used to come in summer or Easter. He was simple, affable, one of the sweetest people I've ever met."
Douskos speaks of Cohen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZRXLs-OTho
Rappas speaks of Cohen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppa8H_8vkzg
Mayor of Hydra speaks of Cohen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJGLDhu_kfA
I know it was all Greek to you so:
Leonard Cohen in his Hydra's house (BBC 1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD8pe7Iwwb0
Dem