The Fragrance of the Smyrna Quay
Geogia Adam from Kato Ag. Giorgis
Iakovos Garivaldis OAM
Georgia Adam sat, an heirloom silver spoon resting in her palm, it’s cool touch a tangible link to a world lost. The spoon, a relic of her great-grandparents’ opulent life in Smyrna, was a whisper of a time before the storm.
Anna Nikolaou, Maria Paraskevopoulou, and Georgios Paraskevopoulos — three souls torn from their home in 1921. Anna, a woman of grace and elegance, her wardrobe filled with crinolines and Parisian-inspired hats, was warned by her husband, Georgios, a merchant with roots in Aydin, of impending chaos.
Georgios, away on business in America, sensed the tremors of upheaval and urged Anna to flee. Their grand two-story mansion, a testament to their prosperity, would soon be a distant memory. With their young daughter, Maria, and their most prized possessions—clothing, jewellery, and the cherished silver—Anna departed, leaving behind the vibrant life they knew.
Smyrna, a city of promenades and seafront cafes, was a place where Anna and Georgios delighted in strolls along the quay, savouring fish sandwiches as the sun shimmered on the Aegean. They were a family of refinement, their manners as polished as their silver, their lives a reflection of the city’s cosmopolitan charm.
But the whispers of impending violence grew louder, and Georgios, sensing the approaching storm, made the difficult decision to send his family away. They arrived in Edessa, Pella, a world away from the bustling quays and grand mansions of Smyrna.
In Edessa, they sought refuge, carrying with them the fragments of their former life. The silver spoon, a tangible reminder of their lost opulence, became a symbol of their resilience. Anna, Maria, and Georgios, once residents of a grand Smyrna mansion, adapted to their new reality, their memories a tapestry woven with threads of both sorrow and resilience.
The stories of their elegant life in Smyrna, of crinolines and fish sandwiches, of promenades and silver spoons, were passed down through generations, a testament to the enduring power of memory and the human spirit’s ability to find solace in the face of loss.