The Alexandrian-Greek poet Constantine Cavafy spent his last 25 years in an apartment above a brothel on the former Rue Lepsius, a flat now preserved as the Cavafy Museum, with two of the six rooms arranged as Cavafy kept them. Editions of the poet’s publications and photocopies of his manuscripts, notebooks and correspondence lie spread out on tables throughout the other rooms. A collection of portraits and paintings of the poet adorns the walls of the last room.
With a Greek church (St Saba) around the corner and a hospital opposite, Cavafy thought this was the ideal place to live; somewhere to cater for the flesh, somewhere to provide forgiveness for sins, and a place in which to die. For those who love Cavafy's poetry this is almost a place of pilgrimage.
