In Cairo he lived in the poor Arab quarters, where he associated with the lowest strata of the indigenous population. His intellectual and creative needs were satisfied both through his many-faceted work and through the society of a group of local Greeks who met on the premises of the sponge vendor and well known socialist Sakellaris Yiannikakis. Besides Yiannakakis himself and the lawyer Yiannis Lachovaris, the company consisted of young graduates of Cairo's Ambetions College with a strong artistic bent and interested in the pursuit of social justice and direct political action. These included Stratis Tsirkas, Theodosis Pierides, George Philippou Pierides, George Demos, Lambis Rappas, Stavros Karakasis and others. Some of these were to go on to achieve a pan-Hellenic reputation. Nicolaides' literary and artistic workshop gave a significant impetus to this evolution.