Our social life has been somewhat anticlimactic after Istanbul, where it seemed we met up with people from all phases of our lives. For over two weeks in Greece, Sandeep and I have only had each other for intellectual English conversation. We could have made more friends if we tried harder. However, between Vouliagmeni’s weekend-only population and our inclination to hang out on the beach most days, we just haven’t made the connections we did in other places.
Luckily my cousin, Keri, who was one of our Istanbul guests, came to Greece for Ava’s birthday. She missed the actual birthday by a day so we had no choice but to celebrate again.
This time we upped the stakes on our beach location. Not just any one of the gorgeous Greek beaches around Vouliagmeni would do. We wanted to scout out a private beach. The west coast of Attica has a road that hugs the coast like a smooth black ribbon laid against the turquoise waters. Most Athenians stay to this side of the peninsula given the easy access. That was all the excuse we needed to rent a car and check out the east coast.
It turns out there is a reason people don’t flock to the east coast beaches. They are hard to find and harder to reach. We had to turn off the highway and brave small gravel roads in hopes of finding a sandy stretch. Sandeep’s resilient driving, my gut driven navigation skills and Keri’s ability to entertain the kids in the back seat proved to be a winning combination. Our private beach came complete with a backdrop of a white and blue church perched over the water.
The combination of company and privacy made this one of our favorite days in Greece. This starfish that Kayan found probably could have done without the company though.
