A BEAUTIFUL DAY BY THE SEASIDE

To be her chosen
Messenger of wise words
To the fine dancing-places of Hellas
The Muse has raised me up. Pindar 518-438 BC


This is my last weekend in Greece and today I spent the most beautiful day at the seaside with my friend Dinaz, and her friends Lydia and Andreas. Andreas has a summer home down the coast at one of the many sea-side resort villages, Anavistos, not far from Cape Sounion. He picked us up at about 9 a.m. and we drove down the coast. Such beautiful scenery all the way!

Passing Saronida, I recalled when I used to work p.t. as a nanny for a little girl. Her family had a summer home there and I used to have to get on the Sounion bus really early in the morning for the long trip down. A few times, I remember, I fell asleep on the bus, went all the way to Sounion and had to come back on the next bus. That little girl's mother was a lawyer and the child was spoiled rotten. Sometimes the mom would check up on me to see that I was doing everything for and with the child, whose name was Anthea, and that included spoon feeding her meals which I refused to do as the kid was five years old and capable of weilding a spoon herself.
Passing Saronida brought back a surge of these child-care memories from the early '80's when I first came to live here.

Dinaz's friend Andreas is a Greek who works in the tourism industry and lives in Australia. I"ve met his wife Nicoline previously (she wasn't here this time). He's a very interesting man and so thoughtful. He made sure we saw all the sights going down and back, stopped to by supplies for our lunch etc. He's in the process of selling the summer flat but told the women they can use it any time so long as it's not sold. He's on his way for a tourism meet in Italy and won't be back til August. Lydia, the other friend, is an older woman who used to teach English and Greek for many years. The four of us had an excellent day together. The beach is just across the road from his apartment and the sea there is shallow and sandy and cyrstal clear. We stayed in the water a long time enjoying ourselves. There was a meltemi wind blowing to keep the air fresh and cool so it was quite pleasant.

Afterwards we came back to the flat, cooked a delicious meal, sat around eating and talking for a few more hours before the drive back to Athens. What a lovely day it was !

So now I'm heading back to Chris's to do laundry, tidy up, spend the night and tomorrow I'll lock up and come back to Dinaz's for my final day in the city. I could go to the beach again. But I might just spend the day browsing around Plaka (just in case I've missed something!)

One more blog tomorrow night, because I'm HOMEWARD BOUND!