First Swim

June 2024

Our first swim in the sea. 

A dismal sight on an island that lives from tourism.

A dusty beach.  No shade and not a drop to drink

Our local beach, Vayonia, which I write about every year.

We miss the old days when we swam and then sat at the beach bar enjoying an iced coffee.  K talked with the lads there and I read my book.

People still come, cars line the beach but it's not an enjoyable experience.  Many come, take a look, turn around and leave.  Groups of young tourists on quad bikes drive in yelling, noisy and belligerent and do wheelies along that stretch of dusty foreshore kicking up clouds of dirt, reving their engines and being damn annoying.

In the days of the beach bar the boys cleaned flotsam and jetsam from the sea and kept the beach clean, watered down the dust and dirt.

Where the locals gather

Under the only shade. Trees hanging down over a small piece of beach.

2016

Days gone by

The beach as it once was

A much younger Poppi

Fun in the sun

Jumping off the rocks

Under parental supervision

Beach bar

About 10 years ago

Papou with the grandchildren

I remember this. The kids had a sleepover and we went down at 8 am, waking up the sleepers on the yachts in the bay. Then we had a picnic breakfast. When the bar opened we all went for coffee and drinks. Great memories.

The canteen was closed down by the archeological department and by complaints from the one house on the beach. They turned it into a Airbnb and didn't want a noisy bar in front of them.  The visitors who stay there might have thought differently. It was rarely open at night and would have given the people who stayed there a place to drink and buy easy Greek  meals. Greek salad and souvlaki