This past weekend was a long weekend in Greece, for June 8 was Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday (Aghiou Pneymatos in Greek). In the Eastern Orthodox Church, what this means, is it is the first day of the afterfeast of Pentecost.
It was a beautiful weekend hitting high numbers of 35 degrees Celsius. (I feel bad for my family and friends back home in Toronto who has had rainy cold weather for the past week...LOL) So my friend and I decided to hit the beach...twice.
On Sunday, we went to Marathon Beach. If you remember your Ancient Greek history, Marathon is the location of the famous Battle of Marathon between the Persians (25 000) and the Greeks (10 000) in 490 B.C. The story goes that after the bloody battle, the messenger Pheidippides ran the 42 km from Marathon to Athens, to announce the news; and that upon arrival he died from heat exhaustion. This is what started the Marathon foot race which still happens today, following Pheidippides' route.
Attached are pictures of the beach. I wasn't that thrilled about the seaweed on the shore and you have to wade through it to get to the "clear" part of the water. Hence, I didn't swim, just sunbathed. The scenery of the mountainside is beautiful, and as the highway rises, which is cut into the mountainside, you can see the beautiful bay below.
On Monday, I went to Edem beach, 30 minutes by tram from the Athens' city centre. I enjoyed the chubby palm trees that decorated the beach, but I did not like the pebbles in the water. It was so hot however, that I did walk along the shores. The water was quite nice and warm! You will differentiate Edem from Marathon in the pics because the sand is more white and there are no dark seaweeds.
I have yet to see the clear crystal blue waters of the Aegean Sea. I will have to wait for my family to arrive in July before we can take the ferry out and make it a weekend trip.
Keep posted for more beach adventures. I am determined to find one close to Athens!
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