Walking past the oleanders and palm trees
past these blue flowers that grow low on the ground
the Beach of the Sun.We've been in Greece for almost two weeks now, and it's been wonderful, despite the effects of the climate catastrophe which we feel daily. The temperatures hovered around 35oC when we first arrived, temperatures which are considered too hot and constitute a heatwave. In the last week however, it's been 40oC to 43oC every day, and it's quite unpleasant: it's not possible or advisable to do much, except go to the beach, stay indoors with the air-conditioning on, or sit on the terrace with the fan on. They say there's another heatwave on the way, and what I ask myself is: what do they mean another, this one's still on.
Down the steps we go - it's 65, I counted a while ago - down a long corridor with the bougainvillea above
and we arrive at the entrance. Every year there is something new that's been added to the beach - this year it's these Gaudiesque mosaiques
Having shown our resident's card which allows us free entry we are in. It's green and lush here
And we're here! It's 8:30 in the morning, and the beach is relatively quiet. It's far too early to be coming swimming and I hate it this early, but there is no choice if we want a front row seating: the beach gets very busy and much more so this year, I don't know why - we used to come at around 9:00 but now it has to be a brutal 8:30.
This is the quietest it will be all day, so it's to be savoured
most umbrealls and beds are empty
I place my lounger here, by the water, because in the early morning this is where the shade of my umbrella is and I have to say, it's welcome, as it's so nice lying so near the water
and this is my view: a view I have enjoyed for years, and which, this year is marred by this low mustard-coloured cloud on the horizon - pollution which spreads from Athens, concealing the islands of Aigina and Salamina which are normally the landmarks on the horizon.
The pollution is thicker on our right as this is where Athens is. Jonathan Freedland in his article on the climate catastrophe in the Guardian explains how David Fenton, when talking about global warming, 'urges the climate community to speak of pollution and to settle on the image of a 'blanket of pollution trapping heat on Earth' and this is exactly what we see here.
But, most of the time we swim. The water is clear, clean (the sea urchins seen at the bottom are a testament to that) and most of the times, calm. It's wonderful. We normally swim to the net that surrounds the beach and back - the net is the white line in the photograph just before the horizon - but we haven't built up to that yet.
By around 11:30 when we are ready to leave, there are lots more people in the sea
and all the loungers and umbrellas are taken
So we make our way to the grassed up area
which is also filling up with people in search of shade
one last look at the beach
We don't have a shower as we're going straight home for one, but we do try to get all the sand off our feet at the taps that are provided for this purpose
fantastic tree trunk
We start the ascent under the bougainvillea
Say hello to the two resident cats
A view from the top of the steps
then past the oleanders and home.
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