A view of the sea

At the end of our street is the sea - you can just about see it in this photograph -

and the entrance to the beach we go to, the Coast of the Sun.

The aim of this walk is not to go swimming unfortunately -  too much to do at home. Instead, the aim is to have our free passes to this beach renewed . Even though the Coast of the Sun is a private beach where you have to pay to get in, we, as residents get in free - it's the same principle as 'right of way' in  the countryside in the UK.

This is our beach, viewed from above

Next to the entrance to the beach, a statue of Thucydides, Athenian historian and general who lived in the 5th century BC. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens. He has been dubbed the father of 'scientific history' as he tried to apply strict standards of impartiality and evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect in the study of history, without reference to the intervention by the deities, as outlined in his introduction to his work. He has also been called the father of the school of political realism, which views the political behaviour of individuals and the subsequent outcomes of relations between states as ultimately mediated by, and constructed upon, the emotions of fear and self-interest. The Melian dialogue is regarded as a seminal work of international relations theory.

He is meant to have had some kind of connection to our area, maybe he was born here, or lived here, I don't know. The main road that cuts through our area is called Thukydidou Street.

Another view of the beach, all of the umbrellas are up, which means it's full.

We walk along this path, with the sea to our left and the tram line and main road to Athens to our right.

And, here's a tram

The new pedestrian bridge is almost complete. This main road is the main access to Athens, or to put it another way, it's the way Athenians reach the coast, so it's very busy and three pedestrian bridges are in the process of being built to make it easier for pedestrians.

We reach Rayen, a Mexican restaurant/bar - this bougainvillea at the entrance is truly stunning





This place gets dismantled every winter, and a new decor is installed every summer






this year's decor  looks quite nice and inviting.

The free beach which is opposite Rayen is very busy

it's so good, being able to see the sea again, and of course, I can't wait to dive in, but this will have to wait for another day

The promenade has been repaired in the last few weeks as part of it was sliding into the sea. There was a dispute between central government and local government: central government, whose responsibility this promenade is,  kept delaying to have it fixed. When our wonderful mayor had it fixed, central government took him to court. Two years later a different part of the promenade started sliding into the sea - our mayor could not do anything about it as the outcome of the court case was that if he tried to have it fixed again, he would go to jail. This is such a perfect example of how  dysfunctional and inefficient Greek bureaucracy is.

Now however it has been fixed, but I don't know the details of who and how it was fixed. But, we are all very pleased.

From here one can see the marina in the distance

On our right, Pennaburia, a very popular bar and cafe -  people come all the way from Athens to sit here

but, it's the sea I can't get enough of. This is a lovely place for swimming, we used to come here a lot, but we prefer the pay beach these days, mainly because it offers shade, and being a true Greek, I fear and respect the sun, and avoid it as much as possible.

We have reached Cine Alimos, our local, municipal cinema, which is cheap and always showing interesting films.  This is another of our mayor's achievements, and according to him, the one he is most proud of, but I don't know... . He has done so much for our area and we cannot believe our luck in having such a good administration for a change. I have written about this before here and here

This outdoor cinema is wonderful, lovely sitting here watching films with the extra bonus of views of the sea during the intermission. The screen is lowered when no film is showing. 

This is also where we pick up our free passes

a last look at the sea and then we head for home.