Insider Edge: Insider Escapes

What to do with a few days to spare?

Updated: April 2010

Drive out of Athens for a couple of hours down the coast to Cape Sounion, to visit the exquisite little Temple of Poseidon.  If you feel like a hike, opposite it, walk up the hillside to the tiny church nestled on the slopes. 

Stay right by the sea, at the very pleasant Hotel Aegeon Beach (as close as you can get to being on an island without actually going to one).

There is a really good fish taverna on the bend of the road to the hotel – the better of the two in that area is Elia (the one without the view), so watch the sun set over the beach at the Akroyali over a glass of ouzo, then go on to eat at Elia’s.

Zip out of town – grab a boat to an island, or down the road by car, to explore bits of the mainland.

Caught with a weekend to spare in Athens during a heat wave?  Or just want to go somewhere simple, for a day? 

Hop on a boat (they go every half hour from Piraeus) to Aegina, which is only just over half an hour away.  Rent a car, or jump into a cab, and head down the (only?) road along the coast to Marathonas.  Stay in the delightful, modest, immaculately family-run taverna, the Ostria, with its adjacent small studios, run by Mr. Costas with unfailing charm and politeness, even when totally stressed out!  Explore the picturesque little village of Perdikka, with its string of fish taverns (take your pick – all good, and none cheap).

Or head down the very good motorway (Ethniki, the National Road) for a couple of hours, and go to the exquisite former Venetian trading village of Galaxidi. 

Photo by Viki Zaphiriou Zarifi

Renowned among fashionable Athenians for its amazing food, you will often find boat owners heading out there for dinner on a summer’s evening, before lazing gently back to Athens.  Browse in the Ostria gift shop, for interesting modern koboloi, or glassware, and check out the gold and silver trinkets –with the occasional antique - in the nearby Kosmas Dimitriades jewellery store (nice garden, too).

Be sure to look out for the gaggle of geese (well, ducks) who swim off to their cute little boat-shaped feeding platform in the harbour, and come and visit sunbathers in the tiny rocky coves opposite the main drag.  They are a Galaxidi feature!

Hike across through the pine trees (all of 10 minutes) to a “rural” beach, crowded only on Sundays and around 15th August.

Photo by Viki Zaphiriou Zarifi

Hotels are few and small.  A “boutique” one is the Ganymede, in the centre of the village.

Or check out Cape Sounion’s Aegeon Beach Hotel, with the dramatic Temple of Poseidon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunium  perched on a nearby cliff.  Modern, fun décor, and a comfortable taxi ride from Athens, and there’s a great fish restaurant just before you come to the hotel, on a bend in the road.

“Fright Squid” (Milos menu).

“Keep an extra bathing suit in your car.  The sea is always closer than you think”. 

Seen in Carouzos men and women’s clothing – lots of lovely linen stuff - on Joachim, in Kolonaki.