Catamaran Tour of Athens Riviera

Leslie here for part 2 of yesterday's entry.  As Brad mentioned, because of scheduling changes with Aegean, we found ourselves with an extra day in Athens.  

Knowing how hot the city would be, I decided that it might be fun for us to head to the port and go on a little boat tour.  From a little google searching, it seemed like Get Your Guide was a great place to find small, independent tour operators, and when I came across Sun Sea Sailing Athens, it seemed like a great fit - a relatively smaller boat (and smaller crowd) and a perfect half-day tour.

There were some longer tours that went to multiple islands, but most of them were 10-11 hours long (which seemed like a long day out in the sun) and were on much larger boats (with a lot more people).

We took a taxi down to the Port and met our Captain, Roberto, as well as the other people going on the trip (a total of about 12 people).  We were aboard a 42-foot catamaran that felt spacious and well-appointed for the size of group.

Roberto was accompanied by Ada, who acted as crew and chef for the trip (and her homestyle Greek food was delicious and devoured by all).  Roberto gave a thorough safety briefing, warning us where we could safely step,  how to move around the boat, and when we would be able to go swimming.

The girls loved the trampoline net area at the bow of the boat

The girls immediately took to sea life, both of them making a beeline for the 'trampoline' at the front of the boat, which allowed them to sit over open water on a net.

The girls could not get over how salty the water was! Any other time they've been in/near salt water, it's been too cold for swimming so this was very new to them!

Glorious Aegean scenery

The boat took off south toward a sheltered bay (same bay as the Four Seasons) and after about an hour, Roberto and Ada anchored the boat in the calm water and announced that "the swimming pool is open," which meant we could all jump in.

And jump in we did. :) It was the girls' first real experience swimming in salt water and they kept marveling at how salty it was.  The temperature was amazing - comfortable (I wasn't sweating for the first time in days! ha!) and it felt nice and cooling.  The water was crystal clear, and both girls quickly donned masks/goggles so they could better check out all the interesting fish that were swimming and circling beneath us.

After about 45 minutes, we hopped back onto the boat, and then made our way to another sheltered bay near Voula beach.  Dinner was ready, and we all chowed down on hearty, homestyle greek food, expertly made by Ada.  

Time to eat all the things!

We all then jumped back into the water and enjoyed the remaining time bobbing and floating around - this time, the girls discovered flippers and really enjoyed zipping around in the water. I literally noodled. :) Brad and the girls also enjoyed jumping off the boat.  It was super peaceful and yet again the temperature was perfect.

After about 90 minutes at our second stop, it was time to head back to Athens, literally into the sunset.  We really enjoyed the beautiful pink and purple sky as the boat skimmed over the waves (and the girls yet again right at the bow of the boat to catch the action).  It was a fantastic outing and we all REALLY enjoyed it.  The booking experience through Get Your Guide was super easy and the experience was great.

Slightly less great was how long it took us to get a cab back from the Port.  Because of the holiday, I think there were a lot fewer drivers than normal but we eventually got a cab and all was well.

Today we packed up and made our way to the beach suburb of Artemis - because of the flight change, we weren't able to extend our original Airbnb by another night, so we switched today.  Because we had a three hour gap between when we had to check out of one and when we could check into the next, we decided to cab straight to the beach area and enjoy a leisurely lunch in a super cute beach restaurant called Archontikon.

Capers on Greek salad is new to me but it's amazing and we'll definitely be doing it at home!

Delicious chicken souvlaki. So. Much. Food.

Beach side restaurant!

Family selfie! I've had to accept that when in Greece, I am perpetually pink and shiny 🤣

The food was delicious (and the portions were HUGE again - and thankfully there was room for us to stash our bags around the table) and the scenery was amazing.

Now we're settled in our new spot, and contemplating where to head for dinner tonight.  Because of the heat, we are continuing our pattern of afternoon siesta time and later evenings.  I suspect the Greeks may do this as well, as evenings are filled with playing kids, joggers and people out and about while afternoons are extremely quiet in the streets.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Greece and off to Dubrovnik!