agia trias boulevard

We have started our "real" retirement after a very busy first week of July in The Hague. Judy finished her work on Friday, the 29th of June and Patriek and Maria van Dorp threw a huge party on June 30th for us to say goodbye to the van dorp family. We have known them since 1968 and now they are all grown up into adulthood and craziness. Judy and I had a birthday party with our friends, Irene Nicastro and Ineke vander Jagt on Judy's birthday, July 1. Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday, we had a house guest from Paris and another huge fancy dinner for Judy on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, I picked up Umit Celebi and his family, Kate Gyllenhaal, and daughters, Aysa and Mavi. Judy went to the airport with me to meet them and then took the train to Amsterdam because she was the graduation speaker for the Masters' Law Program. Umit stayed with us until we left on Saturday morning at 4 AM for the flight to Thessaloniki. He is staying there with the family until next week. So...we have been very busy and needed a rest.

So, here we are in Agia Trias, our favorite Greek village. We have been coming here since 1970 and everyone greets us like old friends. We have a busy daily schedule of sleeping until 9, coffee at Vagelis' at 10, shopping for fruit and vegetables at 11, swimming until 2, lunch until 3 on the balcony of Hotel Pibieba(Riviera); death nap until 5, swimming again until 7, shower and the evening "volta" or parade on the boulevard from 8 to 10 and then dinner at Anemos Taverna, owned by the Apotalidis family, where Jannis Galanis is the chef. This has been a regular routine for many years and let me tell you, it is exhausting.

We met up with Jane Evangelopoulis, the daughter of our oldest friends here, Nicos and Elfie Evangelopoulis. Jane is our Greek daughter and we always love to meet up with her to get the latest gossip. Gossip is big business in Greece because family feuds are the life blood of the people here. We know one family where the brother and sister have not spoken to each other for 30 years. The sister owns a beach accessory store about 300 meters from the brother's restaurant and they (and their children and grandchildren) pass each other every day but pass each other without even a nod of recognition. We know one family where the husband sleeps in his car outside the house, and his wife and daughters refuse him entry. This is gossip heaven.