On the Coast of Greece

We had planned to spend spring break this year in Switzerland, but when you have friends who invite you to go to Greece with them instead, you say yes!! It was such a good decision. The warm weather was a welcome change from the seemingly never ending German winter, we saw some amazing historic sites, and we stayed in an absolutely breathtaking area which is what this post is all about.

The original "marathon" route was run from the town of Marathon to Athens by a Greek soldier sent to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon. Marathon lies on the southeastern coast of Greece, and that's where our friends, who have great taste in accomodations, booked this amazing villa. Situated on a cliffside overlooking the Aegean Sea, this beautiful home could not have been more perfect.

We had individual living spaces connected by a series of balconies, patios, and a swimming pool. The guys had to try the outside cooking area out and made dinner for us one night. (Side note: We went to a grocery store earlier in the day to buy everything we needed for dinner that night and ran into someone from Louisiana in the parking lot of the store. Craziness!)

Here we are enjoying the fruits of the guys' labor (all of us except Theresa who was taking the picture).

There was a sandy beach area a mile or so down the road that we enjoyed one afternoon, but our family's favorite spot was a rocky inlet that you could see from the front of our villa. It was a little cool the first evening we wandered down to the rocks, but we were just mesmerized by the beauty of this little inlet.

Austin was dying to get in the water, so we promised we'd come back on a day when it was warmer and at a time when the tide wasn't so high. Thankfully we had a beautiful, warm, sunny day the very next day and spent the afternoon on these rocks. There was no one else around at all, so it felt like we were the only people in the world. It was probably one of my favorite memories from our trip. The scenery was just incredible.

I mean, I just cannot even explain how gorgeous this spot was!

The kids were immediately trying to figure out the best way to get out to this really large rock in the water.

This picture is so sweet to me. It seems not that long ago that she was the fearless one leading him by the hand into his kindergarten class each morning, and now he towers over her and takes care of her. (Sorry for that emotional mom moment! I know an empty nest is in my near future.)

Anyway, they made it to the big rock, and Austin decided this was the spot where he and his Daddy needed to plunge into the water.

Austin was the first in, but I can tell you he didn't stay there long! The weather may have been warm above water, but it was pretty cold below. 

Since he did it, Don obviously had to follow suit.

He was also very quick to get out...lol! We hung out on the big rock for a long time, in awe of the beauty around us. I took SO many pictures. 

We also got to see our very first sea urchins. They were kind of creepy, but kind of cool too.

We spent our last hour or so collecting sea shells and sea glass and had such a good time doing it. The simple things in life are just the best.

Even though we could have stayed there, well forever, we finally left and took a drive up, down, and around the cliffside. The Aegean coastline is a magnificent work of art.

We finally circled back around to an overhead view of "our spot". You can see the big rock just off the shoreline.

There's not much more that can be said about this place other than that it is just paradise! We saw a lot of incredible things of historic significance during our week in Greece, but staying here was definitely the icing on the cake.