XMAS 2025: Salamina

Our first stop was the Monastery of Dafni, an overlooked eleventh-century Byzantine monastery sitting next to Iera Odos, the Sacred Way of Athens, in the suburb of Chaidari. The monastery stands on the site of the ancient sanctuary of Apollo Daphnaios, which was destroyed during the Gothic invasion in 395 A.D. We were stunned by the mosaics, the medieval tapestry and the coexistence of layers from different eras.

Next, staying on the Sacred Way, we stopped by the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, a site with a characteristic natural rock formation where niches were carved for offerings from the faithful.

We then visited the Roman bridge over the Eleusinian Kifissos, made of hard Piraeus limestone and dated to the Hadrianic age.

After that, we drove to the abandoned Villa Eutaxia at Loutropyrgos, the first architectural work of Aris Konstantinidis, an amazing piece that fully reveals and frames the Mediterranean landscape and the view toward the Saronic Gulf Next to the long-abandoned house sits a shipwreck, the remains of the MS Mediterranean Sky, quietly resting nearby like a silent companion.

Our final destination, Salamina, was reached by ferry from Perama. There we met the now-famous ferry dog, a seasoned commuter who follows the Perama–Salamina line and gets off at whichever stop feels right that day. In Salamina we headed toward the House of Angelos Sikelianos, a small museum dedicated to the poet, quiet, domestic and full of that old island nostalgia.

From there we drove south, through pines and olive groves, until the road spilled out toward the sea. We had dinner next to the water in Kanakia, watching the sun sink behind the Saronic Gulf.  We passed plates across the table, unwrapped our Secret Santa gifts, laughed, drank wine, and let the breeze of December evening settle around us before heading back.