The sun outside the hotel is blinding so I choose to sit under the floral umbrella Miss Maria has set for the customers, just a meter away from the main entrance. I'm waiting for Andrew who said he would pick me up so that we could go and visit one of Andros' most famous beaches, Pidima Tis Grias. He told me not to dare look it up on the internet as he wanted me to see it for the first time from up close. Miss Maria is inside with a plumber who came to check the bathrooms, so I don't have any company apart from a friendly looking red-orange cat, who looks at me from the branches of the olive tree in front of me. It's almost 11 when I hear the growl of a motorcycle coming near the hotel and I shade my eyes with my hand in order to recognize the rider. I'm more than surprised to see Andrew riding the baby-blue Vespa and stopping in front of the entrance, grinning at me.
"Hop on, Blondie, it's gonna be a long ride till we reach the beach," he says and hands me a silver helmet to put on. I'm still ogling the beautiful bike but I manage to snap out of it, wear the helmet and climb behind him, holding him from the waist as I lower my sunglasses.
"Where did you get that beauty?" I ask him when we start, the wind blowing my hair in front of my face.
"Last year from a friend of a friend. You really like vintage stuff, don't you?" He shouts in order to be heard as the wind gets stronger while we go faster.
"You don't say!" I chuckle and my grip gets stronger around his abdomen.
For the next hour we don't talk much as the wind roars loud and I don't want to distract him much, the roads being narrow and not always covered with asphalt. The scenery, though, makes up for it, constantly seeing blue-green waters underneath us, and rich flora running down the hills. Now and then, we notice small white houses, scattered around, most of them having blue windows and doors. Andrew explains to me the use of some bumps they have on their walls, what the locals call "sardeles", so that when the rain water comes down on them, it doesn't stay still and cause the wood inside to rot, but instead flows down the walls and away.
Soon, we begin to move away from the sea and into the inner land of Andros, as we're trying to get to the northern side of the island, as Andrew explains. Batsi, Gavrio and everything else we visited either with him or my parents are in the South. He tells me to remind him to show me a map of the island when we reach Gria so as to understand the geography of Andros better. We're stopped two times by herds of goats that want to cross the street so we stop for a couple of minutes and allow them to pass.
It's almost noon when we finally start to see blue again in the horizon and I catch Andrew grin when he thinks I'm not watching him.
"What?" I ask him, getting a lock of hair out of my mouth.
"Nothing, I'm just excited to get there. I haven't been to Gria for three years, I sure missed it," he says and I raise my eyebrows slightly.
"Are you sure you remember the road correctly? We're in the middle of nowhere, it's not a good idea to get lost here," I say and he laughs before replying:
"I've got good memory, Blondie, no need to worry."
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60 Flavors Of Ice-Cream
Teen FictionLet's take our daughter to a lonely island in Greece to spend a month of the summer. Away from everything, her friends, her dance lessons, and her music. That's what Amber's parents must have thought when they took her to Andros, the island of winds...
