From Summer Escape to Permanent Sanctuary
Evie has known Vouliagmeni for decades. She first came here as a child with her parents and later raised her own children in the family home, which she now shares with other relatives. Her life has always revolved around this coastal suburb—teaching piano at a nearby music school, walking the same streets she has known since childhood, and leaving only for travel or holidays. These are her impressions of the place she calls home.
By Evie, Vouliagmeni Resident
When I was in primary school in the 1970s, we would come to Vouliagmeni for our summer house, for the sea, the sun, and the long days of swimming. The neighborhood had many empty plots back then, and I remember clearly how we would run and play in the fields around our house. Every Easter, we would roast a lamb on the spit in the vacant lot next door. On the other side of our property stood a hotel; for decades, its pool was the backdrop to our summers, quite noisy during the day and night.
That hotel is now a private luxury residence which, if I am honest, means considerably more peace and quiet for us. In a strange way, development here has brought us stillness. There is still one empty plot nearby, and we are quite certain it will eventually be built upon. Land in Vouliagmeni is precious, and everyone knows it.
A Place Beyond Price
We are regularly approached—stopped on the doorstep or visited by estate agents—and asked whether we would sell, and for how much. But there is no sum that would persuade me to leave. I will stay here until the end of my days. I simply cannot imagine living anywhere else, no matter how much the area has changed in recent years. If you ask me how I feel about Vouliagmeni becoming “the most expensive neighborhood in Greece,” I would say we feel it most plainly at the table, in restaurants that we used to know as humble tavernas and that now charge accordingly.
Reflections on a Changing Landscape
I remember a dinner about two years ago with friends at a place on that square in Vouliagmeni—the one that has always had the bakery, the grocer, and the tavernas. We paid a fair amount, nothing extravagant, within the bounds of normal. Those same friends came back a year later and we returned to the same spot. New owners had taken over, and the bill was, frankly, outrageous. It is no longer the kind of place you drop into without a reservation or a second thought. Thankfully, Aqua Marina, the patisserie that has been a landmark of the area for as long as anyone can remember, remains exactly as it always was.
***