Limanakia

Text by
Danny Calvi
With
Andreas Angelidakis and Angelo Plessas

GAY BEACH

The gay beach in Athens isn’t really a beach at all, but a sort of rocky cliff — a gay cliff. Typical. Gays always pick the hardest spot. The best time to go is in the afternoon. That’s when the action’s peaking. In the summer, it can get quite hot between one and four, so go after four or you’ll die of sunstroke because there’s not one square meter of shade.

To get there, take a car, or even better, a boat. You can also take the bus from Athens in the direction of Vari and get off at bus stop ‘B Limanakia,’ the second stop after Vouliagmeni, the posh suburb where the old-money Athenians live. If you just say, ‘Limanakia,’ everybody knows where it is: where the Attica Mountains lunge toward the Saronic Gulf. It’s like the only stretch of Athenian coast that is totally undeveloped and uninhabited. There’s no sign, no waving rainbow flag—no nothing. But it’s unofficially supergay, and you know you’re there because the cruising starts just off the highway, in the parking lot. Look for the small cantine, like a little hut, where a guy sells tiropitta spanakopita, bottled water and café freddo (unless he’s disappeared down one of the paths with a basket of ham and cheese sandwiches).

Put on some good shoes before you head down. No Gucci espadrilles—those won’t cut it. It’s quite a hike, and you have to be in pretty good shape to survive the steep descent. This trip’s not recommended for the elderly, but because it’s been this iconic gay meeting place since the seventies, you get a handful of silver foxes who risk it for some dick. Down the trail, you see guys kissing, picnicking amongst the wild sage, rosemary and oregano—oregano grows everywhere in Greece, doesn’t it? It’s like The Cycladic Shrub. There are lizards too, and depending on the season, you might spot butterfly or two fluttering around the pinkish-white (and edible) flowers of the caper bushes that dot the landscape.

Once you’re all the way down, you realize it’s like ninety percent nudist and one hundred-and-fifty percent gay. Guys are splashing about and chit-chatting in small groups, or just lying solo in the sun. It’s not like they’re all there for sex—it’s as faggy as it is cruisy—although it’s no problem to slip away from your buddies and make a few new friends in one of the tiny coves. There’s no sandy beach to speak of, but you can dive off the rocks and go for a swim when the heat becomes too much. The water’s as clean as it gets in Athens, which is not bad, not bad at all.

The best thing about the secluded gay bay of Limanakia is you’ll never see a couple of bickering parents with screaming kids in tow. You also won’t see any houses or buildings, so you feel like you’re really away from it all. Oh, and if you’re expecting a booty call or want to login to Grindr, forget it. There’s no reception.

Published on 01 April 2011