My Bahá'í Pilgrimage During a Crazy Global Pandemic
March 5, 2020
Post 9: Ocean Views and Bad News
[Post 8] [Post 10]
The next day, we had trouble deciding what to do. Should we explore ancient ruins, shop at a market, or visit a museum? There were so many options and only three days before we left for pilgrimage in Haifa.
Finally, we decided to take a day trip to the Island of Aegina. As exciting as Athens was, we were exhausted after nine days of traveling and simultaneously re-planning our COVID-crazy trip. We needed a chill day to soak up some sun and sea views. And maybe some coffee.
After we took a taxi to the Port of Pireaus and bought our boat tickets, we realized we had forgotten two very important things in our morning grogginess. #1: Our portable phone charger. #2: Tissue. We noticed that some of the public bathrooms didn’t have any toilet paper, maybe because the city’s sewer system couldn’t handle it. We suddenly felt very unprepared, and our boat would be arriving soon.
As we debated what to do, a street vendor approached us with a full shopping bag and a smile. Guess what he was selling? Portable chargers—fully charged! We bought one from him and marveled at our luck.
Later, another vendor wearing a bright blue suit and tie waved enthusiastically at us and nearly got hit by four lanes of traffic as he ran to reach us. Guess what he was selling? Packets of tissues!
I felt like we were characters from the junior youth book, Breezes of Confirmation. In the book, a young girl named Musonda and her family learn that when you take action to achieve a goal, you must seek God’s confirmation to know if you’re taking the right steps. Even though our supplies were a trivial matter, we still felt pretty confirmed that skipping town today was the right choice!
We felt even more confirmed when we sailed across the sparkling sea to the island of Aegina. Everything was quiet and drenched in sunshine and fresh ocean air. Pretty pastel storefronts greeted us. There was even a carriage drawn by a cute, shaggy pony. We wandered down the street in a daze.
A seaside carriage ride fit for a princess.
A friendly waiter invited us into his restaurant for a late breakfast. We ordered fresh orange juice, a Greek salad, locally-caught fish, spaghetti, and a traditional potato and meat pie dish called moussaka.
Katie was very pleased with her food, lol.
“I think this is one of the best meals I’ve ever had,” Dad declared. We all agreed. Everything tasted fresh and vibrant.
At that moment, a handsome silver tabby cat joined our table. He sat in the empty chair at the head of the table and observed us with regally squinted, emerald eyes.
“Oh yes, this is Emilio Rafael Lukas Alexander Ronaldo the Third,” the waiter said (or something along those lines—it was a really long name, lol).
Uh—yes. This was definitely the best meal EVER.
We were graced with the presence of this regal fluff.
After our magical meal, we rented a car and cruised around the island. There was hardly anyone on the road, and everywhere we looked was a refreshing view of the deep blue sea and sandy sagebrush hills. We were even stopped by a man herding a bunch of goats across the road. I was content. :)
My favorite scenic stop was the Temple of Aphaia on top of the island. Aphaia was a goddess of childbirth, harvest, and fishing that was worshipped on Aegina long ago. Now her temple was a majestic skeleton of white pillars with a sweeping view of the surrounding sea. I tried to imagine what the temple and the people who worshipped here looked like, thousands of years ago. It all felt surreal, ancient, and peaceful.
The Temple of Aphaia is over 2,400 years old!
When we got back on the road, Katie tried to take us to a little town on the other side of the island. Google Maps guided us through a tight back alley in a village and down the rough gravel road of an olive orchard. Then we saw the road became narrow and jagged as it twisted down a cliff—all the way around the bay. Just as we had nearly been stuck on the steep road of a Swiss mountain, now we were nearly hanging on the edge of a Grecian cliff!
“Not again, Katie!” Dad laughed.
“It’s not my fault!” Katie exclaimed. We carefully backed away from the treacherous goat path and got back onto the main road.
As we headed back to the marina, our gas tank was nearly empty, so we stopped at the nearest gas station. Unfortunately, it was closed. And so was the next one we went to. And the next. We thought the coronavirus must be to blame; there wasn’t enough tourism on the island for everything to stay open.
Now what? Were we going to be stranded on an empty island?
While we sat at a deserted gas pump, a man wearing a leather jacket pulled up on a motorbike. “Do you need gas?” he asked. “Follow me. I know a gas station that’s open.”
We thanked him and exchanged incredulous glances. CONFIRMATION!!! A wave of relief and gratitude washed over us.
After we filled up, we headed to the marina, returned the car, and went to buy ferry tickets back to Athens. On the way to the ticket counter, the sole of Travis’s fancy leather shoe popped right off! Travis is constantly patching his shoes back together. He has a very sprightly walk. :)
Travis walked barefoot on the concrete as we wandered around in search of flip-flops. Like the gas stations, we noticed that many of the shops were closed, too. And there weren’t many people out and about.
The marina was like a peaceful, pretty painting.
We eventually found an open shop that not only sold flip-flops, but also scarves. On sale! Katie and I love scarves. We examined all of them while the shop owner pulled out some flip-flop options from her storage closet. She was a kind, quiet woman. She said she hadn’t had many customers lately, due to the coronavirus. “Normally the island is very busy this time of year,” she said. It made the emptiness of the island feel eerie.
After Travis had picked out his flip-flops, Dad tore me and Katie away from the scarves. “The ferry is leaving soon,” he reminded us, chuckling.
“Oh, you don’t want to miss it. It’s the last ferry of the evening,” the shop owner said. Then she shrugged and smiled. “But if you do, you can just stay with me and my husband.”
Wow—so generous! We thanked her profusely and left her store with bags of scarves and a pair of flip-flops for Travis, which said “OCEAN ADDICT” in big white letters. Score! :D
When we returned to our Airbnb that night, Travis and Dad heroically went in search for a very late dinner while Katie and I collapsed from exhaustion after a long, awesome day. Then our friend Prashant called.
“I have some bad news,” he said. “Israel is basically closing its borders to anyone who has traveled through Switzerland in the past 14 days, which includes you guys. But don’t worry,” he quickly added, “You may be able to join the next pilgrim group if you’re willing to stay in Greece for an extra 12 days. You would have been out of Switzerland for 14 days then, and would be able to enter the country.”
We were stunned. After all the re-planning we had done to stay out of Italy, we were still being barred from our pilgrimage. The disappointment was sickening. We dreaded telling Dad and Travis when they returned.
But an hour passed, and they weren’t back. They weren’t able to get international calls on their phones, so we couldn’t call them. At ten o’clock, we heard loud music and a crowd shouting in the distance.
“Oh, no!” I gasped. The taxi driver had mentioned that a protest was happening tonight at the town square, a five-minute walk from our place. We were really worried now. What would the protest be like? Would Dad and Travis be safe?
Just then, they walked through the door with grins and a huge paper bag. “We got Arabic food!” Travis announced.
Katie and I jumped with relief and joy. Apparently they had been gone so long because they had trouble finding anything that was open during the protest. Finally, they stumbled upon an Arabic restaurant whose owners were super friendly and generous. Their spirits were so high, Katie and I decided to wait until after we ate to break the news and discuss what to do.
When we did tell them, the decision was unanimous: YES! Even though our funds would be tight, we would stay in Greece another 12 days to join the next pilgrim group. We had come all this way for pilgrimage; we weren’t giving up yet! Now all we had to do was call the pilgrimage office tomorrow morning to ask if this was possible.
I fell asleep filled with falafel and hope.
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