A Wedding in Anavyssos and the Greece I Didn’t Expect to Fall For

Sometimes a place ends up on your travel itinerary simply because someone else chose it. That’s exactly how I ended up in Anavyssos.

I came to Greece to celebrate the wedding of my friends Laksh and Sibel. I’ve known Laksh for nearly a decade, beginning when he was a newly minted college graduate starting his consulting career and I had the pleasure of being his first manager. Over the years, I’ve watched his career grow, our working relationship turn into a friendship, and now I had the incredible privilege of watching him get married.

A Wedding That May Have Ruined Weddings for Me

At some point during the second day, I was sitting at my table looking out over the Aegean Sea and thinking, Well, how is anyone supposed to compete with this? Both days of the celebration took place in absolutely jaw-dropping locations overlooking the water. There were well over 100 guests, but somehow the second-day ceremony still felt intimate, taking place beside a small chapel with the sea stretching out behind it.

The two days also felt wonderfully different. Day one was lively and colorful, with traditional dances incorporated throughout the celebration. I loved watching the Indian and Greek traditions come together, particularly because so much of it was new to me.

Day two brought some of the wedding moments that felt more familiar: the exchange of vows, cutting the cake and Laksh and Sibel’s first dance. But there were also traditions and personal touches I hadn’t experienced before. I especially loved the five wedding almonds and the place settings waiting for us at dinner.

Instead of a traditional place card, each guest had a photo representing a memory with Laksh or Sibel. Mine was a picture of Laksh and me having lunch in Paris during my 2019 trip to the French Open. At the time, it was simply lunch with someone who had started as a colleague and become a friend. I certainly wasn’t sitting there thinking that seven years later I’d be beside the Aegean Sea watching him marry Sibel. Yet there I was.

And yes, there was food. A lot of very good food. It would be nearly impossible for me to spend two days at a Greek and Indian wedding and not notice what was being served. But more than any particular dish, I loved how food was simply part of the celebration: long tables, conversation, drinks, dancing, and everyone lingering together late into the night.

And somewhere between the dancing, the vows, the five almonds, the first dance and those completely unfair views of the Aegean, I realized how lucky I was to have been invited to witness this particular chapter.

Falling for Anavyssos

Laksh and Sibel didn’t just invite me to an unforgettable wedding. They also introduced me to a part of Greece I might never have discovered on my own. Anavyssos sits along the Athens Riviera, about an hour outside central Athens, and I honestly didn’t know what to expect before I arrived.

This was my second trip to Athens, so I had already seen most of the major attractions. I knew I might spend half a day back in the city, but I had no desire to race around checking boxes again. Instead, I wanted to actually enjoy where I was, and I did.

I stayed at Vincci EverEden, right along the Athens Riviera, and quickly settled into a much slower rhythm. Breakfast overlooking the water. Time by the pool. A book at the beach. No pressure to squeeze in another museum or monument simply because I had a few hours free. For someone who can be very good at turning travel into a full-time sightseeing job, it felt pretty wonderful.

Getting around Anavyssos turned out to be easier than I expected. Uber works in the area, as does the FREENOW app, but I often found it simplest to have the hotel arrange a taxi for me. It was especially convenient when I needed to be somewhere at a specific time for the wedding.

Cape Sounion at Sunset

One of the few things I had planned was a sunset trip to Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon. I booked a private Cape Sounion sunset tour through Viator, and my driver, Nathaniel, made the experience even better.

And that evening ended up meaning more than I expected. By complete accident, I had booked the tour for the one-year anniversary of Tasted and Traveled. I hadn’t planned some grand symbolic moment for the blog’s birthday. I simply realized after booking that I would be standing at the Temple of Poseidon overlooking the Aegean on the exact day Tasted and Traveled turned one.

There are worse places to mark a milestone.I wrote more about that unexpected anniversary celebration here.

One Very Helpful Wedding Website

The wedding website itself also turned out to be one of the best resources I had during the trip. Laksh and Sibel had included recommendations for everything their guests might need, including local hair salons. That’s how I found Make Me Perfect hair salon, and I am so glad I did.

Maria, the owner, was fantastic and made getting ready for the wedding incredibly easy. When you’re attending two days of celebrations in another country, finding someone you trust with your hair is not a small thing. You can find her salon here.

Why I’m Already Coming Back

And somewhere during all of this, Anavyssos quietly became one of my favorite surprises of the trip. It wasn’t somewhere I had been dreaming about visiting. I didn’t arrive with a list of restaurants, attractions, or things I absolutely needed to see. I came because of a wedding, and I left already planning to return.

In fact, I liked my time on the Athens Riviera so much that I’ve already booked the same hotel for next summer, when I’ll spend a few days here before a cruise. Apparently, that’s my new standard for whether I really loved a place. Did I enjoy it enough to come back? In this case, the answer was yes before I even left Greece.

I came to Anavyssos because two people I care about invited me to share an incredibly special moment in their lives. I left with a new place I can’t wait to return to. That feels like a pretty good souvenir from a wedding.