Athens

Athens is the Massé family’s first stop on its Greek holiday, but for Louise it is less a destination than a passage: a night shared with the sleeping children, a hot journey across the city, and a chaotic dash to the port. The stop establishes the contrast between the family’s promised island vacation and the practical labor and disorientation through which Louise experiences it.

An Overnight Stop

The family spends only one night in Athens. Louise shares a tiny hotel room with Mila and Adam to save money, while the heat keeps the window slightly open. Outside, drunken voices and the squeal of car brakes break the city’s nighttime quiet, but the children sleep through them, sprawled with their mouths open and a leg hanging out of bed. The intimate, cramped room makes Louise’s holiday begin as another episode of hands-on care rather than rest.

The evening has also held a moment of uncomplicated pleasure. Adam dances in the Athens streets on the paving stones, charming old men who clap along. Louise, by contrast, has not enjoyed the city: the family has walked through it all afternoon under the burning sun, while the children complain. Her attention has already moved onward, toward the islands that Myriam has described to them through legends and myths.

Stories and the Journey to Piraeus

Myriam’s storytelling leaves Louise with the names of the gods only imperfectly. Louise has listened carefully to tales of Zeus and the goddess of war, and she shares Mila’s affection for Aegeus, whose name is associated with the blue of the sea she is about to cross for the first time. Yet when morning comes, little of the mythology remains in her memory. She thinks she should have written the heroes’ names in her flower-covered notebook, where she could have returned to them later, alone. The notebook suggests a private wish to preserve what the hurried holiday otherwise lets slip away.

The morning departure turns into a race. Louise has to pull Mila from bed and dress her while she is still asleep. In the taxi to the port of Piraeus, Adam sits on Louise’s knees, already sweating in the heat. At the congested port entrance, police try to direct traffic, and enormous illuminated signs identify the island-bound berths, but Paul cannot make sense of them. He becomes agitated and angry; the driver, who does not speak English, turns the taxi around with a resigned shrug. After Paul pays him, the family runs with its suitcases and Adam’s stroller toward the correct departure point.

The Last-Minute Departure

The family reaches the quay just as the crew is preparing to raise the gangway. Seeing them disheveled and lost, the crew signals them aboard. Their escape from the port is a matter of luck, not the calm, effortless beginning a holiday might promise. Athens thus frames the trip through a series of small pressures—heat, tired children, confusing signs, language barriers, luggage, and care work—before the family has even reached the islands.

Once aboard, the children quickly fall asleep: Adam in his mother’s arms and Mila with her head on Paul’s knees. Louise goes up on deck to see the sea and the outline of the islands. The contrast completes the Athens episode: after navigating the city and getting the children onto the boat, she wants to attend to the landscape for herself, though the evidence of the journey makes clear how little control she has over its pace and demands.