Irish Abroad: Women’s Basketball in Greece

From July 30 to August 8, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team is on its foreign tour to Greece and Croatia. It will be 10 days filled with city tours, boat outings, dinners by the sea and a pair of scrimmages against local club teams. Follow the trip here!

Day 1 — Athens, Greece

10:30 A.M. — The team arrived at Athens International Airport after an overnight flight from Newark. 

1:00 P.M. — After a 45-minute drive from Athens to the nearby beach town of Anavyssos, lunch was served at the Vincci EverEden Resort with a beautiful view of the Athenian Riviera. Every meat imaginable was available, from salmon to pork to chicken. It was accompanied by various greek salads and dips.

3:00 P.M. — The team had the afternoon to relax at the beach. They quickly found the water sports and hopped aboard a giant float for tubing.

7:00 P.M. — The day ended for all with dinner at Kyma in Anavyssos. Like lunch, it was a Greek feast with ample options including fish, calamari, shrimp and chicken. Fried zucchini and eggplant, tzatziki, fresh bread, greek salad, feta and more was served, all family style. Temperatures that had been pushing 100 degrees earlier in the day dropped to the low-80s, making it a perfect night to walk along the bay.

Day 2 — Athens, Greece

9:00 A.M — The first full day in Athens began with a bus ride into the city along the coast. The team arrived at the Acropolis around an hour later for a guided tour of one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks. As the sun beat down, the group walked the 500 feet up to the highest point in Athens; acro- means “top,” while -polis means “city.” Stops at the Parthenon, Erechtheum and Temple of Athena Nike rounded out the morning, along with strawberry lemonade slushies from a nearby vendor.

12:30 P.M. — Everyone headed to the Plaka, a neighborhood under the shadow of the Acropolis with a village feel and cobblestone streets. Groups broke off for lunch, dining in gardens, squares and little nooks throughout the area. Popular dishes included greek salads, spaghetti and souvlaki. Some free time and shopping followed with souvenirs aplenty.

4:30 P.M. – A practice was the final activity of the afternoon, one which took place in the Athenian suburb of Kifissia at the EuroHoops Dome. The group worked on ball handling and shooting drills and ran through various plays. The team will play its first scrimmage of the trip on Friday.

Day 3 — Athens, Greece

10:00 A.M. — After breakfast on the terrace of the hotel, the team embarked on an all-day boat cruise around the Athenian Riviera. The weather was pretty perfect, albeit a bit hot. On the trip over to the first stop, a turtle and a dolphin were spotted.

11:30 A.M. — The first stop was at a port in the Sardonic Gulf. The boat’s crew signaled everyone could get in, and the group flocked to the second story of the boat to make the plunge into the clear blue water. While some of the team jumped right in, others needed a little encouragement from their teammates to make the jump. In the end, everyone did it — many multiple times. Snorkeling goggles were passed around for team and staff to admire a few schools of fish that passed by.

2:00 P.M. — The boat made its second stop of the day, this time in a clear, relatively shallow bay next to a populated beach. Everyone hopped back in the water, this time swimming over to a rocky beach and playing along the coastal cliff.

While the team was at play, the six or so members of the boat crew prepared a delicious meal, with multiple people saying it was the best food yet. There was grilled beef, steak, lamb, chicken and vegetables. There was a greek salad, tomato anad mozzarella salad, mixed greens and rice on the side. Hummus, spicy feta, tzatziki and eggplant dip were out on the buffet for dipping. Small ice cream sandwiches and cones were passed out for dessert as the boat continued on its way.

3:30 P.M. — A brief pit stop at Aegina allowed the group to walk around and experience the small-town feel. Everyone popped in and out of shops and a few grabbed local gelato.

5:00 P.M. — There was one final swimming stop of the day. A school of small fish decided to join the party, swimming up and jumping out of the water much to the dismay of many. Shrieks and laughter broke out as some members of the team hurried to the boat as if their lives depended on it. Look closely ◡̈

Stay tuned for more updates from the WBB Foreign Tour, including from our second stop, Croatia.