In 1971, they fell in love during a vacation. Fifty years later, they're still going strong.

In the sunlit summer of 1971, Sura Crutch, freshly graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art, set off on a three-month European adventure.

She toured Italy, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, immersing herself in the art, architecture, and sculptures she had studied in books for years.

Accompanied by a college friend, Sura met fellow travelers along the way, relishing what she describes as 'the experience of being a young hippie hitchhiking through Europe.'

“There were so many of us back then,” Sura recalls in an interview with Dinogo Travel.

One evening in a London pub, Sura struck up a conversation with a man from Greece and mentioned she was headed to Athens next. He promptly wrote down an address for her.

“When you get there, look up my friend Haris Sevastopoulos,” he told her. “He’ll help you find a budget hotel.”

The address led to a cozy family-run restaurant near Athens' main airport, just across from a stretch of golden sand and crystal-clear blue waters.

Haris Sevastopoulos, the son of the restaurant's owner, welcomed Sura and her friend with warm, easygoing hospitality. He mentioned he was studying to be a naval architect, though his true passion was playing music.

True to his word, Haris found the two travelers a place to stay. The hotel was a bit worn down and packed with Greek naval officers, but it was just steps away from the beach.

For the next few weeks, Sura spent her time swimming, soaking up the sun, and exploring Athens. She didn't run into Haris, who was busy locked away studying for his final exams.

One day, as Haris was leaving his father’s restaurant, he spotted Sura, wrapped in a towel and heading toward the beach.

“Hey there,” he called, catching up with her. “So, what do you think of Greece so far?”

“I absolutely love it,” Sura replied.

“It’s so hot out. Let me grab my swimsuit from across the street and join you at the beach,” Haris suggested.

Moments later, they were both diving into the sea, playfully splashing each other with cool water and laughing.

“That was it. We hit it off instantly,” Haris recalls in an interview with Dinogo Travel.

A summer romance

Over the following five days, Haris and Sura became inseparable.

“We just had so much fun together,” Sura recalls. “We clicked because we shared the same sense of humor. We'd play in the water, crack jokes, and just enjoy ourselves.”

After spending the entire day on the beach, they'd stay out all night dancing.

“There were clubs with blues and underground music, and they were amazing,” Sura says. “Haris, his friends, and I would go there every night, dance, and let loose.”

Although Haris and Sura enjoyed each other's company, neither saw the relationship as anything more than a fleeting vacation romance.

The following week, Haris went to the Greek islands with a friend, hoping to meet tourists and flirt. It was a tradition for the two of them to take a ferry to places like Mykonos, Kos, or Corfu each summer. Despite meeting Sura, Haris decided to go ahead with the trip.

“When he left, I just kept hanging out with his friends,” Sura says. “Eventually, I ended up spending time with one of them.”

When Haris returned and saw Sura riding on the back of one of his friend's motorbikes, he was upset.

Sura simply rolled her eyes. After all, Haris was the one who had left her behind. Plus, she was about to head home in a few days.

“I’m just passing through,” she reminded Haris.

On the last night of Sura's trip, they went out together, but the magic between them had faded.

“It wasn’t the same as those five amazing days we spent together,” Haris reflects today.

The next day, Sura left.

Pen pals

A year passed. Sura settled into her new life as an art therapist in Cleveland, while Haris continued to resist the pressure to follow in his father’s footsteps as a naval architect or run the family restaurant.

Sura had kept in touch with the guy she’d briefly dated after Haris, exchanging letters between Ohio and Greece. One day, Haris’ friend mentioned the ongoing correspondence to him.

“How’s she doing?” Haris asked, often thinking about the American girl from the summer they had shared.

The friend gave Haris Sura’s address, suggesting he write to her and find out for himself.

Sura was surprised to hear from Haris, but she replied, sharing what she had been up to over the past year.

Their letters sparked a pen pal relationship that lasted for the next three years.

As time went on, the letters between Sura and Haris grew longer and more personal.

According to Haris, the result was that they became 'true friends,' learning 'to respect each other’s needs and ways.'

“We really got to know each other,” Sura agrees.

“I couldn't wait to read about what he was up to, how he was feeling. It was such a close friendship. We shared everything with each other.”

Sura began saving up to return to Greece, partly to reconnect with Haris, but also to experience the country again.

“Of all the places I had visited, Greece was the one I longed to return to,” she recalls. “The warmth, the sunshine, the endless azure skies, and the turquoise sea. I loved diving off the rocks, exploring ruins, and everything about it.”

“The people were incredible, and the food was amazing. It was like a completely different world for me, and it changed me in so many ways.”

Return to Greece

In the summer of 1974, Sura returned to Athens, where Haris picked her up at the airport. The two headed straight to the beach where they had first swum together.

“We went – without saying a word – straight into the water fully clothed,” Haris remembers.

“I couldn’t wait,” says Sura.

“We were just so happy to be together,” Haris says.

By then, Haris was living with his brother in a cave-like apartment carved into the hillside of Athens. Sura stayed with them for two months, and during that time, their pen pal connection blossomed into a real romance.

They spent their days exploring Greece, visiting the islands of Crete, Santorini, and Mykonos.

But it wasn't all perfect. Sura quickly noticed that Haris drank more than she felt was healthy, and at one point, she gave him an ultimatum.

“Sura is a very strong-willed woman,” Haris recalls. “She told me, ‘Either you change, or I’ll go find another boyfriend in Norway.’”

When it was time for Sura to return to the US, she and Haris started considering whether he could come with her. A visit to the US embassy made it clear that the only way this could happen was if they got married.

Initially, Sura wasn’t sure that marriage was the right path.

“We really loved each other,” she says. “But I was hesitant about marriage. I had seen too many marriages fall apart, and I wasn’t eager to rush into it.”

But the alternative was leaving Haris behind for an unknown amount of time. After a long evening of discussing their options, they decided to give marriage a try.

The next hurdle was their families. Haris’ father wanted him to stay in Greece, and his Orthodox Greek mother was upset that Sura was American and Jewish. Haris chose to disregard their objections.

Meanwhile, Sura’s mother was shocked by the idea of her daughter returning from her travels with a fiancé.

“Is this someone you truly love and want to spend the rest of your life with?” she asked Sura.

“All I can tell you is that I love him. I can’t promise anything about the future,” Sura replied.

Her mother decided that was enough for her to accept.

“No one else said that,” Sura recalls. “Everyone else thought I was completely crazy.”

There were also bureaucratic hurdles. Haris was Greek, but had been born in Turkey. He had never claimed citizenship in either country to avoid mandatory military service.

Eventually, they worked through the paperwork. Sura went ahead first, and in September 1974, Haris moved to the US with only the clothes on his back. Two months later, they married in Sura's hometown of Cleveland. She wore a flower crown and a long white dress with flowing bell sleeves. Haris also wore white. Sura took his last name, becoming Sura Sevastopoulos.

Their wedding was interfaith, blending both Haris and Sura's religious and cultural traditions. The ceremony included readings in English, Hebrew, and Greek.

The first few months of Sura and Haris' marriage weren't always smooth, and they found themselves arguing frequently.

“Being a tourist with a girlfriend is one thing. Living together day in and day out is another,” says Haris.

“The reality sets in — there’s a lot of hard work and responsibilities. Of course, you still have that sense of fun, but you also need to be serious about the important things.”

Haris kept recalling a strange encounter he’d had on a boat during that summer. While on his way to a Greek island, a fellow passenger had offered to read his fortune, and he’d humorously agreed. The fortune teller had then pointed at Sura and said, in Greek, “This woman will ruin you within three months.”

Haris had laughed it off and didn’t mention it to Sura, but the words haunted him during their late-night arguments.

Despite their most intense arguments, Sura and Haris always found their way back to each other. The deadline the fortune teller had predicted passed, and the couple remained as strong as ever.

Nearly two years later, at the request of Haris’ parents, the couple tied the knot again in Greece. The ceremony took place in Athens, followed by a celebration at Haris' father's seaside restaurant.

Before their Greek Orthodox wedding, Sura underwent baptism.

Sura recalls, 'My Jewish mother had her reservations about the baptism, but she didn’t want to interfere with our choices.'

'If my daughter is Jewish and she's being baptized in a Greek Orthodox Church, what does that make her?' Sura’s mother asked a priest at a Cleveland Greek Orthodox church.

'I suppose that makes her a Greek Orthodox Jew,' the priest replied.

'Well, as long as we're adding something positive and not taking anything away, I’m okay with that,' said Sura’s mother.

By this point, Haris' father had accepted that his son was moving to the US, and he and Sura had grown quite close.

Haris' mother still hadn’t warmed to Sura. After nearly two years, it wasn’t so much about their religious differences, but more about their contrasting personalities.

'She was very submissive to his father, and she couldn't understand why I wasn’t the same way with Haris,' Sura says.

Their relationship stayed strained for years, but over time, the two women managed to build a bond.

'I wrote her a heartfelt letter, which his brother translated for me. She’d never fully understood who I was all those years, and I wanted her to see that we were happy and that this was what her son wanted,' says Sura.

'She understood everything in that letter, and incredibly, we became incredibly close after that. It turned into the most loving, beautiful relationship,' recalls Sura.

A half-century and still going strong.

Over the years, Sura and Haris raised two daughters, crafted a life in the US, with Sura continuing her work in the art world and Haris exploring both music and construction.

More than 50 years have passed since Sura and Haris first met in Greece. In those five decades, they’ve experienced profound joys—such as the births of their children and grandchild—and traveled to numerous corners of the world together.

They continue to dream of the adventures still ahead.

“If we had the chance, we’d probably spend our remaining time exploring new places we’ve never visited,” Sura shares.

The couple has faced their fair share of hardships, including health challenges and loss, along with times when their relationship has been tested.

“There have been scars along the way,” Sura admits.

Looking back on their journey, the couple says they’ve spent 50 years growing and evolving together.

Meeting in 1971 was a turning point that 'transformed both of us,' says Haris. They both feel they would have taken very different paths had their lives not intersected.

They can't help but roll their eyes when other long-married couples claim the secret to a lasting relationship is avoiding arguments.

“If you never argue, you don’t really grow,” Sura points out.

“Life’s about feeling the highs and lows, and working to make things better, fighting for it,” says Haris.

For Sura, the secret to happiness lies in 'not giving up,' and in always 'believing that your love is worth fighting for.'