A Day In Aegina |
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There is nothing like a day
trip to one of the nearby Saronic islands to help
a father bond with his eight-year-old daughter
after a year of computer work and grade school
have kept us separated. Andrea had a meeting with
a lawyer to go over the property rights to the
land she might or might not inherit. To Amarandi
and I this seemed like it would be boring as hell.
She wanted to go to Poros where we had spent a
week the previous summer but because it was early
April and there was still a chill in the air, I
assured her that the swimming pool at the Saga
hotel would be closed, since I knew that was the
only reason she wanted to go there. It was my idea
to go to Aegina which was closer. We fed Andrea
her coffee to get her going and put her in a taxi
while we walked from the Attalos the 2 blocks to
the Monastiraki metro station and got on the train
to Pireaus.We arrived at the harbor and after
spending the usual ten minutes it takes to cross
the busy street that separates the Pireaus metro
station from the ferryboats, we got on a ferry to
the main town in Aegina that was leaving in just a
few minutes. We went through the lounge which was
full of cigarette smoke and the noise of video
games and made our way to the top deck where it
was sunny and warm. I was still a little tired and
I wished I had bought my sleeping bag to spread
out on the deck so I could take a little snooze on
the way, but I had to be satisfied with sitting in
a chair and watching the ferry pass by the cruise
ships in the harbor and then the tankers and
freighters anchored outside the harbor. Amarandi
pulled out her book and happily read until we were
close enough to see the houses on Aegina and the
scenery became more interesting to her. Aegina is
only about an hour and fifteen minutes from
Pireaus on a regular ferry and half that on a
flying dolphin hydrofoil so there is hardly enough
time to get bored on the boat.
The port of Aegina is a busy
one with ferries, flying dolphins, cruise ships,
catamarans and fishing boats sailing in and out,
depositing people, cars and fish. We had picked a
perfect day to visit. The sun was shining and the
town was buzzing with people enjoying the day in
the cafes, restaurants and ouzeries. Aegina is
known for their small ouzeries and fish mezedes
and there are a number of these places on the
waterfront and on the back streets, easily
recognizable by the small grills and the octopus
cooking on them. Athenians come here to escape the
city, drink ouzo, eat seafood and watch the
fishing boats.When we arrive the first thing Amarandi sees is the line of horse-drawn carriages and I can't think of a good enough reason to not take a little spin around the port and get a feel for the place. It enables me to get my bearings and it is great fun for Amarandi who sits in front with the driver. who points out the churches and the pistachio farms, the trees still leafless. We follow the coast and then circle back getting off where we started. |
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As you face the village and
walk to your left there is a row of seafood
restaurants along the waterfront, all with signs
saying the special of the day is sea-urchin salad
and each with a grill loaded with octopus. We
continue to walk past the first beach and the
small boatyard towards the area known as Coloni,
named for the lone column that remains from the
ancient temple of Apollo that stood on this site
on a small hill overlooking the port. Aegina was a
major power in the classical Greek times and for a
period Athens main competitor. There is a small
museum on the site that we went through in about 4
minutes, though someone with a deeper interest in
antiquities than my daughter and I might be able
to spend a longer time examining the ancient
pottery that has been found in the area.The archaeological site itself is fairly impressive and the view from the temple of the ferries coming and going from the port makes it a good spot to visit even if you have no interest in ancient Aegina. 
But it was from here that
Amarandi spotted the beautiful beach on the far
side and could not help but notice that there were
indeed people swimming, and once she had made up
her mind there was no way I could deter her. I
tried telling her that these people were a local
chapter of the Polar Bear Club and this early
spring swim was a painful rite of passage and that
they were most likely suffering severely. But this
did not convince her and so we trudged back into
town to find a shop that sold bathing suits and
towels since we were completely unprepared.After walking all the way through the back streets of the town and stopping into several shops with no success, we ended up on the opposite side near the cathedral. I took the opportunity of calling Andrea on my Greece-Travel Phone with the hopes that she could convince Amarandi that swimming was a foolhardy idea or even just putting her foot down and not permitting me to let her go swimming, enabling me to remain the 'good guy' for awhile. But when we told her our plan she thought that was a great idea, since she was in Athens and it was a couple degrees hotter there and she probably wished she could jump in too. 
We walked back along the dock,
all the while Amarandi keeping her eyes open for a
shop that might sell bathing suits and me trying
to distract her by showing her things of interest.
We stopped at the vegetable boats and Amarandi
wanted to go on board but was reluctant to walk up
the gangplank. So was I but not because I was
afraid, but because I suddenly realized that the
sun had been shining on my head for a couple hours
and I needed a hat badly. Chances are that the
same place that sold the bathing suits would also
sell hats, so I joined Amarandi in the search.Finally on one of the pedestrian market streets we found the store with postcards, t-shirts and they said bathing suits. Amarandi went with the girl to try some on while I tried on the only pair in the store that would possibly fit me since it really was too early for people to be buying bathing suits and their supplies were low. I also bought a baseball cap that said 'Hellas' on it that Andrea made me give away as soon as she saw it because it made me look like a tourist. (She said I could wear it in the states if I wanted to.) I also had to buy a large towel to dry off with after we came out of the freezing Aegean and of course a gym bag to carry the wet bathing suits and towels back to Athens. Amarandi found a bathing suit she liked and we paid the bill. This little swim was costing us $75. 
We made our way back along the
quay and through the trees to the beach only to
find that the Polar Bear Club had gone home to
take hot showers and restore their circulation.
Amarandi took off her pants to reveal that she had
put her bathing suit on over her underwear. I had
to explain that this was not the clear-thinking I
had been trying to impart to her when I took the
vow of parenthood. Why didn't she remove the
underwear when she was in the dressing room? She
did not know the answer to this question but it
gave me the opportunity to teach her the technique
of changing clothes while wrapped in a towel,
which all Greek women are adept at. She mastered
it quickly and ran into the sea up to her ankles
before stopping and standing there waiting for me
to make the next move. I stepped in and it felt
OK, as water two inches deep that has been warmed
by the sun all day would. But when I dived into
the deeper water I had a near heart attack and it
was all I could do to stay in the sea until I felt
I had gotten my seventy-five dollars worth that I
had spent on the equipment that had enabled me to
take this little swim.
I got out of the water after
about a minute and a half and Amarandi followed.
At $75 a minute our swim had cost us more than a
ride on the Space shuttle. But at least we were
cool and refreshed and ready for the next
adventure of the day which was lunch. We found the
first seaside taverna that had more Greeks than
empty seats and foreigners and sat down. Amarandi
wanted the Sea-urchin salad, imagining that it
would be served the way I used to feed it to her
when I dived down into the sea to catch them and
cut them open on the rocks, feeding her the sweet
eggs on the tip of my knife. But when I told her
that this was most likely going to be some
concoction where the eggs actually only make up a
small percentage of the entire package, she lost
interest. I encouraged her to experiment and if
she didn't like it she would not have to eat it
and she agreed, but when the waiter came they were
out of it. I wondered if they really ever had it
or was it a scheme to get us and other sea-urchin
lovers into their restaurant. How many of the
restaurants were in on it? Were there really
sea-urchins available? Who dived into the freezing
sea to collect them? We ordered the usual grilled
Octopus, fried squid, a choriatiki salad even
though the tomatoes were not really in season and
a plate of marithes, the small friend fish that
Amarandi eats the noses and tails off and leaves
me the rest. I also had a small plate of marinated
anchovies which were delicious and though I was
tempted to have an ouzo with them since they go so
well together, I decided that I would be a
responsible father and not drink during lunch with
my daughter.
After lunch we checked the boat
schedules. There did not seem to be a problem
getting back to Piraeus. There were boats or
flying dolphins at least every hour. Amarandi
wanted to take the flying dolphin or the catamaran
that stops in Aegina on it's trip to and from
Piraeus and the small island of Angistri. But I
had a better idea. We took an old beat-up taxi
across the island to the beach village of Agia
Marina where there was another boat leaving in 5
minutes to Piraeus. The interior of the island was
largely agricultural and mountainous with a couple
villages along the way and the temple of Hephestus
crowning a hill near Aegina town. When we got to
Agia Marina we barely had time to take a couple
pictures, watch some ducks mating and then get on
the boat. As we left the island we passed the
hotels of Agia Marina, sitting on rocks on the sea
and then rounded the bend where we saw a beach
approachable only from the sea which reminded me of
the famous Lalaria beach in Skiathos. I realized that
Agia Marina would be a great place to stay if you wanted to
see Athens and not stay in the city. The high-speed takes less
than a half hour to Pireaus and even the slower boat only takes
an hour. There are a number of tavernas, a decent beach and
what looked like great swimming off the rocks too.
For hotels in Aegina also check www.hotelsofgreece.com. For hostels and very cheap accommodation see www.greecetravel.com/youth-hostels The village of Agia Marina is less than half an hour from Pireaus by Flying Dolphin. That means you can stay there and be on the Acropolis in an hour. Check out the Hotel Karyatides and the Voula Apartments. The owner, Sophia is a terrific person and really pretty too! The perfect hostess. Aegina is also included in the one-day Saronic Cruise that goes almost every day of the year. |
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In fact the island of Aegina is
really surprising considering it's proximity to
Athens.The town is really quite traditional and
while tourism is in evidence it is still largely
Greek. Most of the ouzeries in the back streets
have a Greek clientele and serve food that people
like me love, but only the most adventurous
tourists would be likely to try. There is a great
covered fish market in town, a sort of junior
version of the Agora in Athens. The fishing
village of Perdika is another popular day visit
place for Athenians and is full of nice little
tavernas. I have written about at
Just 1 km out of the center of Aegina Town, one
can find Water Park, a kid's paradise and one I
was thankful was not open when we were there or I
would never have gotten Amarandi home. The water
slides range from the "Kamikaze", for the more
daring riders, to the gentler "Twister" for the
not so daring ones. There are a couple bars by the
pools for parents who need to overcome the stress
of watching their child go down a 50 foot water
slide a hundred and fifty times in a
row.
Be sure to visit the Temple of Aphaia located on
top of a mountain on the way to Agia Marina.
Besides having a spectacular view and one of the
most interesting little cafes below it, the temple
is a very well preserved example of the Doric
style and is the most important archaeological
site in the Saronic islands. It was built in 480
BC when Aegina was at the height of its power and
from it you can see the mainland from Athens all
the way to
Another place of interest are the ruins of
Paliohora east of Aegina town. This was the
capital of the island in from the 9th til the 18th
century when villages were located inland to be
safe from pirates. Aegina was one of the unlucky
towns because it was destroyed once by the pirate
Barbarossa in 1537 and all the inhabitants were
taken away as slaves. All that remains are a
number of small churches in various states of
restoration but it is an amazing place and well
worth the visit. You can also stop at the
Monastery of Agiou Nektarou with the enormous new
church built recently. The monastery has the
remains of Anastasios Kefalas, a hermit monk who
died in 1920 and was the first orthodox saint of
the 20th Century, canonized in 1961.
The island is famous for its pistachios which some
people believe are the best in the world. You can
decide for yourself. They are sold everywhere
including at the Aegina Pistachio Cooperative
stand right on the dock next to where you buy your
tickets for the ferry boat. In fact I would
suggest buying yourself a couple bags at least
because you will eat one on the boat and then you
will wish you had more to bring back home with you
so you can show your friends how good pistachios
can be. Or you can pick up the family-size
bag.