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May 2023 (Part 10)

Greece/Spain Trip - Day 3, May 15 - Aegina, Egina

The next morning, we headed out for the port of Aegina on nearby island of Egina (both of which are pronounced the same), which was a couple hours away.  Egina (also Aigina and apparently the main port, main city and island are all named Aigina) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf (between the peninsulas of Attica and Argolis on the eastern side of the Peloponnese peninsula defining the eastern side of the isthmus of Corinth in the Aegean Sea) and is 27 km (17 mi) from Athens.  Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and became its king. 

It was a beautiful day to start our excursion with G-Adventures.  We would visit two or three Saronic islands, then cross to the Cyclades.

According to Captain Marek, we covered 160 nm over the course of the trip.

Some quick pictures looking back at Athens and the Acropolis and one of the Olympic stadiums along the coast.

Here are some images Lexi took of our arrival in Aegina, which is on the island of Egina.

Steve helped both get the boat out of the harbor and anchored and tied up at Aegina.  It turns out all of the boats dropped an anchor off the pier and then backed-in, allowing only the width of the boat occupying the pier instead of the length.  We repeated this procedure at every harbor.  We only had one problem, at our second docking in Poros, when the fuse blew and the anchor capstone wasn't moving.  Captain Merrick didn't hear him, but just saw him drop down as he tried to check the connections at his end, oh well.

We had gotten to know our fellow passengers a bit at dinner last night, so spent much of the passage getting better acquainted with each other and the boat.  The boat, the ΛEΩNIΔAΣ IV (Leonidas IV - named after the famous king of Sparta who led their stand against the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae), was a 51-foot Bavaria cruiser (Marek stated the German boat was well built, not very flashy, but affordable and popular for charters).  Our family wound up in the front two cabins, while the other four were in the aft two cabins.  Brad and Yannick were sharing a cabin and joked about spooning, but in the end, Brad either slept on deck or at the dining table each night.  There was another small cabin near ours, opposite from the forward bathroom, with a bunk bed for two crew members where Marek bunked.  Each of the aft cabins had an attached bathroom and there was also a stand-alone shower.  However, while we had a large water storage tank, we were told to limit our showers to one each day, unless we were connected to shore water.  Additionally, we could only use the electrical plugs in our rooms if we were connected to shore power (which we did for all nights except one).  There was a small galley area with two refrigerators and a small gas camp stove.  We each put €50 in a kitty which we used for staples, including sandwich fixings.  However, we wound up only eating breakfast, snacks, and a couple light lunched on board (so used the remaining funds as a tip for Marek).  We were generally able to get lunch, and were able to get all dinners, on shore.

Here are some images from the web showing the layout (although our didn't have the teak wood deck shown below).

Enjoyed watching this passing hydrofoil ferry fly by.

Once we arrived at Aegina, we headed to a restaurant right in front of where we docked for gyros.  The other four rented ATVs, while we then rented a small Suzuki convertible SUV and headed out to explore the island (couldn't get scooters without a small motorcycle license).  There was no real room in the backseat, so Andy sat up front while Steve drove as it was a manual transmission.  We did think of letting Andy try to use the stick-shift at one stop, but the sheer cliffs to the sea at the end of the parking lot were enough to squash that idea.

Heading up from the shore, we stopped at an overlook for some pictures.

Our next stop was at the Holy Church of Saint Nectarios of Aegina.  Nectarios of Aegina is known as the wonderworker of Aegina, is one of the most renowned Greek saints and who established the Holy Trinity Monastery just up the hill from the church.

Fascinating and amazing wood carvings everywhere.

Alexa was given a white dress to wear to cover her shorts in the church.  Apparently the monitor missed that Nancy was also wearing shorts, although hers were longer than Lexi's.

The monastery was built on the side of a hill and there was an incredible winding staircase covered with flowers and terraced gardens.

Everyone got a head-start on Steve, which allowed him to take pictures of them from the bottom, and them of him below.

When we reached the top, which led to the monastery, we were not allowed to enter as we all were wearing shorts.  There was yet an amazing bougainvillea at the top though, this one arched over the path.

Some amazing views of the church from the staircase.

Toward the east of the island on a saddle which allowed you to see the see on two sides was our next stop at the ruins of the doric Temple of Aphaia, which was built between 500 and 490 BC, before the Parthenon and during the height of the island state of Aegina.  The site was used previously for a smaller temple which had recently burned to the ground.  The temple is surrounded by a terrace built to level the ground.  The temple was built according to a 6 by 12 column plan resting on a 15.5 by 30.5 m platform.   The cella (inner sanctuary) of the new temple had two rows of five columns, supporting another level of columns that reached to roof. 

Formerly known as the Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, the great Doric temple is now recognized as dedicated to the mother-goddess Aphaia.  Aphaia (Greek Aφαία) was a Greek goddess who was worshipped exclusively at this sanctuary.  She originated as early as the 14th century BCE as a local deity associated with fertility and the agricultural cycle and shares her mythology and origin with Crete.  According to the Cretan myth, Britomartis was the daughter of Zeus and Kharme.  She enjoyed races and hunts and was particularly dear to Artemis. While fleeing from Minos (the demigod king of Crete), who lusted after her, she cast herself into the sea and was caught in nets cast for a catch of fish. Artemis made her a goddess, and not only the Cretans but also the Aeginetans revere her. The Aeginetans say that Britomartis showed herself to them on their island. Her epithet among the Aeginetans is Aphaia, and it is Diktynna of the Nets on Crete.  On Aegina, she was remembered as a Cretan woman of unsurpassed beauty.  After escaping an unwelcome marriage on Crete, she was rescued by a fisherman from Aegina. In payment for this, he also proposed an unwelcome marriage. So she headed out of Aghia Marina towards the mountain top where she vanished at the current site of the temple, where it is said that the fisherman established a shrine believing Aphaia to have been taken by the gods.  She later also came to be identified with the goddesses Athena and Artemis and with the nymph Britomartis as well.

There were a pretty impressive amount of marble ruins on the platform.  The big block near the grate is the remains of a tall columns surmounted by a marble statue of sphynx.

The view back towards Athens was wonderful, with the Acropolis barely visible in the haze.

There was a nice but small museum at the site which held many of the statues from the site.  It told a bit about the history of the site along with the construction.

They also displayed the remains of the sculptures from the pediments.  The eastern pediment depicted the first Trojan war, not the one described by Homer, but the war of Heracles against the king of Troy Laomedon is the theme, with Telamon figuring prominently as he fights alongside Heracles against king Laomedon.  Part of the eastern pediment was destroyed during the Persian Wars, possibly by a thunderbolt. The statues that survived were set up in the sanctuary enclosure, and those that were destroyed, were buried according to the ancient custom. The old composition was replaced by a new one with a scene of a battle, again with Athena at the center.  The western pediment depicted the second Trojan war – the one described by Homer – is the theme, with Ajax (son of Telamon) figuring prominently.

The parts in gray in the image below were displayed in the museum.

Andy and I marveled at the jigsaw puzzle of the reconstruction of several items.

They were even able to reconstruct part of the original inscription over the older Temple of Aphaia (c 570-560 BC) which said "When Theoitas was priest, the temple was built for Aphaia and the altar, the ivory was added and the enclosure built around."

They also found enough components of the earlier temple to partially reconstruct it.

There was a small restaurant across the street with views back to the south-east.  Lexi was likely more interested in the cats wandering around.  We all got gelato and enjoyed the view.

We then drove back to the north side of the island and headed counter-clockwise around, stopping at several overlooks.  We also pulled off by this small lighthouse.

We all explored the rocks and tidal pools.

Saw this sailboat coming and ran back to try to get a picture of it near the lighthouse, while Nancy ran by the church to get it silhouetted by the tree.

There was also a small church which shared the parking lot (the Church of the Holy Apostles).

As we made our way back toward Aegina, we came across several boats under repair near the ruins of a Temple of Apollo (which we voted not to pay to enter as it was really ruins with no standing columns).

We kept going past Aegina and made our way to Perdika, which had a smaller and shallower port, which is across a small bay from the small island of Moni Eginas.

After arriving back in Aegina, we decided to explore a bit on foot.  We soon found the Tower of Markellos.  According to tradition, it was built around 1802 by Spyros Markellos, who was Aegina's representative in Parliament and a leader during the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829).  In reality, it was likely built during the second occupation of the island by the Venetians (1687-1715).  During that time, it served as a state building and held government meetings.  During the Ware of Independence, it even held the Greek national treasury for a while.  Later after Greek independence, Aegina became the capital of Greece and the building housed various offices as well as the temporary governor. 

This is the Church Isodia Theotokou along the harbor front in Aegina.

Captain Marek made reservations for all of us at Dromaki, which had a small seating area right on the beach.

Dog Tales sent this image of Tank to Cathy.  Apparently they were sending her daily texts, as we're all pretty worried about his health as he might have bone cancer on his left front leg.