Aegina Island: Where History and Leisure Meet in Athens’ Closest Escape

The Aegina capital. Credit: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikipedia

The land of Aegina, lone seventeen miles from the Greek superior of Athens, is simply a gem of the Saronic Gulf which enchants visitors with its simplicity, history, and beauty. History surely played a portion successful shaping and making this land distinct.

From the infinitesimal a traveler leaves the larboard of Piraeus, forty-five minutes are much than capable to wholly transport him oregon her, physically and mentally, to this small portion of paradise. Aegina’s past stretches backmost to pre-Minoan times, and it played a relation successful the 1800s Greek War of Independence against Ottoman rule. Visitors tin regard upon past temples, Byzantine churches, and the elemental and chiseled Greek land architecture, which exudes harmony and order.

Ancient temple of Aphaia connected the land of Aegina

The ancient Greek Temple of Aphaia connected the land of Aegina. Credit:  Eustaquio Santimano / Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

One of the astir iconic landmarks of Aegina is the past temple of Aphaia. Located wrong a sanctuary analyzable dedicated to the goddess Aphaia, the temple stands connected a 160-meter (530-foot) highest connected the eastbound broadside of the island, astir 13 kilometers (8 miles) eastbound of the main port.

The goddess Aphaia, who was associated with agriculture and fertility, is thought to beryllium a section deity due to the fact that the sanctuary analyzable connected Aegina is the lone spot wherever the goddess was worshiped. In fact, it forms an equilateral triangle with the Parthenon and the Temple of Poseidon astatine Sounion, the alleged “holy triangle” of antiquity.

The municipality of Aegina, the superior of the land that goes by the aforesaid sanction arsenic the land itself, stands retired for its well-preserved buildings. For astir 2 years betwixt 1827 and 1829, Aegina’s existent superior was besides the impermanent superior of the newly-founded Greek State. It was during that play erstwhile Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias had awesome neoclassical mansions built to location his headquarters.

On the outskirts of the town, you tin find charming small villages with distinctive accepted character, specified arsenic Agia Marina, Perdika, Souvala, Kypseli, Agii, and Vagia.

Important spiritual destination

Apart from the galore past Greek sites that are scattered crossed the island, Aegina is simply a large spiritual destination for galore Greeks and different Orthodox Christians astir the world.

Holy Church of Saint Nectarios of Aegina. Photo by AeginaIsland.com

Saint Nectarios is 1 of the astir well-known and beloved saints successful Greece’s modern history. He passed distant successful 1920, and helium has been venerated arsenic a saint successful the Orthodox satellite since 1962. He is referred to arsenic the “wonder-worker of the land of Aegina.”

Aegina is location to the imposing Holy Church of Saint Nectarios, an awesome Orthodox church, wherever thousands of radical travel each twelvemonth to amusement their emotion for and devotion to the saint.

The celebrated pistachios of Aegina

The different large gully to visiting Aegina is the pistachios, the island’s astir celebrated produce. The pistachio tree, which is autochthonal to Iran, was archetypal brought to the land and the Greek mainland successful 1860, and the trees flourished successful the Mediterranean clime and unsocial terrain of Aegina.

While pistachios are recovered astir the world, the assortment recovered successful Aegina, called “koilarati,” is uncommon and exceptionally delicious.

Beaches of the land of Aegina

The land besides has respective beauteous beaches including:

• Perdika, a quiescent pebbly formation successful the accepted colony of Perdika,
• Souvala, distinctive for its warm, therapeutic waters suitable for curing rheumatism,
• Agia Marina, a cosmopolitan organized tourer destination with galore hotels, rooms to let, formation bars, and restaurants,
• Marathonas, 2 sandy beaches, 1 adjacent to another, 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) distant from the town, and
• Vagia, a beauteous sandy formation offering amenities, but if you are consenting to locomotion a small further, you tin bask beauteous isolated coves.

Whether you’ve been determination oregon not, 1 happening is clear: Aegina is simply a onshore of past tales and stories, of quality and simplicity, and of heroism and spirituality.

As galore believe, it is Athens’ astir beauteous escape, wherever the accent of one’s engaged mundane beingness melts distant successful the timeless quality of past temples and churches and the beauteous towns nestled on its seashore.