LIVE YOUR MYTH WITHIN AN HOUR

When you live in Athens, one of the (many) advantages is that you can be on an island in no time.

This is exactly the case with Aegina. A beautiful island, just an hour away from the port of Piraeus.

NEW LAND

In fact, it's so close to Athens that most Athenians consider it more of a suburb of the city than a completely new land!

Here you can hike, bike, eat local dishes and sweets, swim in clear waters and even see exotic birds.

A few years ago I did an assignment for Kathimerini and revisited this place to photograph it. You can see some of those photos below and also here and here.

A DREAM CAME TRUE HERE

Aegina has a very special place in my heart, because thanks to its hidden treasures I was able to make a dream come true, once upon a time.

At first, you get the impression that nature has not been left untouched. You can see buildings everywhere. So, if I told you that there are some places where you could lie down and have your picnic in complete silence, among thousand-year-old olive trees, you might think I was making fun of you. But I wouldn't.

THE MAGIC NUTS

This is also a great place to cycle and hike on easy and not so easy trails, if you like that. Keep in mind that bikes don't pay extra fare on the ferry.

When you put your foot on the port, go straight to one of the shops or kiosks and try the taste of Pistachio of Aegina. Pistacia vera is a common nut of Asia, but this is where the world's best-known varierty grows, which is why it has the PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) name Pistachio of Aegina. This is my favourite and I suggest to buy every single product, if you can afford it.

DO YOU KNOW SOUVALAS?

One of the things I learned in Aegina is what the word “Souvala“ means. It is a stoned cistern, used for water collection and watering the animals. Quite impressive with the red coloured water (I assume from some kind of algae).

If you ever visit Aegina, try to take the short boat trip from Perdika to the small islet of Moni Aeginas. A little surprise will be there waiting for you: countless peacocks wandering free on the tiny island. Every afternoon, the taverns from Perdika feed them with their unsold food. The sounds they make is deafening.

PILGRIMS WELCOME

Aegina is a also a place of significant importance for Orthodoxy. Apart from the fact that the church and the relic of the miraculous Saint Nektarios (a man with a eventful life, who was declared a Saint in 1961) are located here, the unique hill of Paleochora with its ruined churches is just a few hundred meters away.

SOMETIMES I FEEL ASHAMED TO BE SO PROUD OF MY HERITAGE

Finally, another magical invisible thread that connects me to Aegina is that I grew up in Delphi and I have lived and loved Athens for the last 30 years. The connection? See the map below.

My ancient ancestors created so many wonders in their time, that some of them are actually widely unknown. One of them is that if you measure the distance from Temple of Apollo in my homeland to the Parthenon in Athens is 121,31kilometers and

to the Temple of Aphaia in Aegina just…121,39kilometers, forming an isosceles triangle!

I am truly unworthy to be called a descendant of such minds.

Among many other things, Aegina was designated the first capital of the newly established Greek state in 1827 by the great Ioannis Kapodistrias and today it is still an island full of great people, plus it is known as the "island of artists".

This place is truly a well-hidden gem.