While Greece is known for its beautiful islands, I planned Greece around visiting Meteora and Acropolis. Besides, December is cold and not the ideal period for island hopping. Nevertheless, we decided to visit one island, and chose the nearest island from Athens, Aegina.
Aegina is about 27 kilometers from Athens with an area of about 87.41 square km. An extinct volcano constitutes two-thirds of Aegina. Hydrofoil ferries from Piraeus, Athens take about 40 minutes to reach Aegina. Whilst the weather forecast was rainy for the day, we proceeded with our plan in order to experience what it's like on a Greek island <such 'shallowly' objectives>.
The Aegina pier and waterfront town was somewhat deserted when we arrived on the rainy late morning. Nothing then was better than the prospect of searching for a good, indoor restaurant for lunch <we proceeded to google on-the-go, having not planned ahead as of TP style...>. We found Pelaisos Restaurant along the waterfront. It's a small and simple looking restaurant that looked largely similar to the other stalls along the sea; a small indoor space mainly decked in white along with a large, sheltered outdoor seating area. Despite December being a lull season for them, storeowners still jostled for our business, but we decided on this restaurant because of its incredibly high rating on a travel website. We were not disappointed. We were served fresh, delectable seafood in sizeable portions, at good prices, and we ended up ordering almost all the dishes on the menu. The lunch cheered us up despite the rainy and gloomy sky persisting.
After lunch, we wandered along the waterfront promenade. A lady came by and offered us free samples of a pistachio-flavoured spread. There was so many pistachio products at her stall:- different pistachio spreads/creams/sauces and raw/roasted/salted pistachio. More samples were given and everything was divine with the distinct and rich taste of pistachio. Maybe because we were one of very very few tourists, she was continuously and generously offering samples. We would say when we had enough, and she would say "Try this, it is so good!".
I resisted buying as we were at the start of our trip. However, TPs 'vowed' that they would eat and couldn't wait to try the spread with some toast after our trip, and that it was no problem to lug them through the rest of the trip. Thus, we ended up buying a number of items, including some salted and roasted pistachios as well as their signature, the pistachio spread and cream. Sigh...
Temple of Apollo
We walked along the waterfront and then to the hill of Kolona to see the Temple of Apollo. The temple was built in the 6 century B.C and there is only one pillar left standing of the temple, surrounded by a mass of ruins.
We sidestepped our way around maze of ruins along the wet ground until we reached the sole surviving pillar, where we got a number of photos. It looked somewhat underwhelming from afar, looking like a small protrusion of debris amongst the ruins, but when we ascended the short stairs to take a closer look at the pillar, we were slightly taken aback by how tall it looked up close, deciding that its survival as a sole, almost fragile looking structure across such time is indeed impressive, especially when you look upon the rest of the temple that didn't survive.
We then strolled back to the town again. We booked the 4 o'clock ferry ticket for Athens... Another walk along the wet waterfront??? Then as I looked at the taxi charges, the taxi driver inside the taxi booth offered a tour of Aphalia Temple and St.Nectarios for 25 euros, and back to the town before the ferry departure.
We decided that there could be no better use for our time. Additionally, unlike the Temple of Apollo, the Temple of Aphalia looked far more intact, and we were excited at the prospect of visiting a more intact Greek temple. As he drove along the road, he pointed out the many pistachio tree and orchards, proclaiming that Aegina has the best pistachio in the world.
Pistachio trees
Temple of Aphaia
The temple grounds were deserted, which meant we were able to take in the temple in full and in peace. The temple was built about 500 BC. We walked around the compound, took numerous photos and got a good look at the inner structure of the temple by circling it. We spent a good half an hour before heading back to the taxi.
The driver chatted amiably throughout the trip, trying his best to offer us interesting insights into the island despite his limited grasp of English. He offered a prayer whenever we passed a place of worship.
Cathedral of Saint Nectarios
We stopped by here for a while, and as it appeared to be closed, we walked around the quiet compound once before boarding the taxi back to the town.
We were back to Aegina Town and having time to spare, went to a cafe and had some tasty pistachio-flavoured ice cream.
We boarded the ferry and made our way back to Athens.
Back at Athens, we bought Chinese-takeout for a lazy dinner in the hotel.
Thought
The rain definitely has a dampening effect on the visit. Nonetheless, it was a good trip and we definitely gained some insight into what an Island life would be like, at least on a rainy day. I will remember this one-island-hopping experience in Greece whenever I see any marketing of Greece Island Hopping.
Note
I still have both the salted and roasted pistachios(original of 500 gram each) , pistachio cream (I forgot how to use it), 1/2 bottle of pistachio sauce and just finished the pistachio spread... Not so bad.
On the same trip
Arrival in Athens, Walking Around, Pickpocket Encounter and More!
Meteora Day 1 : Athens to Meteora, St. Nikolas Anapafsas Monastery, Sunset Rock and More!
Meteora Day 2 : Holy Monastery of Grand Meteoron, Holy Monastery of St. Stephan and Walking
Acropolis and Morning Walk
Information Link
wikipedia : Aegina
Aegina is about 27 kilometers from Athens with an area of about 87.41 square km. An extinct volcano constitutes two-thirds of Aegina. Hydrofoil ferries from Piraeus, Athens take about 40 minutes to reach Aegina. Whilst the weather forecast was rainy for the day, we proceeded with our plan in order to experience what it's like on a Greek island <such 'shallowly' objectives>.
The Aegina pier and waterfront town was somewhat deserted when we arrived on the rainy late morning. Nothing then was better than the prospect of searching for a good, indoor restaurant for lunch <we proceeded to google on-the-go, having not planned ahead as of TP style...>. We found Pelaisos Restaurant along the waterfront. It's a small and simple looking restaurant that looked largely similar to the other stalls along the sea; a small indoor space mainly decked in white along with a large, sheltered outdoor seating area. Despite December being a lull season for them, storeowners still jostled for our business, but we decided on this restaurant because of its incredibly high rating on a travel website. We were not disappointed. We were served fresh, delectable seafood in sizeable portions, at good prices, and we ended up ordering almost all the dishes on the menu. The lunch cheered us up despite the rainy and gloomy sky persisting.
After lunch, we wandered along the waterfront promenade. A lady came by and offered us free samples of a pistachio-flavoured spread. There was so many pistachio products at her stall:- different pistachio spreads/creams/sauces and raw/roasted/salted pistachio. More samples were given and everything was divine with the distinct and rich taste of pistachio. Maybe because we were one of very very few tourists, she was continuously and generously offering samples. We would say when we had enough, and she would say "Try this, it is so good!".
I resisted buying as we were at the start of our trip. However, TPs 'vowed' that they would eat and couldn't wait to try the spread with some toast after our trip, and that it was no problem to lug them through the rest of the trip. Thus, we ended up buying a number of items, including some salted and roasted pistachios as well as their signature, the pistachio spread and cream. Sigh...
We walked along the waterfront and then to the hill of Kolona to see the Temple of Apollo. The temple was built in the 6 century B.C and there is only one pillar left standing of the temple, surrounded by a mass of ruins.
We sidestepped our way around maze of ruins along the wet ground until we reached the sole surviving pillar, where we got a number of photos. It looked somewhat underwhelming from afar, looking like a small protrusion of debris amongst the ruins, but when we ascended the short stairs to take a closer look at the pillar, we were slightly taken aback by how tall it looked up close, deciding that its survival as a sole, almost fragile looking structure across such time is indeed impressive, especially when you look upon the rest of the temple that didn't survive.
We then strolled back to the town again. We booked the 4 o'clock ferry ticket for Athens... Another walk along the wet waterfront??? Then as I looked at the taxi charges, the taxi driver inside the taxi booth offered a tour of Aphalia Temple and St.Nectarios for 25 euros, and back to the town before the ferry departure.
We decided that there could be no better use for our time. Additionally, unlike the Temple of Apollo, the Temple of Aphalia looked far more intact, and we were excited at the prospect of visiting a more intact Greek temple. As he drove along the road, he pointed out the many pistachio tree and orchards, proclaiming that Aegina has the best pistachio in the world.
Pistachio trees
Temple of Aphaia
The temple grounds were deserted, which meant we were able to take in the temple in full and in peace. The temple was built about 500 BC. We walked around the compound, took numerous photos and got a good look at the inner structure of the temple by circling it. We spent a good half an hour before heading back to the taxi.
The driver chatted amiably throughout the trip, trying his best to offer us interesting insights into the island despite his limited grasp of English. He offered a prayer whenever we passed a place of worship.
Cathedral of Saint Nectarios
We stopped by here for a while, and as it appeared to be closed, we walked around the quiet compound once before boarding the taxi back to the town.
We were back to Aegina Town and having time to spare, went to a cafe and had some tasty pistachio-flavoured ice cream.
We boarded the ferry and made our way back to Athens.
Back at Athens, we bought Chinese-takeout for a lazy dinner in the hotel.
Thought
The rain definitely has a dampening effect on the visit. Nonetheless, it was a good trip and we definitely gained some insight into what an Island life would be like, at least on a rainy day. I will remember this one-island-hopping experience in Greece whenever I see any marketing of Greece Island Hopping.
Note
I still have both the salted and roasted pistachios(original of 500 gram each) , pistachio cream (I forgot how to use it), 1/2 bottle of pistachio sauce and just finished the pistachio spread... Not so bad.
On the same trip
Arrival in Athens, Walking Around, Pickpocket Encounter and More!
Meteora Day 1 : Athens to Meteora, St. Nikolas Anapafsas Monastery, Sunset Rock and More!
Meteora Day 2 : Holy Monastery of Grand Meteoron, Holy Monastery of St. Stephan and Walking
Acropolis and Morning Walk
Information Link
wikipedia : Aegina