My dear readers, Aegina
this post is dedicated to a very nice island that is very close to Athens, in the Gulf of Saronic. It’s only 30 minutes trip with the speedy boat and it really worth even a day-trip!
This island is Aegina – or as I now use to call it …. l’isola delle Gine, in honor of my dear friends Sara & Sara that came from Italy and visited this island with me – we really had great fun !
Some info about Aegina – ελλ. Αίγινα
Aegina is a very small island, located in the Saronic Gulf, with Spetses, Poros and Hydra.
Due to the very proximity to Athens this small island attracts many tourists and also Athenians for a day trip :) – mostly in Summer for the nice beaches, the blue sea and relaxing environment – don’t forget even if it is so close to Athens Aegina is still an island … so different from the chaos of the city ….
It’s quite green with lot of olives trees and …. this island is very famous for its pistachios ! in Aegina you can find a countless way to cook, prepare and eat them in the nice “van-shops” at the port of Aegina ! after an all day spent under the sun you will come back to Athens full of sands and of pistachios !!! impossible to avoid it :)
The town is very characteristic, with beautiful neoclassical buildings – that have been partially renovated. The port too is very nice, and all around it you can find nice shops, nice kafenio, and of course the Church
Apart from the beaches, where the most famous is Agia Maria, Aegina is famous also for a Archeological Temple (that unfortunately I never visited :( ) of Athena Aphaia – on the way to Agia Maria Beach..
Let’s go to my trip
Actually the first time I went to Aegina was with a friend of mine Maria and her boyfriend – that introduced me to the island. Ι spent a very relaxing day with them :)
But I am going to talk about the second trip I did with my Italian friends – Sara&Sara that came to visit me because despite it was only a day-trip – we really experienced everything :)
- missing the boat
- risking to be invested in the port
- experience real Greek kamaki
- discuss with a Greek giagia’
- take a taxi
- enjoy fantastic day on the beach + fantastic lunch
- shopping shopping shopping
Our trip started in Piraeus, one Saturday morning ……
Our trip seemed to start in the wrong way … we were about to miss our boat “nave del broccolo” due to some very impolite people that were not doing the queue .. but after we insisted and I spoke my super fluent Greek …. we got the tickets and were ready to leave …..
Then we pretty risked to be invested by a car in the port … because we were running since we were late ..…. please don’t be stupid like us / me and NEVER RUN IN ONE PORT …. mostly in Piraeus .. you can really hurt yourself !
But finally we were on board ! ready to leave for Aegina !
The trip with the ferry was very nice, the weather was fantastic and we relaxed so much !! Both Sara and Sara were wondering why I used to call classical ferries as “nave del broccolo” that means boats were you can “meet” greek kamaki and after a while they soon realized it :) there were already many Greeks interested in these 3 lonely and innocent Italian tourists ahhahah ! ready to provide any kind of information and of course asking to spend the day together ahahah !! that was fantastic and very funny ! I will never forget Sara&Sara faces !!
When we landed in Aegina of course I did my shooting session to my friends and then … we were ready to take the taxi to go to the beach !!
The Taxi … well I already posted a post on taxis in Greece…. but I should also write about giagia’ γιαγιά– Greek grandmothers. … the more terrible grandmothers of the world. …
Despite there were 20 people queuing under the sun, French, Greeks, Italians etc .. a Greek giagia just jumped in the middle of the street and tried to take a taxi complaining about something… but the taxi driver didn’t pick her up and she was waiting (on first line of course) until finally a taxi came and she left ….. no way to politely ask her to respect the queue …..
Finally it was our turn and we decided to stop not on Marathon Beach (where I have been the previous time) but on Aeginitsissa Beach – a very small nice beach with lot of trees that reached the sea. We spent our day there, having fun, talking, gossiping under the sun and staying hours in the sea :)
We had a lovely lunch in a very nice tavern close to the beach ….. and finally at around 5pm that taxi came to take us – as agreed.
SUGGESTION if you are going to Aegina and you move with the taxi I strongly suggest you to agree with the taxi about an hour for him to come and pick you up – back to the port :)
While we were waiting to leave we did shopping – we bought pistachios and fresh fruits (I forced Sara & Sara to eat all grapes I bought ahahhahah on our trip back to Athens ) – we visited the church and then … we came back to Athens ……
I will always remember this fantastic day with my friends ! I really had great fun and they really enjoyed this day trip too!
If you are in Athens for some days and you are tired about the city I strongly suggest you to visit the small and nice island of Aegina ! for me now you know … … l’isola delle Gine ….
Ciao !
φιλακια
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