Friday night, Mark called to ask if Kim and I would like to join him and Martha on a trip to Aegina, the island closest to Athens. Saturday morning we cabbed to the port and got on this hydrofoil at 8:50 a.m. It only takes about 35 minutes on one of these, while conventional ferries take twice as long. The boat holds about 130 passengers. On this day (out of season) there were probably 30 or so.

First stop on the island was to sit for coffee at a cafe right at the harbor. Afterward we took a cab a couple of miles so we could walk back along the coast. How many times do I have to write "pictures don't do it justice." You can barely see the multiple colors in the water - there were more. We all commented on the sky's blue. Mark told us that when they make this trip in the summer and it's hot, they'll just walk until they get too hot and go in the water for a bit, then continue walking.

Yes, the water is very clear. So is the air. Our apartment is not in central Athens, but I could still detect that the air on Aegina was fresher than it is in Paleo Faliro.

The main archaeological site on Aegina is the temple of Aphaea. We took a nasty bus ride up the mountain to get there. It wasn't hairpin turns or anything, but the bus was packed (we stood for the whole 20 minutes) and warm, and the road wasn't wide so whenever we met oncoming traffic we slowed down or someone had to wait.


It's very interesting that the Parthenon, the temple of Poseidon at Sounion south of Athens(haven't been there yet) and the temple of
Aphaea form the "sacred triangle" - supposedly equilateral. How they knew and measured these things in 500 BC I'll never know.


As Martha said, ancient Greeks certainly knew how to pick locations for their temples. This temple sits high above the surrounding countryside. You can see back to Piraeus (Athens) as well as other directions as well.





People interested in archeology also revere this temple because it's one of few 2-story where both are still clearly visible (note the stairs in the background of this picture).

After exploring we called a cab to head to a restaurant at the other end of the island. That may sound like we were being extravagant but remember: the island isn't that large (about 10 miles at the widest point), and with 4 of us, bus fare wasn't that much less.


I found this map online, and it just happens to highlight the three places on the island where we went. We started and ended at Aegina (the name of the island and the town). Took a bus up to the temple (about 20 minutes), took a cab down to Perdika for lunch, then cabbed back to the port.


I commented to Kim that I was glad we had a "Greek island experience" (though not the truly tourist sort of some of the distant islands), the time and money spent in commuting made me wonder. As for the tourist islands, I read a story
that said with the bad economy, a number of
hotels and restaurants that traditionally open for
Easter will wait until June this year, expecting the tourist trade to be down that much. Especially troubling since about 20 percent of the economy is tourism.

I saw this near the port. Why all the pigeons chose this particular red-tiled roof I don't know. Notice that there are none on the sidewalk. Unfortunately the shot's not wide enough for you to notice that there aren't any on nearby roofs, either.

This tiny chapel is actually in the Aegina harbor. It's St. Nicholas - patron saint of sailors. Inside were traditional Orthodox icons, candles and incense. Kim met a group of people from Pennsylvania and struck up a conversation. She's amazing: she's never met a stranger.

Heading back to Athens. Wanted to show the inside of the hydrofoil. Nice big windows. Not luxurious, but certainly comfortable.

Today's news item is from Italy, not Greece. The International Herald Tribune had a story about a town in Italy using "walking buses" for the kids to go to school. No buses, but leaders in yellow vests walking the mile routes to school. It reduces greenhouse gasses, saves money and helps combat childhood obesity. The article mentions Columbia, Missouri as having tried something similar.