Temple of Aphaia

This year we were determined to go back to the Temple of Aphaia in Aegina to visit both it and the little museum which shows off some of the items linked with it. Last year we found out that all greek museums close on Mondays! However, we took the Aegean Flying Dolphin to Aegina and made our way down to the bus terminus. I got our tickets and we got on the bus. It became what I can only describe as an experience. Pauline had already got on the bus and found all seats taken. We ended up sitting on a wheel arch for the whole journey! It was not funnu when the bus hit one of the many bumps along the journey.

Eventually we alighted outside the Temple and went to the booth to pay for our visit. As ever, the Temple looked absolutely fabulous and the place was very quiet. I ambled around and took some photos whilst Pauline found a place to sit in the shade of the tress that can be found on the south side of the site. Then we went in the museum. Pauline was having problems with her sciatic nerve abd could not stand still so I did the museum trip alone. It was fascinating.

I learned that Aphaia was rescued by a fisherman when King Minos was chasing her. She was a daughter of Zeus and had been living in Crete when the king took a shione to her. However, the fisherman took her to Aegina where she stayed. Like all good goddesses she got there and suddenly disappeared!

The Temple was built on the site of several other religious buildings on the site as is often the case. From the blocks of stone you find surrounding the place you discover that when the builders were placing a stone in position they could do so because they had previously cut a U shape in each end of the stone so that a rope could pass round it and be removed afterwards.

Quite a considerable amount of the building remains which makes the site worth visiting. Outside the site is a car park and from this point you can see part of the bay of Aghia Marina. As you look out you notice on the right a huge complex that has not been finished. The local Greeks have left this huge complex obviously unfinished as a sort of monument to the Greek Colonels who used to run the country. They say, "It was to be built with Junta money!" That is enough to make any Greek put a sour look on his face.

We caught the bus back to Aegina Town and then a Dolphin back to Anghistri. it had been another lovely visit to our Temple! We had added another part of Greek history to our experince. Back we sailed to Anghistri an da the quiet world of reality.

Aponisos

Aponisos is a place in Anghistri to which many people go to swim in the crystal clear waters of the Saronic Gulf. The only structure that exists there is an old taverna where visitors can order lunch and look out on a beautiful view. No power lines stretch as far as Aponisos so the only power available is generated in a diesel generator among the trees. There is a tiny beach from which you can swim as well as a small group of sunbeds on the tiny island there and they boast a special gangway into the water.

The local fishing boats used by people who live in nearby Limenaria are tied up at Aponisos. They are painted in various colours and form a very pretty picture tied up in a row by the small causeway that connects the island from Anghistri. Beyond the tiny island is a larger island consisting of two steep hills. At the top of one hill you can see a small Greek Orthodox church. How you can get up there I do not know. There appears to be no access on the landward side.

After a swim this year, we dried off and sat reading under the trees from where I took the picture at the head of this publication. Aponisos is visited these days by wealthy Greeks in motor yachts so the taverna has raised its game and today provides the best seafood in Anghistri. Anyone visiting the toilets there 20 years ago would have had a nasty shock. To say the facilities were basic would have been to tell a lie. The facilities at that time defied description! Today the loos are able to compete with any Greek establishment for tourism.

On the day we were there we partook of a lunch of fish, mussels and Greek salad. Once more it was memorable. We came away waxing poetic about the food we had just eaten. On the ride back (2 on a motor scooter!) to Megalohori we noted the island fire engine parked outside the tiny wayside church of Aghia Barbara. The crew always stop there under the trees for their packed lunch.

No holiday in Anghistri is complete without a visit to Aponisos and perhaps along the way to Dragonera where people camp out under the No Camping signs! These days there are many sunbeds provided there if you don't mind a pebble beach to swim from. To ride along that road with only the sound of a multitude of cicadas and the smell of pine resin in your nostrils is quite enjoyable.