We decided to island hop with a day trip to Aegina.  The island of Aegina  is one of the Saronic Islands  (17 mi) from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and became its king. During ancient times Aegina was a rival of Athens, the great sea power of the era. (We find this last statement difficult to believe).  It is about an hour from Athens by ferry.

We made our way to the dock to purchase our tickets.  The most difficult part was deciding which ship was ours.  We truly understand the phrase “It is Greek to me”.  The Cyrillic languages has no relationship to English.  We had the Greek spelling which required you to look at each symbol to figure out if it matched.  We took the easy way out and followed the line of people and were lucky that we did not end up in Turkey.  We boarded the ferry although Debbie was somewhat leery after her last ferry incident where the other 3 left her locked out on the deck alone in a storm.  Our trip was uneventful with lots of pictures.

Once we arrived, everyone stood on the ship taking pictures until Joyce noticed that people were pouring off the ship.  She shouted “We have to get off the ship as they are only docking for 10 minutes – Hurry”.  The group hustled around and dashed to the exit with our stuff.  The group was unceremoniously dumped on the dock.  (The whole 10 minute thing was just a rumor.  The ship stayed another 30 minutes).

We discovered the island’s claims to fame were

1. A temple
2. A monastery
3. Pistachios

As you know by now, when in doubt the group looks for a church to visit.  Ekklisia Isodia Theotokou is a small church which sits at the end of the harbor street.  They then inspected all the restaurants by the docks until settling on one with two cats.  (Joyce’s children:  We caught both your Mom and Dad feeding the cats.  You have the potential for cat problems when they get older).

After we dragged Joyce away from the cats, she was able to negotiate a taxi deal.  Joyce convinced the taxi driver to take the 4 of us to the monastery and ruins, wait for us 30 minutes at each stop and then return, all for 30 euros.

First stop on the tour was the monastery of Agios Nektarios.  Church Moment: Built for the most recent Greek Orthodox saint – Agios Nektarios – miracle- working saint, who died in 1920. It is an impressive complex.  Our driver let us out and went for coffee for 30 minutes.  Since we had 30 minutes, we have plenty of pictures from almost every view.  When he returned the driver stepped out of the car and shouted “I am here”.  It was effective as we all scurried back from all around the church.
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Next stop was the ancient ruins of the Temple of Aphaia.  History Moment: The temple was located within a sanctuary complex dedicated to the goddess Aphaia. Formerly known as the Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, the great Doric temple is now recognized as dedicated to the mother-goddess Aphaia.  Few people and a great spot for pictures.

After our self tour, we went shopping at the pistachio store.  Pistachios are raised on the island and the store gave out samples (good marketing strategy that worked).  Debbie and Larry would have bought more but realized that it would have to be carried back in luggage.

At the end of the day, we stood in the rain waiting for our ship.  On the way back, no one was particularly interested in pictures so set inside.  Once again everyone but Debbie fell asleep (you know that you dis and Debbie has pictures as proof).

We did think that some of the families should have given their children more guidance.  One family had a little girl (let’s call her Gina about 6 years old) that sidled up to Larry, sat down and started speaking Greek to him.  Larry nodded his head and smiled until she eventually left.    As we were docking, she walked up to Debbie’s table, smiled and her little hand slowly inched towards Debbie’s sack containing her unopened bag of pistachios.  Gina’s hand opened the sack and slowly started dragging the bag of pistachios out.  Debbie did not smile and nod her head.  She grabbed the pistachios and held to her chest saying “No, no, no, no, no, no.  (Debbie is not a pushover.  She worked hard for those nuts, carrying them through the rain – you just don’t get to smile and take them from her).

Larry thinks that this is the closest that we got to a pickpocket.