Day 26 - Athens & Aegina

Day 26 - 05 October 2016

Today I went to the only island on my trip - Aegina.

As it was an island, some travel was involved. I was up at 06:00 and took the metro down to the port, Piraeus. From there I had to look for the ferry to Aegina. There was one leaving at 07:50 so I took that one. The trip is approximately 40 minutes. It's not far from Athens so it's more of a hop than anything else. I took a return ticket at €25.00. The return was at 15:00 and the price standard for the trip.
Got onto the ferry and fell asleep. Not the only one either. Nothing like the gentle rocking of the ocean to lull you off to the land of nod!

When we got there, the first thing I did was look for the bus. I needed to find out what time it left for the Temple of Aphia. Only at 10:30 so that meant I had 2 hours to explore the town. Greek islands are expensive! Lovely and all, but expensive. Had a club sandwich and coffee for breakfast. It cost €10.50. Bloody daylight robbery. OK it was lots, but really. Walked around and certainly wasn't going to buy anything. 10:30 and the bus eventually arrived and off we went. It takes about 25 minutes to get there as it's on the other side of the island and the bus stops everywhere to let people on and off. As you climb the last hill it peeps up over the tops of the pine trees. Dropped us off and told us that the return bus was at 12:30. It really is situated in a beautiful spot.

So quiet and peaceful and the whole area smells of the pine forest that surrounds the temple. There were only 6 of us at the temple, but in the hour and a half that I was there, there was a constant flow of people. It doesn't have the crowds, but there are people who visit. The temple itself is magnificent and has been partly reconstructed. The statues are all in Munich and London, so the museum attached to the site is pretty sparse. Once done, I went to the ubiquitous cafe and had a pistachio ice cream. I just sat there and enjoyed the scenery. Delicious. The hot air smelt of pine. Took the bus back into town and had two hours to kill. Had lunch and sat on the wharf reading. Our ferry arrived and everyone got on to go back to Piraeus. Nap time again.
What can I say about Piraeus. Noisy, dirty, smelly and busy. Gene and Jenna just think of Naples and you've got it. Held onto my belongings like a mussel to a rock. I didn't relax until I got off at Akropoli stop. That line is notorious for its pick pockets.
It was only 17:00 so I decided it was time for the Acropolis Museum. At only €5.00 a ticket, it's one of the biggest bargains of the trip. The amount of statuary, ceramics etc is unbelievable. No photos allowed! What was sad to see was the plaster casts where the missing marbles are. They were obtained by subterfuge and bribery are reside mostly in London, but there are some in Paris and Germany as well. They will never come back because if that were to happen, it would open up a floodgate of litigation as the rest of the world demanded their treasures back. The British Museum and the Louvre would be empty! Enough of that. The Parthenon Museum is most definitely a world class museum. The exhibits are beautifully presented and so many of them still have their original colors. As we know now, the ancient marble statues were not white, but brightly and vibrantly painted. There were selected works with a painted copy next to it. It will take a bit of getting used to.

It looked like rain when I left the museum, but the clouds soon cleared.

Later I went to el Greco for dinner. As I had breakfast and lunch, I just ordered a main. Nice small portion to fill the gap. When I sat down I got the menu but was informed of the specials. Pork roll in a cream sauce. I don't eat pork much, but the cream sauce got me. My meal arrived. It was a massive portion. A load of chips and on top of that were three large medallions of rolled pork about 10cm thick. All smothered in a piquant paprika cream sauce. People, it was really delicious. I was stuffed into a comatose state. I took a slow walk to my hotel and off to bed. I was really tired as it had been a long day.

Aegina

The Temple of Aphaia