aegina
Cathedral Of Saint Nectarios
The Church Of Saint Nectarios in Aegina is a surprisingly modern building. It was built in the 1970’s, but its history goes further back than that – the ministry dates back from the early 1900’s.
It is a lovely quiet and peaceful place to wonder around, or to sit and contemplate in the shaded walkways. The monastery was built in 1904, you can easily visit the ministry by climbing the stairs at the back of the main building, and that is where you can find the relics of Saint Nectarios. Saint Nectarios is a well-known Greek saint, and when you visit the much smaller ministry it can get a little more crowded with many people visiting the relics.
I love the pastel terracotta colours of the buildings, they feel so much cooler in the hot Greek weather.
Aegina Harbour
Some of the boats at the quay at the little harbour at Aegina Island in Greece. There are a few big and fancy boats, but most of them are small fishing boats and day cruisers.
Temple of Apollo, Aegina
This temple is the first of the many ancient Greek ruins I have visited. It is one of the many temples dedicated to Apollo in Greece. There is not much left of the temple; only a single standing column is remaining. The temple is a short walk from Aegina Town, and it has a lovely little museum attached to the site. It was a peaceful temple to visit; there were only 2 other people visiting it; so you have plenty of time to wonder around the site in piece, and chat to the friendly staff working in the museum.
A very different experience from the noisy and crowed (yet magnificent) Acropolis.
Tower of Markellos
The Tower of Markellos is in the middle of Aegina Town. It was supposedly built in the 1800’s, and it used to be the main government building. Now it is used as a cultural centre, in particular for exhibitions.
The strange thing is nobody actually knows when it was built. Legend says the 1800’s, but the architectural style says 1700’s. Nobody really knows.
Busking
While wondering around Aegina Town we bumped into this busker, and he was fantastic. He was one of the few buskers in Greece not trying to make a hash of traditional Greek music, but he was just playing his own thing. I first noticed him when he was playing the Rain Song by Led Zeppelin. A well-known band, but not their most famous song. We chatted to him for a bit, and he says that he makes his living wondering around the island busking.
Just before we moved on, he played an even more obscure Led Zeppelin Song – Bron yr aur, named after the cottage owned by Robert Plant’s family (that was your trivia for the day), and written by Jimmy Page (the song that is – not the cottage. Jimmy Page could hardly have written the cottage).
I’ve also just realised that he was using a sieve as a hat to collect his tips – now that is a little bizarre!
Anyway, if you get hold of a copy of Physical Graffiti you can listen to the Led Zep song.
