The ferry ride from Aegina to Athens is just over an hour, and it is a lovely trip on the Aegian sea. Lois and I decided sit on the outside deck so that we could enjoy the warm Greek weather with the cool sea breeze.
I met this friendly Greek gentleman who was feeding the seagulls with some left over bread, and they are so tame (the seagulls that is) that they took the bread straight out of his hands. He was quite happy for me to shoot a few pictures of him (thanks!)
ready…
…and go!
A camera obscura is a room with a small hole in the wall, through which light is projected to create an upside down image on the opposite wall. In short, it is probably the earliest version of a camera. It dates back to as early as around 400BCE.
So I was very excited to discover on our Greece holiday that there was not only a camera obscura on Aegina, but it is then only one in the world with a 360 degree view, so of course it became a destination for a trip around the island.
When I got there there was both good and bad news. The bad news is it is impossible to find. I (quite literally) had to drive around the back of the headland on some rocky, unmarked and overgrown island foot paths. It would have been fine in a 4×4, but it was not at all suitable for our little hire car. And secondly it was closed.
The good news is the door was not locked, so of course I went inside for a few minute to check it out. But it clearly was not being maintained, so while it was kind of interesting to visit I didn’t experience the 360 degree view. But the trip around the island was loads of fun!
It is just outside a lovely little village called Perdika, which is definitely worth visiting, having a walk around, and stopping for lunch in one of the waterside taverns.
The ferry trip from the Piraeus to Aegina is about 1.5 hours. Even though it was still part of the trip to get to our holiday destination, once we were on the boat it really felt like were were on holiday. We sat on the outside upper deck, relaxed and enjoyed the warmth, the gentle breeze and the view of the Aegean sea.
We saw the most beautiful sunset just before we arrived on Aegina
Lois relaxing on the ferry after an exhausting day and night of travel
A container ship in the sunset
You cannot go anywhere in Greece without seeing an olive tree. They grow in the middle of the sidewalks in Athens, in people’s gardens, and in Olive Groves all over the landscape.
I found this particular olive grove just outside Vagia, a small village on the island of Aegina. There were probably about 20 olive trees – neatly spaces apart and well maintained.
It looks like the perfect spot to take a bottle of local wine, some cheese, a book and a blanket. Although I am sure that would have resulted in a grumpy landowner.
But still, a lovely spot to spend a few minutes.
This church doesn’t look very impressive from the outside, but it is beautiful, cool and quiet on the inside. You are welcome to come into the cool inside, sit on one of the beautifully carved chairs, and enjoy a few minutes quiet inside this lovely church.
The lovely chandelier inside the church
View of the facade – not much to see but beautiful inside
They say that the best camera in the world is the one with you. I took this shot using the panorama feature on my iPhone. This is the little harbour in Vagia, Aegina. Vagia is a tiny town where we spent a few nights. If we liven in Athens we would be very tempted to buy a holiday house in Vagia and use it as a base to travel around the island.
This lovely little church is right at the end of the quay in the Port of Aegina. The walls are covered in lovely paintings of St Nicholas (the patron saint of sailers). The paintings are not in the best condition – I am sure being so close to the water does not help, but the colours are wonderful, and you are welcome to take your time to wonder around and look at the artwork.
It is really small, so it won’t take very long. Worth visiting.
Outside the church
The lovely artwork inside the church
My last post was a photo of a busker in Krakow, Poland. Today’s picture is also of musicians. But this time they were not busking; they were playing at an outside restaurant on the narrow streets of Aegina in Greece.
It was probably our second or third night when we stumbled across them after dinner, but that didn’t stop us from grabbing a table and a carafe of wine, and sitting to listen to them while we sipped the wine.
It is completely cheesy to be a tourist in Greece and listen to musicians playing the theme tune to “Zorba the Greek”, but it was nonetheless lovely. Although to be honest, by the end of our trip I was getting a little tired of that tune; there doesn’t seem to be a single musician in Greece that does not include it at least once in his set.
Enjoying the music in Greece
This lovely little stone church was about 200m from our hotel in Vagia, a tiny little down on the Island of Aegina in Greece. It took enormous restraint to not pull the rope on the bell. It had “pull me” written all over it!
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