Day 32 - Aigina Island

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Today was an idyllic, romantic day, just like in the movies.  We went putting around a Greek island on a rental scooter, swam in Aegean, chatted with the locals, and ate at a sidewalk cafe.  The only thing missing from the script was conflict and drama.

We decided to take a vacation, so we caught a ferry out to the island of Aigina.  The boat took an hour during which friendly seagulls came gliding alongside the deck, snatching food from passengers' outstretched hands.  Everyone loved it.

Riding the Ferry, Aigina in Background

Feeding Seagulls While Riding the Ferry

On the island we strolled through a tiny street filled with shops.  Ruth found a paperback in English in a curio shop.  Then she saw someone eating a delicious salad at a sidewalk table of a cafe, so we stopped and had lunch there.  Ruth had the salad (angourontomata, or cucumber-tomato) and Jeff had the moussaka, a Greek classic vegetable-filled pudding.  We asked the waiter about the two forms of the letter sigma on the menu.  He said that s-shape is only at the end of a word and the o-shape is used everywhere else, but he said not to try to learn the finer points of Greek or we will never get anywhere.

Lunch at a Sidewalk Cafe

Moussaka and Angourontomata

After leaving the cafe we walked a block and chanced upon a scooter rental shop.  The proprietor called out to us, so we asked how much.  He said 15 euros, so in ten minutes we were buzzing across the island, even though neither of us had thought to bring a drivers license.  The scooter was a rattletrap, 49cc, clunker, but it got us the 17km to the ruins of the Temple of Aphaea on the other side of the island.

Seeing the Island European Style

The temple was built about 490 BC, so it was relatively small, but the view from its hill is great.

The Temple of Aphaea

View of the Aegean from the Temple of Aphaea

On the way back, we saw a small beach with bathers, so we stopped for a swim in the clear, green-blue, calm water.  There were some pebbles and lots of sand and the water was warm on the surface but we didn't see any fish.  We swam and lounged in the water for about a half-hour.

The Small Beach at Which We Stopped

Ruth (center) Swimming in the Aegean Sea

On the beach was a small group with a guitar.  They spoke Greek but sang in English.  We asked about that and learned that they are a musical group performing at a nightclub on the island.  They prefer American rock music, as do most Greeks, so that's mostly what they sing.  When we said we are from California, Theodorus started naming all of the rock groups from California and singing their songs.

Theodorus, the Greek Rock Musician

After cruising around town a bit we turned in the scooter, bought a gyro, souvlaki, and ice cream and ate them on the ferry back to Athens.  It was an idyllic, romantic vacation.