A Day on the Island of Aegina

As part of our program, we have a number of Greek island excursions planned. Today was our first--to the island of Aegina about 45 minutes southwest of Athens by the fast "Flying Dolphin" ferries.

When we arrived in Aegina, we could see smoke in the sky since we had left Athens. We weren't sure what it was, but I found out later it was from a fire in Athens and, after reading the New York Times, realized it was actually a huge wildfire on the north outskirts of Athens. It's not close all that close to me, don't worry.

We had the whole day to spend on Aegina, so we sort of scattered once we arrived. I headed for some ruins with Taso and the rest of the crew hopped on a bus toward some nice beaches. I wanted to go to the beaches too, but I also wanted to check out some of the island's history, since I didn't know much about it.

Taso had never been to the ruins either, so we started walking north and found the site within two minutes. It was pretty close and pretty awesome!

After we checked out the ruins, Taso and I ate a bit of lunch and then headed for a monastery that he wanted to visit. I figured it would be neat to, so I followed along. Turns out, the monastery was the church of a saint in the Greek Orthodox church--St. Nectarios of Aegina. He died in 1920, so he only recently became a saint, I believe. The church and monastery were quite impressive though.

After the church visit, we hopped on a bus back into the main part of the town, and I jumped on another bus to go meet up with the rest of the group on the beach. By the time I got there, the beach was pretty packed, but the weather was gorgeous and the water felt amazing.

I brought my camera into the water again, but I think this time, it may have suffered some damage that shouldn't have happened. All my pictures are turning out blurry now. Good thing my mom gave me an additional camera just in case. We still have trips planned to Hydra, Santorini, Naxos, and I plan to go to Crete as well. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it'll fix itself with some clean water and air.

We ate dinner near the main bus station and then jumped onto another "Flying Dolphin" ferry back towards Athens. The smoke still hadn't cleared yet and, in fact, looked much larger and darker over the city. Check out the New York Times if you want to read up on it.

Anyway, I transcribed one of our three interviews from last night with Jordan, and then we called it a night as it's tedious work. We'll finish tomorrow. I need to finish some major work on my Fulbright application tomorrow, so I may just spend a bit of time exploring nearby sites. We shall see. For now, I'm going to bed.

Toodles,

Sam