Touristic Agia Marina, Aegina – Charming Hydra
By Helen Grubner. Filed in Uncategorized |
Tuesday 25 June-Thursday 27 June 2024
Getting to Agia Marina, Aegina, was no mean feat. In fact, it took 24 hours from checkout on Schinoussa until checking in at Agia Marina. The most trying time was the 6+ hours in Piraeus. The initial 2 hours were in darkness, and the entire time, I felt I needed to have eyes in the back of my head. After a coffee, food, and locating a toilet, I went to sit at Gate E8, under the shelter provided for waiting passengers. In recent years, such places have become refuges for the homeless, who were all in various stages of waking when I arrived. There was one woman who stood out. I could see that she was doing her best to maintain dignity. Later in the morning, amidst the bustling crowd, she sat there and plucked the hairs from her chin and eyebrows before getting out scissors to trim the hairs in her nose.
As the morning went on, the hawkers… mainly African and Indian, with their persistent ways, kept coming up to me. The beggars, too, were doing their rounds. With the temperature rising, I tried to remain relaxed, watching the world go by. From the grossly obese to the incredibly thin and everything in between. Something else I noticed that I have rarely seen since the 1970’s/80’s was a large number of braless women. I wonder, is this a new trend in Europe?
So here I am on Aegina, the very first Greek island I ever visited back in 1973. I chose to come here, mainly because of its close proximity to Athens. In the event of a strike by ferry workers, I would hope to find some other way of getting to the mainland. In any case, I’ll return to Athens on Saturday for an overnight stay, with my imminent departure from Greece scheduled for late Sunday evening.
We’re into the next heatwave with every day, the temperature here rising to around 35°C. That has meant early rises with my inclusive breakfast delivered to my room around 0830 hours. Mornings spent at the beach, which isn’t anything spectacular, but I have been able to find myself a spot under the trees beyond the crowds who favour sunbeds and umbrellas. Afternoons have been wisely spent enjoying a siesta, venturing out again in the ever so slightly cooler evening.
Thursday was very special as I took the 0900 hours MAGIC 1 Sea Ferry to the island of Hydra for the day, arriving back in Agia Marina at 1840 hours. During the years that I spent a great deal of time on nearby Spetses, I became quite familiar with Hydra, and as there was a special same day return fare on offer, I thought it would be great to go and do a little shopping. Unfortunately, the shops in Agia Marina mainly offer tacky, souvenir type shite. There are souvenir shops on Hydra too, but also upmarket boutique style. Jeff Bezos and his fiancé recently visited Hydra on his $500m yacht. They will have kissed goodbye to a far greater amount of Euro than this intrepid traveller.
