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To Athens October 18, 2002 We dinghied over to the sandy beach of the hotel beneath the Sounion headland and trudged up to the remains of the temple of Poseidon, only to find out they were not open yet. We nosed around the souvenir shop for a while and I selected a CD that showed 50 pictures of Greece and several traditional Greek musical numbers. (However on playing it a few days later I found that the images would not come up, and had only the music.) On opening, we were the first up to find the ruins roped off, permitting us to wander around the outside of the temple columns, but not to enter or look more closely at the architectural details. The 17 roofless columns stood white and proud, remnants of a temple built in the 5th century BC to the cult of Poseidon fostered by the growing supremacy of Athenian naval power. On a lower hill below the temple are the remains of a temple of Athena, only a couple of dusty columns in the middle of a field. The entire headland was fortified at one time, dominating the entrance to the Saronic Gulf (with Athens and Corinth at the inner end) and the south Euboean Gulf to the north. The silver mines at Lavrion 10 km to the north were also protected by this fortress. However, in 104 to 100 BC the headland was occupied by 1000 slaves in revolt from these mines. By the 2nd century AD and with the decline of the Roman Era, the sanctuary was abandoned. We spent less than an hour wandering around the site, and didn’t bother going over to the few columns of the temple of Athena, as we wanted to get under way for Aigina, a large historic island in the middle of the Saronic Gulf. We were now in the historic waters leading to Athens and Corinth. There is a free incomplete marina just outside the town breakwater, but it looked quite full and did not seem to have much maneuvering room for bows-on mooring without the anchor lines becoming mixed up like a plate of spaghetti. The town docks were reasonably clear, and so we went in bows to the dock, right along the main street. As we were to meet my foster son Alvin at the Athens airport three days from now, Sept. 20th, we decided this would be a good location from which to catch a ferry to Piraeus to pick him up. We had phoned a few of the marinas closer to Athens to get no response or to find out they were full, and so were happy to stay here at Aigina and catch one of the local ferries. There were several leaving every hour, and we had a choice of a regular car ferry, a high speed cat ferry or a hydrofoil, ranging in price from €5.00 to €7.00, and taking from 2 ½ hours to 45 minutes respectively. The town itself is a pleasant one, with all the amenities needed, including chandleries, vegetable and fruit markets (including a couple of boats docked at the waterfront laden down with fresh produce), internet and DVD rentals, with a fuel truck and water available. We took a local bus up into the mountains to the Temple of Aphaia, built in pre-Hellenic 480 BC when Aigina was at its height of development. The pediments of the temple were decorated with Trojan War sculpture as Aigina (also spelt Aegina, but pronounced as “eh-yee-nah”, with a soft “g”) contributed several ships to that campaign; however they (the sculptures) were “spirited “away in the 19th century, were in the possession of King Ludwig I, and now have pride of place in Munich’s Glyptothek museum”, according to the Lonely Planet Guide. This temple too was roped off, but was more impressive than Sounion, and had more columns, capitals, foundations and construction stones distributed with explanatory stations around the site. One station I found of interest illustrated the construction methods used, with diagrams of how the stones and columns had niches carved into them for lifting and secure placement. It made the examination of the loose stone blocks of greater interest as we noted these carved niches used in the construction. This site also had what I had wanted to see in several other sites – a good explanatory museum with pictures of the original temple, its design, statuary, and construction features. Because of the museum, I would put it as one of the best sites we have seen. On the way back in the bus we saw the Paleohora, the old town abandoned in 1826, but did not stop to snoop through it. The older ladies in black dresses were crossing themselves past every chapel and church. The town and island, because of its strategic position at the mouth of the Saronic Gulf, emerged as a major commercial center about 1000 BC and by the 7th century BC was the major power in the area. However, even though it was a major contributor to the Greek side at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, it was attacked and defeated by Athens in 459 BC, and forced to tear down its city walls and surrender its fleet. As the Lonely Planet describes, “According to mythology, Aegina was abducted by Zeus, and taken to the island. Her son by Zeus, Aeacus, was the grandfather of Achilles of Trojan War fame.” Other details about the island:
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