Aegina island located only 17,5 nautical miles from Piraeus is the ideal place for weekend or a daily cruise but and a favourite summer resort.
Just 6.5 km. from the port, opposite the monastery of Agios Nektarios, there is a low hill covered with the ruins of the abandoned city of Palaiohora. This was the capital of the island from the 9th to early 19th century. Crowning the summit are the remnants of the medieval castle where the population sought refuge during pirate raids. In its heyday, Palaiohora could survive, many with memorable wall paintings.
Another interesting landmark is the monastery of the Virgin Chryssoleontissa on the road to Marathon. Dating from 1600, this monastery is built in a style reminiscent of the fortified monasteries of Mount Athos.The church possesses a splendid carved iconostasis.
Apart from antiquities, the island has much to offer in the way of sandy beaches for sun worshippers and swimming enthusiasts, along with delightful fishing villages, and a richly varied landscape.
South of the capital is the
seaside village of Marathon, followed by the fishing port of Perdika (9 km.).
From Perdika small boats ferry visitors to the picturesque islets of Angistri
and Moni, ideal spots for enjoying nature, solitude and relaxing pursuits.
The most popular resorts on the
Aegina island are Agia Marina, Souvala, and Perdika
It would appear that the first settlers came from the Peloponnese around 3500-3000 BC and built a suburb in the area of Colona as well as in the Temple of Aphaea.
In the Early Bronze Age (2500-2000BC), the Ageans, a tribe similar to the Cretans came and settled on Aegina. It seems that they developed trading links with Attica, the Peloponnese, the Cycladic islands and Crete. This was cut short though by the arrival of Greek tribes into the area, the Acheans. However, this new civilisation was completely wiped out, possibly by an unexpected invasion and Aegina fell silent.
The first actual recorded information about Aegina is the conquest of the island by the Doreans of Epidavros in 950 BC. They chose Aegina as their base in order to concentrate on the sea and trading, and soon became very rich and powerful. These traders imported huge amounts of silver from North Africa (where it had no value!) and introduced this as a means of exchange. From this silver, the first coins were created which were imprinted with the image of a turtle.
Gradually, Aegina slipped into decline. The traders turned their hand to money lending and Aegina became a centre for borrowing and the seeds of destruction grew.
After the battle of Salamis, Athens emerged as the foremost Greek City-State, competing at all levels with the powerful Spartans and the Corinthians and the nearby Aegina, so close and hostile represented a potential threat, which had to be eliminated. After news reached Athens of an alliance between Aegina and the Corinthians, Athens attacked and captured both Aegina's and the Corinthians fleet. After this, Athens decided it wise to empty Aegina of its inhabitants and once again, Aegina fell silent.
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During this period, Aegina fell into the hands of many rulers: the City-state of Pergamus (now Ismir in Turkey), the Romans, the Venetians, the Ottomans, Venice again and then back to the Turks.
During the 9th century, when pirates ruled the Mediterranean, the inhabitants decided to abandon their capital, the port of Aegina and withdrew to the interior to shelter from attacks by invaders. In 896 AD, a new town was built near to where Aghios Nektarios stands today. This area is, today, called Paliachora and the medieval remains of several chapels and churches can still be seen. Initially, Paliachora contained 365 churches though only 28 now remain standing, some of which have interesting frescoes.
In 1537,during the war between the Venetians and the Turks, the island was destroyed by the notorious pirate Barbarossa who slaughtered all the men on the island and took thousands of women and children to the slave markets of the East. As time went by, the remaining inhabitants seemed to adapt to piracy as a way of life for themselves; a number of islanders would hide in the nooks and crannies of the northern coastline and attack passing ships.
Paliachora remained as the capital of Aegina from the end of the 9th Century to early in the 19th Century when the inhabitants began to return to Aegina town.
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In the 19th century, the inhabitants began to return to the port of Aegina and the first houses were built around 1800. During this period, the island became a hiding place and refuge for the wounded rebel fighters from the first steps of the war of liberation from the Ottoman Empire. It was also here, that widows and orphans from the war found refuge and once more, the waterfront became a hive of activity.
Compared to other parts of Greece, Aegina managed to maintain a rudimentary social infrastructure and it was this that influenced the Revolutionary Assembly of the Greeks to elect Aegina as the first capital of Free Greece (1827 - 1829) under the presidency of Ioannis Capodistrias.
Nafplion and
then Athens replaced Aegina as the capital of Greece, though Capodistrias
continued to operate from Aegina until his assassination in church there in
1831. But during the short period as the country's capital, the island managed
to strengthen economic and social development on the island, and for a short
while, Aegina became the cultural and political centre of the country. The first
Greek Governor and his Government resided here for a while and the country's
first independent coin was minted here in 1829.
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As would be expected, when Aegina ceased to be the capital, it entered a new period of obscurity with the inhabitants mainly living off shipping, fishing and agriculture; though during World War Two, the seas were mined and supplies were in such short supply that 2000 people on the island died of starvation. The valleys now are planted with Pistachio trees, which produce the best in Greece. However, due to this, the value of the land increased which created a barrier to the initial influx of tourists.
Early tourists were mainly Classicists and Philhellenes who were aware of the islands past and it was only in the 1960s that tourism really began to take off. Many Athenians and also foreign visitors built summer houses here. The first wave of these were mostly intellectuals and artists, though gradually mass tourism arrived in Aegina.
Today, tourism is the main income for the islanders, though there is still a certain amount of fishing and agriculture, though this is mainly based on the Pistachio nut which was introduced from Syria over 100 years ago and which prospered well in the fertile soil and favourable climate of Aegina.
The island is full of life, as much from the locals as from the visitors and the port of Aegina is still the second busiest port in Greece, after Piraeus.