Athens Aegina

Athenians make haste to the whitewashed shores of Aegina, where the big city’s bustle is transported on summer weekends. Now best known as a weekend getaway and major pistachio supplier, ancient Aegina was once an important political presence. Relations with the mainland were more strained back then than they are today, as the little island repeatedly betrayed its Athenian neighbor in ancient wars. Aegina first sided against their Hellenic brethren, Sparta, in 491 BC when Xerxes’s army laid siege to Athens, kicking off the Persian Wars. Though returning humbly to the Greek side in 480 BC and even winning the praise of the Delphic Oracle for having the swiftest navy on the seas, Aegina turned against Athens in Sparta’s 459 BC insurgency against the mainland. Aegina soon sank into geopolitical obscurity, only emerging over 2000 years later, in 1827, as the temporary capital of a partially liberated Greece. Travelers to Aegina will find that its attractions are as rich as its legacy, including gorgeous beaches, wild nightlife, and the well-preserved remains of the Temple of Aphaia, not to mention the endless flood of pistachio-flavored treats.

Aegina Town

As soon as your ferry docks in Aegina Town, you’ll know that you’ve entered “the pistachio capital of the world.” With preserved, jellied, flavored, red, flaked, shelled, and regular varieties ...more

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