Aegina Overview

Athenians make haste to the whitewashed shores of Aegina, where the big city’s bustle is transported on summer weekends. Relations with the mainland once were more strained than they are today, as the little island repeatedly betrayed its Athenian neighbor. Aegina first sided against their Hellenic brethren 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 insurgence against the mainland. Defeated in battle, the island found itself displaced by Athenian colonists, putting an end to Aeginian dominance at the Panhellenic games. Aegina soon sank into geopolitical obscurity, only emerging over two millennia later, in 1827, as the temporary capital of then 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.