We had a wonderful dinner last night and beat a hasty retreat to our hotel room. We picked up some of Aegina's world-famous pistachios on the way, so there may be a treat for those of you in San Diego if we don't eat them all on the plane home.
This morning, we had a moped delivered to the hotel. We spent the day riding around the island and exploring what it had to offer. The highlight was our visit to the ancient Temple of Aphaia, built around 500 BC atop one of the northern mountains of the island. The site is very well preserved, and the view from the mountain was breathtaking.
It seems Aphaia was a woman living on Crete when King Minos (of labrynth fame) fell in love with her. For some reason, she didn't feel the same and fled to Aegina for safety. Legend has it she threw herself off the cliffs of the mountain to escape when he finally found her. Sort of like Sleeping with the Enemy, but with a more tragic ending. The ancient Aeginans (?) worshipped her as a fertility goddess.
Tomorrow we head back to Istanbul and then fly to the States at 6 am Monday morning. So this should be our final email. We hope you have enjoyed our messages.
And don't forget. We have plenty of pictures and video for those of you haven't had enough.
When we get home, we will post more pictures to the Internet, and we'll let you know when they are up.
Take care.
Paul and Colleen
Back to home page