Sitting in the grounds of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens waiting for it to open; time to talk about yesterday (Tuesday).

I slept pretty well the first night in Antonio’s. It was a help-yourself-to-as-many-blankets-as-you-want kinda place, and I’d loaded up – I had learned from the hostel night that Greece gets pretty chilly at nighttime especially when the shutters aren’t fully closed! Woke up reasonably refreshed, although my legs and hips are letting me know they still remember yesterday’s exertions. Thanks, body! Google reports that I was active yesterday for 4 hours 37 minutes for a total of 29,017 steps.

I had finalised the core of the day’s plans last night: take a ferry trip to Aegina, the closest island to Athens. It’s a fairly small island, I think around 15km on its roughly-square side. It’s supposed to have some pretty scenery and a couple of archaeological sites. One of the main sites is on the other side of the island, though, so rather than take a taxi or wait for a supposedly-very-infrequent bus I was going to hire a bike and take a ride!

I’m out of the apartment by 7.30, aiming for an 8.50 high speed ferry from the port of Piraeus at the end of one of Athens’ metro lines.

First stop – breakfast. I wanted to sample one of the traditional sesame pretzel-like things I’d been seeing. It was very nice, and I say that as someone who treats bread as a very optional thing.

Actually, I’m glossing over things slightly here; the first one I bought was from the stand of a street seller, but I took one bite and decided that it definitely should taste better. I ditched that one and bought one from a bakery instead, much better!

Back on the metro. Reach the port. Buy my one-way ticket (€13). Initially go the wrong way to find the ferry. 5 minutes to departure. Ask for directions. Run (Google Fit reports 98 steps of running yesterday; this was it). Board. And we’re off!

It’s a quick hop on the hydrofoil, 40 minutes, so I’m there before I know it. Egina, the port town, is quite pretty but very touristy. Not much of a surprise. I easily find a bike rental place, hand over my passport (ugh, but not much choice, it’s my only id) and €5 for a not-too-bad bike and a map of the island.

My plan is to head north and then east all the way along the coast until I get to the Temple of Aphaia, then return through the middle of the island catching the monastery on the way. I’ll catch whatever ferry is convenient when I get back to Egina. Off I go; have some scenery.

This was just weird though:

It’s all quite pleasant for most of the coastline; some hilly bits but mostly pretty flat and, well, pretty. There are definitely very high hills further inland, though, but I’m sure the route back through the centre of the island will be sensible.

I’m about two-thirds of the way along the coastline (just through Vagia on the map) when I hit a snag – the road is blocked because the Greek Navy own a bunch of it.

Hmm. Possible that I missed a turnoff somewhere to a road that would bypass this along the coast, but Google (the offline maps are now quite good and take GPS into account) isn’t showing anything. I head back along the way I’d come to take the shortcut (red line on the map) to the Temple instead.

I can see the temple now, I think. I’m not happy about it though. It’s *high*. Looks like I’ve found another hill to climb, this time without even trying! The road starts to develop switchbacks now, and is quite steep. I’ve never been super at hills on a bike, and my legs are suffering a bit from yesterday; I definitely walk the bike up some sections.

I get there, still alive. Pay my €4 to get into the site and wander around. The temple itself is quite impressive, the views are pretty good too.

I had initially planned on going to Agia Marina on the east coast, but I had climbed a long way and didn’t want to descend only to have to do it again! Onwards through the centre of the island towards the Monastery of Agios Nektarios instead.

It’s even hillier now, very up and down with some quite steep climbs. More bits of walking interspersed.

In the distance I can see some structures at the top of a peak. I don’t really know what the monastery looks like but I decide right then that if that’s it I’m not going to climb *that* hill. I’m nothing if not sensible, after all!

OK, some hope; I can see the towers of something that *could* be a monastery. It’s still up a hill but not quite as high!

And that does indeed prove to be it. The other hillside with the ruins turned out to be the Aeginaean version of the Acropolis, interesting. Anyway, the monastery was quite nice and I was thankfully able to fill my water bottle which had just run dry. It’s a pretty hot day, that wouldn’t have been good.

Sightseeing done, my last destination is back to the port. Finally it’s time for the climbing to pay off; I was ~5km from Egina and Google tells me that I cycled for two minutes at that time: freewheel all the way, and I’m pretty sure *that* two minutes was re-starting after photos.

I hand in my bike, take a short walk around some of the pretty back alleyways, then settle down for a rest with a well-deserved icecream and double Greek coffee. Relax.

I’m heading back to Athens on the slower car ferry; I’m not in a rush, it saves some money (€9 v €13), and it has a viewing platform on top. Very pleasant ~80 minute journey back to Piraeus, then back onto the metro towards central Athens. Nice views from the deck.

It was about 4.30pm now; I decided to walk around for a bit and eventually grab some food. I got off a few stops early and went for a wander through some previously-unexplored and very much not touristy parts of town. Some miscellaneous pictures, including some of the Acropolis lit up in the distance.

Stopped for coffee and a read at one point, and looked up the locations of a few very-well-recommended traditional souvlaki places. The one I’d had previously was decent but no more than that, I wanted to see whether it could be done better. More walking (I’m back to the area around Ermou now); I find all three but they’re closed for the day, apparently small traditional souvlaki joints don’t maintain tourist hours. Not a bad sign, but inconvenient!

I wander a bit more, eventually settling on a place that seemed to have a bunch of locals eating inside. The single waiter/owner/maybe chef was very friendly but his English wasn’t great; I was happy to give him the request of “meat, traditional” and let the rest up to him. He didn’t disappoint; pretty simple – lean cuts of pork with some chips in gravy along with some chunks of bread – but very tasty. I’d have licked the plate but luckily the bread was there to help instead.

I was happy to trust him for dessert as well; asked for “something sweet”, got a poached pear in some kind of syrup. Again, very simple, but delicious.

€9.50 total, not bad.

Right, home time. I walk a couple of km back down to Syntagma Square, taste another couple of samples from the food market that’s still going on (including a roast chestnut for the first time, yum), then back on the metro to the apartment.

Another good day out. Google Fit statistics:
– 6h 20m of total activity
– 2h 38m cycling
– 3h 40m walking, 22882 steps
– 1m running, 97 steps

I should also note that I’ve managed to not get burned at all so far this trip, despite the sun beaming down every day. Yeah, I’m surprised too!

Tomorrow afternoon I fly to Istanbul so I get myself packed and hit the sack. Sleepytime.