Greek Islands

Hello! I was a little shocked to see on the news today that a french tourist was killed by terrorists in Cairo yesterday, but don't be alarmed since they attacked yesterday statistically they shouldn't attack again that soon, so I should be okay. I leave for Cairo tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully my stay in Egypt goes smoothly.

Hydrofoil
Today I left Athens and headed to the port town of Piraeus in order to hop on a ferry to the island of Aegina. But what I rode on wasn't a ferry, it was a "hydrofoil" boat (if you don't know what that is google it). It looked like a boat with nubby wings when I boarded, but as soon as we cleared the docks, this thing jumped out of the water and skidded along the top similar to those boats that land on water (the boat glided along on legs that were similar to the water planes).

Aegina Island
Anyways I arrived on the Island at a port town called Aegina Town (Aegina island is located in the Saronic Gulf, southwest of Athens). From there I hiked a little ways to the Temple of Apollo. All that's left of it is piles of rubble and one (half-destroyed) column. What's left of the temple sits out on a point, so it kind of looks like the island is giving you the finger when you arrive at port (it made me laugh). I wasn't able to examine it closely since its monday, which means everything is closed, so I headed back into town to catch a bus across the island to the Temple of Aphaia (all the temples looked the same back in the day, they were all rectangular with columns surrounding them, so lots of the ruins look the same). I would have rented a moped for the day to cruise the island, but unfortunately it was extremely cold today, so I didn't think I'd find the ride that enjoyable. My little bus ride to this temple was a little adventure though. Not only did the bus look like it belonged in South America (just missing the chickens strapped to the roof), but the roads connecting the towns on the island weren't even paved and the bus stops weren't marked. This caused me to miss my stop and enter the town of Agia Marina (which I was planning on visiting anyways, just after the temple). Because I missed my stop I had to catch another bus back to the temple (which caused me to have to wait in the cold for a hour for another bus to take me back to Aegina Town. Thankfully there was a little cafe to wait in some of the time). I can now see why Greece is a second world country (once you leave the shelter of the big city, you meet real Greece). The island and countryside were very lovely, but all the cars looked like they belonged in a junk yard, the people and houses were pretty shabby and garbage was littered everywhere. The actual Temple of Aphaia was one of the more complete temples I've seen and it was open (even though it wasn't suppose to be) so I'm glad I made the journey. I was planning on visiting some more areas of the island, but since it was so cold (and I didn't want to miss the last ferry back to the mainland) I decided to head back to Athens. I consider it turning in early and wussing out because of the cold, but actually by the time I made it back to Athens it was near 5 o'clock, so I'm glad I left when I did.

I'll post pictures later today, if I brave going out in the cold again (I didn't bring a jacket with me, only warm sweaters because its was suppose to be warm my entire vacation), if not I'll add them all tomorrow. LoveYa.