AEGINA

Introduction
Welcome to the AEGINA Web Site.

Though I live in the UK, I have felt a strong connection with Aegina, my favourite Greek Island, ever since my first visit in 1990 and I hope one day to live and work there. In the meantime though, I intend to make this as comprehensive a site as possible, hopefully with the help of the residents of AEGINA.

I started by wondering how to introduce Aegina on this main page when I came across a wonderful article by local poet Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke which to me sums up the island perfectly, and I've included it below.

Please go to PHOTOS section for more info and also LINKS for other sites.

Many Thanks

Charlie Ulyatt

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I WOULD BE REALLY GRATEFUL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE PEOPLE OF AEGINA�.IN PARTICULAR FROM SCULPTORS, POETS, MUSICIANS ETC, BUT ALSO FROM TAVERNAS, SHOPS, APARTMENTS ETC�.I WOULD ALSO REALLY LIKE TO RECEIVE REGULAR
Aegina is a place of return. It is a place that opens, receives, consoles and heals. Other islands are points of departure; you leave them behind and set off on expeditions, exploits, conquests. Dry, arid islands like Hydra, Ios, Mykonos and Santorini inspire action. Aegina, on the other hand, is a feminine island; as the boat turns the corner, the horse-shoe shaped harbour - the church of the little virgin on the one side and the old yellow house on the other provides the perfect enclosure for the aching heart. When I was small, I thought the yellow house had become yellow from the passing of time, like an old photograph.

The harbour is alive. It is as alive in winter as it is in the summer. Tourists barely alter this island. They make a brief appearance and then disappear mysteriously, like the summer sirocco the hot, humid wind that sweeps in from the south, the Sahara. In September the air smells of resin from the pistachio nuts that are harvested there and the newly washed barrels ready for new wine. The light is soft and caressing, having lost the harshness of August. Across the water the mountain of Methana turns a dusted blue. I sit at Skotadis' Ouzo shop watching the caiques unload fruit and vegetables, while Babouas who has Down Syndrome and owes his name to the only sound he can produce, paces up and down and smiles at the familiar faces. He is grateful for this place which forgives human and divine mistakes and accepts us all.

Inland, the landscape is reminiscent of Attica. Perhaps the island retains something from its motherland, across the water, in the same way we often keep the facial characteristics of our parents. The curves of the hills and the tops of the olive trees follow and at times interrupt the sky. The clouds add a touch of frivolous imagination in the midst of so much blue seriousness. These are the elements Aegina shares with Attica. But Aegina is distinctly an island; your nostrils quiver in the salty air which reaches you wherever you go. There's a sense of being cut-off, set apart; there's an atmosphere of independence, of autonomy, of solitude. A dual personality then is the key to this island's charm. Aegina is both the sweetness and the severeness of life, all in one slight stretch of land.
General Information
The Greek island of Aegina (pronounced Ayina with the stress on the long A of the first syllable) is a triangular shaped island in the middle of the Saronic Gulf, midway between the port of Piraeus (from where it can be reached by ferry in 1 � hours), Megara on the mainland and Epidavros on the Peloponnesse.

It has an area of 85 sq. Kms and a population of approximately 11,000 of whom, over half live in the capital, Aegina Town.

Though the island is predominantly mountainous, there is a large Plain on the western part of the island where crops such as pistachio nuts, grapes, olives, figs and almonds are grown.

The eastern side of the island is predominantly rocky with high cliffs dropping down sharply to the sea, though the exception to this is the bay of Aghia Marina, which is also the main tourist resort on the island.

On the western side of the island are the bay of Marathona and the capital itself - Aegina Town.
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