How Close Can I Get to Aphaia Temple on Aegina When It Is Closed?

Posted by jennifercollinsmoore on 03/15/19 02:08 AM

Hello!

I will be on Aegina over Easter (arriving Sunday, April 28, leaving Wednesday, May 1) and the Aphaia temple is closed on Monday, the day we hoped to visit it. I wondered if it would still make sense to go see it from the outside. Is it possible to still get a good view of the temple when it's closed, or is all the "good stuff" inside the closed off area? (The museum is not a priority for us, just the temple itself.)

If the recommendation is to go another day (Tuesday, as I imagine it will be closed on Easter), do you have any suggestions for what we should do on Easter Monday? We inquired about a boat tour that day but the company we like is not available. It's our first trip to Greece and I will be with my husband and 4 & 9 year old boys.

Thank you so much!

Posted by janet

Philadelphia, PA, USA

03/15/19 01:34 PM

3397 posts

There is no "inside" to the temple... google a photo of it & you will see.... it has almost all its columns intact, so is the best-preserved temple on any island, the roof is missing of course. However, you will not miss a lot by not walking right up to it because close-up will not reveal any internal sculpted panels or any other sculptures from the pediment -- because in 1811 a posh overprivileged young Englishman, finishing off his Oxford education with a Grand Tour, conspired with a German Baron to loot them, and subsequently sell them to the King of Bavaria. Later he & another adventurer also carefully sketched all the treasures of the Temple at Bassae which they also planned to loot ... but some other Brits beat them to it, bribed the Turkish overlords, then sold them to the British Museum.

An unrequested historical backgrounder, I confess, but it's a reason to be saddened while viewing this beautiful monument and a reminder that while the Brits of today seem very law-abiding, in the 19th C Greed was Good.

Posted by jennifercollinsmoore OP

03/15/19 01:39 PM

3 posts

Thank you! Yes, I saw from the google photos that the inside is roped off. I just wasn't sure how close to the gate / fence the google photos were and if we'd be able to see them from the outside. It's good to know that it would still be worth a trip up there.

Posted by jennifercollinsmoore OP

05/08/19 08:04 PM

3 posts

I wanted to add an update now that we're back from Aegina in case someone finds this doing future research. We changed our itinerary so were able to visit the temple on a day it was open and are so glad we did. The fence / gate is some distance away from the temple itself, and we wouldn't have gotten much of a glimpse without going inside the grounds. (The google photos are, of course, of the area showing where visitors inside the grounds are not able to go. The fence around the entire area is quite a ways from the temple.)

The temple itself is magical and definitely worth a visit. We had it practically to ourselves and the view is spectacular. We walked down from to Agia Marina (an easy 30 minute walk with small children) and enjoyed a lovely beach-front meal before going back to Aegina Town.

Aegina is a wonderful island -- highly recommended.