Greece is mainly made up of traditional villages, with regional picturesque architecture styles; varying from Cycladic architecture, to Neoclassical, to mountain Balkanic villages in Western Macedonia and Epirus, to archontiko style, or Venetian influenced towns and the list goes on.

Actually, it should be remarked that there are literally thousands of these towns all around Greece. So, the idea of these series of threads is to make a visit to the real Greece, to the traditional towns, where old architecture and centuries old homes are still prevalent over the newer styles.

Of course it's impossible to depict all of those towns and villages as there are literally thousands pf them all around the place, but I'll try to do my best in order to make you get an idea of how rich and varied is Greek architecture.

Let's begin the journey.

THE TOWN OF AEGINA:
Located 50kms (31 miles) from Athens in the island of Aegina its history goes back to the 4th millenium BC.

The city of Aegina is the capital city of the island with a population of 11,000 is located on the west side of the island. It's built amphitheatrical towards the sea. When you enter the harbor, the small, white church of Saint Nikolas welcomes you.

Your first impession is the modern type classical buildings, which are located along the sea front of the island and have terrestrial shade colors which make them look even more beautiful at sunset.

The buildings in Aegina have a neoclassical architecture built during the first half of 19th century with folk elements of the 18th century. They remind us that Aegina were once the capital city of Greece for two years. In Aegina town you are going to find as well many medieval remainings like the Saints Theodoron church of 13th century or even the neolithic town built in the 4th millenium BC.

HOW TO GET TO AEGINA: It's just a 50 kms (31 miles) trip from downtown Athens, making this place ideal for weekend getaways. Take the Metro Line 1 to Piraeus. Once there you can get a Flying Dolphin for Aegina.

The metro trip lasts 15 minutes while the Dolphin trip some 40 minutes, so in 1-1.5 hour you can get there.

PHOTO GALLERY:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Egina7.jpg

http://www.travel-to-aegina.com/gallery_images/39.jpg

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http://www.greecetravel.com/photos/sixties/greek-islands/PhotoAlbum1/aegina-088.jpg

http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/classics/photos/photodb/Aegina.jpg

http://members.aon.at/claudias-fotoreisen/hp/Aegina_Stadt%20Gassen.JPG

http://members.aon.at/claudias-fotoreisen/hp/Aegina_Stadt%20Hafenkirche.JPG

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Markello's tower was built around 1800 by Spiridona Markello
http://www.aegina.com.gr/images/markelos5.jpg

The Government house
http://www.aegina.com.gr/images/kybernio-2.jpg

http://www.travel-to-aegina.com/gallery_images/21.jpg

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Enough of Aegina Town for the moment. There are other beautiful traditional towns all around the island but we'll focus on them in later posts. Our next post's destination is going to be the town of Hydra in the homonymous island.

I never imagined that Aegina looked so horrible in the eyes of other people, 29 views and not even an answer; while other places posted in later threads are filling of answers.

I love those small towns of Greece.. :okay: Simply beautiful... I want to visit those places one day...

I'd wish we had so many islands too.. :(

Grigoris, these are beautiful shots of beautiful cities and countryside. Don't fret, I only got one reply on my last thread entry. I think this will be the last time I post on here.

Adios

aegina is a very "arhontiko" nisi, very nice pics

I'd love to see more of rural greek architecture since it's unique. did you notice how the whitewashed houses and the blue sea / sky form the colors of the greek national flag? Perfect!

Great pics Grigoris! Traditional Greek architecture is great to see especially on the islands' settings!