Holy Church of Saint Nectarios of Aegina

Saint Nektarios, a bishop who founded a convent in the hills of Aegina and died in 1920, is one of the most popular saints of modern Greek Orthodoxy, and this is his shrine. The vast church, one of the largest in Greece, rises beside the older convent where he lived and where his tomb and cell can be visited.

Expect a steady flow of pilgrims, coach groups from Athens at weekends and a large crowd around his feast day in November. It is a working religious site, so dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, and keep voices low inside. The church lies inland, roughly midway between Aegina Town and Agia Marina, on the bus route, and pairs well with the ruined medieval town of Paleochora on the hillside opposite.