Agía Marína is the largest holiday resort of the island, mainly for two reasons. First, there is a large sandy beach in front of the village, which gradually deepens and thus making it ideal for families and small children. Naturally, you can find water sports, organized beach and many tavernas.
Second, the village is situated close to the temple of Afaía Athena, a sacred area operating since the prehistoric times (13th century BC.). Initially, the area was a worship place for the goddess Evgonía, deity of fertility. According to myth, the King of Crete Mínoas fell in love with Vritómarti, however it appears she did not really want anything to do with him and in order to hide, she fell in the sea. There, she was caught by fishermen’s nets and when brought up to the ship, surprise surprise, a sailor fell in love with her so she ran away again, fell into the sea and swam ashore to Aígina. Vritómarti continued to look for a hideout, probably fearing some more in love maniacs on her trail, and ended up on the Ártemis’s hill where the goddess made her disappear. When the men went looking for her, they found in her place a statue which they named Afaía (stands for “áfanti” which in greek means the one who cannot be seen, cannot be found). So, the Aiginítes built a temple to her honor, the temple of Afaía – later in the years, the goddess Afaía identified with goddess Athena and the temple took the name of Afaía Athena. It is estimated that the version of the temple as we know today was built around 500 BC.
At the end of the beach lies the chapel of Agía Marína, which celebrates every year on the 17th of July, holding a feast open to everybody.
