The Association of Active Citizens of Aegina (AACA) and the team of volunteers working on the Aegina trail system have worked since 2009 without remuneration and by covering their own costs on the project of identifying, clearing, marking and maintaining over the long term the old paths and trails of Aegina. The project has received critical support and assistance from the Hellenic Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage (ELLET), whose invaluable contribution and guidance facilitated the implementation and completed in 2015 of Phase 1 of the Aegina “Paths of Culture” network, featuring 9 routes totalling 45 km.
In the years since, we proceeded to Phase 2 by expanding the network with another 30 km, so that Aegina’s trail system currently consists of an integrated total of 75 km of trails. The ultimate aim is to connect the main ports of Aegina with all the important monuments and sights of the island, such as the Temple of Aphaea, Palaiochora, the monastery of Panagia Chrysoleontissa, the “Elaionas” ancient olive grove, and others. With the goal of ensuring hiker safety, Phase 2, i.e. the extension of the original network, requires directional and cultural information signposting.
Through our actions – organized hikes, cooperation with schools, joint actions with other associations and groups of visiting volunteers, presentations, festive events, a website with maps and information (in Greek and five other languages), printed leaflets in cooperation with the Municipality, etc. – we are helping to raise community awareness of environmental and cultural issues and to highlight and promote hiking tourism.
The Aegina trails have been embraced by the local community, organizations staging foot races, such as the “Ellanios Zeus”, hospitality entrepreneurs attracting groups of hikers and cyclists, and associations from Athens and elsewhere who come to the island specifically to hike the trail system. Without doubt, their existence constitutes an additional advantage for the island’s promotion of tourism, as it expands the range of visitor types and provides an essential boost during the low season.
On 26/3/2025, the Municipal Committee of Aegina met and approved the study and technical specifications of a project tender titled: “Development, promotion and upgrade of trails in the Municipality of Aegina”, with a budget of €88,441.74 (plus VAT of 24%). In pursuing this project, the Municipality asked the AACA to participate and assist by providing expertise, data, maps, processed material and field experience, gathered over its 15 years of involvement in this area. The AACA responded by submitting all the necessary materials to the competent departments. The AACA was then essentially left out of the process of monitoring the preparation of the final study.
After 20 months, and despite ongoing input from AACA to the Municipal authorities regarding errors and omissions in its original study submitted to the Greek Environment Ministry’s Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (NECCA) in June 2023, this more or less same preliminary study prepared by the Municipality’s staff in June 2023 was submitted with no improvement whatsoever to the Municipal Committee and was – wrongly – approved in March 2025.
By doing so, the Municipality would simply absorb the funding from the Recovery and Resilience Fund provided by NECCA for the “Creation of a national network of hiking trails and corridors” while implicitly but unequivocally overlooking the work of volunteers and other bodies.
AACA’s objections to the study and the budget approved for tendering the project “Development, promotion and upgrade of trails in the Municipality of Aegina” are broken down as follows:
The budget of €88,441.74 (plus VAT of 24%), approved by the Aegina Municipal Committee, lists an expense of €52,000 (plus VAT) for the “General clearing of stones, branches, etc. from a trail, low-impact” for 8 km of paths at €6.50/metre, an expense for 10 directional signs, 10 signposts and 48 ceramic tiles for trail marking, as well as 2 benches, 2 picnic-type tables, 2 rubbish bins and 30 metres of wooden fencing (without explaining its intended location).
We believe this budget to be inappropriate for these reasons:
€52,000 (plus VAT) for “General clearing of stones, branches, etc. from a trail, low-impact”:
Phase 2, i.e. the enrichment of the existing network of the “Paths of Culture” in Aegina with new routes and signposting applies to approximately 30 km. These 30 km have already been cleared, for the most part by volunteers, both locals and others, who have been working consistently over the last 15 years by choice and with diligence to identify, clear and maintain the old trails. Since the author of the municipal study has identified 8 km needing clearing, we propose that this distance should be cleared by volunteers as well so that the €52,000 budgeted for clearing can be earmarked for signposting and hiker safety, as follows:
A. for completing small-scale works, such as creating steps and terraces using stones or wooden logs, erecting protective fencing to safeguard visitors at certain points where the trail meets main roadways, and others. The sites where such works should be undertaken are clearly marked on the maps for expanding the network, which AACA has submitted to the Municipality of Aegina.
B. for signposting the new trails of 30 km, as well as updating the signposts of the existing “Paths of Culture” trails on the island (45 km). Unfortunately, the approved budget is insufficient, at the very least, as it provides only for:
10 wooden directional signs instead of the 55 required
10 ironwood signposts instead of the 91 required
48 ceramic tiles instead of the 1,645 required (845 for the extension + 800 to replace the older ones on the existing network)
(the cost of handmade ceramic tiles, coated with a red and wide waterproof vitreous glaze and bearing a relief shape of a sea turtle, according to professional ceramists in Aegina who could undertake to produce them, is €5/piece plus VAT, and not €70 as stated in the budget)
There is also no provision for:
cultural signs to mark starting points, large central signs for the island’s four ports, the design of cultural and central signs, or wages and materials for installing the signs.
C. it would be advisable for part of the funding to be earmarked to promote the trails with conventional and electronic media, as stipulated in the NECCA tender announcement, including maps, leaflets, mobile phone apps, video productions featuring the hiking trails and the natural and human-made heritage of Aegina, among others.
All of the above are key and essential elements of a trail network. There can be no “development, promotion and upgrade of trails” without signposting and ensured safety for hikers.
We would also like to point out that the trails do not need “recycled benches with backs and picnic tables”, and certainly no “recycled rubbish bins”. Instead of these, some sort of “seats” could be created at particular vista points out of natural materials (stones and boulders) when they can be appropriately shaped for such use. This €3,520 should be earmarked for signposting, safety and promotion of hiking trails.
The Aegina trail system was not created only for the pleasure of hikers, connecting with nature, for sporting activities, or citizen awareness of environmental and cultural issues, but also as a way of stimulating the local economy through an alternative type of tourism. The development of hiking tourism offers one more advantage in the tourism promotion of the island beyond the familiar “sea and sun” product. Extending the tourist season throughout the year invites visitors to get to know all of the island, aside from the areas around the ports; it promotes local production, creates new business opportunities for tourism entrepreneurs, while also fostering respect for nature, traditions and the cultural heritage of each location.
We were asked, we responded, and we have tried repeatedly to help. Our input was pointedly ignored. No timely information, no desire for cooperation. Our ongoing efforts to approach the Municipality for a meeting and meaningful cooperation on this topic was met with a brick wall of indifference. The response was always the same: “It is a study/construction; we will correct it along the way.”
There is a source of funding. Let’s use it in a targeted and prudent manner. Let us not complacently just “absorb” the funds. We want to see this funding used where it will have the most impact.
The Association of Active Citizens of Aegina once again declares its willingness to be part of a meaningful “Development, promotion and upgrade of the Aegina trails”.