Aighion
Location: Greece (Peloponnese, Gulf of Corinth)
Village type: Huts
Opening date: 1959
Closing year: 1993
A little bit of history: Few of you know this, but before becoming a Club Med village, Aighion was a Village Magique. It was during the merger of Paul Morihien's Village Magique with Club Med that Aighion joined the Tridents.
In its first year, the village offered few or no sporting activities. It served as a starting point for excursions to the ancient sites of the Peloponnese, as well as those located in mainland Greece, such as Delphi and Athens. Tours to Israel also departed from the village.
As early as 1960, a sailing school was established in the village. The village has a small port which can accommodate caravels and dinghies, while from the pontoon, the caïque departs for spearfishing, bivouacs and picnics.
The village is nestled in greenery along a pebble beach. The seabed is carpeted with sea urchins. Watch your step; you only have to bend down to pick them up from the shore. These sea urchins are a real treat!
Village Chiefs:
Pierre Levrard opened the village in 1959.
René Pernel closed the village at the end of the 1993 season.
The journey:
By successfully negotiating with the Greek military authorities, the club obtained permission to land its planes at the Araxos military base located south of Patras. This arrangement significantly shortened the travel time from Athens.
Memories, memories:
These memories date back to June/July 1993. I still remember those 15 days spent in Aghion. The village was barely a quarter full. The economic crisis, and perhaps the Gulf War as well, had deterred some from going. Paris/Araxos round trip on Minerve. A small village sprawling amidst vegetation, oleanders, and bordered by the Gulf of Corinth.
I appreciated and loved this village. Case Tendresse, the bar necklaces (still around at the time), discovering kayaking, picnics, sea urchin feasts, and resinous wine!
I also remember that wind that blew for 12 consecutive days (it works in 3s there) and prevented the windsurfing activity from working.
Aighion also included excursions to ancient Greek sites.
Those who know me well know my strong taste for history. Delphi, Mycenae, Nauplia, Olympia with the excursion group from the Olympia Club village, but also Epidaurus where I was able to attend with some other GMs and the excursion leader a Greek tragicomedy performed in the ancient theatre, all remain to this day in my most beautiful memories.
The person in charge of excursions at the village was a Belgian GO (Gentil Organisateur). I would meet her again at Les Boucaniers a few years later.
The village chief's name was René Pernel. He was ending his career as village chief, which began in 1971.
1993 was the last season of Club Med in Aighion. I later learned that the village had been taken over by the Greek tour operator Heliades for a season or two before it fell into oblivion, allowing nature to reclaim its freedom.
Videos
Club Med August 1965
Archive Collierbar
Club Med Aighion
late 1980s Commercial Archive Club Med
The Dinosaurs Club Gérard Pigeon Decosterd
I loved it. One of my favorite villages. Many friendships were forged there, some of which are still very strong 45 years later.
Unforgettable camping trips. The bar with its ouzo and souvlaki.
The sailboat and its small harbor with its very narrow entrance.
I was also there after my Orthodox wedding in Athens, invited by Maggy Dupont, whom I had the pleasure of seeing again in Aswan.
Thank you for this post.
I was a sailing/windsurfing GO (Gentil Organisateur) in 1993, during Aighion's last season open, with René Pernelle as village chief. It was a fantastic season with the whole GO team (Canelle – René's wife at reception, Claude sailing with me, a colorful Italian entertainer with a nickname only the Club could come up with, etc.).
In the photo in the pool where you see the nymphs being pushed, well, I'm the one doing the pushing!
Great memories.
I'd love to know what became of René Pernelle, as it was almost 30 years ago, and he was already over 60!
The Italian entertainer Ivanno, what wonderful laughs we had in that club! It was my first trip; I was 19.
So many memories!
Hello everyone. I'm looking for photos, videos, and contact information from the summer of 1993. Do you have any? Thank you for your help and take care. Yan GO (lighting).
Hi Yan, I spent 15 fantastic days there at the beginning of July 1993. (So we know each other 🙂) I have a few photos in my archives, but not many.
At the time, I had no idea that one day I would go to Collierbar!!
I'm what you'd call a Club Med kid… In Aighion, my best memory, I was 7 years old in '76. I learned to swim just before and got my "shrimp" certificate right there!
A club on a human scale with GMs who wanted to see the world…
As a side note, Michel Leeb was the entertainment manager and I was his mascot during my stay. Another anecdote: A certain, still unknown, café-theater troupe was there scouting locations to write the script for a certain film about Club Med…
What remains of the club today after the fire that devastated the forest and houses: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pyrkagianews/permalink/1054497541747551/
The year was 1960!
The club was overflowing with GMs,
displaced from villages in North Africa:
the Suez Crisis!!!!
The small group I was in had just returned from eight days in the Peloponnese. An expedition was organized to set up an annex further inland, near a fishing village in a forest owned by the Orthodox clergy.
A small village with everything you could need, plus a chief who was a yoga instructor, a cook, and…
creative work, a vast beach, sleeping under the stars… a deserted island.
A wonderful, unexpected stay.
Then back to civilization…
I was 15!