It is located 6 km from the port of Aegina. The ruins of this medieval town, built on the hill opposite the Monastery of Saint Nektarios, transport visitors back in time and reveal the island¢s history. Paliochora was the capital of the island until the 19th century, when it was abandoned. For ten centuries, the walls of the medieval castle, which still survive today, protected the inhabitants from pirate raids. Today, visitors to the area can see the ruins of the island¢s "Mistras," as Paliochora has been called, and admire the approximately thirty Byzantine churches that remain out of the 350 that were originally built, as well as the cell where Saint Dionysios of Zakynthos once lived.