Fantasy Island: Hydra
Days 11 and 12 of the tour
This unique pulley system was devised by Hydra's shipbuilders. It allows restaurant owners along the harbor to pull the awnings far out over the tables when sun is strong or rain rolls in, then roll them back when the restaurant is closed.
The movie is about Leonard Cohen, the songwriter, who lived in Hydra from 1960-67, then continued to visit the island often. We got the clear impression that he is a famous adopted son of Hydra.
Eventually we decided to stroll down the coast in the other direction in search of an actual sandy beach we'd heard about.
This cute little chapel was near where we waded.
Even though we started Tuesday by visiting Epidavros, our next stop at the island of Hydra requires its own, dedicated post, so here we go:
The island of Hydra awaits.
At Metohi, we waved goodbye to our excellent driver Giorgos - no more Mercedes tour bus - and headed for the ferry.
The ferry was a bit smaller than I expected - especially when 40+ extra high school students piled on right before departure - so Mary and I checked for life jackets 😬
We managed to snag stern seats outside. Fresh air and my new pressure bands were the plan for dealing with the motion during the half hour passage. Success!
The half hour crossing brought us into Hydra's harbor (the island and the main town are both called Hydra - pronounced ee-drah).
Once on land, the first thing we noticed was the line of donkeys along one side of the harbor.
Cars aren't allowed on Hydra, so to move heavy items around, you need a donkey or rolling cart, like this one used for our luggage (3 euros per bag, or carry your own).
We met Admiral Andreas Miaoulis
Hydra was known for seafaring and became wealthy through shipbuilding and trade. During the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, many of Hydra's merchants sent their ships as kamikazes to burn among the enemy's navy. The Greeks won the war, but Hydra took a long time to recover from the loss of so many ships.
The red Hydra flag flies along with the Greek flag above the harbor.
We weren't really on a learning trip in Hydra - it was vacation time - lunch, shopping, gelato, walking along the sea wall, and other lazy fun in the sun - so that was the program for the afternoon.
We had fun finding our way through winding alleys off the main harbor
and navigating back to our hotel.
Mary and I decided to explore the shoreline and passed several fancy restaurants, weird concrete beaches and a movie shoot.
As for the weird concrete beaches, I didn't take any pictures of sunbathers to post, so I'll have to describe the concept. Although the water is beautiful and clear, there aren't any natural sand beaches on Hydra, just a few small rocky ones. It looks like Hydrans solved this problem by building concrete platforms - something like a short seawall with a swimming pool ladder - wherever there's a small inlet along the shore. Concrete blocks don't look especially comfortable to us, but people were definitely using them for tanning and swimming.
We stopped at a fancy place called Sunset for a light dinner with a beautiful view,
but we didn't feel like hanging around until 8:30 to watch the sunset.
Wednesday
Still on Hydra, so more of the same. Did some shopping and stopped in to the beautiful Church of the Dormition of the Virgin (of Church of the Assumption), which had a bit of a seafaring theme.
Notice the ships and sea monsters on the chandelier?
This Pantocrator image is similar to those on the domes of most Byzantine churches we've seen.
This icon of the Madonna and child didn't have all of the offerings we've seen at some other churches.
This twirling sun sculpture is eye catching.
https://www.greece-is.com/news/the-god-apollo-shines-on-hydra/
We saw plenty of ferries and fancy yachts. There was a fleet of small rental catamarans available to tourists, which looked like a lot of fun.
After walking around a few points, we found the sandy beach at a "club Med"-type beach club. Some of our tour friends had paid for their "beds" (beach chairs) to stay all day, but we just wanted to wade in the water for a few minutes. So we had lunch at the restaurant, waded around briefly, and headed back towards the admiral and harbor.
Walking back to town
The Spider Tree
How many can you count? I have even creepier images if you're an arachnid fan.
Our tour group had a last "happy hour" in the garden patio, where Dafni answered questions about Greek culture, customs, and the tour guide life.
Only one more night left on the tour - in Athens - so we're getting up early to take the hydrofoil ferry - and we'll all go our separate ways. It's hard to believe the Greece tour is nearly over.
- Christine
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