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The Island Of Hydra
Day 12 and Day 13
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Hydra, what a lovely place to spend a couple of nights. No cars, no bikes, no scooters, just sun, good food, nice lazy walks, a good bookstore, burros and kitties. There were hiking opportunities here as well. But, I chose to relax, unwind and be lazy. This is my vacation after all! The Island of Hydra is one of my favorite stops on our fabulous tour of Greece.
This place makes you wonder how do we deal with traffic jams, pollution and noise of cities everyday? What a calming change this is to Athens. All though, Athens also has it's charms.
I can see why this little Agro Saronic Island is so popular with artists and writers. One word, serenity. I would love to come back to Hydra for an extended vacation someday.
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We had our last free day on Hydra. I really like how these tours are designed so you don't get worn out. We had some action packed days previously with amazing archeological sites, local guides and scenery so this mellow day was welcome.
After a very nice breakfast at our lovely hotel I set out on my walk. I headed past the port and the restaurant/swimming area called the cave and kept going until the road ended. Once you get away from the port it's cool how quickly the island becomes local again. Just people living their lives, on Greek time.
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I am an animal lover, so one of the things I really enjoyed about Hydra were the fuzzy creatures. The animals, not the Greek men. Ha Ha. There were many cute little burros . One of the tour members was concerned about the burrors standing out in the heat. David told us that the owners of the burros treat them very well as they are the only form of transportation on the island. I did notice buckets of water and feed for the animals. The burros are used to transport products and humans. We saw them everywhere we went.
I would agree with David about the handling of the burros. From what I saw the owners love their animals and treat them well.
We saw many feral cat communites in Greece, but Hydra seemed to have the most kitties laying around enjoying the sun. I saw two kitties who looked like they could use a meal so I bought some cat food and sat with them for awhile. A nice Greek lady and her daughter came up to me with another bag of food for the kitties. They didn't speak any English and I don't speak any Greek, but we were able to communicate our mutual love of animals.
David told us to not be surprised to see open bags of cat food lying around on the ground. He was right, I saw them all over Hydra left by locals for the cats to eat. I do think that a spayed and neuter program might be a good idea in Greece for cats and dogs. I did some research and found this charity called the Greek Animal Welfare Fund that I donated too. Check it out if you like. |
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I was down at the beach enjoying the cool ocean breezes and soaking up some rays when I heard familar voices. It was Marina and Joan enjoying the beautiful blue water. Marena lives in Washington D.C. but is orginally from Argentina and had a pretty accent to her voice. She spoke four languages. Wow! Joan lives and works in Washington D.C.. She was really intelligent and fun to be around. We all enjoyed the great weather while we were at Hydra.
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My beach adventures continue. I was reading my book when two older large women walked up. I continued reading and then one of the ladies asked me in heavily accented English if could watch their stuff while they went swimming. I said yes. Then the ladies proceeded to get naked and get in the water. Hey, why not,we are in Greece! There were also naked couples on the rocks above me. I think it is great they are so free with the body No tan lines! Later on, this guy came and started diving off the rocks. It was fun to watch him.
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David had told us that burros and handcarts are the only way of getting things around the Island. I saw many examples of men at work while on my walk. This man was nice enough to let me take his picture while he was working.
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These cannons are a reminder of long history of battle with the Turks. During the 18th century these cannons protected the Island from attach by the Turkish fleet. Turkish ships had many more guns than Greek ships so these cannons served as a deterent to the Turkish ships.
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This picture of the old kitchen was taken inside of a restaurant on Hydra. David took the tour group there for dinner. The owners moved back to Hydra from New York City in order to run the family business. They decided to leave the kitchen as it has always been.
The food was absolutely wonderful that night. We gave David his gift from our tour group, which was a toilet seat lid. Yes, a toilet seat lid. Don't ask why. Frank bought it for David at the hardware store in Kardamyli and we all signed it. Unfortunetley my picture of David getting his gift didn't turn out.
We went back to Athens the next day for the final full day of our tour. We got there around 2:00 in the afternoon. Most people went shopping or prepared for flights home, etc. I walked back up Fillopappas Hill for my final view of the Acropolis munching on a gyro. We had our last dinner together at a taverna with an outside terrace. Excellent views, food, service and company. Hmmm, that kind of sums up our Greece tour.
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