Hydra port
Dear readers
recently I had the possibility to visit Hydra with my mum …..
Actually I was looking for a very chic, nice and extremely beautiful island to spend a long weekend with my mum that was coming to visit me from Italy ….
Of course she likes Athens … but as every big cities after a while you need a change …. and the good thing is that from Athens in only a couple of hours of trip with the ferry you get to places that look like as they were 20 / 30 years ago … as time hasn’t passed … and one of this timeless place is Hydra …….
Some info about Hydra – ελλ. ‘Υδρα
Hydra is a beautiful island in the Saronic Gulf – at about 2 hours with speedy boat from Piraeus. It lies right between Poros and Spetses, close to the coast. It’s a very picturesque island, with nice and completely renovated mansions, build with their typical stones and with red-tiled houses. All alleys are stone-paved and the most outstanding thing about Hydra is that there are no cars – any kind of motorizes vehicles are forbidden …… the only way to move is on foot or with nice donkeys that you can find in the port or with taxi boat
What to see
Town of Hydra – the nice town of Hydra is located in a natural port. It’s surrounded by beautiful mansions, build in 19th century. Most of the houses are build with Grey – thick stones or are ochre and red painted. The town surround the natural port and from the top of it you can enjoy a fantastic view to all the bay and also to the coast.
The town is full of stone-paved alleys, that lead you to many squares and hidden churches. Main life is spent on the port – where you may find most shops and tavernas but also inside the town you may find unspoiled and beautiful places to have a coffee or eat.
In the town you should visit the Historic Museum of Hydra, the nice mansions and of course you can see the bastions with cannons – Hydra used to play an extremely important role against the Turks for the protection of Greece.
From Hydra there are 2 paths that you can take in order to visit the island, one path on the east side leads you to Mandraki, the other path on the west leads you to Kamini and then Vlychos beaches.
Both paths are close to the coast and you can enjoy a fantastic view to the sea and also to the countryside.
Mandraki is a small complex of houses where there is also a nice small beach.
Kamini is a very small fishing port – at about 1km from Hydra. It is between Hydra and Vlychos. Just after the port you can also find a nice small beach with pebbles
Vlychos Beach – this small complex houses with the nice beach is about 40 minutes of walk from Hydra, a walk in the real countryside …. . As most of the beaches in Hydra Vlychos is a pebble beach with crystal clear waters with nice tavernas.
Let’s go to my trip
Since my arrival in Greece everybody was telling me that I absolutely had to visit Hydra … honestly I tried several times to book an hotel there … but it seemed that even not in high season all hotels were fully booked …… even 2 months in advance ……
My mother was coming to visit me and again I tried to see if I was lucky and could find some place to stay … and maybe due to the fact that March is not the “best” time to visit an island – it could be too windy and cold – I was lucky and found a very nice hotel to spend our long weekend.
We arrived in the beautiful island of Hydra after 2 hours of speedy boat in early afternoon … our trip was very nice, there was no wind and I also had the possibility to see the port of Poros …. that I will visit soon …
As landed we straight went to our hotel – that was a real surprise for us … – hidden in the heart of Hydra, still very close to the port ….- we left our things and then went straight to have our lunch in the port … in one fish tavern …..
Well… the only things you can do in Hydra is eating and walking …. and again eating and again walking – always taking your time and relaxing yourself – and of course take thousand of pictures !! This it is exactly what we did during our stay there ….
We ate delicious food – we spent our evening drinking nice cocktails and we walked, walked, walked and again walked…. all along the island and also up and down in the town ….
The first day we walked to Mandraki where I saw the most beautiful sunset of my life ! The walk was very nice with so many cats all along the path …. If I knew I would have brought some food for them ……. next time :)
The following day we had a fantastic cappuccino at Hydronetta – beautiful bar on a rocks facing the sea – and then we walked towards Kamini first and then Vlychos beach.
The way to these beaches is very nice … with lot of nature, fields and flowers and we also found horses that were free to walk and run there …. lucky of them !
We had lunch in a very nice tavern in Vlychos sitting in front of the sea ….. listening to the waves ….
On our way back to Hydra we finally visited all the town .. going up and down all the stairs ….the paved alleys …. and again taking thousands of pics and in the evening we enjoyed nice food and a delicious “lemon crème Brule’ ” in one nice tavern in the heart of Hydra “to krifo limani” – quite hidden but very beautiful …..
Unfortunately I couldn’t visit any museum since everything was close …. next time I will for sure :)
We really loved this island and we really relaxed ourselves …… If I can compare this island with an Italian location .. I could compare it to Portofino ….. très chic ! the port … the shops .. the fact that there are no beaches but nice rocks …… also the people reminded me the tourism of Portofino ….
I strongly suggest anybody to spend at least a weekend in Hydra – very chic island in the middle of Saronic Gulf (still maybe not the best place if you are looking for sandy beaches).
It could be a little more expensive than other destinations but it worth it ! and don’t forget to book a lot in advance !!!
Ciao !
φιλάκια
ps a special thank you to my friends Giannis and Sylvia that provided me with all the info I needed in order not to miss anything in Hydra !!!
ps 2 For the ones that would like to know we stayed in Angelica VIP hotel http://www.angelica.gr/ that I recommend
http://www.booking.com/hotel/gr/angelica.en-gb.html?tab=4&aid=304142&rid=763796734&label=review_am
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