Who could spend two months in Athens and not visit at least one island? Definitely not us! Even though we had to spend a lot of time working on our business and staying in our apartment, we decided one day to take a day off and discover that one island we heard a lot about.
The one thing we heard the most about Hydra, before going there, was that there were no cars on the island. And by no cars, people meant that cars were almost non-existent because there’s still the unusual garbage truck that will drive around the island.
So how do people move around the island? Donkey! But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s start with how to get there first!
If you’re leaving from Athens, the best way to get to Hydra is by boat. Jump on the metro and get to the end of the green line, at the Piraeus station. That’s where to port is. There, you want to book a ticket with Hellenic Seaways, which have two boats: the Flying Dolphin, which is the small boat, and the Flying Cat, which is the big catamaran. To get there, we were on the Flying Cat, but came back with the Flying Dolphin. You don’t want to go with the Dolphin, believe me. The whole ride (which was about an hour and fifteen minutes) was so uncomfortable. It’s not the seats or anything like that that are bad; it’s the way the boat’s made. It just made me seasick the whole way. It’s not as stable as the Flying Cat (which is great!). You can try both for yourself, but if you have a tendency of being seasick (I don’t have one and was seasick), then take the Cat!
After a relatively quick boat ride, we arrived on Hydra at 9 AM and felt in love with it immediately! It was so quiet and peaceful, a big change from Athens where there’s a constant car hum. We decided to go exploring, as we had a full day on the island. We really didn’t know much about it, and it turned out to be a lot bigger than I had imagined! With a lot more cats too.
If you don’t like cats, skip the next pictures.
Hydra is absolutely gorgeous, isn’t? You can see why we fell in love with it pretty instantly! We finally stopped for lunch somewhere by the water. Who wanted to eat with us you think? The Hydra kitties! They’re everywhere and even though people feed them (we saw a lady dropped some food for them before going for a swim), they still wanted OUR food! Because it’s just so much better when it’s someone else’s!
So that was our greeting committee! Once we were done eating lunch, we just kept walking, wanting to discover more of this beautiful island. We quickly came to the end of the first town and decided to head down the dirt path and see what was waiting on the other side. We discovered that there wasn’t much, except for a few villages spread apart along the way.
We were so hot by them, walking under the heat of the sun, that we decided to go down by the water when we saw paths, and try to find a quiet place where we could swim. That’s how we discovered the sweet little spot you’ll find in the pictures below!
Yes, it’s rocky, but it wasn’t too bad. After our time in Croatia, we’re used to rocky beaches! The water was a bit cold, but very refreshing since the day was getting hotter and hotter. Once we were good to walk again, we started heading back, as there wasn’t much left to see. We decided to stop for a second lunch (which was our “real” lunch) in a restaurant on the way. Again, we were greeted with a kitty committee.
Those kitties were the cutest thing ever. Since the chicken I ordered was a bit too dry for my taste, those two little guys enjoyed half of it! Even after feeding them what I thought was a lot of food, they were still eating it! Apparently, cats never get too much food!
And then, we kept walking back.
Don’t worry, swimming isn’t ‘Forbiten’ everywhere, just in that one special spot 😉 As we headed back, we found another sweet little spot where we could swim, which happened to be on massive rocks. We jumped in, spent hours in the crystal clear water only to come out when we started getting hungry. Unfortunately, it seems I forgot to take pictures of that place! BAD BAD ME!
Oh well… Let’s move on!
Our next stop was a restaurant for dinner, before we would have to head back to Athens. We decided to stop at the Sunset Restaurant, mostly because it had reasonable prices and an amazing view. That place isn’t called Sunset for nothing!
Once we were full, relaxed for a nice day in the sun, it was time to head back. If I had known life could move so slowly in Greece, I don’t think I would have spent much time in Athens. Oh well! Next time we’ll be in Greece, we’ll know where to go 🙂
