Ancient Epidavros & The Island of Hydra
For many people, a trip to Greece wouldn't be complete without a visit to a classic Greek island. Who am I to argue? As it turned out, Hydra was our island--not as flashy or famous as, say, Santorini. But what it lacked in fame, it more than made up for in character and beauty. Plus, it's much closer to the mainland than many of the more famous islands. Just when you think you'd seen the most beautiful and relaxing places in Greece, you get surprised. You get Hydra.
Visit to Epidavros on the way to Hydra
Before we caught our sea-bus to Hyrda, we had one more stop to make. Greece is the birthplace of modern drama so it makes sense to go to one of the biggest and best preserved amphitheaters in the country. It was impressive. It was designed for optimal acoustics. As I was sitting on the top row, a woman dropped a coin on the "stage" and I could hear the faint sound of it hitting the ground. Amazing. What was even more special was when we got another sample of the sound. The only singing that is allowed in the amphitheater is opera. I was surprised to learn that one of our tour mates was trained in opera. With a little effort, our local guide convinced the guard to allow her to sing. It was still early, and he said it was okay as long as she was done before the next group arrived. It was remarkable to hear hear a voice ring so clearly through that huge place without any amplification. She sang beautifully and we all got a glimpse of how the amphitheater was meant to be experienced.
I guess by this time I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was surprised to find another big stadium in Epidavros. It just underscored how important the games were during ancient Greek history.
Arriving in Hydra
We loaded back on the bus in Epidavros and drove an hour and a half to a little, non-discript port village to eat lunch and wait for our sea-bus to Hydra. I grabbed a light snack and wandered around the dock trying to find some good angles for a photo. It wasn't too promising so I went back and waited for the boat with Colin.
​
As I sat there, my mind wandered to all the things that I needed to start planning for after the tour. There were a lot of details to start figuring out before I left Athens in a couple of days. I turned to Colin, who was sitting across from me at the table, and asked, "Hey, Colin. How long does it take to get from our hotel in Athens to the airport?" Almost without hesitation--as if he'd anticipated the question from experience--he replied, "We shan't talk of such things now. We'll work all that our later." At first I was a bit surprised by his response. He must have anticipated that, too, because he quickly explained that he'd found that if tour members start worrying about all that, it takes away from the tour--"you're still on it," he reminded me. He was completely right. I'm still on tour for a couple of days. Relax. Enjoy. Once he saw that I understood, he told me it takes about an hour. He's great.
​
When the little boat arrived, we piled on with our bags and a few other tourists. In half an hour the little boat pulled into the small port lined with cafes and pack-donkeys waiting to bear tourist luggage to their hotels (motorized vehicles are prohibited on Hydra--except for a garbage truck and a couple of others--so, it's old school here).
​
Our group left the boat, grabbed our carry-ons, waved at the donkeys, and proceeded to carry our own bags up the narrow lanes around a few corners, up a few more lanes around a few more corners until we came to our hotel.
A full day on Hydra
Oh, man. It doesn't take long to get used to a place like this. So laid back! After a relaxing evening and a great night's sleep, I slept in for the first time on the trip--no alarm clock. I wandered down to the marina, found a newspaper stand and bought the British Daily Telegraph and a New York Times then found a table in the shade. I just sat there drinking my Coke, reading my paper, and watching all the tourists hustle back and forth past me.
After a while, I decided it was time to explore. There was no shortage of photo options here. Hydra has no sites, per se--the island itself was the site. I had a blast just wandering around taking photos.
I have absolutely no sense of direction and usually I would worry about getting lost, but we were on an island. If I got lost, I could just start going down hill and eventually I'd end up at the marina.
I eventually did make my way back down to the marina then walked the path along the sea until I found a nice place to get in and swim. I found a safe place to leave my camera bag and jumped in to the amazing sea. (I wore my swimsuit and Crocs today for just this possibility.)
Our last night on hydra
It's hard to believe we were only on Hydra for two days. How did we fit so much relaxing into such a short time?
​
The only planned group activity we had on Hydra was tonight--a 6PM happy hour on the patio of our hotel. We sat around at the cafe-style, wrought iron tables sipping wine, talking, and getting our plans for leaving the next morning.
​
In many ways, this struck me as the end of our tour. We would have one more day in Athens, but that felt more like an epilogue. Maybe it was because we had already been there to start our tour. Whatever it was, leaving Hydra felt different than when we left the other places. I had the contentment and gratitude that I felt leaving all the other places, but mixed in was also a bit of closure, a winding down of something good. I guess it was dawning on me that my time in Greece was coming to an end.