After spending 2 days in Poros the next island to continue our holidays was Hydra. From Poros we got the flying dolphin and Hydra was about an hour away. The first thing you’ll see when you get off the ferry is the harbor which is centered and all around there are restaurants, shops and markets. The small streets are made of steep stones.
In Hydra you won’t see any cars, buses, or motorbikes – instead, you’ll see a lot of donkeys. The only vehicle we’ve seen on the island was a rubbish truck. Donkeys and water taxis are the only public transportation in Hydra for tourists and locals.
We booked our stay at Pension Erofili which is located 2 minutes from the port and stayed in the studio which had a kitchen and an independent veranda. Although we didn’t pay extra to have breakfast there, it looked nice and on the last day the owners offered us coffee and breakfast.
Spilia Beach Bar is located under the cannon on the west side of the port and it’s the only swimming spot you can access by foot near the harbour. It serves food and drinks all day and during the night there’s music. We went there before sunset and had a few beers until dawn. There’s an excellent view of the harbour and you’ll see the ferries, cruise ships, water taxis, and boats coming to the island. Although the drinks were a bit expensive it’s worth going there just for the relaxing view. During daylight people enjoy the rocky beach beneath (Hydronetta) where most people jump from the rocks in the clear crystal waters.
Mandraki Bay – Miramare is a beach that you can easily reach by water taxi or by boat. At the Mandraki Bay, there’s a hotel known as Miramare that you could see as you approach with the boat. We got our sunbeds (which were free) and we looked to see if there was a bar nearby or something but the place looked ‘dead’. There was a kid there cleaning the tables and bringing some refreshments and informed us that the hotel was shut down. It looks like Miramare has been closed after April 2014 since their website indicated Easter offers. If we knew about this before we would prefer to go to another beach. Everything around there looked abandoned.
Paradosiakon Ouzeri is a lovely street-side spot where you can have a nice traditional Greek dinner. It provides you with some unusual big portion plates. Other places we visited for coffee or food were Isalos, Delphinia, The Cool Mule (it makes the cheapest coffee on the island), basically everywhere near the harbour.
Walking around Hydra
Walking along the harbour which is the heart of Hydra you’ll see churches, canon, museums and statues of famous heroes since the island preserves a lot of history. The main thing we pretty much done in Hydra was to stroll around, enjoy the nice views and atmosphere. The stone mansions, the narrow streets, the fact that there are no cars has enable Hydra to preserve a distinctive atmosphere and has attract tourist to go there for a relaxing holiday. We found the Monastery of Panayia which is right next to the Port with its entrance located next to the clock tower and went there for Orthodox Christian pilgrimage.
Overall if you are thinking to go to Hydra I would totally recommend you this destination. Maybe you can avoid staying there more than 2 days – or you can even got for a day trip from Athens, walk around, have lunch near the harbour, dive at Spilia Beach, have a drink at Pirate Bar and go back to Athens, or an island near. But if you want to stay more, have in mind that there is not much to do or see. You’ll just relax and believe me you will.
