The port of Hydra at twilight |
From a cruise ship, it’s easy to get a taste of Greece and
its 6,000 islands. Thousands do each
year, sailing from Athens to Mykonos to Santorini. But they are missing the best part.
It’s almost as simple, and quite often considerably cheaper,
to island hop on public ferries like the locals. Sure, it takes some effort,
but nearly everyone speaks English, the Greeks are incredibly friendly and appreciate tourism, tickets are easy to buy from local travel
agents, schedules are convenient and there’s an abundance of good hotels near
ferry docks to which you can roll your bags.
Hydra has no cars or motorbikes -- only the sounds of boats... and roosters. |
Best of all, when the hot afternoon sun starts to cool off
and the cruise ship passengers have all sailed away, you’re still in town –
ready to enjoy a sunset on a cliff or the magic as the lights come at the cafes
along the waterfront. Greece can be
brutally hot in the daytime, so many people take a siesta from 3 to 5 pm.
But at twilight, the temperatures cool, the
skies glow from magenta to deep shades of purple and the streets fill with
families. Windmills along the horizon turn orange with the setting sun, outdoor
cafes and restaurants glow with strings of lights, and there are crowds -- even
at midnight -- dining on fresh grilled calamari, octopus and shrimp, with colorful
Greek salads of juicy red vine-ripened tomato, cucumber, olives and feta cheese,
all washed down with surprisingly good local wines.
The Greeks live outdoors and every street and alley is lined with cafes. |
As the sound of a musician playing a lavouto drifts
across the warm summer evening, pulled along by refreshing coastal breezes, you
can almost feel sorry for the poor people out there on the dark sea on their
cruise ships missing all this.
On a recent trip, we visited eight islands and coastal towns
effortlessly and often inexpensively, all using public transportation. In this first article, here’s some tips on
how to see Athens and the less well known island of Hydra. In part two, we’ll explore how to do the
famous islands of Mykonos and Santorini, and also stop at two nearby and
practically free islands, the medieval town of Naxos and the holy shrine of
Tinos.
ARRIVING IN ATHENS
The Acropolis is visible from everywhere in Athens |
Almost half the population of Greece, some 4 million
people, live in Athens, which often gets mixed reviews as sprawling, traffic congested
and noisy. Well, it doesn’t have to be. All the major tourist attractions are within
walking distance on pedestrian streets packed with lively restaurants, bars,
cafes and shops – many of which have outstanding views of the world’s number
one antiquity – the Acropolis. From the
airport, simply take the $10 euro Metro Line 3 (blue line) to the Monastiraki
Square station, and select a hotel within easy rolling distance. This is the heart of the Old Town, and easy
walking to distance to the Old World (and somewhat touristy) Plaka neighborhood,
or the trendy Psyrri. A great apartment
rental nearby in Psyrri is Athens Suites, where for $90 euros you get a beautiful entire apartment, filled with original
art.
Despite rumors, based on people who haven’t visited
Athens in years, it is one of the most compact, exciting, traffic-free, safe
and easy-to-navigate city centers in Europe.
Almost all of the streets near Monastiraki Square are pedestrian and
fun, many offering live Greek music. The
streets in Psyrri can look a bit sketchy in daylight because of the Greek
penchant for graffiti. Every building is
covered. Some with art – some, not so
much. But come evening, cafes and clubs
sprout up everywhere, especially in buildings that by day look abandoned.
Old Athens is filled with pedestrian streets, squares and cafes. |
There are plenty of tourist restaurants with a view of
the Acropolis, but, like HBO, it’s pay for view. Since you can see the 450 B.C. monument from
virtually everywhere, forget the view while eating. You’ll get more than enough views of it
elsewhere since every inch of it is lit up until midnight.
The Parthenon sits several hundred feet
higher than the town on top of a hill, so you can see it everywhere, from every
angle. So enjoy some of the more local and
inexpensive restaurants on the back pedestrian streets and in quiet tree-lined
squares.
The Greek people live outdoors. Every restaurant has an outdoor café, and
once evening comes, the entire city is out on the streets, parading up and down
the pedestrian paths, drinking at bars, admiring the hundreds of cats who come
out to stroll or listening to live music.
Back streets of Athens are wonderfully romantic at night |
A word of warning: don’t pet the
loose dogs or cats that wander around by the dozens, and as in any city, be
aware of pick pockets.
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Fresh fish and salads make Greek dining an experience. |
It’s easy to get somewhat lost in the maze of pedestrian
alleyways, but you can almost always see the brightly lit Acropolis sitting up on
its hill to get your bearings. Tickets
for the two major antiquities, the Acropolis, which was a collection of temples
and the crown glory of old Athens, and the Ancient Agora, which was the main
business area of Athens from 600 B.C. until it was destroyed by Barbarians in
267 A.D., are both one-time entry tickets, so choose your entry time
carefully. Both sites are better early
in the morning, or what we preferred, early evening when it’s cooler and less
crowded. Tour buses can swamp the sites
in mid-day.
Monastiraki Square station is also where you catch a simple
$1.80 euro, 20 minute Metro ride on the Green Line (Line 1) to Piraeus, which
is Athen’s port with ferries to all the islands.
HYDRA -- THE QUIETEST ISLAND
The port is filled with fishing boats and yachts. |
Hydra is in the Peloponnese, the opposite direction from the more famous
Greek islands, which means you’ll have to backtrack to Athens to visit the
others. But it’s only two hours away and worth the effort, because Hydra is
unlike any of the other islands.
There are no cars or motorbikes allowed.
Although Hydra is hardly undiscovered, it’s too small for
major cruise ships, and most of the tourists here are Greeks weekending from
Athens, with relatively few Americans. Wranglers
with donkeys and horses meet every incoming ferry and will carry your bags to
your hotel for $10 euros, but most hotels are close and it’s just as easy to
roll them (though four-wheel bags don’t fare so well on the rough cobblestone
streets).
Fortresses flank the harbor in Hydra |
Life is slow and quiet on Hydra, with no major
attractions and not much to do but sit at a waterside café on the wonderful,
busy stone harbor, or hop on a water taxi to one of the nearby beaches. Ferries, water taxis, fishing boats,
sailboats and even multi-million dollar yachts are constantly jockeying for
position at the docks, sailing by the cannon-studded-fortresses that guard each
side of the harbor. Hydra played an important
naval role in the 1821 Greek War of Independence, and there’s a museum filled
with ship models and paintings. But
today, it’s hard to believe anyone fought over this quiet place.
There’s no beach in town, but many people swim off a
stone quay with a ladder located on the rocky shoreline under the fort. There is a delightful, two-mile hike along the
top of the cliffs lining the coast, past a windmill built for a Sophia Loren
movie, to the cliff-side cafes and beaches at Kaminia just 20 minutes away, or
on a bit farther to the beach at Vlychos.
You can sit at a bar overlooking the idyllic scene, or hop a water taxi
back to Hydra town for $4 euros.
Cafes under the cliffs and fortress. |
The harbor cafes in Hydra town have an unusual canopy
system that appears to be huge horizontal sails that can be maneuvered
throughout the day to constantly provide shade.
As the cooling and refreshing dusk envelops the sky, everyone heads to
one of the forts to watch the sunset over the red-tiled roofs of the town, the
cats come out to play (there are dozens and dozens of them) and the cafes come
alive with bustling waiters and musicians playing lavoutos (funny-shaped Greek
lutes). The backstreets of Hydra are a
maze of quiet narrow white-washed alleys, decorated with brightly lit shops and
cafes bursting with the color of painted tables and chairs. Until
you visit the other islands, you won’t realize how peaceful life is without the
noise of motorbikes and cars, in a place where the only sounds are the crowing
of a rooster, the baying of donkey or the deep nautical horn of a ferry as it
leaves port.
The rocky coastline of Hydra |
Greek law says that menus have to indicate when calamari
or octopus is frozen rather than fresh, and there is a big difference, so
always check for that when selecting a restaurant. As a rule, tavernas (local taverns) are
cheaper and serve only traditional Greek dishes; restaurants – even Greek
restaurants – can be more expensive and international. Hydra’s
not cheap by any stretch, especially along the waterfront, but you can always
get by with the national dish – a gyro of pork or chicken, stuffed with fries,
tomatoes and onions that sells for under $3 euros. Expect to pay $10-12 euros for a calamari or
octopus dinner on the waterfront.
GETTING THERE:
It’s not easy to understand ferry websites beforehand. On arriving in Athens, find a local travel
agency (there’s one in Monastiraki Square across from the station, but there
are many on the side streets as well.
Tell them when you want to leave and return from Hydra and they’ll give
you options.
One of the fast ferries arriving in Hydra |
The fast ferries here
requires that all passengers stay inside, but get you there in just two
hours. Like a plane, ferries sell a
specific seat on a specific departure.
The travel agencies also can book hotels, but hotels can also be pre-booked
on sites like Expedia and Booking.com.
When looking at location, be aware that Hydra rises sharply from the
street along the dock, so the farther you are from the dock, the more you will
have to roll your bag uphill. For information on Greece.
The red tile roofs of Hydra surround the small harbor and port. |
It's a two mile walk along cliffs and coastal paths to the beaches at Vlychos (pictured) or Kaminia. |
There are no cars or motorbikes on Hydra -- horses and donkeys carry luggage and pull carts with food and supplies. |
The Greeks are incredibly friendly -- and a little bit crazy. |
Greek cats are definitely crazy. And beloved. Every town and port is filled with them. Be careful who you pet, though. |
Ask if the seafood is fresh (although by law, if frozen, it has be indicated on the menu) |
Sunset dinner in a fortress is just one of many possibilities when you spend the night in Hydra. |