Monday March 20, first day of spring, was a beautiful day in Athens. It was going to a high of 22C. We had a 1:00 p.m. ferry to catch to Hydra, the next stop on our Greece adventure. Luckily, the people we are renting from in Athens let us leave clothes in the apartment and we were thus able to take only what we needed for our five day trip to Hydra and Nafplio. We return to Athens on Saturday March 25 for two days before we head to Mykonos.
We passed this graffiti on a wall around the corner from our apartment.
We had a coffee at Hotel Chelsea at the corner of our street. Wonderful sitting outside at 10:30 in the morning.
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| Morning coffee at the corner |
We took our first Metro in Athens to the port at Piraeus, where the ferries depart from. The fare is 1.40 euros and we had one transfer to make. Very good system. The ride took about 30 minutes.
We took the Flying Dolphin hydrofoil to Hydra. It made one stop and arrived at about 2:40 p.m. Hydra is an island in the Saronic Gulf with a permanent population of about 2000. What makes it unique is that it is the only one of the Greek Islands with NO vehicles-- no cars, no scooters- just donkeys and cobbled lanes, rocks and sea. Also, of course, Hydra is the island where Leonard Cohen bought a house in 1960, just after his 26th birthday, for $1500. It is also where he met Marianne Ihen and wrote Bird on the Wire, after telephone wires began to appear on the island.
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| Flying Dolphin |
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En route to Hydra
Upon arrival at the port, there are donkeys that can carry your luggage if your pension or hotel is far.
As we are only staying on Hydra for two nights, we booked a room at Piteoussa Guest House, a five minute walk up a quiet street from the port. We have a small room on the top floor at the back of the house with a large deck and a wonderful view.
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| Piteoussa Guest House |
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| Front veranda |
We unpacked and went back to the port for a coffee and a sandwich at Isalos Cafe, which means Waterline, the line where a hull of a ship meets the water surface.
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| Alain with his coffee-- Caffe del Doge from Venice |
The owner of the pension, upon hearing that we were Canadian, wanted to know if we wanted to see Leonard Cohen's house. He showed us the approximate location on the map (there are very few street signs and we were told to walk into the hills and ask exact directions at a small grocery store). We hadn't realized that the family still owned the house on Hydra. It turns out that Leonard Cohen's two children, Adam and Lorca, visit every summer. We decided to explore some of the streets near the port first and then search for Leonard Cohen's house.
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| Lovely lilacs |
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| View of a church |
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| A boat on one of the streets |
Alain and the donkeys
The port is spectacular- sparkling water
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| Another view |
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| A wonderful day to sail |
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| Canyon facing the water |
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| Another view of the port |
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| Flying Dolphin coming into port (the same boat we came over on) |
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| Heros from Hydra in the 19th century |
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Memorial to those who died in WWII
We started to climb into the hills looking for Leonard Cohen's house. We took a wrong turn and there were no people to ask directions from.
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| Cat in the hat-- there are hundreds of cats on Hydra |
A view from above
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Beautiful porticos
We had started to walk downhill as we were getting tired when we saw an older woman. She didn't speak English, but I pointed to the map where the name in Greek of the Four Corners Grocery store was. She walked us over to the grocery store and the owner pointed out Leonard Cohen's house. She hadn't seen him in 20 years, but said that his children visit every summer.
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Four Corners Grocery Strore
We were thrilled to find the house. It is presently not occupied and there were no people around. We walked around the house and took pictures.
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| Leonard Cohen's house is on the left with the window |
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| Door to house |
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| View from the side and back- house has grey shutters |
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| View from the back- beautiful olive tree in the garden |
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Alain at the door (there is a Star of David in the door knocker.
One can see the small heart to the left of the knocker) |
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| Moi Aussi |
After our visit to Leonard Cohen's house, we headed back to the port.
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| Donkeys going up the hills as we were headed down |
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| Beautiful light in the late afternoon |
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| One of the most picturesque ports we have seen |
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| Another view |
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All around the clock tower-- definitely off-season and quiet here
We went back to the pension for a rest and I started work on the blog, though there were some problems with the internet. Allan played Leonard Cohen on his iPod.
At about 8:30 p.m., we headed to dinner at Ostria-- recommended by the owner of our pension, an owner of a clothes store, and our guidebook. It turned out to be the home of the restaurant owner, who is also the chef and fisherman. The owner told us what was fresh and we ordered a wonderful fish soup, grilled cuttlefish, lightly fried calamari, and the house red wine. Everything was delicious. We were the only customers, though some friends dropped in to visit. The joys of the off-season. We talked politics for a while. He thought we were entering a period much like the 1930s---hard to disagree with that assessment. We felt like we were eating in someone's dining room.
Fish soup
Alain with calamari and cuttlefish
Owner with his daughter watching Micky Mouse
We walked back to the pension, amazed that there are a million stars in the sky and no vehicles on the island. We can understand why Leonard Cohen spent many happy years in Hydra. We listened to So Long Marianne and Closing Time as I finished the blog.
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Hey - marvellous
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