May 6: Hydra

I woke up early - 6:00am to be precise - because the bells in the clock tower in the port start ringing at 6:00am. The bells ring on the hour and on the half hour until about 9:00pm. It's lovely. I fell back asleep fairly easily, though, and woke again at 8:00am and got ready to start the day.

Nesea Boutique Apartments provides breakfast via Papagalos, a small cafe in the port. You go there and they have a special menu for the guests, and breakfast is free of charge.

I had the Greek Breakfast which was substantial, to say the least. It also gave me wicked heartburn. I have belched my way through the day.

After breakfast I wandered over to the Historical Archive of Hydra. It's a museum but the focus is on displaying real artifacts from people's lives. There were quite a few displays of navy uniforms from prominent naval leaders who came from or served on the island. On the second floor was an entire room of weapsons, from all over the world, which gave the distinct impression that seafarers from Hydra were up for a good fight. There were also displays of traditional clothing, personal possessions, and paintings of historic individuals.

From there, I wandered up to Kavos Castle, which may have been a "castle" in the past but is now basically just a modern viewpoint.

Here's a panoramic video of the port:

From there I walked slowly back down to the port and explored a few of the alleys.

Of course, the main attraction(s) are at the port. By that, I mean donkies! There are no roads on Hydra, so no cars. That means goods are delivered by donkey from the port to people's homes and businesses.

You are seeing that correctly! If you order from Ikea, it gets delivered by donkey on Hydra.

All of the walking wore me out, so I came back to my apartment for a rest. I updated this blog and read some news, and then went out for dinner.

I decided to try Paradosiako, which had been recommended by the owner of Nesea Boutique Apartments. It was just a little way down Tompazi, the lane by the donkey stand. I went there around 6:00pm, which I am learning is the witching hour on Hydra. Many of the restaurants are closed, or if they are open the staffing is minimal so service is a bit sketchy. Paradosiako was open, but it took 15 minutes to get a menu.

I ordered fried zucchini, green salad, and baby squid. The green salad came first. I was expecting nice crisp lettuce but I got boiled, stringy local greens that tasted like spinach.

Yuck. The fried zucchini came next, then the baby squid. They were okay but without the salad to cut through the grease, it was quite heavy.

A couple of cats came by and invited themselves to join me for dinner. I was sitting below the main patio so they basically came and sat at my shoulder expectantly. This one was particularly insistent that I give it all of my squid, not just a few pieces.

It tried to climb on the table so I pushed it away. I looked up a minute later and saw that it was trying to sneak onto the table from the chair opposite. Clever kitty!

The meal was EUR 31 and it was "meh". I will try somewhere else tomorrow night.