I woke early to the peal of the bells from the clock tower. Even so, I didn't wander down to Papagalos for breakfast until nearly 10:00am. I had the Greek breakfast again but I didn't eat very much of the scrambled eggs, which gave me such bad heartburn yesterday.
After breakfast I wandered up to see the windmill and check out the rocky beaches, Spilia Beach and Hydronetta Beach. These "beaches" were basically just steps down to a rocky outcrop where you could jump into the ocean. Definitely not for me!
I walked back to the port, going into a few of the unique shops along the way. I didn't buy anything, partially because everything was terribly expensive but mostly because I just didn't see anyhing that I liked enough to buy. Don't get me wrong - there was some lovely and interesting stuff in the shops - but nothing really jumped out at me and said "You must take me home!"
I had seen a plaque that said "museum" by the clock tower yesterday, so today I decided to go in and check it out. It is actually the Ecclesiastical Museum of Hydra. I couldn't really find a museum, but there was a lovely church that is open to the public with gorgeous painted domes in the ceiling and lots of sacred icons on display. You couldn't take photos, so the only photo I got was of the entrance, which I didn't realize was below the clock tower.
From there I explored a few more alleys. I went up Miaouli and came down Votsi. According to Google Maps, you can walk up Miaouli all the way to the top/centre of the island, and then down to Klimaki Beach on the south coast. Lots of people with day packs and large bottles of water were walking up Miaouli, looking determined. Back in the day when I could handle it physically, I would have been one of them. Today, I was just content to walk as far as Votsi Square.
The sun was starting to bother me so I came back to my little apartment for a break. Unfortunately, there is some kind of electrical noise outside that is really annoying so I can't have a siesta. I notified the owner/manager, Evi, about the noise. She sent someone over to investigate and they said it was probably from construction nearby, and would stop in a couple of hours. I decided not to stay in the apartment, and went out for a late lunch / early dinner.
I settled on Piato, one of the restaurants in the port, which seemed to have a decent menu. I ordered zucchini "curls" and kebab giaourtlou (lamb meatballs grilled on a kebab with spicy red sauce, yoghurt, and pita bread). It was delicious! It made me wish I had eaten there the previous day, too.
My table was in the shade when I first sat down, but by the end of meal the sun had shifted and my table was in the direct sunlight. The heat was unbearable so I didn't linger to take in the atmosphere of the port. I paid up and went back to my apartment to shower and pack.
When I got to the apartment I could still hear the electrical noise. It went up and down, up and down, up and down for about five minutes, stopped for a minute, and then started the next cycle. I notified Evi that the noise had not stopped, and that if it continued into the evening I would not be able to sleep. She sent over her father to investigate. I met him in the alley a few minutes later. He said he could not hear it at all, and he looked at me like I was insane. I explained that the noise was louder by Pension Efie, so we walked down there and stopped so he could listen. He still couldn't hear anything. An old fellow who lived nearby walked by, and he asked him if he could hear the noise. He could not. Realizing that I was dealing with two deaf old coots, I recorded a video of the noise on my phone and sent it to Evi. She could hear it and thought it might be an alarm from a nearby building. She said she would investigate further.
I went back to my apartment and had a shower and packed my suitcase in anticipation of the return trip tomorrow. Evi contacted me around 5:30pm to say that the owners of Pension Efie had confirmed the noise was an alarm from a house, and that someone had been sent to shut it off, but they weren't sure when they would arrive. About 20 minutes later the alarm was shut off, and I could finally enjoy the apartment. I had a quiet night in watching TV and trying to figure out the plot of the Greek version of Survivor.
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