May 8: Hydra to Athens

I got up early, had another shower, and then went to Papagalos for breakfast. I had the Greek Breakfast again and ate everything. I lingered until around 10:30am, drinking in the atmosphere of the port, then headed back to the apartment to finish packing and check out.

My ferry was scheduled to depart at 12:55pm. I left the apartment just before noon so I had lots of time to get down to the port with my luggage. I had to stop a couple of times to rest my legs, but I made it there by 12:15pm with plenty of time before the ferry arrived.

I found a shaded bench and sat down. I was joined a few minutes later by a older Swedish woman who was very gregarious. I learned that she had first visited Hydra in the 1970s when she was a model (!!). She visited with her photographer boyfriend, fell in love with the island, and bought a renovated windmill above the port. At the time she was living in New York, so she rented it out during the summer to offset costs. She moved to Hydra permanently 20 years ago. Now, she rents the windmill out 6 months of  the year, and lives in it the other 6 months of the year. She was waiting for the Aero Highspeed to arrive, so she could collect her guests and walk them up to the windmill. I think this is the listing for the property. She said she was starting to get tired of renting it out, and might retire in a couple of years. I could appreciate that.

My ferry arrived on time. This time I had a much easier time finding my seat. The trip back to Piraeus was pleasant and went by quickly.

Alex the taxi driver was waiting for me and whisked me back to Rita's apartment. Rita had cooked a delicious pork stew with tomatoes and macaroni, as well as "salad" (warm canned corn, canned carrots, and canned peas) and bread. She loaded my plate. I was absolutely stuffed. Then she produced dessert. After washing the dishes, I rolled myself into the living room to read my book, "Mythos" by Stephen Fry, while Rita retired to her bedroom to watch TV.

It was a quiet evening. I read, had a shower, then went to bed around 9:00pm. I had to be up at 4:45am the next morning. Alex the taxi driver was picking me up around 5:30am to drive me to the airport, and I wanted to make sure I was ready in case she arrived early.

May 7: Hydra

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.

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.

May 5: Athens to Hydra

It was another stormy day. I don't know what I have done to anger the weather gods, but I feel like this trip has been a bit cursed, weather-wise. I seem to be dragging storms around with me from place to place.

Alexandra picked me up at 12:30pm and drove me back to Piraeus. I was travelling with Hellenic Seaways to Hydra, on one of the large catamarans. It was pouring rain when I boarded at 1:00pm. I was crossing my fingers for better weather on Hydra.

Finding my seat was a bit of a clusterfuck. The signage for the assigned seats sucked. It took me a while just to find my seat, and when I did it was a window seat - which was full of the bags of the elderly couple sitting in the middle and aisle seats. I tried to gesture for them to move their bags and get up so I could sit, but they started objecting loudly in Greek. I called over a staff member who spoke to them in Greek. Sensing that it wasn't worth the effort to argue with them, she pointed to a seat two rows up and told me to sit there and walked away.

Of course, I was now sitting in someone else's assigned seat. and sure enough they showed up and asked me to move. I obliged and moved a row up, fully expecting to be unseated again shortly. Luckily, no one came to claim the seat, so I was able to avoid any further seat drama.

It was a relatively quick 2-hour trip to Hydra. It was raining and the seas were a bit rough, but the ferry was large enough that you didn't feel it as much. It was still raining when we docked in Hydra.

Evi from Nesea Boutique Apartments was waiting for me at the port, accompanied by her long-haired dachsund Maia. She walked me to the apartment, which was necessary because there was absolutely no signage on the door indicating that it was rental accommodation. It's just a blue door in an alleyway.

The walk was a bit murderous on my legs. The cobblestones were slippery from the rain, so not only were they uneven, I kept sliding around when I stepped down. Hydra is also the "city of stairs" and although Evi assured me there were only 15 stairs to the apartment, I think there were more like 45 stairs. I was walking too slowly for her and when I labored to carry my suitcase up the stairs she gave up and grabbed my suitcase and carried it the rest of the way. I was glad for it when we got to the apartment, because when she opened the blue door in the alleyway ... there were another 15 stairs up to my apartment.

As you can see, though, the apartment is lovely. It looks like they took a traditional home and gutted it to create rental accommodation.

After settling in, I walked down to the port to find the Super K super market that Evi had recommended. I grabbed some beverages and snacks to take back to the room. Around 6:00pm I walked back down to the port to find a restaurant to eat dinner. Most of them were closed, though. I ended up at Isalos Cafe, where I had a horribly overpriced plate of spaghetti (EUR 22) and a beer while shivering from the wind and rain. My table was under an awning, but I was still exposed to the wind. I ate as quickly as I could and hightailed it back to the apartment to relax out of the weather.

May 4: Amorgos to Athens

I was woken up around 4:00am by a bright light filling the room, followed by a loud clap of thunder. For the next 30 minutes I was treated to the most fantastic lightning show and thunder concert. I'm not sure how, but I did manage to fall back asleep until my alarm went off at 5:45am.

I was up and packed and ready to go for 6:15am. I carried my suitcase downstairs, where the driver was already waiting with the van. About 6 other people came down from their rooms as well. They were a group of Americans who had been attending a yoga retreat at Aegiali's Hotel down the hill and were supposed to leave yesterday, but all of the ferries to/from Amorgos were cancelled because of the wind. There were no rooms at Aegiali's so they had spent the night at Vigla Hotel. They had had to rebook their flights, hotels, etc. because of the cancelled ferries the day before - ouch! I asked them if they had trip interruption insurance and only one of them did - or knew what I was talking about. Clueless.

The ferry was running a bit late so I got to admire Aegiali from the port:

I was hoping that I could catch a video of the melody the Blue Star ferries play when they are docking. It's quite jolly and distinctive. Sadly, the Blue Star Paros wasn't playing it when it docked at Aegiali.

It's a 7-hour ferry ride on the Blue Star from Amogos to Athens because it's the "milk run". After Amorgos, it stops at Donousa, Naxos, and Paros before heading to Piraeus. There's no internet on board, and the entertainment options and amenities are limited, so it's a boring journey. I spent a few extra dollars to rent a private cabin with a bed so I could sleep for the first part of the sailing.

We arrived at Piraeus around 3:00pm. The ferry docked at a different gate than usual, possibly because a cruise ship was docked at it's normal gate. Anyway, I had to call Alexandra, the taxi driver, to tell her I was at a different gate. Thank god for cell phones, because she zipped over to get me, and I was bloody lucky to get a taxi. The gate was at the farthest end of the port and nowhere near the bus, subway, and regular taxi stands. As Alexandra pulled up a bunch of people lunged to get in the car and she had to wave them off. I felt like a fucking rock star getting into the back seat. As we drove off, I saw at least 50 people from the ferry dragging their luggage along the road looking confused and stressed as they tried to find their way from the gate to somehwere where they could get transportation.

May 3: Tholaria and The Huge Storm

I noticed that it was a bit windy yesterday afternoon and evening. Well, overnight a huge storm blew in. The wind was literally howling and it nearly knocked me off my feet when I went outside to go to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I'm guessing the wind was gusting 90 to 110km/hr. It was impressive.

I decided to stay at the hotel today and just do some personal stuff. I started by doing more "sink laundry" and hanging it to dry - securely pegged to the line so it wouldn't blow away, though! I also updated this blog and did a bit of work. My laundry blew dry within three hours, so I brought it inside and repacked my suitcase in anticipation of departing tomorrow.

Just before dinner, I went to reception to pay my bill and arrange for a transfer to the port tomorrow morning. The ferry was scheduled to depart at 6:55am. They said to meet the driver outside at 6:30am.

After I paid for dinner, they gave me a small paper bag with a "to go" breakfast for the morning. It was a really nice gesture. I spent the rest of the night chilling out in my room and watching TV.

May 2: Amorgos: Moni Hozoviotissa

Just outside of Chora there is a 11th century monastery basically built into the side of a cliff. The monastery, Moni Hozoviotissa, was created on that site because a holy relic depicting the Virgin Mary washed ashore on a beach below. This was taken as a sign to create a place to worship the Holy Virgin.

When I told my cousin that I was coming to Amorgos, she asked me to go to the monastery for her. It's a very sacred place to her and she used to make the pilgrimage to the monastery every summer. She hasn't been to Amorgos for five years and will probably never visit the island again, so when she asked me to go I had to say yes.

Unfortunately, my health has declined in recent years. A year ago, I could barely stand long enough to cook or take a shower. I struggled to take the garbage to the recycling room in my building. I had chest pain and shortness of breath and my legs swelled - all signs that my heart was struggling. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was dying. So, starting in March 2022, I made some changes. Then I made some more changes. Then I made some more changes. When I booked this trip in October 2022, I realized how physically demanding it would be, so I started working out and walking more. I also changed my diet and lost about 15 to 20 lbs. Even with that progress, I wasn't sure I would be able to climb the 300 stairs to the monastery.

I drove to the monastery yesterday morning and arrived around 11:00am, but when I got there the parking lot it was full. The monastery is located on the side of a cliff, so there is nowhere else to park. I had to abandon the pilgrimage and return to Chora. I was both relieved and vexed.

I only had the rental car for two days, so today was my last chance to make the pilgrimage. I got up early and left without breakfast. I arrived at the parking lot at 8:30am, which is when the monastery opens to visitors. I parked next to a van by the entrance. As I was getting myself sorted I heard shouting from above. It was a man walking a mule down the stairs. I waited to see what he wanted. He insisted that I move my car, which I did.

The man and his mule were bringing supplies to the monks in the monastery. They get bottled water, raki, food, and other necessities delivered two or three times a week by pack mule. There's no other way to get supplies up the stairs.

I set off up the stairs. I kept telling myself to go slow and take breaks whenever I felt the need. Visiting the monastery was the only activity I had planned for the day - there was no rush.

Even so, it was difficult. The "stairs" are basically rough-hewn rocks casually cobbled together. As a result the "stairs" are uneven and a serious trip hazard. Some of the rocks are also quite worn and slippery, and of course there is loose sand and bit of gravel that make it difficult to find solid footing.

It was also the first hot and sunny day of the trip. It felt like it was about 25C in direct sunlight. I could feel it beating down on me.

I eventually made it to the top. I think it took me between 45 minutes and an hour. I almost couldn't believe I made it.

Inside the monastery there are more stairs. Some are almost 1.5 feet tall. Also, the monastery isn't very wide - maybe 10 feet at its widest points. Inside, you ascend two floors to a reception area. Then, you ascent another floor to the church, where the holy relic is displayed with all of the other relics. A monk is usually present to make sure no one takes pictures (photos are forbidden), and more specifically to deter visitors don't damage or steal any of the relics.

When I left Athens, my cousin Rita gave me an envelope to give to the oldest monk at the monastery, Father Spyridon. I asked the mule man (who was unloading some water) if Father Spyridon was there, and he said that yes, he was in the church. Sure enough, he was sitting there at the entrance.

Father Spyridon seemed surprised when I gave him the envelope. He reached around to find his reading glasses, then opened the envelope and read the letter from Rita. She must have explained who I was, because he had a big smile on his face and gave me a handshake. He didn't speak much English, but he did manage to convey that he had visited Vancouver three years ago on holiday.

After meeting with Father Spyridon and admiring the relics, I went back down to the reception area. There, a volunteer usually serves water and a tot of raki. Father Spyridon called down to ask that he also give us cookies and coffee.

I say "us", becaause when I arrived at the monastery there was an exhausted 75-year-old French woman resting from the climb up the stairs. She was absolutely knackered, and worried about how she was going to get down the stairs and back to Chora. She had caught a cab to the parking lot, but had failed to arrange a ride back to the village. I offered to walk down with her and to give her a ride to the village, which she happily accepted.

The walk down was almost more stressful than the climb up. I was terrified of slipping on the smooth rocks, or on the dirt and gravel. I basically crab-walked down. The French woman actually beat me to the parking lot! Here's a photo to give you a sense of how high up it is:

I dropped the woman in Chora and drove back to the hotel. I had missed lunch so I went to Aegiali for something to eat. Here are some photos of the small harbour and some of the shops.