At risk of incurring the wrath of CBC and not delivering on what I pledged, I include the first day's worth of waffle from my trip to Hydra! Disclaimer: You may wish to find some matches for your eyes! :-)
21/2/2011
We are currently hurtling towards Piraeus Port on the coast of Athens, trying to reach there in time to catch the Flying Dolphin, speedy boat to Hydra. Tension surrounds us like a mine-field full of trip-wires whilst we both anxiously play the dreaded scenario of missing the boat in our fretful minds. The time is 3:35pm, local time, and we have to be at Piraeus by 4 to pick up tickets and catch the boat. Will we make it, will we make it? The hated refrain plays itself in our minds. It seems doubtful right now. We’ve just reach Panourmo on Line 1 of the Athens metro with 12 stops to go including a change to Line 2! Pray like mad, even in retrospect that we wont have to find some dingy hotel by the port, since it’s the last boat of the day. I’ve spent the entire plane journey learning vocab which magically Houdinied its way out of my mind when I needed to use it!
The flight was pleasant enough though we’re exceedingly weary since we had to rise at 4.10am in order to catch the 4:59 train to London! We almost missed it by literally a second! We raced from home dragging the very heavy Yellow Peril suitcase and a pink-mink trolley plus rucksack! We’ve been exceedingly lucky so far, perhaps it will hold out! Got to go- just got to get up in order to alight (love this word on busstops!) and change trains!
Time is running out. Disaster! Cautious CBC didn’t run into train at Monastres- it’s past 4pm but at least I saw an orange tree!
I write this from the boat!! Luckily, the website was the equivalent of an over-cautious mother sending off her first born to Scout-camp and the Hellenic Seaways office told us we were early for our 5pm boat and seemed bemused at the mere suggestion that we were expected to arrive an hour before! PHEW! A wild goose-chase ensued trying to find the actual boat- the Flying dolphin. CBC headed towards impossibly large looking boats with car-ports (HELLO CBC? We’re going to an island horeece (Greek for ‘without’) cars on something called The flying dolphin not Stonking great whale!!!!!) I attempted asking in Greek for directions which headed us towards smaller-looking boats at the other end of the watery mass (What do I call it? The port still?)
We are currently hurtling towards Piraeus Port on the coast of Athens, trying to reach there in time to catch the Flying Dolphin, speedy boat to Hydra. Tension surrounds us like a mine-field full of trip-wires whilst we both anxiously play the dreaded scenario of missing the boat in our fretful minds. The time is 3:35pm, local time, and we have to be at Piraeus by 4 to pick up tickets and catch the boat. Will we make it, will we make it? The hated refrain plays itself in our minds. It seems doubtful right now. We’ve just reach Panourmo on Line 1 of the Athens metro with 12 stops to go including a change to Line 2! Pray like mad, even in retrospect that we wont have to find some dingy hotel by the port, since it’s the last boat of the day. I’ve spent the entire plane journey learning vocab which magically Houdinied its way out of my mind when I needed to use it!
The flight was pleasant enough though we’re exceedingly weary since we had to rise at 4.10am in order to catch the 4:59 train to London! We almost missed it by literally a second! We raced from home dragging the very heavy Yellow Peril suitcase and a pink-mink trolley plus rucksack! We’ve been exceedingly lucky so far, perhaps it will hold out! Got to go- just got to get up in order to alight (love this word on busstops!) and change trains!
Time is running out. Disaster! Cautious CBC didn’t run into train at Monastres- it’s past 4pm but at least I saw an orange tree!
I write this from the boat!! Luckily, the website was the equivalent of an over-cautious mother sending off her first born to Scout-camp and the Hellenic Seaways office told us we were early for our 5pm boat and seemed bemused at the mere suggestion that we were expected to arrive an hour before! PHEW! A wild goose-chase ensued trying to find the actual boat- the Flying dolphin. CBC headed towards impossibly large looking boats with car-ports (HELLO CBC? We’re going to an island horeece (Greek for ‘without’) cars on something called The flying dolphin not Stonking great whale!!!!!) I attempted asking in Greek for directions which headed us towards smaller-looking boats at the other end of the watery mass (What do I call it? The port still?)
Eventually, several paltry-attempts at Greek later (“Poo eneh ee karavi yia Idhra parakalo?”), we found ourselves boarding a moderately-sized red and white Flying dolphin. After being relocated to our proper seats, in what we had originally avoided as we’d assumed was the 1st class section due to its being smaller and having a door, not white-paper seat-covers alla Britain (Strange no one else was in this area: why did they put us here? AHA, I know your game! Let’s laugh at the silly English tourists sitting in the bumpy bit of the boat!) the hydra-foil departed at a hasty lick. This was not enough, despite, loud vibrations, to stop me from falling immediately into a slumber upon CBC’s shoulder.
Awakening one hour hence amidst blue sunset-illuminated sea, the boat arrived at Poros, the more popular touristy island (not as exclusive as Hydra), where virtually all in sundry alighted noisily (cue usual Kezzie-style paranoic ponderings of Have we missed Hydra????). All was fine on the seaward front and the ½ an hour left to reach Hydra continued with my continual sleep and CBC eagerly guzzling the Saronic sea-sights.
Arrival in darkness!!! Dismay at having to find accommodation, rueing the fact that we had not bothered to print a map, locate the street name our hotel might be on or print our confirmation.
First impressions of gentle-lapping waves at the habour, tavernas with outdoor heating lamps, stony-cobbled walkways. With the aid of a friendly ubiquitous ‘old smily gent’ and a couple of none-too-helpful “It’s far. Go that way and then ask someone else,” comments, we made our way up steep cobbled, labyrinthine passages, finding ourselves in worrying-dark, windy passages (cue more paranoic Kezzie, “Robbers, robbers, they’re after for us!!!”) Eventually, by magnificent luck, we ended up at Piteouessa, our guesthouse recognising it from the photos, meeting Yiannis, our 'landlord' who showed us a choice of rooms.
This photo of Piteoussa Guest House is courtesy of TripAdvisor
This photo of Piteoussa Guest House is courtesy of TripAdvisor
Choice number 1 was large and white with red accents and a romantic-style canopy over the bed. White with subtle grey-Ikea showroom style. Choice number 2 was up a windy staircase slightly smaller, white 
with prominent green accents, prominent apple accessories and 70’s style swirling lamps (plus balcony). Indecision reigned supreme until CBC stated that we should go for downstairs wherein I subtly tried to indicate that there had been a rather strong aroma of ‘cat’ downstairs and maybe we should stay upstairs. CBC in his innocently-ignorant-to-the-ways-of-cats and polite questioning, misinterpreted my comments and unsubtly asked “Do you have cats?” pointedly (inwardly I cringed and glared at CBC). Landlord, bemused at this strange turn in the conversation, wasn’t sure if this was a rhetorical question; Who DIDN’T have cats? (a feature of Hydra!) Eventually, I triumphed (somewhat regretfully, since who DOESN’T want to imagine they are Princess Jasmine under a white canopy!) but I cannot stand eau-de-cat-wee (this was OUTSIDE the room I am sure, but I could still smell it!). CBC made numerous references to over-greeness which suggested he wasn’t so happy, which parried irritation on my part.
with prominent green accents, prominent apple accessories and 70’s style swirling lamps (plus balcony). Indecision reigned supreme until CBC stated that we should go for downstairs wherein I subtly tried to indicate that there had been a rather strong aroma of ‘cat’ downstairs and maybe we should stay upstairs. CBC in his innocently-ignorant-to-the-ways-of-cats and polite questioning, misinterpreted my comments and unsubtly asked “Do you have cats?” pointedly (inwardly I cringed and glared at CBC). Landlord, bemused at this strange turn in the conversation, wasn’t sure if this was a rhetorical question; Who DIDN’T have cats? (a feature of Hydra!) Eventually, I triumphed (somewhat regretfully, since who DOESN’T want to imagine they are Princess Jasmine under a white canopy!) but I cannot stand eau-de-cat-wee (this was OUTSIDE the room I am sure, but I could still smell it!). CBC made numerous references to over-greeness which suggested he wasn’t so happy, which parried irritation on my part. Yiannis provided us with maps and cards for restaurants and some minutes later, we set off down further twisting passages eventually finding Ostria, a restaurant boasting fresh-seafood caught and cooked by the sea-faring proprietor himself! Herein, we experienced our first experience of yet another key-feature of Hydra- waiters/waitresses who enjoyed lengthly conversations with friends, not doing a lot of work!
Our food was local red small shrimps (SMALL? These were gargantuan!)- very generous portions and a whole fresh, sweet Kalamari, an abundance of Greek salad and rose wine. Our hostess was very helpful and friendly (not all were like this).
Finally, we traipsed homewards to Pitouessa, full of fare and calmly contented to sleep in the green boudoir!
