Two weeks into the trip, every day has been relaxing or an adventure, with six weeks to go. And here we have ended up on a little island, a real throwback in time. You can see mainland Greece (not Athens) across the water, but here on Hydra there is not even one car. You walk, catch a water taxi, or take a donkey. It is 7am and I am drinking a cappuccino down at the waterfront cafe watching the island wake up; the water boat is moving out, the supply barge has docked and mule teams are pulled reluctantly up the ramp, to emerge loaded with bottled water, sacks of quick-crete mix, four by eight foot sheets of plywood, sacks of potatoes... the church bell bangs out the time, the old men behind me discuss the election. The cafés are rigging out their sunshades, setting tables, sweeping up while the groceries put their stock of fruits and vegetables out on boards across the front of the store. My cappuccino is great, frothy with cinnamon sprinkled on top.
I now understand the phrase, "it's Greek to me." Sheesh, reading signs is almost impossible without a lot of thought and conjuring up what history and math I can recall. “Hydra” looks like “YΔΡAΣ.” Alpha, delta etc... I am looking but I don't even have a lot of the letters on my iPod keyboard.
The island and town are named Hydra, a mythical Greek water serpent. This place is dry as a bone. No springs, no ground water, no creeks or lakes... no hydra at all. Everyone drinks bottled water, and wash water is brought in by these tanker boats, moored just inside the harbour, offloading water into a huge cistern. Ironic, no? There are these stone-lined channels coming off the hillsides, to capture water if it rains, but they are bone dry. Hydra. Water. It's all ελληνικά to me.
Today the whole plan is get up, eat, walk to Vlychos beach, go beach, eat, read, go beach, drink, sleep, go beach, swim, walk back. After all that strenuous activity we will walk to the next town over for sunset drinks then dinner.
So, after Gail woke up (I had been out and about since 6) we started with a slow easy breakfast of fresh orange juice (I mean so fresh squeezed the glass was practically still hanging on the tree) toast and cappuccinos. We sat and watched the morning pass while I read the Bachelorette update to Gail (from USA Today dot com).
We changed and set out to the beach. Sure enough, about 40 minutes down the coast was the prettiest little cove with straw umbrellas, beds and food service. Vlychos Beach. Like every other beach so far this trip, it is topless, quiet and has someone ready to run drinks and food out to the lazy people (like us). We blew a huge €6 on two beds, and another €4 on a half litre of cold white wine and a bottle of water. That is $12.60 US total. God, I so love Europe.
It is now 14:00 as a write this, and I have done everything on my to do list except read. Too damn much effort to hold the book open, let alone hold it and move my eyes. Think I'll finish my glass of wine and continue listening to music and nap. Maybe I should muster up the effort to turn over...
Eventually I do actually get flopped over (after another warm swim) and crack that book open.
In retrospect today, I have often wondered what it is about traveling overseas that allows me to stay up until midnight, two in the morning, even though I still don't sleep in, when at home I fall asleep sometimes at 8pm. I don't think it is vacay alone; probably it is a combination of lack of work stress, and snoozing the afternoon away in the sun.
About 18:00 we hike back to town, and shower to head out for sunset drinks and dinner.
We are eating dinner at Kodylena's Taverna in Kaminia, watching the sunset behind mainland Greece. A half litre of red wine, half litre of white, litre and a half of water, wonderful fried zucchini balls (with lemon and feta cheese! Yummy! And I HATE zucchini. Can't even spell it correctly.) and pork medallions in wine and mushroom sauce. The sunset was grand, the walk back to our town sublime.
Hydra makes me want to learn to sail, quit my job and spend a year going island to island. How many places there are to explore?
Tomorrow we head to AΘήvα! (Come on now, sound it out… Athens! Of course!)