St John Travel Blog: Hydra

It got too difficult to keep up with our blog in realtime, but I am going to attempt to catch up now that we are home.

Our ferry to Hydra was a smallish one, but somehow I didn't get motion sick. There was a small cafe in back, where I bought some chips and water. When we arrived at the dock, there was a row of donkeys waiting to pick people and luggage up. Our hotel wasn't far, so we opted to walk.

We joined the Driver Genomics clan for dinner and hung out, swapping stories of the other islands we had all been to. Then we went back to the hotel and crashed. The next day was the wedding, but we got some breakfast, rode a couple donkeys around town, and wandered the shops a little before having our nap. At four we met with the rest of the groom's side at a hotel so that we could all walk up to the church together (apparently that is tradition). John's friend Nick had gone into the hotel to see what was going on and there was a shaving party. Apparently another tradition is that everyone helps shave the groom, so Nick shaved a tiny spot on Petros' cheek.

The church was very small and very pretty. They gave us a folded handout that explained all the parts of a Greek orthodox wedding. There were no seats in the church - just an open space where we all stood. Compared to the Catholic weddings I've been to, this one went by in a flash. They sipped the wine three times, blessed the crowns three times, swapped the crowns three times, walked around the alter three times, etc. It was an interesting ceremony. I have to admit, I thought the crowns were really cool.

Then we all hopped on some water taxis and headed over to the reception. It was very pretty and there were so many courses at dinner that I thought I was going to explode. Apart from that, the reception was pretty similar to American weddings I've been to. At one point, a Greek lady was dancing with a glass of wine on her head. I didn't see it happen, but John's friend Aleah got a video.

We danced a lot, but I couldn't stay inside for long stretches because the catering staff was hanging out at the bar next to the dance floor, chain smoking. This was not a large room, and the doors were mostly closed. It was so smokey in there it was crazy. Things we take for granted in the US...

We water taxied back to the main harbor and went to our hotel to crash for the night. We saw a flier at our hotel for "Harriet's Horse Tours" and decided to try to make an appointment. I'm glad we did because it ended up being one of the major highlights of our entire trip.

The next day we met up with Harriet, her dog Cali, and two of her horses at the hotel. She is approximately the same age as us, and she was born in the UK. Her parents decided to move to Hydra when she was 10, and she has lived there ever since. She helped John and me mount our horses and then walked in front, leading our horses up the mountain and with Cali in tow. It was a serious trek up the mountain to a monastery overlooking all of Hydra. She goes up the mountain regularly, both for tours and for carrying supplies/construction gear. Since there aren't any motorized vehicles in Hydra, there is a lot of work for horses and donkeys.

The views were breathtaking all the way up. When we got to the monastery, we dismounted and went inside to rest ourselves (and the horses), and to have some tea. There are two nuns living at this monastery, and Harriet knows them well because she does a lot of tours and she always calls them ahead of time to see if they need anything. It was really incredible sitting in their kitchen listening to the three of them chat in Greek and catch up. It was clear that the nuns adore Harriet and that Harriet loves them too. The nuns recently started making small bracelets and keychains, saying a prayer for each bead, to sell to tourists who come to visit. Harriet asked if we would become their first customers because it would make them very happy, and we each gladly bought a bracelet.

It was so windy up on the mountain, but so calm and quiet in the monastery. It was really peaceful. And the nuns were just incredibly sweet, offering us candy and trying to ask us questions in Greek. I figured out that one of them was asking where we were from, and she seemed pleased that I understood. After a bit of a rest, and after Harriet helped them to check their blood pressure with the machine she had brought up, we said our goodbyes and got back on the horses.

The ride down the mountain was a little more painful than the ride up. Aside from the fact that we could already feel our legs getting shaky and worn out, my horse was very playful and fancied herself a show pony, so when there was a step down she would jump. I got better at cushioning the impact as time went on. It was a really fun ride, about three hours in total including the time at the monastery. We concluded that we would like to do some horse tours in the bay area because we had so much fun.

Our ferry back to Athens was a "Flying Dolphin," which is a strange looking boat that lifts up in front when it gets up to speed. We arrived at the port two hours later and took a cab to our hotel in what I can only describe as the most disgusting city on Earth.

Stay tuned for Athens, the Acropolis/museum, and the never-ending nightmare that is Heathrow airport.

Forgot a couple from Samos - Airport had pony merch. That made my day.