On Thursday morning, May 8th, we took the Athens Metro to Piraeus so we could go to the ferry terminal! The trip was pretty simple since our hotel was 2 blocks away from the Monastiraki metro station. We were off on a day trip to Hydra Island! 

S bought the ferry tickets ahead of time online. We bought them the night before, so it wasn’t too hard to secure. It was a little difficult finding the right place to board the ferry though and we were waiting at the wrong place for a while. Thankfully, we didn’t miss our ferry. 

Hydra is a pretty Greek island that stands out because there are no cars allowed (other than a few municipal service vehicles). As we stepped onto the port of Hydra, we were greeted with their main form of transport around the island: donkeys! We watched as some tourists who were going to stay on the island paid for the donkeys to help carry their luggage. Around town, we would also randomly see donkeys carrying a shipment of dog food and other supplies. 

Hydra also is home to a thousand stray cats. Towards the end of our trip, S caved and bought some cat treats at a local pet store so he could feed the stray felines. He loves animals so this was probably a highlight for him haha. 

We walked around the island a bit, but we wanted to grab lunch. I wanted to sit at one of the cafes looking out over the port because the view was so beautiful—despite knowing we’d be upcharged given the location. 

We ate at a cafe called En Plo and they had a Greek breakfast platter. I thought it was a pretty good spread and variety of foods! And you get coffee and orange juice too. We also ended up getting a frozen Greek yogurt with fruits and honey too. Delicious! 

After lunch, I wanted to join the folks sunbathing at the beach. The “beach”is more like an outcrop of rocks near the water. But the allure of the turquoise waters and the sun beating down on us made us trek down to dip our toes in. I was wearing my swimsuit underneath so it was an easy transition. I did get sunburnt though 😅 And I later realized I might have scratched up my back on the rocks where I laid down. Oops. 

After spending some time at the beach we headed off to try their famed almond sweets: amygdalota. It’s made of almonds, semolina, sugar and rose water, and they sell these by the boxes—but the folks at Tsangaris Confectionery were kind enough to sell us just 4 pieces! It was a tad too sweet for me, but I can see the appeal. 

At one point, S and I got group photos and there were some pigeons near us that he loved. They kept preening and chilling with each other. Such a cute couple! 

After the sweets, we didn’t have too long till our return ferry, so we hit up a local pet store since we wanted to get a bag of treats for Onyx as a souvenir. That’s when S also bought some cat treats. He became the town favorite (from the cats’ POV) for a bit as he walked around feeding the cats. 

Hydra is beautiful and I loved that it was a fair few degrees cooler than Athens. It was a nice getaway from the stuffy city air and I’m so glad we did this day trip! We weren’t sure at first if we wanted to make the effort, but it was definitely worth it!