Hydra - around the kalderimia

Our hotel in Hydra was situated in the heart of the town, a 3-minute walk from the waterfront.

Like most buildings here, there is a courtyard, rather than a garden

and this is where we had breakfast every morning

 

it was shady and cool.

This was the view from our window.

The name for the streets and roads in Hydra is kalderimi, a cobblestone-paved road built for hoofed traffic. Kalderimia are sometimes described as cobbled or paved mule tracks or trails. 

The whole town is like this. Paved with flat stones.Kalderimia are typically 2m wide, so that two fully laden mules could pass each other without much difficulty. In Greece the kalderimi network formerly linked almost every village, hamlet, chapel and even sheepfold. There were thousands of kilometres of these roads.

As they are designed for foot and hoofed traffic, they have steps where necessary, made of stones laid vertically. 

The whole of the town of Hydra is like this, and it's wonderful walking about, exploring ... even though the steps can get a bit too much at times.

This taverna was across the road from our hotel

as was this little park

a hospital

this supermarket was near our hotel - not too far for carrying water

narrow streets keeping the sun out.

A few tourist shops, but not many 

And cats everywhere. They are the mascot of the island and people take really good care of them. I expressed an interest in this bowl and the shop owner said to me: 'it is for sale, but you can't have it now, the cat needs to get its sleep and rest'.

Same shop.

Near the waterfront there are some tourist shops, but as I said, they are far and between. 

The gate was open so I had a peep - this is the courtyard of one of the houses

The outdoor cinema

so narrow

 

so pretty

a church

The Dried up Olive 

this taverna takes up the whole square - while we were there they had a music event that started at ... 1:00 in the morning. It was packed

We used to stay in a hotel just round the corner, so would pass this church all the time

and here it is, Mistral. We stayed here, four times, I think

here is where we used to have breakfast

narrow, or what

it's all so pretty

We also stayed here, twice

one gets so grateful about the narrowness of these streets

We also stayed here once, not so keen on this one

There is bourgainvillea everywhere

This is probably the most upmarket hotel in the town

the courtyard and swimming pool

Lots of tavernas in this part - we ate here a few times: different places each time

another peep in a courtyard - a bit too much, maybe?

I love the glow that these houses get at dusk

pretty

complex design trying to fit everything in

Just wonderful - the whole place is wonderful.