We started the day with breakfast at the šLemon Trees and our standard fare of coffee, sparkling water and yogurt bowl. We used that time to confirm our plan and try and connect with our host in Spetses as weāre heading there tomorrow and theyāve been suspiciously quiet. Usually an Airbnb host has quite a bit to say when you book. This one hasn't said a thing.
While we waited for a response we packed our best beach equipment (sunscreen, headphones, battery pack for our phones) and headed east in search of a sandy beach in an abundance of rocky ones. Our research pointed to šParalia Mandraki (paralia meaning beach in Greek) having such a thing and the šMandraki Beach Resort was happy to meet our needs for sandy beach, umbrella, comfortable sunbed and a towel for a paltry 40ā¬ per person (you can save 10ā¬ per head if youāre willing to be in a back row). Not cheap by any means but weāre on vacation and reducing friction is worth some overpriced space rental.
We proceeded to move between listening to audiobooks on our plush sun bed to swimming for the next 3 hours. Thereās nothing much to log about. Hydra not being super busy at the moment, we didnāt have to negotiate our seating, there was barely anybody in the water. There were more boats in the cove than people in the water and while I didnāt take a count, probably more boats than people on the beach.
17:00 came around; we made our way back to our apartment, showered and took some time off from a gruelling day of relaxing before dinner. Weāre not cooking the dinner, catching or harvesting any of the food. Our plan is to walk the 240 meters on flat ground to šOstria, sit down, order food and enjoy ourselves. The definition of hard work if Iāve ever written oneā¦. which, Iāve yet to do š
šOstriaās terrace is really tables on the street. The city being built a the foot of the hill, all streets going into the town are slanted. In our case by 4Ā°. Might not seem like much but enough for me to feel like Iām sliding off my wicker chair. Weāre really in the āfamily styleā restaurant category. We stopped by to ask for a reservation and we were told to come at 19:30, no name asked. Showing up she remembered Karine and sat us down. The menu is photocopies of a hand written menu held slightly ajar so youāre missing the first letters (or number in case of the wine size) of some of the drinks. The food itself was simple, quick to make and bring to the table as well as delicious. We had:
- a Greek salad (having vegetables is important, thatās where the fibre is),
- fried cheese (fat keeps you lubricatedā¦ patently false but I like to think so), fried
- zucchini balls (which were flat and circles at best but both fiber and fat for the win)
- grilled sardines (we didn't forget about the protein!),
- fried calamari (some more protein and fat to keep us from rusting)
We finish the evening at the Gelato. As usual, we were prevented from making a Canadian sized order (which, for us, means people who had yogurt, fruits and coffee 7 hours ago and havenāt eaten since). Still a little peckish after dinner, a gelato was made to hit the remaining spot.
Tomorrow weāre setting sail to Spetses which promises to be the less touristy version of Hydra.
Places
The Lemon Trees Hydra Ā· ĪĪ“ĻĪ±
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Paralia Mandraki Ā· Mandraki
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Mandraki Beach Resort Ā· Hydra
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Ostria - sanem Ā· ĪĪ“ĻĪ±
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