The Adventures of Mactowne

Athens was growing old, so I decided to head out. I had to go through the port at Piraeus, so I caught the metro there and landed in a smaller, hotter, stinkier version of Athens, in which I had to wait around for a few hours before I could board the Flying Dolphin XVII to head to the island of Hydros. Those three hours sucked... hotter than crap and I finally realized that it's safe to generalize: old Greek women are pushy, selfish, and completely unconcerned with anyone else. Try being packed next to a bunch of them in the hot sun sometime and you'll excuse my remark.
But then I made it to Hydros. An hour and a half on the boat, which was pretty quick, got me there and I was flagged down by a lady who wanted to rent a room. I followed her back to her place to check it out, negotiated the price down to a mere 50 euros (twice what I was paying in Athens), and decided to stay two nights. The town itself is pretty small compared to the total island area (which is huge and full of terrain that prevents more building). Very charming though. And the water.. man alive, the water. It's a gorgeous blue. I walked around and took lots of photos last night, then rose this morning and got on a boat to go to a remote beach on the other side of the island. I spent the day there lying under an umbrella with a bottle of water and a book and took several swims. I found that opening my eyes under the salt water was actually not bad at all, so I did it a lot. I would be floating on the surface and look down and figured the floor was about ten feet down. Then I'd put my head in and see that it was at least 25' - 30' down. The water is soooo clear. So I did a lot of diving without any kind of gear, which is liberating, but I wished I had at least a mask. There will be more islands... Back to town for now and I'll head out sometime tomorrow. Hoping to catch a couch in Athens but if I don't I might just get on a train and go north to anywhere. I'm done with the exceedingly hot cities around there. I really hope the photos make it back home with me. This place is just spectacular.

Labels: Hydros

posted by Matthew MacLeod @ 9:21 AM