Authentic Hydra: island of history, art and silence – life

Hydra – Island of Snake

« We are the people of the snake, » Local guide told me as we felled with cobbled stairs between white houses. « Cunning, unpredictable, but never mean. We know we will survive. »

Snakes that do not bite but keep

The name « People of the Snake » is not a tourist resume. It is local identification, almost a mythological. Throughout the centuries, Hydra was the island of traders, seafarers, Captain and … diplomat. No fortress, without strong ramparts, but with the mind and feeling for politics, writes kulturizam.com.

While many Greek Islands fell under the boot of the Ottoman Empire or Catholic government, Hydra managed to remain semi-survive – balancing between the interests of Turks from one and Western powers, most often Venice, on the other. They did not interfere in other people’s wars, but they always knew when to retreat, and when to stop at the head of the column.

So in the crucial moments of the history of Greece, people with Hot – These « snake » diplomats became warriors. During the uprising in 1821. year, their trading navy turned into a war fleet. They finished the fight from their pocket. Their ships, their sea, their blood – became the foundations of modern Greek freedom.

An island without a car and no compromise

Imagine an island where there are no cars. There is no bike. People walk, go on the donkeys, transmit goods on horseback or handless. On Hydra, it is not a romantic attraction for tourists – it is a way of life.

The law prohibits motor vehicles on the island. Not because it is not possible, but because they just don’t want. Clean air, peace, quiet. Children are running safely in the streets. Horses, mules and donkeys are part of the landscape, but also everyday. This strict local identity comes with its price – but the Hydra pays that price with pride. And he doesn’t regret it.

Sofia Loren and the beginning of Greek tourism

In 1957, the island was discovered again – but this time through Chambers Hollywood. The film « Boy on the Dolphin » with Sofia Loren was filmed right here. The film did not become an epic classic, but he had one completely different, « the world woke up.

Beautiful landscape Hydra, stone houses on rocks, light that seems to not belong to this world, a sea that glims up as gold – it all won audiences and tourists. Then Greece entered the world tourist folder. What we know today as « Greek tourism » began.

A monument is still on the island – a bronze boy on the dolphin, which looks at the openness. Those a few seconds of the film, the avalanche started – and since then, Greece is not the same.

Leonard Koen, Artists and World Without Time Zones

In the 1960s, a young poet from Canada, then an unknown world, bought a house on Hydra for small money. He was called Leonard Koen. On the island without electricity, without a phone, Koen wrote, loved, sang. He said that Hydra was a place where he learned to live – slow, honestly, simple.

His song « Suzanne » Inspirsana is just Hydra beauties. Today, his house still stands, and they organize evenings in his honor from time to time on the island.

But Koen was not the only one. Hydra is also an artistic foothold today. Many painters, writers, actors, and modern conceptual artists come here to find silence, light, inspiration. In the silence of the island, art breathes freely.

Paradise on the edge – an incident shaken up the island

However, no Hydra is a paradise without any incidents. During the last year, a luxury celebration on the yacht end of the island ended with a disaster. Fireworks fired from the ship caused a big fire in the last green zone of the island – the only forest on the Hydra, which defied the Surve Aegean Climate for decades.

The fire destroyed the part of nature, which was not only biologically, but also a symbolic balance of the island. The local community was furious. The artists wrote open letters. The protests spread social networks.

Hydra warned – can accommodate tourists, but will not accept recklessness.

The island for the soul and for the heart

Hydra is not an island you will visit in a day. Not because of size, but due to tempo. Time here runs differently. No haste. There is no « Checklist » and « Must See » attraction. It is sitting here for hours with coffee, talks to unknown, watching light as changes to the color of the stone.

In the evening, the alley becomes a stage. The sound of guitar in the distance, church bells call for evening service. It may not be a wonder that songs were born here.

And yes – billionaire and poets continue to meet here. Painters and fishermen. An ancient world and modern luxury – but all without glamor that suffocates. Hydra remained its own. As it was for centuries.

The island of people snakes will enchant you at first sight. Its strength is not in size, but in character. In ability to save the soul. That doesn’t fit all. In what he knows when he should whisper, and when to shout, he states kulturizam.com.

If you are looking for a place that will not only enchant you, but change the way you look at the world – maybe it’s time to visit Hydra. Not like a tourist. Already as a traveler. Maybe even as an artist. Because on this island, everyone becomes something more than what was.