Hydra Ídra

Area of island: 55 sq. km/21 sq. mi.

Chief town: Hydra

The island of Hydra (ancient Hydrea) is a bare limestone ridge, 12km/7.5 mi long and up to 5 km/3 mi wide, lying off the southeast coast of the Argolid. This arid and infertile island lives mainly on the tourist trade and the sale of its craft products (jewelry, pottery, embroidery; hand-woven cloth, leather goods). A tempting local speciality is amygdalotá (almond cake).

The island was occupied from Mycenaean times, but until the 18th century A.D. remained a place of no importance.

Picture - Horses tied up on the island of Hydra.

Picture - A ferry docked on the island of Hydra.

View a slideshow of Hydra Pictures

In the 15th century, and again after 1770, following the rising in the Morea, Albanian refugees settled on the island and through their commercial and seafaring activities, together with a certain amount of piracy, made it a wealthy cultural and social center. During the war of liberation from the Turks Hydra converted its merchant fleet into a naval force and also met a considerable proportion of the costs of the war. It has now returned to its former unimportance.

Regular services from Athens (Piraeus).

Related Attractions

Hydra Town (Idra Khora), Greece

The chief town on the island of Hydra is also called Hydra. The town climbs picturesquely up the slopes of the hills around its sheltered harbor on the north coast. It is a favorite resort of artists, particularly painters, and intellectuals, who give the town its special stamp and atmosphere. On the quay is the old monastic church of the Panayía (17th C.), with a beautiful cloister. Above the town to the west are the ruins of a medieval castle, and lower down are fortifications built during the war of liberation.

Ídra Khóra - Harbor

On both sides of the harbor are the imposing mansions of early 19th century shipowners and merchants, including the houses of Admiral Iakovos Tombazis (now occupied by an outstation of the Athens Academy of Art) and Dimitrios Voulgaris. One such mansion houses a training school for the merchant navy. The plain white and sometimes color-washed houses of the town on the slopes above the harbor are rather Cycladic in type.