Hydra

(Local Name: Ídra) Area of island: 55 sq. km/21 sq. mi.

Altitude: 590m/1,936ft

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. In the 15th century, and again after 1770, following the rising in the Morea, Albanian refugees settled on