Hydra is an area of 52 sq. km. and is 6 nautical miles far from the NE coast of Argolida . It is a rocky mountain chain, 20 km length, and width from 1,5 km to 6 km . The island is thin and anhydrous, with highest crown the Ere ( 592 m .). It is 35 nautical miles far from
Piraeus . The municipality of
Hydra has approximately 2,800 residents. The climate is mild with a cool summer and a soft winter. North winds mostly take off the sea fog and create a brilliant and clear horizon. The town which is the centre of the whole island, is built amphitheatrically, around the port.
It looks glamorous like an art-paint, with grey, white and blue colours above the blue of the sea, an exemplar of architectonics and aesthetics. Right and left from the entrance of the port, there are the parapets with the canons, which protected the city. The
name of Hydra (
Hidra) is owed to the
rich waters, which sprang out from the quarries which existed in the antiquity. The first residents of the island where the Dryopes. Historians mention the island by the name of
Hydreas and in the interiors have been saved signs of ancient settlements. From very early, Hydra was used as a nautical station, and as a result, it starred in the sea commerce and communications. The town itself represents a big sample of our traditional inheritance. Simple houses or country seats, differentiate from a quaint architecture which is not met in other Greek regions. Orthogonal parallelepiped with ceramic roof, flint cornice, high-ceiling with arches, with embossed interior decoration, and painted wooden ceilings. We will also see cisterns, and marble sources. In the old days, Hydraian furniture had a good fame which also gave glory to noble houses.
It will be worth it for anyone to visit the mansions of the island, look far away the port from the hill, admire the sunset from the "lodge" and the cave and visit the 6 monasteries and the
300 churches. Especially the
twin monasteries of Saint Efpraksia and of the prophet Elias, the monastery of the assumption and the churches of Ypapanti and Saint John the faster. Last but not least the Historical File-Museum, which operates daily and shows important museum jewels amd archival items. On
Hydra island you will enjoy romantic walk in the narrows, graphical, paved alleys. Generally, Hydra is famous for the calm life is offers to the visitors in the day, but also for the intense, cosmopolitan life, in the night. Bar, pub, disco, with foreign-Greek music and reverly till the morning.
Hydra with the continuous offering in tourism and cultural life of our country, remains the adornment of the saronic gulf and one of the most important resorts of
Greece.
Hydra is the headquarter of the Cathedral of Hydra -
Spetses -
Poros -
Aegina. From 1967, Metropolite is the Venerable Ierotheos Tsantilis.
