Hydra by Yacht: Arriving at Greece’s Car-Free Island
Hydra Has No Cars, and That Changes Everything About Arriving by Boat If you’ve ever asked me which Greek island I’d send you to if you only had time for one, there’s a good chance I said Hydra. And there’s one moment there I love to describe to clients more than any other. It happens as your yacht rounds the headland and the harbor comes into view. The first thing you notice isn’t what you see. It’s what you don’t hear. No engines on a coast road. No scooters whining up a hill. No horns, no reversing beeps, no traffic hum under everything. Just a halyard clinking against a mast, a church bell somewhere above town, gulls, a donkey voicing his opinion about the heat, and water lapping against old stone. Then the town opens up in front of you: a horseshoe of grey-and-white captains’ mansions stacked up the hillside, cannons still guarding the harbor mouth, and a waterfront of cafés where nobody is in a hurry. Guests who...
