Epidaurus and Hydra














 Everyone (shockingly!) enjoyed breakfast this morning at The Brunch Factory before setting out for Epidaurus. We were considering hitting Mycenae but the kids vetoed that. They actually started chanting “No Mycenae, no Mycenae!” So we went for a quick stop at Epidaurus before the beach.

The great theater at Epidaurus is over 2000 years old and engineers are still studying it's acoustics. It is also still in use today. You can stand on the stage and speak in a normal voice and be heard at the top of the theater. Additionally, when you speak your voice sounds like it's in stereo. It was fun watching everyone test the acoustics!

We left the theater and headed to the Sunken City. This is a set of ruins that is about 50 yards off shore in less than 10 feet of water. Sadly we didn't memorize the map of where all the ruins were, so we were blindly swimming around! We did find a couple of walls, the corners of several buildings, some old wheel looking things and lots of stones. Very cool (although the kids were just happy to be in the water!) Left the Sunken City to head to Ermioni to catch a boat to Hydra.

We took Christo’s ferry to Hydra. Slight anxiety as we waited for everyone to get on the boat. Our group as a whole has an uncanny knack for making lengthy bathroom visits just as our boats, trains, planes and automobiles are departing!

Gorgeous weather as we hit the dock in Hydra. No vehicles allowed on the island other than the single police/fire car and the trash truck. We checked in and most of us headed out to swim. There are a couple of nice beaches on Hydra, but mostly people use swim platforms. These are concrete areas built into the rocks. Many of them are connected to a restaurant or bar!

A nice afternoon of swimming and then naps before dinner. We ate at a place that's been run by the same family for 200 years. Abby and CJ called it the Zac Efron place because when we were last here, the waiter looked like an old Zac Efron. Lo and behold we had the same waiter 4 years later! Food was great. Simo and Steve both ordered a lamb specialty dish. When they brought the food they told Simo there was only 1 left and they were giving it to his son. He was disappointed for a brief second then cheered right up when they put a big plate of lamb chops in front of him! Once again the kids were great about trying new foods; dolmades, onion pie, zucchini pie, baked lamb, etc.. 

Finished dinner around 11:30 and kids headed out for gelato and adults went back to Hotel Mistral courtyard to finish a bottle of wine and solve the world’s problems!


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