Rest stop on the drive from Athens to Porto Heli on the Peloponnese coast
Who needs a water park when you have the Aegean’s Saronic Gulf to splash around in? What better place for a family vacation than a country that is famous for its beautiful beaches, yummy Mediterranean cuisine, and laid-back lifestyle. Out of the 200+ inhabited islands throughout Greece; my mom, grandmother, Aunt, cousin and I chose Hydra for an epic June getaway. While June or September are ideal times to travel to Greece for weather that is not too hot and less crowds, this Jersey girl quickly discovered that the Mediterranean sea is cold as heck in June (think New England’s frigid ocean temps in August).
Pinned on the map at 43 miles south of Athens, we liked the vehicle-free island’s close proximity to the Peloponnese coast, which we jokingly nicknamed “obscure” Greece. While my mom and I have managed to get in quite a few Mother-Daughter trips over the years, the last time we had a BIG family vacation like this one, I was a 5 year old jetting off to Disney World.
During the scenic 3-hour drive along the coast we plotted on how to make the most of our miles and joked as we reminisced about our favorite memories. Growing up, I had heard other family members joke about an adventurous side of my mother that I didn’t know as I child. While she would simply laugh off these tales before casually changing the subject, the aspiring storyteller inside of me was always left wondering what fueled her to take risks in search of adventure? What did she dream about before she was “mom?” At 14 years old, this longing to know left me with just enough curiosity to push me to read her teen journal after stumbling upon it in a basement trunk at my grandparents’ house. While I’ll be the first to admit it wasn’t the most ethical thing to do, discovering that I shared a passion for writing with my mom is what brought us closer in the years that followed. Traveling together as adults is the “icing on the cake” that has enabled me to get to know my mom better as an individual.
Rooftop family brunching in Athens (Acropolis in the background on right)
Now there we were, 5 women (3 generations) with a shared thirst for adventure that landed us on an island that is eponymous with a gigantic water snake . Prior to our trip, I didn’t know much about Hydra outside what I read about the magnetic effect this Saronic Island had in drawing a bohemian colony of expats in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Being a budding writer myself, I wanted to learn more about the culture that inspired this generation of artists, writers and musicians to flourish amid the island’s quaint lemon tree-lined plazas and clay-roofed homes perched above the electric turquoise-blue ocean water.
This tiny Aegean isle struck us with a magical feeling of wonder that captivated our hearts. While it was not by ANY means the mystical Pegasus found in Greek mythology, it took 3 solid tries for me to finally mount a donkey. I felt worlds away as I clip-clopped uphill through the steep and narrow, winding stone streets. As if Hydra’s architecture wasn’t dreamy enough, the freshly prepared organic cuisine bewitched our palates. Huge, mouthwatering grilled calamari, tender and charred in all the right places along with meaty saganaki style shrimp were my go-to meals when I wasn’t chowing down on Greek salads with jumbo chunks of fresh feta and Kalamata olives. We felt a physical and spiritual awakening as we explored the island’s 18th century port cutely laid out with family owned restaurants, streets that stepped back in time and cubist-like homes adorned with flowers. Choosing this tucked away destination allowed us to see Greece as locals do while creating special memories that bonded us in a way that may not have been possible in the more glammed destinations of Mykonos and Santorini. Do you like going off the beaten path on vacation or do you prefer to be in the center of all of the action?
“Travel because you have no idea who you are until you experience yourself through different people and realize how we’re all the same.”
