04 July 2016

GREECE: Hydra

Alina Ceusan # Travel

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“HOW TO CHOOSE AN OUTFIT ON HOLIDAY?”

Irina Schrotter dress | Mineli Boutique Sandals | Lala Boutique Elisabetta Franchi Bag | Diva Charms sunglasses.

Hydra. The island perfectly situated in the middle of the sea, where no cars can be spotted. We were sailing for a while now, already used with the idea of waking up in a different harbor every morning. But today, after a long sleep in the tiniest possible room on a boat, we were awaited by a special day.

I left the cabin and went on the deck. We had a conversation spot, celebrated by a table situated exactly in the middle, with prosecco glasses, cigarettes and a lighter secretly hunted by several glances. Right near the table, a pack of water bottles was resting in the shadow. The air was salty and the wind was strong. Up on the sky, the sun was already burning impatiently. In the background, we could see white houses with flat roofs spread around on a barren land. We were approaching Hydra and everybody was taking pictures with the view, except for me. I was running low on battery and the boat didn’t have any generator so I had to settle only with the view. As we are slowly sailing through the harbor, voices from all over the boat were starting to propose different schedules for the day. We remained in stand by for about thirty minutes; the waves were swinging us as a sweet lullaby as we were getting surrounded by other Party Sails boats and yachts.

We set our feet on the ground around 12:00 and everybody was prepared to take the start, obviously in different directions. Some went for a coffee, some others remained on the boat and we went for lunch. Gang vacations are cool, we met really nice people on the boat and we are in touch now, after the vacation is over but back then we were at crossroads. Imagine 9 people, each one preferring a different activity. It was challenging, if you know what I mean. I climbed down Pacific Gold (of course the boat has a name) dressed in an Irina Scrotter yellow dress that was a perfect match on this island where the landscape was luminous, colorful and vibrant but also solar and flavors. The islands of Greece have by far, the best light for photos. This kind of places can be equalized with an enormous silver blend that does nothing else than reflecting the sunlight. Oh and by the way, no clouds appeared on the sky during this week on the boat. Now this was a holiday.

The sun is burning like crazy these days, so as soon as I woke up, I took a cold shower and I applied a sun lotion – SPF 50. I couldn’t care less about the tan, I feel like it doesn’t stick to my skin anyway so why bother. I am playing safe with the face cream from Nivea and I am always applying it on the tattoos. It’s a must.

Everything smelled different from the rest of the islands we had visited so far. It was definitely a cooked food smell but the air was clean though, slowly leaning into all the flavors around: coffee, food, fish. We were on a savory island, for sure.

We ate at a restaurant that was placed in the inner yard of a quiet hotel. It was so hot and we were so hungry, that the luxurious garden with palm trees and the tall clay hotchpotch seemed natural near the rustic and hardy pool. We ordered some beers and in the meantime, Gaby took off her dress and approached the pool, not before asking the waiter (in French!) if she can use the pool. “With direction”, came the answer. So there she was, with her elbows rested on the side whispering amused “Am I discrete enough?”. Around us, only respectable ladies drinking rose while reading Le Monde or something. We ordered pasta with tomatoes, basil and parmesan, a club sandwich with French fries and a saganaki chicken. Before that, we also ate some olive paste, with bread and olive oil. I think it was one of the best meals we had on the island, maybe because of the scorching heat, or the glossy water surface in the pool, the fresh basil or the unusual present – because we had pasta instead of fish? I haven’t brought any swimsuit with me. Because I had a yellow dress on and the thought of eating in such a place did not cross my mind.

Right after this sensorial gourmet experience, I went to the bathroom and got my hair wet. It was so hot outside and I felt the need to cool down a little bit. We took the road back to the harbor to recover our SD cards, have some ice cream, visit the maritime museum situated on the left side of the island and we got back on the boat with a magnet and some vintage sun glasses. Each island charmed me into buying a little something – I chose a beach towel with “Jack Daniels” in Poros and I think that Gaby has a ring from Hydra.We are just taking it easy and having fun…