Hydra Tours

Hydra tours are host-led outings on Hydra, an island of the Islands regional unit in Attica. The subjects start with the Old Carpet Factory and the Arvanitika speech of the island. Antonis Oikonomou, Anastasios Tsamados and the Dokos shipwreck follow. Then come the painter Panayiotis Tetsis, Marianne Ihlen and four short answers. Close options appear in Greek islands near Athens, a 5 day Greece itinerary and day trips from Athens. Every other region appears under Greece tours.

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What are Hydra tours?

Hydra tours explore an island in Greece. Its municipality sits within the Islands regional unit, which Attica takes in. In Greece, a municipality runs town affairs. A regional unit stands one level higher and covers a wider district.

The island’s name appears in other spellings. Writers also give it as Ydra or Idra, and the name is said EE-dra. Hydra tours take place in a settled area of a modest size. That inhabited area is so compact that the majority of people walk everywhere. Compact means packed closely into a small space.

Hydra tours cross an island that falls in hardiness zone 11a. A hardiness zone is a band on a plant map. Each band shows which garden plants survive the coldest nights of winter in a place. The zone number rises as winter nights grow milder. The letter a marks the colder half of a zone.

As the Second World War drew to a close, large numbers of Hydriots had again left the island. Hydriots are the people of Hydra. A large share of them settled abroad as emigrants. An emigrant is a person who leaves a home country to live in another one. Tarpon Springs in Florida became the best-known new home of Hydra’s emigrants.

• Divers: Tarpon Springs drew its first sponge divers from Aegina and Hydra, two islands of the Saronic Gulf.
• Sister city: In 2007 and 2008, Tarpon Springs formed sister city ties with Hydra, Kalymnos, Halki and Symi.
• Twin town: The municipality of Hydra has been twinned with Bayonne in France since 2008.

Hydra tours run on an island whose yearly temperature averages around 20.4 °C. An annual average adds the readings of a whole year and divides them by their count. The C stands for Celsius, a scale on which water freezes at zero degrees.

Which past lives does the Old Carpet Factory bring to Hydra tours?

Hydra tours carry the story of the Old Carpet Factory, a historical mansion on the island. Today the building serves as a private home. Mansion is the word for a big, stately house, set apart from ordinary homes by size and style.

The house was first built for the Tsamados family, a leading Hydra family, in the late 18th century. Ordinary Hydra homes from that period looked far plainer. They had lime-washed stone walls, narrow rectangular rooms and roof tiles with no decoration. Lime-wash is a white coating of lime and water brushed onto stone.

The Tsamados mansion, part of the history behind Hydra tours, had open interiors. Its very high ceilings were finished with carved wood. Later, the house was given to the church. It was turned into a working weaving school, where people learned to make cloth on looms. A loom is a frame that holds threads tight for weaving.

The school produced textiles and carpets on Hydra. Textiles are woven cloths, such as fabric for clothes or covers. A carpet is a thick woven floor covering. Because of this work, local people came to call the house the Old Carpet Factory. On Hydra tours, that nickname still serves as the building’s name.

• Sculptor: In the 1950s, the American sculptor John La Farge bought the house and renovated it.
• Window: La Farge fitted the retaining arch with glass, making a large window onto a private courtyard.
• Painter: In 1976, the painter Kristina Colloredo-Mansfeld became the new owner of the house.

In 2015, a recording studio filled the lower part of the house behind Hydra tours. The studio uses the acoustics of the high ceilings and the water cisterns. Acoustics means the way sound behaves in a room. Cisterns are tanks built to hold a store of water.

Why does Arvanitika matter to Hydra tours?

Hydra tours touch Arvanitika, the dialect of Albanian spoken by the Arvanites. Dialect means the speech form of one group. Until the early 20th century, Arvanitika served as the chief language of the Greek fleet. Arvanites form a community of Albanian origin within Greece.

For Hydra tours, the first written account of the Arvanite settlement came from Antonis Miaoulis. He was a son of the admiral Andreas Miaoulis. An admiral is a senior commander at sea. The local story in his account says Hydra’s Arvanites descend from refugees who left Albania in the 1460s.

Arvanitika was once spoken by every Hydriot. The language held on longer here than on other Arvanite islands of the Aegean. One reason was the rising class of town merchants on Hydra, who spoke the language and favoured it. Merchants earn their living by trading goods for profit.

Hydra tours recall an island where men spoke both Albanian and Greek. Albanian is the main language of Albania, a country to the north-west of Greece. On Hydra, the men used Albanian to talk with each other. They also used it for the songs they sang at sea. A person who speaks two languages well is called bilingual.

• Travel account: Historian Thomas Gordon named the isle of Hydra among the Albanian-speaking areas of Greece.
• Secret letters: Seamen of Hydra and Spetses at times used Albanian so allies were unable to read their letters.
• Later habit: Pavlos Kountouriotis preferred to speak only Arvanitika whenever he travelled to Hydra.

The Arvanite community linked to Hydra tours is still found on the island. Today it is fully assimilated into Greek life. Assimilated means blended into a wider population. An assimilated group shares the main language and customs of the people around it.

How did Antonis Oikonomou shape the 1821 story behind Hydra tours?

Hydra tours bring up the name of Antonis Oikonomou, a sailor from the island. He was born on Hydra and took to the sea at a young age. A sailor serves in the crew of a ship and helps to sail it.

Just before the Greek War of Independence began, his ship sank near Gibraltar. Oikonomou then went to Constantinople, where he planned to commission a new ship. To commission a ship means to order it to be built. In Constantinople, Papaflessas recruited him into the Filiki Eteria. That Greek name means Friendly Society.

Hydra tours retell how Hydra’s leaders did not want to lose the privileges the Ottomans had given them. A privilege is a special right that others lack. For that reason, the island first stayed out of the revolt. With Filiki Eteria members from the Peloponnese, Oikonomou landed on Hydra on 30 March 1821. He expelled the governor, Nikolaos Kokovilas.

Hydra tours look back to 16 April 1821. On that date, Oikonomou declared a state of war on the island. A state of war is a formal statement that open fighting against an enemy has begun. A declaration is a public announcement, made openly so that everyone hears it.

• Escape: After charges were read against him, relatives helped him escape to the town of Kranidi.
• Rescue party: Theodoros Kolokotronis sent 200 men under a commander named Tsokris to protect Oikonomou.
• Death: The men did not reach him in time, and Oikonomou was killed on 16 December 1821.

Hydra tours cover an island that later played a major part in the struggle for Greek independence. That part grew under the leadership of Andreas Miaoulis. Independence means a country’s freedom from rule by another state. A struggle is a long, hard effort against strong opposition.

What did Anastasios Tsamados give to the naval history behind Hydra tours?

Hydra tours bring in Anastasios Tsamados, who served Greece as an admiral in its War of Independence. Hydra was his birthplace, in 1772 or 1774. An admiral is a senior naval commander who leads a large group of warships.

Tsamados belonged to Hydra’s Arvanite community, a group of Albanian origin. His family had moved to Hydra from Kranidi around 1750. When the Greek Revolution broke out in March 1821, he armed his ship with 16 guns. Each was a 12-pounder, a cannon that fired a ball weighing 12 pounds. He sailed with the fleet of Hydra.

Hydra tours also place Tsamados in a chain of command. He led a naval squadron, and he did so under Andreas Miaoulis. In a navy, a squadron means a set of warships that sail and fight as one unit. A chain of command is the line of leaders who give orders.

In 1825, as Hydra tours recall, Ibrahim Pasha landed on the island of Sphacteria. His powerful army and navy counted more than fifteen hundred Egyptians. Pasha was a rank of honour in the Ottoman state, held by governors and generals. Tsamados and his band of sailors and soldiers met the landing with resistance. Resistance means fighting back.

• Chios: During the massacre of Chios, Tsamados was the first to strike the Ottoman fleet chief’s warships.
• Last stand: Shot in the leg, Tsamados kept on fighting from his knees until he was killed.
• Breakout: Survivors led by Nikolaos Votsis broke out past thirty-four Turkish warships.

For Hydra tours, Tsamados lives on in fiction. His courage helped inspire The Archipelago on Fire, a novel by Jules Verne. Its French title was L’Archipel en feu, and it appeared in 1884. Archipelago names a cluster of islands in one stretch of sea.

Where does the Dokos shipwreck fit into Hydra tours?

Hydra tours reach back to the Dokos shipwreck, dated to the second Proto-Helladic period, 2700 to 2200 BC. Helladic refers to mainland Greece in the Bronze Age, and Proto means early. A shipwreck is the wreckage of a vessel that sank.

For Hydra tours, the municipality of Hydra takes in two islands, Hydra and Dokos. It also covers small islets where no one lives. An islet means an island of very small size. On the seabed, the remains of the wreck lie about 15 to 30 metres underwater, close to Dokos. That depth lies off the shore of southern Greece.

The ship itself has long since vanished. The sea has dissolved every part that was biodegradable. Biodegradable means able to rot away through natural processes, as wood and rope do. What survives is a cargo site. It holds hundreds of clay vases and other pottery items that once travelled on board. Cargo is freight, the load on board.

Hydra tours tell of clay pots that appear to be merchandise, or goods for sale. They seem to come from an ancient manufacturing site in the Argolida. A manufacturing site is a place where goods are made in large numbers. The Argolida is the land around Argos in the north-eastern Peloponnese.

• Mapping: The seabed was uneven, so a new positioning system plotted and mapped the finds.
• Anchors: Stone anchors turned up 40 metres away from the wreck itself.
• Finds: The dig of 1989 to 1992 yielded more than 15,000 sherds, or broken pieces, and other artifacts.

The pottery behind Hydra tours comes from a craft that developed before the pottery wheel was invented. A pottery wheel is a spinning disc on which a potter shapes soft clay into round pots. A potter is a craftsperson who makes pots.

How does the painter Panayiotis Tetsis connect with Hydra tours?

Hydra tours touch the life of Panayiotis Tetsis, a painter born on the island in 1925. He spent his childhood and his early teenage years there. A painter is an artist who makes pictures with paint on canvas, board or paper.

Tetsis belonged to the post-impressionist tradition of seascape painting, as one of its exponents. An exponent is a leading follower of a style or idea. A seascape is a painting of the sea. Post-impressionism was an art movement that followed Impressionism, using bolder colour and shape. Tetsis painted a large number of his seas from memory.

Hydra tours recall a sea painter who did not enjoy long sea trips. Tetsis said that a long voyage at sea left him bored. A voyage is a long journey by sea. He also rejected an idea of the poet Cavafy. Cavafy held that a traveller bound for Ithaca ought to wish for a long voyage.

In the story behind Hydra tours, Tetsis counted himself a painter led by the senses. The senses are sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Through them a person takes in the world. Tetsis balanced discipline with emotion in his work. Discipline here means careful control of method, while emotion means strong feeling.

• Critic’s view: Koutsomallis saw his special quality in elegiac, or mournful, colour tones and clear, precise composition.
• Art group: In 1949 Tetsis, Ghikas, Moralis, Nikolaou, Engonopoulos and Tsarouchis founded the Armos art group.
• Died: Panayiotis Tetsis, the Hydra-born painter, died on 5 March 2016.

For Hydra tours, the house where Tetsis lived has a new life today as a museum. Leonard Cohen’s old home lies close by. A museum keeps objects of art or history and puts them on public show for visitors.

What part does Marianne Ihlen play in the story of Hydra tours?

Hydra tours recall Marianne Ihlen, a Norwegian woman. She was the first wife of the author Axel Jensen. Later she was Leonard Cohen’s girlfriend and his muse. A muse is a person who inspires the work of an artist.

Jensen used part of a book advance to buy a house on Hydra, in Kala Pigadia Street. An advance is money paid to a writer before a book comes out. Life in the house was simple. It had an outside toilet. Electricity came on only for short spells, once each evening and once each morning.

At other times, the couple lit their rooms with paraffin lamps. Paraffin is an oil burned for light in lamps. The couple soon joined the foreign community on the island. Among their friends, as Hydra tours recall, were Charmian Clift and her husband, the novelist George Johnston. A novelist is a person who writes novels.

Cohen later received an inheritance from his grandmother. With it, he bought a whitewashed L-shaped house on the island behind Hydra tours. An inheritance is money or property passed on after a death. Whitewashed means coated with a white wash of lime. L-shaped means built in two wings that meet at a corner, like the letter L.

• Return: From Montreal, Ihlen, her son and Cohen came back to live on Hydra in 1963.
• Help at home: An elderly neighbour, Kyria Sophia, helped in the house as Cohen wrote; kyria means Mrs in Greek.
• New friend: Ihlen was living alone on Hydra in 1968 when she met Nick Broomfield, then aged 20.

Hydra tours tell how Ihlen encouraged Broomfield to become a documentary maker. A documentary is a film about real people and real events. A documentary maker plans, films and edits such work. Encouragement means giving someone the confidence to try.

What do travellers ask about Hydra tours, and what are the answers?

Hydra tours cover an island whose water supply has changed over time. Hydra once had wells, and three new wells have been found. A desalination plant opened in 2014. Desalination removes salt from seawater. A well is a hole dug for water.

For Hydra tours, whose tomb lies in the island’s cathedral?

The cathedral of Hydra, an old monastery, holds the tomb of Lazaros Kountouriotis. Kountouriotis was a Greek Senator in the 1844 Senate. A senator is a member of a senate, an upper house of lawmakers. He died on 12 June 1852, and five days of national mourning followed.

On Hydra tours, which spots kept their pine forest after the 2007 fire?

Kamini, a settlement on Hydra, has a small fishing harbour. Settlement is a broad word for any place where people make their homes. A fire in 2007 left the forest above Kamini untouched. Woods on the far west of the island also survived. Near Molos, Bisti and Agios Nikolaos, the pine forest escaped harm too.

Ahead of Hydra tours, which Hydriots made their names abroad?

Andrea Dimitry is listed among Hydra’s notable people. He was a Greek-American war hero who fought in the War of 1812. Hydra was the birthplace of Photius Fisk. He lobbied to end flogging, or whipping as a punishment, in the United States Navy. Lobbying means pressing lawmakers to change a rule.

Before Hydra tours, why did the island lose its sea trade after independence?

Once the Greek state was formed, the Hydra fleet lost its old privileges. A treaty and the use of the Russian flag had granted them. Treaties are written pacts signed by states. New conditions also made illegal trades such as piracy impossible. Large numbers of people left, and their mansions fell into ruin.