EPIDAVROS 11 | Greece 2022

Επίδαυρος

Epidavros to the Island of Hydra Day 11

Goodbye, Nafplio! As difficult as it is to leave this charming town, today we are heading to an even more delightful place on our tour - HYDRA ! First, a stop in Epidavros to see the theatre and healing center of Asklepios.

Peaceful morning in Nafplio

Epidavros - a place of healing

It's the 4th century BC and you need a doctor. Where do you go for the best care, where miracles happen? The Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidavros, of course!

The Asklepions were the first to worship Asklepios as a god, the god of medicine. The Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidavros had a reputation so great that people would come from all over to seek treatment for their illnesses.

Most treatments at the sanctuary were fairly common practices, things we use today to feel better - a good diet, getting exercise and fresh air. The sanctuary had some rather uncommon practices as well. If you came to the sanctuary for help with a medical problem, you would first start out with a week of a cleansing diet and baths; if needed, you would then spend time meditating with a snake in the basement of a temple. While you sleep off whatever medicinal drugs you were given to relax, the gods may visit you in your dreams, telling you the cure to your ailment. If it's something that needs surgery, well, they could do that, too. Many people came away healed and spread the word to others.

Asklepions became the training ground for future physicians (does the name Hippocrates sound familiar?)

Asklepios is normally shown with a snake (by shedding its skin signifies rejuvenation) wound around a staff - the precursor to today's medical symbol.

Although mostly in ruins, you can get a sense of what once was present at the site. The main buildings in the sanctuary would have been the temple of Asklepios, the Abaton and the Tholos.

There is some speculation about the purpose of the underground labyrinth of the Tholos. According to the signage at the site, "the ceiling of the Tholos labyrinth is on exactly the same hypsometric level as the ceiling of the ground floor of the Abaton, where the incubation (sleep) of patients took place. This means that the two buildings were bound with a correlated religious content and that they must have been designed in a single, coherent building program."

(I think we found where the snakes hung out)

The most exciting (and visible) part of Epidavros is the Theatre of Epidavros built in 300 BC. It's the best preserved of all the ancient Greek theatres. Seating for 15,000, perfectly symmetrical, with perfect acoustics. Still in use today. I performed my rendition of the poem "Mary had a little lamb"... my audience of one may not have been impressed, but the ACOUSTICS were fabulous!! I was surprised by the echo that came back to me as I spoke my words, I could literally feel it!

To Hydra we go!

Our ferry, the Freedom III, leaves from the small village of Metochi. Other than a small store and a large overnight car park, there isn't much else in this port town. The ferry leaves at 1pm, so we have about 30 minutes to use the restroom, grab a cup of coffee and sit in the nice shaded courtyard.

Only a thirty minute ferry ride and we arrive at Hydra (EE-DRA). From the ferry we get a good look at the island and the main town, which is also called Hydra. The island is mostly dry landscape, with a busy harbor; stone and white washed houses rise up the hillsides. One of the prettiest islands in Greece (I've only been to one, so I will have to agree!)

No cars are allowed on the island, and no bicycles, scooters, mopeds.. you get the idea. Sounds ideal! Apostolos, though, did mention something about noisy roosters crowing in the morning!

Apostolos buys our tickets at the ticket booth and we head down the jetty with our bags in tow.

The flag of Hydra, from the Greek War of Independence, very symbolic, with the eye of God in the upper left corner, looking down on it all. The words written on the bottom are

"Η ΤΑΝ Η ΕΠΙ ΤΑΣ"

(with it or on it)

At the harbor, donkeys and mules await, the only mode of transportation on the island. Not just for tourists, they are a key part life on Hydra, delivering goods that arrive by boat. (FYI - the owner carries a poop bag and broom to sweep up any messes that happen).

Our group is divided up between two hotels; we are staying at the Ippokampos Hotel (Seahorse in Greek). It's a good thing Apostolos took us to the hotel because I'm not sure I would have recognized the Greek spelling right away!

You can't possibly stay inside when you are on Hydra - we tossed our bags in the room and headed out to see the sights! And wow! What a beautiful day we have to enjoy a real Greek island!

Our first look at the beauty of Hydra!
(click on photos to enlarge)

Apostolos had asked us all to be back at the hotel at 6pm for a surprise. And what a surprise it was! He had set up all the fixings for a happy hour in the hotel's patio and bought us each a gift! It wasn't an ordinary gift-giving, though - we each picked a number that was assigned to a random, wrapped gift. It was fun to see what everyone ended up getting! And what a wonderful thing for Apostolos to do!

Ron's surprise gift was a magnetic bookmark with a picture of Hydra and mine was a Evil-Eye tea bag holder!

It's all so very Greek!

Have you ever felt like someone was giving you the 'evil-eye'? Well, the Greeks are very superstitious about it! Going as far back as the ancient Greeks, an 'evil eye' charm was worn or placed in the home to give protection from any malicious thought that someone might throw your way and reflect it away from you. The color blue is very symbolic, it's the color of the Aegean, the color of good luck and is thought to create positive energy.

You will see these blue-eyed charms just about everywhere in Greece, just in case....

There was really only one way to finish off our first day on the island of Hydra - and that was with a walk up through the hills of town. The sun was just starting to dip down below the horizon, so I and a handful of tour members were treated to a beautiful sunset over the red-roofed, white-washed homes of Hydra.