Sights

The characteristic Hydra corners with their beautiful cobbled streets and flower-bedecked houses complement the beauty and magic of Hydra, giving it its identity.

It is important to visit the island’s mansions, buildings over 200 years old, among which the mansions of Pavlos and Lazaros Kountouriotis, Tombazis, Tsamadou, Kriezis, Voulgaris, Bountouris stand out…

Also worth visiting are the bastions with cannons, to the right and left of the port, which protected the settlement of Hydra.

Be sure to visit the Historical Archive-Museum of Hydra, which is open daily and displays important museum artifacts, archival material, and a library with valuable publications.

Visit the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (17th century) with its Ecclesiastical and Byzantine Museum, located right in the center of the harbor, which is the Cathedral of Hydra. It stands out for the large clock on its tall bell tower, which announces major religious events.

Finally, you should visit the historic home of Lazaros Kountouriotis, which houses a branch of the National Historical Museum, the home of Georgios Kountouriotis, which houses the Museum of Post-Byzantine Art and History of Hydra, the home of Iakovos Tombazis, which houses a branch of the School of Fine Arts, and the “Melina Merkouri” Art and Concert Hall of the Municipality of Hydra, which hosts works by famous artists throughout the year.

It is worth taking in the view of the harbor from the hill, admiring the sunset from the Periptero and the Cave, and visiting the island’s six monasteries and 300 churches.

Be sure to visit, at an altitude of 500 meters in the area of Eros, the twin monasteries of Agia Efpraxia and Profitis Ilias, where Kolokotronis and other fighters were imprisoned for a time in 1825, the monasteries of Agia Triada, Agia Matrona, Agios Nikolaos, and Theotokos of Zoubra, located in the easternmost part of the island.

Also, the churches of Ypapanti and Ai-Giannis the Faster with their wonderful 18th-century frescoes and beautiful domes supported by marble arches.

Finally, visit the Church of Agios Konstantinos of Hydra at the top of the hill of Kiafa, with its wooden carvings and gilded iconostasis, built on the site where the house of the saint of the same name once stood.