Anabel Dean Reports from the Front Where – in Spite of the Greek Financial Crisis – It's All Quiet on the Aegean

26 TRAVEL LIFESTYLE No Greek tragedy Anabel Dean reports from the tavernas where laughter rose in plumes like cicadas and the clattering of donkey hooves breakfast when heat is already building to front where – in spite of the cigarette smoke. on cobblestones. There was no civil unrest, an impossible intensity. A distant bell rang out on the day no rioting in the streets, nothing but civil- When it’s time to recuperate, there are Greek financial crisis – it’s all of the referendum (to decide if Greece ity and friendship. Life in Greece continued endless choices about which padded cafe quiet on the Aegean. should agree to debt rescue terms being on its higgledy-piggledy course, its (slightly lounge offers the best views of the har- demanded by creditors in order to release fewer) tourists welcomed with dignity and bour, a theatrical amphitheatre of activity LOCAL banks closed all over Greece as we bail-out funds). grace, as they have always been. with boats dancing in skilful navigational sped towards the tiny island of Hydra. Hydriots trickled into the polling sta- Hydra is an adorable Aegean gem within harmony in and out of the marina. We were staring into the waves slap- tion to mark ballots with a cross. Visitors easy reach of Athens. It boasts of being the Ferry-loads of day-trippers offload here ping at our bright green hydrofoil while in floppy hats strolled past with important birthplace of five Greek prime ministers (most of them Greek) yet somehow they Greece was staring into the abyss of another decision-making of their own: “Shall we and, perhaps more famously, working its seem to melt away down the maze of alley- default on its colossal debts and possible have a coffee shot at Pirate Bar or pista- charms on celebrated actors, writers and ways or into smart shops along the quay. rejection from the Euro. chio ice-cream at Cool Mule?” Will there musicians like Sophia Loren, Melina Mer- Footpaths recently mapped by the Greece was suffering a bad case of be space after lunch (at shady Tavern couri, Charmian Clift and Leonard Cohen. Municipality of Hydra encourage fur- European flu but our arrival at Hydra, in Xeri Elia-Douskos) to fit a slab of irresist- It is not, however, an island that relishes ther exploration of the town, its man- late afternoon sunshine, revealed busi- ibly sharp lemon tart from the baker near only beauty and lassitude. sions (built in the 18th and 19th centuries ness pretty much as usual. Vital life the port? There’s the steep 588m summit of when Hydriot seafaring prowess bought support was warmly administered all A pivotal moment in Greek history Mount Eros (past the Monastery of Prophet great wealth), its mountains and its many along the crescent-shaped harbour at the was marked by the long summer drone of Elias) best tackled on foot (or mule) before monasteries. PAGE 28 HAMISH MCDONALD HAMISH THINKSTOCK.COM HAMISH MCDONALD HAMISH 28 AUGUST 2015 27 LIFESTYLE TRAVEL Main Image: Hydra Port. Bottom, left to right: No Greek tragedy Cafes along the harbourside; A passerby on the pathway to Mount Eros; Houses along alleyways. Main Image: The Acropolis. ATHENS: A NEW TAKE ON THE ANCIENT WORLD Insert: New Hotel, Athens. ATHENS can be hard work. It’s not easily quirky features throughout the arty party pad little night-time chocolate arrives in a per- navigable, it’s noisy and not a place to fall that finely balances creativity with comfort fectly fragmented golden box. in love with at first glance, but don’t be too and service. It’s all part of a philosophy that pushes quick to boat off to the Greek isles. There’s a new take on bespoke furniture art and design into the everyday where it can Pilgrimage to the Acropolis is one of life’s that feels close to genius here. Recycled bits be seen, touched, slept with and lived in. absolute necessities. And there is nothing of wooden furniture from the old Olympic At the Art Lounge on the 7th floor, you [email protected] to compare with the exquisitely harmonious Palace Hotel (which stood on the same site) can enjoy one of 2000 art books from Joan- proportions of ancient sculptures – mainstays have been cobbled together into columns nou’s private collection, or just admire the underpinning the entire edifice of Western and walls. Modern twists in a deconstructed 360° views of the Acropolis, the ruins of the artistic culture – at the National Archaeologi- past encourage a sense of humour through- Plaka, Lycabettus Hill, Syntagma Square and cal Museum and the Acropolis Museum. out the hotel: the old Olympic Palace sign the Parliament. The small but perfectly formed New Hotel reworked as a coffee table, fabrics and tools No amount of artistic brilliance from in the Syntagma district (next to the Plaka whimsically transformed into ‘the ladder Brazilian designers, the Campana Brothers, and just minutes from Constitution Square) is chair’, ‘the tomato chair’, ‘the newspaper will sell a place if personal attention is out of another good reason to stay. chair’, a chair for every corner. sorts. What makes the New Hotel so utterly It’s a contemporary masterwork of 1950s Past and present are mixed and matched engaging, apart from all that edgy art, is the New Hotel is not to be missed no matter modernity, a design hotel owned by one in whisper-quiet bedrooms (ours with a wall staff. They are as valuable as a Roy Lichten- how loud the sirens are calling from across of the world’s most powerful collectors of of glassy evil eyes to guard against ill omen) stein painting with their local knowledge the sea. modern art, Dakis Joannou. His personal with a solid brass washbasin shaped like about where to go, how to get there, and For more information: www.yeshotels.gr art collection complements some unusually fragmented rocks in the bathroom. Even the how much to pay the taxi driver. Anabel Dean was a guest of New Hotel, Athens. THINKSTOCK.COM 28 TRAVEL LIFESTYLE PAGE 26 Silvery steps of shoe-polish or washing powder. There are no cars brilliance lead just about everywhere on on Hydra (only rubbish trucks). Time this endearing isle. You can go by foot stands still in a bright light, blue liquid or, as we did, by braying beast to several netherworld. beautifully preserved monasteries. At “The perfect thing about Hydra is this TRANSMISSION FILM Agia Eupraxia, the nuns (only two in num- timeless quality,’ says Phoebe Paraske- ber now) offer tea and cake and one of the vas, an elegant Athenian who has known best views of a shimmering sea far below. the Cyprus-scented breezes of Hydra There are many choices about which since she was five days old. Her grandfa- pathway to follow homewards. Our ther, a refugee from what is now Turkey, house, its cooled interiors flanked by a bought a captain’s mansion in the 1960s courtyard of riotous bougainvillea, was a and called it Miranda Hotel (after his pink beacon on the hill next to an ancient beloved daughter). The hotel with high domed church. painted ceilings and 14 boutique rooms The town views from here were end- has been a focus of Hydriot culture, cui- lessly captivating but, for my money, it’s sine and conversation ever since. hard to improve upon the Spilia swim- “You have a sense of sharing mo ming hole tucked at harbour entrance. ments in a place like this,” Phoebe There has to be an analogy for a country explains. Her mother, Miranda, not only heading into unchartered waters and a cultivated minds and artists, she can still Ryan Corr, left, and Craig Scott clifftop where children literally leap into be found in the kitchen or tending jas- give triumphant performances. the air, limbs cartwheeling towards the mine in the garden. Life feels easy but it sun, then fall like Icarus into the azure has not always been. depths of the Saronic Gulf. “Crisis is not a new thing,” Phoebe ‘Jump Rock’ (so named by our Aus- reflects, considering current concerns. tralian contingent) is a meeting place for “We all knew there would be crisis since multinational all-sorts who languidly before we were born. Life is a crisis itself. Living love in drape towels and bodies over boulders, It’s how people accept this situation, how whiling away hours till they succumb they confront it and how they manage to to a long tinkly drink at the Spilia Café & survive it. Greece is a beautiful country Cocktail Bar, then dinner at the Sunset but everyday life is difficult and there is Restaurant next door. always a struggle for survival. Economic woes under these influ- “Greece is a passage from Europe the shadows ences feel as far away as the sun setting to the east but we are obliged to make father dances with him at his daughter’s behind the peaked mountains of the bridges in order to survive. It has always wedding. I wept because it was such an act Peloponnese just across a narrow strip of been that in a way.” of love and acceptance. John’s father has water. Unless, of course, you are a local. A visit to the proud Museum of Hydra a harder time accepting his son’s sexual For those living on Hydra, routine confirms some of these geopolitical preference but LaPaglia’s performance is MARGARET POMERANZ tasks are completed as usual, under the complications. The heroic Hydriot ‘fire- so understated that we feel for this man.

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