Tuesday, September 22, 2009

After 40 years I return to Hydra Greece

After 40 years, I returned to Hydra, Greece.  In May of 1969 my friend Christine and I landed here in Hydra to rest a few days.  That was in May, we  left in July of 1969.  While I was here I did a lot of ink drawings, and when money ran low, drew the yachts that came into the harbor and sold them to the owners as their souvenir of their yacht trip to Hydra.  Most rented the yachts, and if I could get 5 marks from the Germans, or 3 pounds from the English, I was in the money.  Hydra town Harbor is the most famous part of this tiny island so here are some shots I took when I arrived.

 
Some things never change, the yachts are still here.
 
From the number of donkeys and ponies waiting to carry the luggage of the tourists getting off my boat, it looks like a lot more tourists come to the island these days.  There are still no cars allowed on Hydra.  The island is too tiny for roads; anyway, where would you drive? 
 
When I lived here most families lived off fishing, some worked in restaurants, small pensions or rented out rooms.  If there were bigger hotels I do not remember them.  I see many more apartment for rent and room for rent signs now.  Looks like this lady has rented a room and is now transporting her guests, luggage for them.

I used to sit on this quay early in the morning before the yacht owners slept off the partying of the night before and draw a yacht.  I still have one of those drawings, its not bad.  I must have had a lot of practice, because I tried it yesterday evening while having a cappuccino at a dock side restaurant and it was hard.  The darn boats move!

2 comments:

Kimber said...

Hi, Sandy! Just wanted to say thank you for sharing your table with us American gals in Hydra. Was great to meet you and hope to find some paintings from Hydra on your website in the future!

Sandy Delehanty said...

Hi Kimber,

It was great fun to meet all of you. Hope you had a really fun time on your trip and that you keep on traveling and exploring the world. keep in touch

Sandy