My heart was unhindered by the unpredictably glum May weather, as I stepped off the boat on Hydra’s harbor on a mid-May afternoon, under a sky thick with a gang of ominous clouds. My face was splashed by fat raindrops, yet I still rejoiced at having returned to this island. A place just two hours from Athens that is so singular in its composition of contrasts: breezily laid-back, traditionally authentic and unassuming, yet also so alluring that it has been luring the world’s brightest creatives and glitterati to its shores.
I was soon greeted by my dear friend, who had flown from Australia to enjoy her birthday at her beloved Greek getaway. She had organized a get-together with several friends coming from near and far to celebrate wither her. Within seconds, as we settled at Isalos Cafe-Bar on the harborfront to catch up on our news over an Aperol Spritz, I breathed in the sea air and let myself be gently embraced by the island’s singular charm.
Hydra is Greece’s exemplary car-free island, so next I had to find a donkey to transport my luggage to the place where I would be staying, which was a steep 10-minute walk up the island’s characteristic long, cobblestone steps. Most of the main town is built up in an amphitheatrical style, with layer upon layer of mostly neoclassical buildings in shades of rust, gold, white, grey and cream, built as such as a protection from the ruthless pirates and other invaders that once leapt off their ships here on bloodthirsty pursuits.
Finding an extremely amiable, four-legged, long-eyelashed luggage carrier willing to accommodate my needs was thankfully not a difficult feat, and I was soon handing my possessions to a ‘donkey-taxi’ man, who effortlessly flung my bags over the mule’s back and clipetty clopped away.
Artemis Retreat
Art & Yoga in an Beautiful Mansion
I knew that gathering was going to be special as not only would we be celebrating a birthday but also staying at The Oikonomou House, a 17th century traditional mansion high up in the town, with spanning views, historical vibes and one of my favorite pastimes – yoga.
After Angelika Lialios Freitag lost her husband George, with whom she experienced many illustrious summers in Hydra since they met in the 1960s, she and her two daughters, Skyrah, an actress with a blossoming international career turned yoga-teacher and Kai, an author, decided to open their island abode to the world. Combining Angelika’s lifetime experience and talent as an artist and Skyrah’s passion for yoga, the historical home also became a unique retreat space.
‘Artemis Retreats’ was born in 2022, in a destination that, to its owners, is ideal for such an initiative. “Hydra is an island in which you have to walk everywhere, which means you have direct contact with its every corner,” Skyrah says. “It’s an island of pure quiet and together with yoga and art, which bring you back to yourself, the overall experience is very re-centring”.
Skyrah and Katharina, whose nom de plume is Kai Knight, have also written a book titled ‘Blue Out’ (By Miranda Storm, their joint nom de plume), and the idea of bringing creative writing workshops and other holistic and creative practices to the house is part of their overall concept. Most recently, the acclaimed shamanic healing teacher and astrologer Helen Fost, trained by Four Winds Society founder Alberto Villoldo and Swiss mystic Manuel Schoch, ran a workshop there, and the list of upcoming retreats keeps growing.
Synching with Hydra
Past, Present & Future Meanderings
At dinnertime, my friend and I finally met Angelika, Skyrah and Kai further along the buzzy harborfront for a delicious traditional Greek meal at Piato Taverna. Stepping into the restaurant to visit the bathroom, I was overwhelmed by the sight of walls covered in painted plates and upon asking the staff about the unusual decor, I was told they are painted by customers. From children to A-list celebs like members of Pink Floyd and Pamela Anderson, guests are often inspired to leave their creative mark for others to visually savor.
After dinner, we trekked up to the house under a velvety black sky studded by bright stars, a beautiful sight that us city dwellers so easily and sadly disremember. It’s the kind of demanding late-night walk that can be exciting (if not a bit daunting) to a newcomer and is completely normal (yet still a little daunting) to a local. Upon entering the dimly lit space I was impressed by its dimensions, rustic beauty and mystical ambience. Gazing across the deep, high-ceilinged living room, my eyes darting to a four-metre-long fireplace and a cistern from the 1700s, I had a vision. I was transported to the 1960s; the room was crowded with people, Angelika and George’s friends, all sipping drinks and talking animatedly into the late hours.
As it turned out, what I was seeing was pretty much how life in this arresting space had once been. The charismatic couple was an integral part of the generation that Hydra is known for until today, a society of artists and poets, musicians, barefoot aristocrats and restless world wanderers. A special blend of foreigners and Greeks who found their home in each other and the island. And this feeling of combining dreams with art, human interconnection with personal evolution, continues to inspire today’s generation. “Artemis Retreats is a way of continuing my parents’ legacy,” Skyrah tells me, “Of bringing people together in this space, and creating a special meeting place for creative individuals,” Skyrah says.
The small Saronic island, with its laddered rocky shores so perfect for diving off and its magnificently preserved 18th-century architecture, meandering cobblestone streets draped in fragrant jasmine and fuchsia bougainvillea and gently wafting of donkey manure, which you have to take care to avoid stepping on, with random blasts of greenery and ever-changing blue hues of sea and sky appearing unexpectedly as you turn corners, has served, and continues to inspire, as an idyllic backdrop for the creation of prolific art, fathomless conversations and sacred friendships.
Most people think Hydra and instantly picture Leonard Cohen. He was the figurehead of the island’s creative golden years and an Aslan of the arts, whose energy is still alive and kicking today despite his no longer being on this earth. His name is often repeated with fondness and awe by people of all generations, and Hydra serves almost as the shrine to his memory. His absence from the island almost creates an ache in the soul, a sense that the magnetism of the island would be yet more intense if he were still physically there. Certainly, for locals this can be a tiresome fact, as the island has been home to many accomplished and inspiring humans, but so it is.
The Oikonomou House transported us to a different dimension, combining the past, present and future vision of Hyda through the effusive nature of our warm and gracious hosts. The five guestrooms are spacious and minimal, with comfortable double beds, marble floors, tasteful antique furnishings and striking decor pieces. Yoga is held in the ballroom, a large room with mat-covered floors, a gilded gold-framed floor mirror, and a sculpted wooden ceiling. Upstairs there is also the library, lined with books collected by the family and decorated with paintings, objects d’art and furnishings. It leads to the large terrace where we enjoyed ample breakfasts of local products and pastries, overlooking an arresting view of the sea, the Peloponnesian mountains, and the main town below, crowded with white houses with red ceramic-tiled roofs.
We passed our days with a morning yoga practice, lively breakfast banter, walks down to the harbour for coffee and cat-patting at To Roloi, invigorating dives off colossal rocks into fresh, blue-green waters, dreamy glow-time dinner experiences at restaurants with astonishing views of the natural landscape and Hydra town, such as Veranda and Sunset Restaurant and delicious cocktails plus people-watching at the Pirate Bar.
During our visit, we visited a retrospective exhibition of Angelika’s artworks, titled ‘Reflections of Change’ hosted at the Historical Archives Museum of Hydra. The collection includes evocative paintings of flowers and gardens, scenes from Hydra and original drawings inspired by Greece. Angelika, who also creates unique collages, sculptures and sketches, offered us an art class at Artemis Retreats, during which we received the valuable lesson that creating an artwork doesn’t rely on having mathematical precision or inherent skills, but chiefly on developing confidence in your personal viewpoint and then letting your creative expression roam wild.
And again, I cherished not only being on Hydra in the present with these dynamic and talented women, my old and new friends and many welcoming local folks I met along the way but also reliving a town so exquisitely scenic it has served as the mise en scene for several great films (like the classics ‘Boy On a Dolphin with Sophia Loren, ‘Phaedra’ with Melina Mercouri and Anthony Perkins, numerous old Greek movies, Nick Broomfield’s documentary ‘Mariane and Leonard, Words of Love’ and the upcoming TV series ‘So Long, Marianne’, about the life of Leonard Cohen, that was being shot around the island).
Above all, I am comforted by the fact that Hydra, a place full of possibilities – from horseback riding and hiking to cooking classes and exciting art happenings, as well as numerous wonderful locations beyond its main town that I have yet to explore, can be reached in just two hours from Piraeus port. I stepped onto my boat home with a happy heart, recalling Cohen’s lyrics: “But let’s not talk of love or chains and things we can’t untie, Your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye.”
