There were a number of reasons we wanted to visit Hydra. The first was it boasted there were no cars on the island. The second was it was close to Athens and thirdly after watching a Leonard Cohen mini series, it looked gorgeous.

It was a long twenty four hours to get here from Crete, but we made it! When the ferry docked, I looked at the houses perched on the hill and hoped our guesthouse was close by. Thankfully it was located in a very narrow lane just one street back from the harbour, and on the ground floor! Hooray!

During the day, the cafes around the harbour are overflowing with day trippers, but in the afternoon after most have left it is a wonderful place to sit, with a drink and watch the action.

The beaches are little coves scattered around the rocky coast, not all that inviting, but the sun worshippers happily lay out on the concrete platforms or as in other places, pay euros for an umbrella and two lounge chairs.

Yesterday after we had dropped our bags off, we walked along the coastal path. The water is very clear, it’s hard to tell how deep it is, it looks very inviting, but the walk up and down the many steps puts me off a bit!

There are cats everywhere, evidently over 3,500 of them and they are cared for by organisations on the island. Not many dogs about.

Some of the yachts and catamarans that dock in the harbour are massive, how the other half lives! A bit too decadent for me.