Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Barba Dhimas
T
22980 53306.
Tiny place with just
half a dozen tables set out in an alley. There's a short,
daily menu of Italian food; mixed antipasto (€8) or
spaghetti
vongole
(€18), for example.
May-Sept
7pm-midnight.
Ì
Gitoniko (Manolis & Christina's)
T
22980 53615.
Hidden away inland, near Áyios Konstandínos church, this
traditional taverna serves excellent, well-priced
mayireftá
at lunch (stuffed marrow €7) - which runs out early - plus
grills (including succulent fish) in the evening; extensive
roof-terrace in summer.
Daily lunch & dinner.
Pirate
T
22980 52711.
Café by day and an increasingly
lively bar as the evening wears on,
Pirate
has a young
crowd and Western music. Among the best prices on the
waterfront for coffee, breakfast and sandwiches.
Daily
10am-2am.
Sunset
T
22980 52067.
Behind the cannons on the
western edge of town,
Sunset
offers an incomparable
setting for an end-of-holiday treat or romantic tryst; the
modern Greek and Italian cuisine is on the pricey side
(pasta dishes €10-18, steak €25), but the views justify the
cost.
Daily lunch & dinner.
To Koutouki tis Agoras
. Rickety-tabled, inexpensive
tradesmen's ouzerí behind the market. The place makes no
concessions at all to tourists, but the titbits served with
drinks, ranging from
pastourmás
(cured meat) to octopus,
can be exceptional. At its best in the early evening.
Daily
noon-9pm.
Xeri Elia
T
22980 52886.
Large, busy taverna with a
lovely setting in a vine-shaded inland platía. All the
standards are served, along with good seafood, and there's
often live music in the evenings.
Daily lunch & dinner.
5
NIGHTLIFE
Nightlife is tame on the whole, though a number of bars do play music into the early hours; there's also an open-air cinema
in summer.
Amalour
Laidback cocktail bar with an eclectic playlist -
plenty of Latin and jazz - and 30-to-40-something crowd.
Almost always the busiest place in town in the early
evening; sometimes hosts special events or theme nights.
Daily 6pm-2am.
Hydronetta
The classic sunset-watching bar, with steps
down the rocks into the water, where the music carries on
into the small hours. Limited seating gives it an exclusive,
chill-out vibe. The place is also open during the day, for
swimming, coffee and an early start on the drinking.
Daily
9am-2am.
Red
The closest thing you'll find to a dance club in town,
Red
is a late-night joint right on the waterfront playing
sixties and seventies rock plus a few dance tunes and the
odd Greek number.
Fri-Sun 10pm-3am, plus some
weekdays in summer.
Beaches
There's no big sandy beach on Ýdhra, just a series of small, mainly shingly, coves.
Mandhráki
is the closest to town, dominated by the
Miramare Hotel
which occupies the
imposing former shipyard of independence war hero Admiral Miaoulis. Despite
appearances, the sandy beach is open to all, with windsurfing, waterskiing, pedaloes to
hire and floating trampolines.
Walk west from Ýdhra Town and you'll find several spots where you can clamber
down to swim from the rocks in crystal-clear water, but the first tiny pebble beach lies
just beyond the picturesque village of
Kamíni
. Next up is a popular swimming cove at
Kastéllo
and then
Vlyhós
, a small hamlet with a rebuilt nineteenth-century bridge and a
shingle beach with loungers and umbrellas; there's pleasant swimming in the lee of an
offshore islet here.
Plákes
, a long, pebbly stretch with loungers, palapa shelters and a
ÝDHRA'S FESTIVALS
Over the weekend closest to June 21, Ýdhra Town celebrates the
Miaoulia
, in honour of
Admiral Andreas Miaoulis whose fire boats, packed with explosives, were set adrift downwind
of the Turkish fleet during the War of Independence. The highlight of the celebrations is the
burning of a boat at sea as a tribute to the sailors who risked their lives in this dangerous
enterprise.
Orthodox Easter
is also a colourful and moving experience, especially on the evening of
Good Friday when the fishermen's parish of Áyios Ioánnnis at Kamíni carries its
Epitáfios
, or
symbolic bier of Christ, into the shallows to bless the boats and ensure calm seas.
