Hydra, Greece

Day 1

• Cathedral of the Dormition (Kimisis Theotokou)

  The 1643 church on the harbour has its bell tower in Tinos marble, which is the thing you recognise from a distance arriving by ferry. You enter from the courtyard under an arch, and the cloister is silent even when the quay twenty metres away is packed: it is the only shaded, cool place on the harbour. Inside there is also a small ecclesiastical museum. The Orthodox church rule applies: shoulders covered, no photographs during services.

• Hydra harbour

  The absence of cars is not a stylistic choice but a rule: the Greek tourism board describes Hydra as an island with a total ban on vehicles, which is why the island is declared a national monument. On the quay there is no car park, no taxi and no scooter: there is a mule waiting next to a bar. The harbour is horseshoe-shaped and the houses climb in an amphitheatre, so the first thing you see stepping off the ferry is already the postcard.

• Mule paths

  The stone mule tracks are the island's only road network, and that has practical consequences nobody mentions: a wheeled suitcase is useless, because you go up steps and cobbles, and the mules carrying luggage and building materials have right of way. When they come, you move against the wall. Getting bags from the port to your lodging is a service you pay for. Closed shoes with grip: the stone is polished and slippery on the way down.

Day 2

• Sun-dried octopus

  The octopus hung on lines outside the tavernas is not set dressing: drying them in the sun for a few hours before grilling is how they are tenderised and their flavour concentrated. When you see them hanging, it means there is fresh octopus that day. Order it grilled, whole or in pieces, with oil and oregano; if a taverna has octopus on the menu but none hanging outside, it is almost always frozen.

• Fish taverns between the harbour and Kamini

  The tavernas on the water between the port and Kamini take their fish from the boats that tie up in front of them, which is why the catch changes daily: you order by asking what there is, not by reading the menu. Fish is charged by weight and shown to you before cooking: having it weighed in front of you is normal and not rude. Grilled squid, sardines and octopus cost far less than a whole fish, and they are what the locals eat.

Day 1

• Monastery of Prophet Elias (Profitis Ilias)✦ hidden gem

  It is about 2 hours of unbroken climbing from the harbour, with no shade for most of it: leave early or give up on it. The monastery is the highest point and from there the whole Saronic Gulf is visible. It is a working monastery, so the dress rule applies, shoulders and knees covered, and the hours follow the life of the community, not that of visitors. Bring water from town: there is nothing on the path, not even a tap.

• Vlychos and Kamini coves✦ hidden gem

  They are not sandy beaches but concrete and rock platforms with ladders down into the water: on Hydra that is how it works almost everywhere, and anyone arriving expecting sand is disappointed. Kamini is 20 minutes on foot along the coast, Vlychos 40; you can also take a water taxi from the harbour. The water is deep straight away, which makes them excellent for swimming and wrong for small children.

• Hydra Historical Museum✦ hidden gem

  It tells the thing that makes Hydra different from every other Saronic island: at the end of the 18th century this waterless rock had one of the most powerful merchant fleets in the eastern Mediterranean, and that money funded the Greek War of Independence. The mansion-houses you see climbing up from the harbour belonged to those shipowners. The museum is the Historical Archives, on the quayside, open 09:00-16:00 every day including weekends, which is rare on an island. It is an hour's visit and it is the one that gives the rest of the island its sense.

Day 2

• Villa Tetsis and the former bohemian artists' studios✦ hidden gem

  In the 1960s Hydra was the refuge of Leonard Cohen, who bought a house here, and of a circle of writers and painters: the houses they lived in are still there, lived in, with no plaques and no marked route. That is exactly why it is worth looking for them on foot in the lanes above the port rather than reading about them. There is nothing to visit in the strict sense and nobody to pay: it is a piece of cultural history the island has not turned into an attraction.

• Hydronetta✦ hidden gem

  It is a platform on the rocks west of the port, below the ramparts: ten minutes on foot, and you get into the water off the rocks. It is not a beach club and there are no loungers: you sit on the rock, have a drink and watch the sun drop behind the Peloponnese. It is where locals go at sunset, which is why by 7pm in summer it is full.

Day 1

• Amygdalota✦ hidden gem

  They are pear-shaped almond sweets, coated in icing sugar and scented with orange-flower water: there is no flour in them, so they stay soft inside. You buy them by weight in the bakeries around the port, and they are the sweet of feasts and weddings. They travel better than any other edible souvenir from the island, which is why Greeks take them home by the box.

• Sun-dried octopus

  The octopus hung on lines outside the tavernas is not set dressing: drying them in the sun for a few hours before grilling is how they are tenderised and their flavour concentrated. When you see them hanging, it means there is fresh octopus that day. Order it grilled, whole or in pieces, with oil and oregano; if a taverna has octopus on the menu but none hanging outside, it is almost always frozen.

• Fish taverns between the harbour and Kamini

  The tavernas on the water between the port and Kamini take their fish from the boats that tie up in front of them, which is why the catch changes daily: you order by asking what there is, not by reading the menu. Fish is charged by weight and shown to you before cooking: having it weighed in front of you is normal and not rude. Grilled squid, sardines and octopus cost far less than a whole fish, and they are what the locals eat.