(upbeat music) - [Kira] Coming up next on "Islands Without Cars", we go back to the Greek island that inspired our series and our passion for exploring islands without cars 15 short years ago.

So join us as we catch up with old friends.

- [Kira] Yassou.

- Yassou.

- [Kira] Make new ones.

These are so cute.

And spend time with the lucky people who call this enchanting island their home.

(upbeat music continues) (waves crashing) (upbeat music) Hi, I'm Kira Cook, and it's my great pleasure to be your guide as we search for islands lost in time, places where cars are restricted and whose inhabitants wouldn't have it any other way.

So come with me on a journey that you won't forget.

(upbeat music fades) (upbeat cultural music) (hooves trotting) The Greek island of Hydra has been attracting seekers, in particular, painters, filmmakers, musicians, and writers for nearly a century.

(bells ringing) Hydra, also known as Ydra, doesn't just embrace its visitors.

It bewitches them as is evidenced by the fact that people like us come back again and again as if compelled.

And you saw the changes to the island that were being made.

We started our series here, over a decade ago, and never stopped thinking about its magic.

And so now, mesmerized by our memories, we are repeating our steps.

Flying to Athens, taking a cab to the port of Piraeus and boarding a water taxi for the two hour ride across the Aegean Sea, we are returning to make new memories.

There is something magical about Hydra.

Ever since I came here 15 years ago, whenever I've been in a tough place or in physical discomfort, dentist visit, childbirth, Hydra is the place that I have always gone to in my mind, to escape and to feel better again.

And now I'm back.

(upbeat music) Hydra's amphitheater shaped harbor is considered by many, myself among them, to be the most beautiful in all of Greece.

At first glance, it looks remarkably the same to us and is every bit as captivating, (hooves trotting) from the car-free cobblestone-lined harbor with donkey taxis waiting for their next passenger to the waterfront cafes, restaurants, shops, and boutiques.

The beautiful spectacle of life has been going on here for centuries.

Upon closer examination, there are some changes since our last visit, but they're almost imperceptible because growth on the island is limited and conservation is strictly enforced.

To check our observations, we decided to ask one of our old friends for her views.

Christina!

- Oh, Kira!

- [Kira] (laughs) Yassou.

- Yassou, welcome.

- Thank you so much.

- Finally.

- I know exactly.

I've been dreaming of the moment to return to the store.

- Yeah.

- How have you been?

- I'm well.

And you?

- Yes, wonderful.

- Good.

- I mean, we came here 15 years ago and I bought, kind of cleaned you out in dresses and jewelry.

I plan on doing the same today.

But how has the island changed in the last 15 years for you?

- I think it hasn't changed 'cause I'm here all the time.

I live here.

- [Kira] Yeah.

- I haven't seen any change.

- Really?

- I think it has been the same all these years.

- Yeah.

- [Christina] Yeah.

And what do you think?

- [Kira] To me, it feels like the general vibe is a little bit hipper.

Like some cooler places have moved in, but it feels still very Hydra.

- I think people are okay by seeing new stores and restaurants opening.

Actually, they add something to the island.

A variety, let's say.

- Yeah.

Yes.

(gentle upbeat music) The port known as Hydra Town is the epicenter of life on the island.

The hip, upscale vibe here flows into and out of, reminders of the island's rich history.

The Historical Archives Museum in the port has artifacts that bear witness to the historical, traditional, and cultural elements of the island, from 1708 to 1865.

In modern history, Hydra's commercial fleets created great prosperity for the island.

Wealthy ship captains in the 18th century were building huge mansions built into the mountains surrounding the harbor.

During Greece's 1821 War for independence from the Ottoman Empire, Hydra obtained cannons as a precaution, but they weren't actually used much because their ships did a good job of protecting the island from the sea.

After a brief period of financial decline, Hydra rose again, and today is a prosperous, peaceful, and coveted destination for seekers of all sorts.

One of those seekers was Josh Hickey.

His bookstore and community center is located on the third floor of the Historical Archives Museum, and has become a destination in itself.

- As many people do, I came as a tourist roughly 13 years ago.

And I had what I call the holy shucks moment, which is when you walk out the port here and you get just beyond the restaurants, and you finally get the view of the Peloponnese, the little islands floating, and I said to myself, "Holy..." And I've been back every summer since.

- And since then, you've established a literary collective on the island?

- That's right.

Yep.

- [Kira] Can you tell me about it?

- I'd love to.

I call it the Hydra Book Club.

I imagine this as a museum show where I was the first person to assemble and sort of anthologized all of the literature having been written by authors linked to Hydra.

It's a way for people that are visiting the island to kind of deepen their relationship or their understanding of the place more than going for coffee on the port or going swimming.

You know, it allows, I would say, access to something maybe a bit more profound.

- [Kira] Who are some of your favorite writers who have written about this island?

- Oh, there's a very, very important Greek poet who's maybe more known than some other writers.

His name is Giorgos Seferis.

I was looking at this one poem that he wrote, and at the end of the poem he says, "Why did you come here?

What are you seeking?

Why did you come here?"

And I said, "Wow, this is really powerful," because this is what a lot of us here today are we asking ourselves all the time, like what are we doing here?

Like what are we seeking?

People are coming here seeking things.

- What have you found here?

- I found friendship.

I found a new family.

I found a new career, and I found something super important, which is my partner, Philip.

We decided to do a journal, a journal of fiction, poetry, essay, and image.

The first issue just came out.

- Oh, great.

- Last weekend.

And this I do with Philip.

It's a collaborative project.

So I do a bit of the curating and he takes care of the publishing.

- [Kira] Similarly bewitched by the island, Josh's partner, Philip, gave up his job at "Vogue" magazine in Poland to live and work on Hydra.

- I quit my job two years ago to finally found my own little publishing house, which is something I'd always wanted to do.

I always wanted to do art books, photography books.

My father's a photographer, so I started with him and now I'm doing a book with a friend of mine who is actually the reason I started coming to Hydra.

She has a house here.

- What is it about Hydra that drew you other than Josh of course?

- You know what?

I do think it's the absence of cars.

That does change the way you spend time here and the way you relax.

(gentle upbeat music) All the people coming through, meeting new people from all over the world, and the local people have been really wonderful.

- One of the most important things to do on Hydra is wander, meander, saunter.

And really just lose yourself in this delightful atmosphere.

Hydra is constructed on a hill around a port, and is rippling with exquisite stone mansions, elaborate monasteries, colorful shops, and surprising restaurants.

Whew.

It's on a hill.

A big one.

(gentle upbeat music continues) Just around every corner are delightful discoveries that invite you deeper into the island's history and culture.

One of the unique gems located on Hydra is Rafalias Pharmacy.

Founded in 1890 and located in this gorgeous mansion, it's certainly one of the most interesting places to buy medications, as well as colognes, perfumes, soaps and lotions, all made on the island using traditional Greek recipes.

At Tsangaris, the oldest pastry shop on the island.

- Nice.

- Okay, how about this?

There.

I got to help make their delicious pastries.

Then you just squeeze?

- Yes.

- Which are made with the ubiquitous Greek almond.

And then, I got paid with you guessed it.

What do you call this?

- Almond ice cream.

- Oh, just almond ice cream.

- Yes, almond ice cream.

It's in vanilla, with vanilla in it- - Mm.

Oh, so good.

- Uh-huh?

- Yeah.

Pirofani opened in 1994 by Theo Triantafillou, is a favorite of locals and travelers.

- You had the lamb.

You have the fish.

Okay, good.

- [Kira] Partly known for its Greek and international cuisine, and also partly known for its Greek and international chef.

(Kira laughing) - [Kira] Mimi!

- Hello.

- Hello.

- [Kira] Yasas.

In Greece, there is a century's old belief that if someone stares at you with intense envy or jealousy, you could catch their evil eye and then suffer some sort of misfortune.

One of the ways of warding off that bad luck is by wearing a symbol of protection.

- The Greeks created the blue eye for good luck, for protection mostly.

It works if you believe it.

If you have a blue eye on you, let's say, I wear a ring with a blue eye and I believe that I am protected, it works.

It has nothing to do with religion.

It's just a matter of superstition.

If you believe, it works.

Trust me.

(gentle cultural music) - [Kira] The islanders or Hydriots are not just superstitious.

(bell rings) They're also deeply religious.

Hundreds of houses of worship bear witness to strong island spirituality, starting right here in the port.

With 300 churches and six monasteries on this island, there are a lot of choices for churches, but this Byzantine style cathedral, the Monastery of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, underneath the clock tower here, has magnificent 18th century frescoes and exquisite Greek orthodox decorations.

Located in a former monk cell, the Ecclesiastical Museum houses elaborate holy vessels, jewelry, musical manuscripts, and other historical relics from the monastery.

Quite a hike up this mountain is the only male monastery on the island.

It's actually a 75 minute climb and harder than the guidebooks would lead you to believe.

Feeling good, feeling strong.

I'm guessing we're halfway up but there's really no way of telling.

The monastery is dedicated to Profitis Ilias, one of the most holy prophets of the Old Testament, honored on mountains throughout Greece.

The monastery was first established by 13 monks who arrived on the island in 1813, and apparently thought, "Let's go higher to build our monastery."

We made it.

That was a long uphill climb.

It's less than two miles, but like the 13 monks that established this monastery in 1813, we also started this climb in 1813.

We're hot, we're sweaty, but we have incredible views of the Aegean Sea and the Peloponnesian Coast.

Hydra is 11 miles long and 3 miles wide, and there are no cars on the island other than garbage trucks and ambulances.

And really, the roads aren't suitable for anything other than feet, which includes the hoofed feet of donkeys, mules, and horses.

- Slightly lean forward a little bit.

- [Kira] Harriet Jarman has lived on the island since she was a child.

She runs Harriet's Hydra Horses, which offers you a view of the island from the saddle.

(hooves trotting) - Horses runs in the family, really.

My aunts in England have got stables and two of my cousins still do professional jumping, so it's always been in the family.

I was riding since I could walk as well.

- Okay, so this way you were able to do something that was familiar to you?

- It was... Yeah, it was kind of spontaneous because I had Chloe, my first horse.

By the end of the first season, I had four horses.

Come second season, I had six, and then I was just fully booked and it grew very quickly.

- [Kira] Whoa.

What do you love about this island?

Why did you decide to stay here?

- [Harriet] Hydra's magical.

We're not spoiled like other big islands are.

Luckily we don't get huge cruise ships coming in every single day.

We do get a few, but not every single day.

Hydra is an island where if you don't turn on the news, you don't know there's any evil in the world.

It's really a place that will take you back in time.

You can connect with yourself, with your family properly.

And okay, yeah, people do work silly hours during the season because Hydra is a seasonal island.

It mainly works for tourism, so everyone does work quite hard.

But you're still, you're working in paradise, so it's not that bad.

(keys jingling) - Aha!

(Jennifer grunts) All right!

So this is 35 for you.

- [Kira] We met David and Jennifer 15 years ago when they were first married, and now her mother is moving here to one of the many neighborhoods tucked into the mountain in order to join them.

You came here as a child in summers, 'cause your father had a vacation home here?

- Yeah, he had a house over the harbor.

There's a red church right there and sort of to the right of that, there's a Cypress tree and right in that spot is where my father's house was when I was growing up.

- Did you think growing up like, "This is where I wanna live someday"?

- No, it never even occurred to me that that was possible.

You know, this was fantasy land.

You know, I mean the idea of actually coming and moving to Hydra just never occurred to me that it was possible.

But then after my dad passed away and we came to scatter his ashes and in preparation for that, I sort of reconnected with David, whom I'd known 15 years before, 'cause there was a big gap.

I didn't come for about 12 years and I ended up moving here within the year and we bought a house and I was living on Hydra.

So it was just this sort of very like unexpected, serendipitous sort of full circle.

- [Kira] Yeah.

- I think they have a thing that's open, like right where... - [Kira] Has it changed a lot since you were a child?

- [Jennifer] Yeah.

- [Kira] Yeah?

- [Jennifer] Yeah, it's not nearly as rustic as it was back then.

It's definitely in the 21st century now.

And one of the things that is nice about it though is because there are no cars and there's no mopeds and there's no bikes, et cetera, it always does feel like you're stepping back a little bit into time.

You can just hear the boats, the water lapping in the shore, hear the donkeys, hear the bells.

(bell rings) And so it still is beautiful.

- How many like deals are you in the middle of right now?

- Oh, probably about seven.

- Oh wow.

- Yeah.

- [Kira] Another old friend of ours is real estate agent, Tracy Gionis.

She came to Hydra 34 years ago as a student and is still here.

I'd love to come in.

- Hydra, I think as I've got older, I appreciate it more.

You know, you just have to wake up and look what you have.

You have green hills, birds, flowers, sea.

10 minutes walk and you're to where you wanna be.

So it's easy, you know, doable.

It's not a big island.

You know people.

You've got friends here.

- [Kira] Yeah, we met you 15 years ago.

- Yeah, geez.

- Yes, same, same.

(Tracy laughing) How would you say that the island has changed since we were here 15 years ago?

- Hydra's always been a great market, property buying investment.

It's always been very steady.

And now, the problem is with the real estate, supply is little.

- Yeah?

- Demand is still big- - That's what I was gonna say, does anyone leave?

- But the supply...

The supply is very little.

It's becoming more higher class.

It's trying to catch another type of person to come to the island, another kind of tourist.

Shops have improved, restaurants have improved, hotels have improved, which was needed to be done.

People ask me when I meet people, "Where's a good place to eat?"

And I literally say, "Everywhere."

(upbeat music) - After exhausting the charms of Hydra Town, which is basically impossible, the 15 minute walk to the beautiful fishing village of Kamini is on one of the most stunning paths in this stunning country.

Follow me.

(upbeat music continues) Between Hydra Town and Kamini is Spilia, a rocky beach where sun worshipers come to hone their thrilling diving skills.

(water splashes) (water gurgling) (upbeat music continues) (waves lapping) While Greece is not known for sandy beaches, Kamini's shallow waters attract families to its beautiful pebbled beach blanket.

If you keep going about half a mile or so down the road, you'll hit Vlychos and it's undisturbed gorgeous beach.

(upbeat music continues) (waves crashing) - Well this is actually a church and this is a windmill.

- Oh, the windmill, yes.

Another old friend is artist, William Pownall, a painter who has been living and working on Hydra since the 1960s.

Do you feel that your art has changed much in the last 15 years since we saw you?

- Art's always changing.

But I don't think the basic preoccupations have changed at all.

You know, something has to happen between whatever subject you decide to do and to try and express not what you see, but what you feel when you see.

- [Kira] What do you hope people feel when they see your work?

- Well, I hope they feel interested and peaceful.

- That's what I feel, an overwhelming sense of calm when I look at your work.

- Well, that's a very nice thing for you to say.

Thank you.

- Yeah, it's your palette.

It's your imagery.

And it obviously is so reminiscent of this island.

- I'm not so interested in representing Hydra, although obviously that's happened.

What I'm interested in expressing is what being in Greece in general, in the Mediterranean generally, and Hydra in particular, has done to me.

Peacefulness is a big part of it.

- [Kira] Yeah.

- Some people would say it's listening to God.

I'm not conventionally religious myself, but you know, I do believe in a higher force.

You try to get in touch with that.

And once you are in touch with it, you don't have to think how or why, because you aren't in control anymore.

Something's taken over.

I don't know what it is, but you use it.

It's probably not a good idea to try and pin down the imponderables because that's the magic.

And the magic is what we are looking for.

- [Kira] Yeah.

- In this room, it's a young Greek artist... - [Kira] In the old market, just behind the port, Greek artist, Dimitrios Antonitsis curates art exhibitions annually featuring prominent Greek and international contemporary artists.

- [Dimitrios] Contemporary art is important because it takes you out of your ordinary thinking, out of your ordinary living, and forces you in a way to pause.

- And you're bringing international attention to the island with this- - Correct.

And all the artists, the international artists are exhibiting for the first time in Greece.

So this is also important that Hydra is very pivotal as a stage front to showcase international art.

So in these spaces, you look at works that there is a code of change and a code of challenge.

In this room, Adonis Stoantzikis.

And Adonis is primarily a painter.

And from here he jumped over doing sculptures like this.

- Wow.

- And here, we're dealing of the concept of redefining yourself.

So here on this wall, I have three paintings by Ode Jaune.

She's using the fire and the candle as metaphor.

In this particular work, a kid is holding a candle, mother is protecting it, but at the same time is getting burned.

So the idea is about self sacrifice.

- Yeah.

- And in order to activate this beautiful sculpture, you place a candle each time, which creates this effect of smoke.

It changes with the time.

(Dimitrios blows) (upbeat cultural music) (motor hums) - On our last day, we boarded a water taxi from the port in Hydra Town for a gorgeous 15 minute ride to Vlychos where we are invited to hang out with Christina and her husband Argyris and they're big eared, four-legged children.

Extremely affectionate and social, donkeys are the perfect symbol for an island that breeds a kind of phenomenon of connection.

Oh my God.

- They have very strong emotions.

They feel everything and they get attached with their owner especially if the owner treat them very well.

They feel that.

They like Argyris, not only feed them, but also play, pet.

You know, they want company.

- Come here.

That's a very nice nose.

(Christina speaks in Greek) - Look, Kira.

- What?

Uh-oh, what are you doing?

What is he doing with his butt?

- [Christina] They like that, you know.

(Kira laughing) They like that.

- [Kira] They're very cute.

And they're very clean.

- [Christina] Yeah.

- [Kira] And they look very healthy and happy.

- They are.

You know, look.

They have all these place to play, to walk- - What a great life.

Yes, nibbling.

And obviously you must have a passion for animals.

They're not like your worker animals because the donkeys don't work.

- [Christina] The donkeys don't work, yes, yes- - They carry some things for you sometimes, but... - [Christina] The horses, the donkeys, no, no.

- [Kira] No, they're not even.

And is it hard to make a life on this island?

- It's not hard, but you have to be hardworking.

You mustn't be lazy, let's say, because it's a lot of work.

Like here, we keep the horses one hour far from the town because we don't live here.

We live in the town.

So Argyris has to work here every day for an hour and then another hour back to take care of the horses and the donkeys.

- You work together, you live together, you run this horse family and donkey family together.

How do you still enjoy each other in this close proximity after all these years?

- I don't know.

Maybe it's meant to be.

Maybe sometimes you find the perfect match and you go on.

I think it's meant to be.

- You brought us here to meet your donkeys and your horses and you schlepped a huge breakfast for us and our entire crew all the way up the mountain.

This seems to be very typical of Greek hospitality.

You meet a stranger.

You bring them into your house and you feed them.

Is this very typical of the island?

- [Christina] It is.

It is.

And it's very typical of our Argyris, yes.

- [Kira] Yeah.

(laughs) - [Christina] He does that all the time.

Argyris specialty.

- [Kira] Yes, that was delicious.

- Yeah.

(upbeat cultural music) - [Kira] I'm leaving this bewitching island tomorrow and thinking about the people like us who come here seeking something.

So I'm confident that I'll be back and hopefully it will be soon.

(upbeat cultural music continues) (upbeat cultural music continues) (upbeat cultural music continues) For more information about our series, visit our website at IslandsWithoutCars.com.

(waves lapping) (dramatic music) (upbeat jingle)