The Orloff Hotel is located on the west side of the port in a very calm area, approximately a 5-minute walk, on foot, from the hydrofoil peer. For heavy luggage, there are porters on Hydra docks and donkeys that carry everything. Upon request, if the hotel is informed in advance about arrival time, it can arrange a transfer to and from the port with a donkey or a carriage. Price depending on the number and the weight of luggage. Payment directly to the porter in cash.

From the Cathedral in the middle of the port, you take the first street on the left after the clock tower and follow the street signs to the old pharmacy. After about 80 meters just after Anita’s restaurant, you will see the pharmacy with the yellow windows on your left and the high walls and blue windows of Orloff boutique hotel on your right.

Hydra’s Blooming Past

Traces of the Neolithic period have been found in archeological discoveries in Episkopi – Hydra. But it is established that the island was not regularly inhabited during ancient classical times. Hydra was once upon a time rich in water as its name indicates in Greek but at some point in time, for an unknown reason it became deprived of water and its inhabitants had to seek other ways to make a living besides agriculture. They became sailors since the island was on the main maritime roads of the Mediterranean.Towards the end of the 18th century, Hydra was blooming in merchant marine activities. The island was named “Little England” due to the importance of its merchant fleet and the skills of its captains. At that time Hydra counted 130 battleships of 30 000 tons each.

All the wealth of Hydra derived from the advantage it took in the English-French war at the time of Napoleon. This is when all the splendid “Captain” mansions of Miaouli, Tombazi, Oikonomou were built. This wealth and power were the starting point of the Revolution that led to the foundation of the Modern Greek state in 1830.

After the Second World War, and especially during the late fifties and the early sixties, Hydra was rediscovered by numerous artists and painters like Nikolas Chatzikiriakos-Gikas who originated from Hydra, poets like George Seferis who won the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1963 and writers like Henry Miller who wrote about Hydra in his famous book “the Colossus of Maroussi”.

Movies like the “Girl in black” (1960) by Michalis Kakoyiannis starring Sofia Loren, “The Child and the Dolphin” and especially “Phaedra” of Jules Dassin with Melina Mercouri and Anthony Quin, propelled the island to the top scenery of the international jet set like Saint-Tropez at that time and later, Mykonos. Since then it has inspired many artists who chose to live on the island and plenty of people who have just fallen in love with its pure natural beauty.