​The Aegean island of Hydra holds an important, affectionate and unique place in both the history of Australian literature and the fabled decade of the 1960s. During this time Hydra was home to the Australian literary couple Charmian Clift and George Johnston, who became the focal point for a celebrated international colony of writers and artists, which included Leonard Cohen and Marianne Ihlen.

 

In what has now become a renowned example of post- war bohemianism and expatriation, this group of young like-minded individuals came together to pursue their artistic desires in a place of singular beauty and existential freedom.

As Clift wrote of her Hydra years:
"I was glad we had chosen to live in the sun. To live in the sun is reassuring. Here are no deceptions but the bare truth of things. I think that no beauty has ever been as true for me as the beauty of rocks and sea and the beauty of mountains that rush up between the blue and the blue, skirted only with the austere white terraces of houses simplified to the purest geometry of planes and angles."

To this day Hydra is frequently singled out as a place of great beauty and as an artist’s island. It is a car-free sanctuary where time and artistic engagement offer the possibilities of a contemplative, creative life in a culturally and socially rich space.

The purpose of this journey is to give you the chance to both learn about and experience this unique island setting. You will walk in the footsteps of not only Clift and Johnston but alsoother writers such as Leonard Cohen, Henry Miller, Giorgos Seferis, Elizabeth Jane Howard ,Lawrence Durrell, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Brenda Chamberlain and Tim Winton, as well asartists including Sidney Nolan, Nikas Ghika, Marc Chagall, Jeff Koons, and Pericles Byzantios.

 

 

Your experience of Hydra will be led by Tanya Dalziell and Paul Genoni, award-winningauthors of Half the Perfect World: Writers, Dreamers and Drifters on Hydra, 1955-1964). They will share their deep knowledge of Hydra, including its complex history and renowned architecture. They will introduce you to the island’s numerous stories and legends, its sometimes scandalous myths, its equally (un)reliable truths and the many great books written there.

 

You will have the opportunity to read about Hydra through the words of those who have written the island into counter-culture folklore, in the very places where they wrote, and of which they wrote. You will see Hydra through the eyes of those who painted, sketched and photographed it, and wonder and at the possibilities and challenges of island life, where “all the time in the world” begs to be used wisely, wastefully or dangerously.

You will engage with the many ways in which Hydra has been represented—in travel narratives, fiction, memoir, poetry, songs and art. And should you wish, you will be encouraged and assisted to reflect on your Hydra experience by writing or creating images of
this unforgettable island.

Hydra is a place that was never far from the minds of those visitors for whom it was the crucible of their artistic development. As Leonard Cohen fondly recalled:

" I felt very much at ease in Hydra. Whatever you saw, whatever you felt, whatever you held was beautiful, and you didn’t have to say those words to yourself, it was just when you picked up a cup you knew by the way it fitted into your hand that itwas the cup that you always had been looking for. And the table that you sat at, that was the table that you wanted to lean on, and the wine was the wine that you wanted to drink, the price you wanted to pay."

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The Background

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Our second season of Retreats on Hydra, with an emphasis in 2025, on enjoying the many beautiful locations of Hydra, which this retreat provides by inviting us to accompany the authors on walks and talks, in addition to occasional seminars indoors.

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Anna lived on Hydra for two wonderful years; "My reaction to reading Paul and Tanyas' book was so visceral - although I wasn't there in the period of which they wrote, so much of what one experiences today emanates from that pivotal moment in Aegean and literary history. It's magnificently researched, and full of anecdotal detail. I constantly refer to their book when I'm on Hydra. ... and i was thrilled when they agreed to join me on Hydra to preset this truly special, richly immersive experience"

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Tanya, Paul and Anna look forward to joining you at a table on the Agora in the centre of Hydra Town.

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