Kontos House, Hydra

On approach, from the most direct route from Hydra harbour, the house dominates the back of a small municipal square. On the street level, there is an independent room, which used to be a 'donkey shed' with a door at both ends. It makes a wonderful store room these days!

Steps continue up, passing the shed, to the main street entrance of the property. This door opens to reveal another short flight of external stairs, which pass between the ground floor bedroom 1 on the left (lower level of the main house and bedroom 2 on the right (separate building), leading to a very private entrance courtyard at the back of the top floor living space of the property. There is a freshwater cisterna (1) below this terrace. Two doors in the corner of the top level of the main house provide access to either the sitting room or the utility area.

The sitting room is a large, sea-facing room with wooden floors and ceilings. The hand-crafted fireplace chimney is a delightful original 1925 feature of the room. The windows and doors have internal wooden shutters. Double, glazed doors open to the sea-facing terrace (above the donkey shed). 

An archway leads to the open-plan kitchen and dining area, which also has double, glazed doors to the sea-facing terrace at the front of the house.

From the side of the kitchen, the 'back door' opens to the west side garden and across to the ruin on the far side. At the top corner of the garden, an external shower room has been built out of the ruins. The incoming buyer would be able to apply for planning permission to rebuild the remaining ruin, and could achieve three decent-sized rooms if necessary. 

The kitchen is fitted with solid wood, locally made cupboards and drawers, marble surfaces, a traditional sink, a gas oven and hob, as well as a concealed American-style larder fridge/freezer.

From the back of the kitchen, you walk through a utility area, passing the second door to the entrance courtyard, to the large family bathroom. The bathroom has a full-size bath with a shower over it (overlooking the entrance courtyard), a wash basin (overlooking the west side garden), a toilet with a modesty screen, and plenty of large cupboards for storing linens.

Internal stairs from the dining end of the kitchen lead down to the lower level of the main house, which is currently laid out as a master bedroom suite. This level is divided into two rooms that can be described as a 'dressing room' and a double bedroom. The dressing room has a toilet with a shower over in one corner with a vanity curtain surrounding it. The rest of the room has plenty of hanging space. There is a door to the west side garden. This 'dressing room' space has lots of potential for creative reinvention. A narrow doorway though a very thick wall opens from the dressing room into bedroom 1, which extends across the full width of the main house and has a door at the far end that opens to the main entrance steps and across to bedroom 2.

Bedroom 2, or, as it is separated from the main house, could be considered a guesthouse, is on two levels following the slope of the hillside. This room is split-level, with a raised wooden platform for the bed.

The plot is divided by a tall stone-built wall with the buildings, west garden (and ruin) in the lower part of the plot, but above the wall, the garden extends up with well-planted terraces. This area of the garden is accessed from either, a street door from the east boundary street steps, or through an opening in the wall from the entrance courtyard garden corner. Halfway up the extended garden, there is a small private chapel off a huge terrace over cisterna two. Here you can enjoy panoramic east to west views looking unhindered across the sea to the Peloponnese mainland.