My Big Fat Greek Love Affair

The Happy Hiker

OK, so I’m in love with a Greek…island. Welcome to Sifnos, a lesser known island in the famous Cyclades that includes Santorini and Mykonos to the southwest of Athens. We arrived here by a five and a half hour ferry ride on March 24, having selected it after an internet search for the perfect Greek retreat for us at this time in our trip. It hasn’t let us down… within a day of settling in to the Hotel Stavros in the small port town of Kamares, Ben had made a friend in 9 year old Markos, the son of the owners who speaks excellent English thanks to his Mom being from the UK. Markos is now on 2 weeks Easter school holidays so we hope to see him a fair bit.

CLICK HERE FOR SLIDESHOW OF SIFNOS

Painting over the lines

English is not widely spoken here and we are several weeks ahead of the main tourist wave, which is quite lovely in that we get to see the towns waking up after the winter slumber. Many local business owners winter on the mainland and are arriving back daily to whitewash walls and repaint the white lines between the flagstones on their patios which is a trademark of the islands. As we’re doing most of our own cooking, the limited number of tavernas and cafes open is not a problem. The weather varies between cool showers and scorching sun which has brought the wildflowers popping out in a brilliant display.

We hiked out to the farthest point

We stayed in a 2 bedroom flat with kitchenette at the hotel in Kamares for the first week, enjoying the seaside location, port activity, and little supermarket next door which against the odds, did in fact stock Bombay gin, limes and tonic water for the master. Dave and I went on a rocky 3 hour hike out to the point north of the harbour, accompanied by goats and a few sheep.

Our Apollonia cottage

We have since moved up into the hills to the main town of Apollonia, which is larger, more central, and offered a one-bedroom cottage with more space and a knockout view past the tiny church next door across the valley to the sea beyond. Stone footpaths connect it to nearby towns, following centuries-old terraces that divide the hills into olive groves and vineyards. We get the morning sun so have been enjoying our breakfast on the patio.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday in Canada but the Greek Orthodox church celebrates it next Sunday, April 19th, which also happens to be my 50th birthday. From what we have been able to discern, there will be processions, a midnight resurrection mass, feasting and maybe fireworks. Sounds wonderful. According to the travel books, there are 365 churches and small chapels on Sifnos, although most of them only come to life once a year for their saint’s namesake day. We will go scout out a “mainstream” one tomorrow to prepare ourselves for next weekend.

To be continued….

Heather

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