Sifnos
We woke up this morning surrounded by calm flat blue Aegean waters under sunny skies. We sailed to Kleftiko – a beautiful spot at the southwest side of Milos Island. The captain positioned the ship as close as possible to the fabulous cliffs and rock formations. It was an amazing view with close up possibility of taking some great photos. Later on we sailed towards Sifnos Island. Around midday our Naturalist gave a very interesting talk about olives and olive oil with some tasting.
Sifnos has become recently one of the most popular destinations in the western Cyclades. In ancient times Sifnos was renowned for its gold mines. Every year the islanders had to pay homage with a solid gold egg to the Delphic sanctuary of Apollo. One year they cheated and instead of gold egg they sent a gilded rock that caused Apollo’s revenge: the gold mines were flooded and the island ruined. From then on the place was called Sifnos which means “empty”.
We docked at Kamares – the main port of Sifnos – around lunch time. Before leaving for the afternoon excursion we still had some time for a little stroll among waterside cafes and tavernas, a short swim at the nearby beach, or just little siesta on the ship.
In the afternoon we headed overland to the southeast side of Sifnos to visit the beautiful church of Chryssopigi. This is an Orthodox church located in Faros (Lighthouse) Bay. After the short bus ride we stopped in Kastro – “castle”. It’s the ancient and medieval capital that has maintained its character with picturesque narrow streets and many items from the ancient times, like pillar bases, old sarcophagi and mill stones.
We returned to Kamares port for dinner and a chance to walk the waterfront under the stars checking out the various pottery shops with colorful ceramics that Sifnos is known for.
