Sifnos, Greece

Our final Greek island!

But first we had to travel here from Naxos.  This turned out to be a bit more difficult than we anticipated.  We actually ended up staying an extra day in Naxos since there aren’t any ferries that go directly from Naxos to Sifnos.  Instead, we needed to take a ferry to Paros, another island that is close by Naxos. From there we did a transfer to a ferry that took us to Sifnos.  This first part of the trip was quite nice.  The ferry to Paros was pleasant and not too long. During our very short waiting time in Paros we found a stellar café to hang out in.  When we saw the café had 4.9 stars with 57 reviews, we wondered how it managed to earn that. As soon as we tasted our drinks, we understood. We’ve been to many cafés on this trip, but the drinks here were the best we’ve had so far. We ordered a hot chocolate with Bailey’s and a decaf cappuccino with whipped cream.  The whipped cream turned out to have a bit of Bailey’s in it as well! Surprisingly delicious. 

 

The ferry from Paros to Sifnos was another story.  In our last post we raved about how awesome ferry travel is. Well we spoke too soon. This one certainly acted as a counterpoint.  First, it was supposed to leave Paros at 10:30pm and arrive in Sifnos at 1:30am.  Already a pretty late night.  However, the boat didn’t arrive at the port in Paros until around 11pm.  When we got on board, it was clear that it was a much smaller vessel than the other ferries we’ve been on.  This wouldn’t have been so bad, except it started to get pretty stormy. We saw a lot of rain and a number of lightning strikes out the window.  Even when we were just sitting in the port, we could feel the boat rocking up and down.  We thought it would get better once we started moving, but boy were we wrong… Instead, the rocking worsened.  We both started to feel kinda seasick so we decided to lie down and try and sleep through the rest of the ride.  Surprisingly, both of us managed to fall asleep quickly and slept until 1:15am when we arrived at another island.  We woke up feeling quite good, and thinking this was Sifnos, we got up, gathered our stuff and headed to the front of the boat.  Only this wasn’t Sifnos, it was Serifos, and we still had a ways to go.  The ride from Serifos to Sifnos was absolutely miserable.  Both of started feeling more seasick as the boat’s rocking increased.  We also had no idea when we were going to arrive at our destination so we didn’t want to fall back asleep.  It felt worse to look down or to read anything. Instead we sat there staring at the red cloth carpet and chairs…for nearly an hour and a half.  We arrived at Sifnos over an hour late, at 2:45am. 

We disembarked, and started to feel a bit better as soon as our feet were on solid ground.  However, it was extremely late and we still had to find where we were staying.  Thankfully, Nolan’s phone had enough power to guide the way. Less thankfully, Google maps isn’t that accurate on this island, and we ended up at staring at a tall brick wall where the map said a road would lead to our room.  After doubling back and finding another route we arrived in front of a dark building with a sign indicating it was where we were staying: Theodora Rooms.  We had told the woman renting the rooms that we would arrive at 1:30, and now it was after 3am.  Both of us were starting to think we were going to be sleeping outside on this potentially very stormy night.  It wasn’t clear which door led to the reception, so we didn’t even know where to knock.  Nolan called the number we had for the room.  It rang once. Twice. Three times. Then someone answered. Nolan heard someone say something in Greek, then hang up. After thirty unsure seconds, a friendly old Greek lady emerged from one of the dark rooms and took us to our room!  She didn’t speak any English, but managed to show us the beds and the WiFi code before bidding us goodnight.  We made it!

Our stay in Theodora Rooms and our time in Sifnos was not as magical as Hotel Grotta and Naxos, but also very enjoyable.  Our host (presumably named Theodora?) radiated warmth.  She brought us a little homemade treat each day.  She didn’t speak any English at all.  But she was always delighted to interact with us, more than happy to let us keep our stuff in the hotel after checkout, and of course we were extremely grateful for her staying awake until 3:00am to let us in with a smile and warm welcome. Again, we are heartened by the generosity and kindness we keep encountering in the Greek islands.

We did some wandering, admired the ceramics and pottery (which is a big thing in Sifnos), and ate some yummy meals.

  

  

The number of tourists (and people in general) we’ve encountered has dropped dramatically with each subsequent Greek island we’ve visit. Santorini was still filled with tourists, and it was rare to be away from the hustle and bustle. Naxos was much more calm. There were always people walking around the main street of the Old Town and tourists visiting Apollo’s Door. Guests were arriving at and leaving from our hotel every day. All the restaurants on the main street were open. The smaller island of Sifnos felt almost deserted.  On the main street in town, the majority of restaurants and cafés were closed for the season.  In the morning, while wandering around the town it felt like we saw more stray cats than people!

Speaking of stray cats, there are a lot of them in Greece.  It seems like nearly every meal there is a cat or two winding its way around the table legs hoping for some scraps of leftover food.  During our stay in Sifnos, we met a very cute stray orange kitten.  It was mewing outside our door.  While many cats seem to be only looking for food, and actually reject offers of affection, this kitten seemed very interested in our love.  We played with it for a bit, and soon had it purring and cuddling with us.  It also impressed us with some quick bug-catching skills. At one point it pounced on a large ant, and later it snatched a fly out of the air!  The kitten reminded us a bit of Lionel, a stray cat now being cared for by Monisha’s parents.

  

  

We decided it was a good idea to make sure we got a hike in on every Greek island we visited (or at least the ones we spent the night on).  We found a trail that started less than 100m away from the room we were staying in, and hiked up to the top of a ridge.  On the way we visited a large cave with great views over the port and the town of Kamares.

The top of the ridge offered us views of the other side of the island.  It also was home to the ruins of an old stone house.  The stone house was in turn home to a large salamander! And briefly a Nolan.  We sat for a while on the ridge, sang “High up on a Mountaintop,” and snacked on our can of Pringles.  We also spotted lots more goats, and decided that Nolan needs a haircut; selfies with him are progressively worsening. 

So, the next morning we headed down to the only hair salon in town and got haircuts. Nolan hasn’t paid for a haircut in over two years, since Monisha has been cutting his hair.  Monisha also hasn’t paid for a haircut in over two years, since she hasn’t gotten any! (Her hair has been growing out ever since she cut it really short.) So it was a big moment for both of us. 

 

Fortunately our ferry from Sifnos to Athens was pleasantly uneventful.  The sea was calmer, the boat was larger, and it even arrived in Athens 20 minutes early.