Sifnos

On our way to Sifnos, travelling on a high-speed boat which will  get us there in three hours.

On the way we stop at Serifos for just enough time to take a few pictures. We went to Serifos last year and had a wonderful time. We stayed in the town by the sea which you can see in the picture, and loved having the opportunity to look at Hora, the capital of the island, which is nestling on the side and top of the hill. It looks spectacular and no photograph will do it justice.

and here is a closer look.

and the obligatory church!

And then we get to Sifnos. Like most of the Cyclades, Sifnos is a rock stuck in the sea with a few trees, a few bushes, and settlements of the characteristic white architecture, surrounded by the deep blue water of the sea and bathed in  the dazzling light.

 

Sifnos has 227 churches and they are everywhere

on top of mountains (this one is the monastery of St Simeon, perched on top of this mountain overlooking Camares. At night it was lit up and the first time we saw it we gasped: the lighted monastery was up there with the stars, looking down on us, almost reaching the heavens)

in towns, (this one is in Artemona)

and another view of the same one

Churches are perched on hillsides (this one was near Agia Marina, just above where we swam every day)

They dominate the sky line (this one is in Artemona, seen from Apollonia)

they suddenly appear as you are walking in the cobbled narrow alleyways (this one is in the centre of the Hora, Apollonia)

they are always white  (another one in Apollonia)

they can be very big (Apollonia again)

and the same church in Apollonia, at night.

and sometimes they have elaborate bell towers.

Sifnos is also full of dovecotes. They are everywhere: in towns, villages, as part of houses, or in the middle of nowhere, perched on the side of a mountain. This one is in the main  square in Artemona.

This one is in Apollonia, part of the Beija Flor complex (more about that later).

There is no flat land anywhere on the island - it is all mountains and hills. More than half of them have been terraced and we marvelled over and over at the hard work that this would have involved.