Apollonia in Sifnos

Apollonia is the capital of Sifnos. Its name comes from an ancient temple of Apollo which used to be on the side of the church of Panayia Yeraniofora.

We visited the town three times and every time the bus would deposit us here, the town square

where the island's folklore museum is situated.

This sculpture in the square

is lit up at night.

White-washed houses and narrow alleyways

lots of bars and restaurants

quirky windows.

We hadn't been to Sifnos for 11 years so, during our first visit we took the wrong turning, and rather than going through the centre of the town, we took the road that runs along the periphery which affords great views of the surrounding countryside

zooming in

This house is perched on the edge of the cliff

Steps everywhere

It gets very windy in the Cyclades, so the narrow streets protect from the wind

We ate here last time, but not this time

We finally got to the centre of the town, the 'steno' (the 'narrow one') where most of the bars, restaurants and shops are to be found. This large church is at the centre of it

another church, next to it

and another one. As I mentioned in a previous post, Sifnos has a population of 2.625 and 260 churches.

We sat here, later, and had an ouzo - it was good for people watching

A small square

Space is at a premium, so most tavernas have tables set out on the narrow lane

How many churches can a small town have?

Cayenne, where we ate during our first evening

when it got dark. The food was very interesting, a mixture of Greek and Michelin-starred dishes. It was very good.

and another one

interior of a bar

and a jewellery shop

that's right - another church

During our second visit we headed straight for To Steno - the aim this time was to walk all the way up to the windmills

figure of a cat stencilled on a wall

steps all the way

an arched entry

more steps

we finally reached the windmills

we could see two more in the distance

We passed Julie Tzanini's  ceramics workshop. I really wanted to see her work but she is on sabbatical this year so it was closed.

We turned around and started our descent  

and these are steps to the roof!

During our second visit we decided to eat at Okyalos

and chose a table on the street - the food was good

and then it was time to head for the bus

We stopped at the Gerontopoulos patisserie

and bought some marzipan and nougat to take home with us.