Searching for the “real” Greece
Today, after my customary early morning* swim, and breakfast in our hotel, we headed by bus up to Apollonia, and then by foot to the small village of Kastro and the iconic Church of the Seven Martyrs – a small church set on a rocky promontory reaching out into the Aegean sea. There are many, many, churches on Sifnos, but this must be the most photographed of them all. We walked down to the church itself, and it was worth the walk, but the better view was from the top of the village of Kastros, looking down onto the church in its splendid isolation. Apparently, a lot of people mistake this church for the one that was in the film Mamma Mia. It isn’t in the film, but is easy to see why the mistake can arise.
*early morning, Greek holiday time, equates to 8 am. Ish.
After the morning spent exploring the village of Kastro and the church, we then walked down to Paralia Seralia – the old port of Sifnos, but now just a tiny beach, with a couple of tavernas, and a concrete platform for jumping into the sea from. We decided to have some lunch (again, we are now firmly on Greek time, so it was about 2.30pm, possibly 3pm, by the time we sat down to eat), choosing Captain George’s – a wonderfully authentic and charming (ramshackle if I was being unkind, but it wasn’t) taverna right on the sea front. If you have ever been to Deia beach in Majorca (or watched “The Night manager”**) and have seen the rustic restaurant their, this was similar, but this was wonderfully un-discovered; its few tables were full but everyone was happy to be there, in the moment, no posing or rich bankers, no one saying “look at me”, and whilst photos were taken, photos and Instagram and tik-tok were secondary to the real purpose of enjoying good (and not over-priced) food, good company and a fantastic setting.
One of our aims on our odyssey has been to “find” real Greece, and here in Sifnos we think we have found it. The trick? Go somewhere that the cruise ships don’t, and lacking an airport. That makes it a little bit harder to get there (but by no means difficult – Becky has has said I am becoming a bit of a ferry geek (I am!) and a quick search showed several easy ways to get here from various different starting points. If you are happy to trade cash for time, you can get here very cheaply (I found a ferry from Santorini for 12.50 euros), but if speed is of the essence you can pay more and significantly reduce your travelling time. ) And if things are a little difficult, many – most – tourists are put off, leaving the destination un-spoilt for you to enjoy.
**its been a few years since I watched the BBC mini-series “The Night Manager”, a thriller set in several locations, with much of it shot in Mallorca, and the restaurant at Deia beach is a wonderful backdrop to a key scene in the first episode. If you haven’t watched it, do so.