City Break
Ermoupoli, the capitol of Syros, is a bit different from everywhere else that we have stayed – it is a city in its own right and is much less depenedent on tourism, giving it a different feel from our other destinations. We spent the day exploring the town (city does make it sound bigger than it is) and after breakfast under porticoes and an hour or so popping in and out of shops, we decided to visit the church on the hill that we hadn’t yet seen, the church that we originally though was in Ano Syros, the church that you see on all the photos of Syros.
Syros is on a hill, rising from sea level at the port and, despite a welcome return of a bit of a breeze, we didn’t fancy walking up the hill, so decided to take the free “mini” bus to the church at Anatasi. Now, I can’t complain as (other than exharisto, yassou and yamas) I speak no Greek, but probably because this isn’t just a tourist town, there is much less English spoken, and the routes and schedules of the busses do rely on a lot of local knowledge. Anyway, we got on a bus – but I think the helpful passengers all though we wanted to go to Ano Syros as, when we reached that stop they told us – almost forcibly ejected us – to get off, However, stood outside the bus we managed to explain we wanted to go somewhere else, and they let us back on. Using appalling pronunciation and a map, we manged to get them to understand where we wanted to go and, after a few more minutes, when we reached a T-junction they told us to get of and indicated right, as the bus headed left. I’m sure there where cheers from the passengers when we headed in the right direction – it was a lovely moment a group of strangers doing what they could to help two bemused tourists.
Anyway, we then had a ten minute walk – on the flat – to the church. It was worth the effort for the views over the city and up to Ano Syros.
We the walked down the hill – much easier than going up, but all those stairs!, still not simple – both of us commenting that it reminded us a little of Naples: its a town that has grown organically rather than being planned, and living and practically trump asthetics – but that doesn’t mean its not pretty, it is, and that the residents don’t care about what it looks like, they do (and the pic at the top is a giant mural, painted as part of a competition) but if a telegraph pole and wires need stringing up, they get put up.
The town doesn’t have a beach (but we are beach bound on the island tomorrow) but does have a fantastic swimming platform and we headed down from the hill, and plunged into the most beautiful blue, refreshing water.
Ermoupoli has been a bit different and I’ve enjoyed our couple of days here. And an added bonus, today I spotted both “Thunder” and “Blue Star Paros” – the ferries that brought us to and will take us away from Syros – in port at the same time.
