Farewell Sifnos, Yassou Antiparos
This morning it was time to leave Sifnos, and head for our next stop of Anti Paros. Shortly before 9 am, we boarded our last Seajets ship of our journey – Super Jet – for the 50 minute hop to Paros. This vessel was smaller than the previous two we had travelled on, and was foot passenger only, no vehicles. Since our arrival in Santorini a couple of weeks ago, the wind has blown and I will confess to having Googled wind speeds and ferry crossings, and was a little concerned to read that smaller vessels are more likely to be cancelled than larger craft and I figured if we were to hit a snag in our travel plans, it would be this crossing. However, for the last few days, I’ve seen this ship arrive and depart twice a day from Sifnos, so I was confident we would sail today and, bang on time, she docked in Sifnos, and we boarded ready for our journey.
However, a few minutes out of the safety of harbour we could see, and very soon felt, the swell in the sea, often the waves capped with white horses. It was a somewhat bumpy journey – I can now see why these ferries do get cancelled in bigger seas – and we were all happy to reach the sanctuary of Paros port, where we disembarked. However, before we could do so, I had to find our bags from under a pile of luggage – in part I don’t think it was stowed well in the first place, but also it had been thrown around during the choppy journey.
And that still wasn’t the end of the road for us, we still had to get to Anti Paros.
A little disconcertingly, as we walked off the ferry I saw I sign that said ferries to Antiparos were cancelled due to the weather/sea state, however these were the direct ferries from Paros port to Antiparos, we had always planned on getting the bus to Pounda, and then getting a ferry from there. Asking around, it seemed that those ferries were still running, but we had just missed a bus, and needed to wait an hour for the next bus. We went to a cafe and had a coffee and cake (the most expensive so far 5.50 euros for a coffee!), and watched in a mix of awe and horror as big ferry, after big ferry, after big ferry arrived in the port, disgorging ever more passengers. Paros port was heaving, crowded and chaotic and we were glad when we finally boarded our bus, and then the next ferry (7 minute crossing, 1.50 euro each) to the relative calm of Antiparos, and our new home in Pavlos’ Place.
We had a little explore, I had a swim in a sea that Becky described as more like Cornwall than Greece (but the sea was much warmer) and in the evening we headed out for something to eat. Following (another) delicious meal, our plan was to have a quick wander before returning to our apartment, but as we walked it became clear something was happening at the church by the port.
It transpires that today – July 15th – marks the start of the three day festival of Agia Marina in Antiparos. There was a big church service (the church isn’t big, many people were outside its whitewashed walls) and big chunks of bread were being handed out to anyone who wanted them. They were cut from large circular loaves (circa 50 cm in diameter) – we had seen a couple being carried in the street earlier in the day. Then there was music and dancing on a stage – we stayed to watch a group of school children dance to a Greek language version of Bella Ciao. And literally as I type, the sky has just lit up with a magnificent display of fireworks. A surprising end to an eventful day!
