I awoke to a shimmering sunrise over the Aegean Sea as we came to drop anchor off the coast of the Island of Sifnos. The winds from the previous days had diminished allowing the day to dawn quiet and still.
After the business of Santorini the day before, the Island of Sifnos promised on our last full morning of exploration of the Greek Islands to be quiet and rewarding. The island is popular with Greeks as a place to get away to the real Greek islands—a place to rest, relax, and slip into the authentic ways of Old Greece.
We set off for the hillside town of Kastro but first we stopped at a small church perched on a small island looking out to the Aegean navy blue waves. Once we had toured the 16th-century white washed church called Chryssopigi, we crossed the island to small town of Kastro (Venetian Castle) perched on a hill with beautiful white washed homes (of Cycladic architecture) and mysterious little alleyways that led to the ocean and a photogenic church cloaked in mystery at the base of the mountain close to the wave swept swells of a navy blue sea…
After a quick slice of famous lemon pie and a Greek coffee at the little town tavern, we journeyed onto the towns of Artemona and Apollonia while some escaped to the Platy Yialos beach for their last swim in the warm seductive water of the Greek Aegean Sea before Sea Cloud set sails.
The afternoon was a chance to see the Sea Cloud in all of its square-rigger glory—with all of her sails up and catching the last of the summer breezes as she silently glided to her final destination of our expedition, the port of Piraeus.
