We arrived at Sifnos late in the afternoon, after taking the early morning ferry from Aegina to Piraeus and transferring to the ferry that runs up and down the western group of the Cyclades. Sifnos is a small island - less than 30 square miles - and not really a cycling destination. It has a great reputation for hiking though, so we just cycled about a mile along the coast from the terminal to our hotel in Kamares, parked our bikes, and settled in for a pair of hiking days.
Before hiking though, we had to tame the wildlife in our hotel room. The website where I booked it failed to warn that it backed against a marsh, and that it might be overrun by voracious mosquitoes in springtime. They were more than fierce, and made sleep impossible until we beat them to death on the 10 foot high walls of our room, slapping them high above our heads in a frenzied assault with our bath towels.
Sifnos is an amazing place, and a small hiking paradise. It is criscrossed by well preserved traditional stone foot and mule pathways (monopati), and has an unbelievable concentration of very beautiful whitewashed chapels, churches and monasteries - allegedly 365 of them. We took two day hikes, both originating in Apollonia at the crest of the island which we reached by a bus from the port.
On the first day we took a long (13 rugged miles), full day hike of to the southwest, climbing up from Apollonia over a ridge and dropping to the sea at Vathi; climbed from there over another ridge to end up at Panagai Chrissopigi, a stunning church on the southern coast; and then caught the bus back. It was beautiful the entire way - terrific countryside and vistas, and a series of very beautiful churches.
On the second day we took another stunning hike - a shorter 8 mile loop that began in Apollonia again, went southeast to the amazing village of Kastro, north along the coast to Artemonas, and back again to the bus to the port in time to catch the mid-afternoon ferry to Milos.
Kamares, the port town of Sifnos. We parked here for two nights and enjoyed a pair of spectacular day hikes.
Panagia Chrissopigi church, Sifnos. This was the end point of our first hike. From here we scrambled back uphill to the road for the last bus back to town.
