Serifos 26-28th July

Serifos is in the Cyclades group of islands, with a population of 1,414. It is about 4 miles across and 4 miles long and about 90 miles from the port of Piraeus / Athens. It has a raw and rugged beauty and steep rocky hills. The traditional “Hora” (town at the top of the hill) is a dramatic scribble of white houses that crowns a high and rocky peak, 2km to the north of the port of Livadi. Just by looking, we could immediately tell that we were on a Greek island – the white washed walls of the buildings and the town at the top of the hill, with the small church at the very top with the blue domed roof.

We caught the local bus up to the Hora. The views were spectacular, as we wandered through the narrow alleyways between the houses, which are all connected to each other with winding staircases through the alleys. We walked to the church at the very top, which had a commanding view of the harbour and island, with just a 6 inch wall around the edge of a steep drop! Vertigo anyone?.


After wandering through the alleys, we found the tiny town square, with 3 or 4 tiny cafes and stopped for a beer. We met up and had a good laugh with a group of South Africans, on a sailing holiday and all watched the local donkey delivering the supplies to the bar, up the winding staircases!


We found our way back down to the boat and had a lovely dinner at a little Greek taverna, with a table on the beach. Even the Greek wine seemed to have improved. By the time we headed back to the boat, the town was coming alive – where was everybody hiding all day in the heat?

The next morning we had a lovely 2 hour down wind sail to the next island of Sifnos.


Despite the reputation of the fluky winds in the Greek islands (continually changing strengths and directions) we had perfect conditions for a great downwind sail. Philip and Cosi were happy to sit back and let us sail the boat – déjà view reminding us of our Heat Wave days.