I love being in new places & hate getting there, & have been known to say on multiple occasions that I would give anything from a piece of my soul to a limb to a portion of my life savings to teleport. ~ V E Schwab
The ideal island to me is one that is a little difficult to reach. One with no cruise ships or hordes of tourists. A place where time slows and you can forget who you are. The Greek island of Sifnos is one of those islands and unless you hang with the super yacht crowd, then you will be taking a ferry to Sifnos. But fear not, it’s very easy to get to Sifnos & it’s worth the effort!
Our recent trip to Sifnos was our first visit to Greece, so we opted for taxis instead of relying on public transit. At the suggestion of a friend who lives part-time in Athens, we used George’s Taxi service & were SOOOO happy we did! When arriving in a new country after a long transatlantic flight, the comfort of having someone waiting for you at the airport who can take you where you need to go & answer questions is worth every penny. John was our driver & he had lived in America so his English was great, making it easy for us to ask questions & appreciate his good sense of humor.
Including tip, our taxi ride for 3 people from the airport to Piraeus cost €65. For a cheaper alternative, the X96 bus will take you to Piraeus for €1.4 per person (using a 90min Athena Card ticket), but it’ll take you at least 30min longer & will require you to walk a little bit to reach your hotel (depending on where you stay). Click HERE for good instructions on Athens transportation.
John picked us up at Athens International & drove us to the port city of Piraeus, where we spent the night at Piraeus Hotel. I didn’t expect to like the port city but it was a great place to spend our first night in Greece. We walked from the hotel around the water to a neighboring bay to find that the street Akti Koumoundourou was where all the dining & nightlife seemed to be. There were several excellent restaurants on the water & we simply chose one that looked cozy & had a great water view.
The walk seemed like a great idea before dinner, but while we were eating it began to rain heavily & despite our best efforts to drink & wait it out, it didn’t stop. So we called our hotel & attempted to convey our need for a taxi — the hotel attendant promised a taxi. Forty-five minutes later, no taxi & it was still raining. We saw several taxis but each one passed right by or was picking someone else up. Frustrated & feeling slightly foolish, we just decided to walk back…or should I say “sprint back” because it was still pouring.
Other than our miscommunication over the taxi, the Piraeus Hotel was perfect! There were cozy cafes & a bus stop within walking distance. They had an excellent breakfast, which was served extra early to accommodate early ferry departures & they shuttled us directly to the ferry company’s ticket booth. I had purchased our tickets in advance so was able to walk right up to the ticket booth, hand over my printed reservation code, & pick up our actual tickets (it took less than 5min). The booth was in the parking lot where the ferry was docked, so we just walked a few feet & with passports & tickets in hand we boarded our first Greek ferry!
If you visit Sifnos & are nervous about selecting your own ferry, use a travel agent like Aegean Thesaurus — they have very friendly staff & the office is located in Sifnos so they know what they’re doing. If you choose to go independently (like we did), you can learn more about Greek ferries HERE. We purchased our tickets online from Ferryhopper & chose the SeaJet2, a comfortable 2 hour ride. The entire trip is open sea, so there’s not much to look at & it’s very windy — keep this in mind when you’re looking at tickets that have outside seating or take five hours. Refreshments were available for purchase & the seats were similar to an airplane. It was very cold on board, so I suggest wearing pants & a light jacket.
I also suggest bringing a book to read or listen to, lest you be subjected to African predators mauling each other in narrated Greek or semi-pornographic European music videos.
Clare & Aimee on ferry
At some point on our way to Greece, Eric & I realized a key communication error between ourselves: I assumed he had purchased the international data package for MY phone (which we always did in the past) but he had chosen HIS phone instead. The problem with that is that all of our transportation & lodging plans were under MY phone number. So when we arrived in the port city of Kamares, our hostess had no way of calling to let us know where she was picking us up. But no worries, Eric called her & we quickly figured out through broken English that she was just a few feet away from the dock & we were quickly greeted by a smiling woman named Agiliki, our hostess for the week.
Arriving in Kamares
Agiliki owns two properties on Sifnos & we stayed in her Peristeronas House, which was centrally located in the town of Apollonia. The reviews on Booking.com praised Agiliki for her thoughtfulness & special treats, and they were all accurate! She picked us up in Kamares (even though she didn’t have to AND had to borrow a friend’s car because she gets around by scooter). PLUS, she had a bottle of wine, olives & fresh fruit waiting for us at the house & was very understanding when we surprised her with a third guest (Booking.com failed to notify her when we added my sister to our reservation).
Agiliki came every day to clean while we were out & re-stocked us with different breakfast sweets, fresh bread & coffee supplies each day. When I say clean, I mean SPOTLESS — she mopped the floors every day & even folded our clothes if we left them out. The entire island seemed to reflect this level of cleanliness, but I’ll talk more about that in a later post. Besides Agiliki’s exceptional hospitality, the house itself was situated in such a way that it provided gorgeous sunset views & the feeling of our own private oasis (even though it was only a block from the town center). There were plenty of lodging options in Apollonia, but very few that offered a traditional Cycladic home with its own private courtyard like Peristeronas.
3 Comments
Wonderful post! Can’t wait for the next one!
Wow! Everyone who reads this is going to want to visit Sifnos and stay at this place.
Exactly what I’m hoping!