Serifos

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Serifos is magical.

We arose very early and left our hotel on Aegina to get the 6:40 AM ferry to Athens, then took our 8:00 ferry from Athens to the island of Serifos, a 2 hour ride in a high-speed ferry. I love that feeling of being on the way to an unknown place. The ferry ride was beautiful, we passed many islands, some near, some far, sometimes completely open sea.

As we approached Serifos I recognized the town of Chora, which I had seen pictures of on the internet, but other than that there were very few buildings, one could only see barren hills with narrow unpaved roads leading to nowhere. After getting off the ferry we realize we are on another planet, you can feel the place in the air. The water around Serifos is incredibly clear. One of the first things I saw was Σεριφóς (Serifos in Greek) written on the side of the concrete pier, eroded by the sands of time, with crystal clear water lapping at it gently.

We rented a car for 2 days for only €15. The lady who rented it to us spoke so gently. It was a standard, and I was the only one who knew how to drive a standard, so I drove the whole time. Near where the port is (which is just a single dock), there is a small village along the rounded bay where there are restaraunts, shops, and hotel-like places.

We drove around the bay searching for the place I had called (where no-one spoke English) called Delphini Rooms. We drove all the way around the bay and didn't see it, so we just kept going, up a hill on the other side where there was a nice hotel overlooking the bay. The road became narrow, and had some points where the car was at a very steep angle. At the top of the hill was a parking lot, where we saw an oldish Greek guy walking to his car. We asked him where Delphini rooms was. He couldn't speak English, but he eventually recognized the word 'Delphini'. He pointed and tried explaining with a mixture of hand gestures, body movements, and Greek, then drove away. From the top of this little hill there was a view of the bay, and looking down to the sea we saw a bit of coast where the sand and rocks transitioned into deep water and seaweed in such a way that accentuated the water's blue-green hues.

We drove back down the hill, and passed the same guy we had just saw watering plans with a hose. He recognized us and pointed wildly, we waved back. Eventually we found Delphini rooms and checked in. The people spoke almost no English, but enough for us to get a room. The place felt so peaceful and quiet. Near the front desk there was a view looking up the hill to Chora. As we were leaving for our drive a sweet old lady gesticulated that we should walk up to Chora, and there is a great view in mid-afternoon. We couldn't talk about much, because she spoke only Greek.

Off to explore the island in our rented car. Oh man, what wild things await? After a few wrong turns, we found the one tiny road that leads away from the bay and goes around the island clockwise. The density of buildings very quickly diminished, all that was left was rocky hills with no vegetation. Occasionally we would pass some goats.

After rounding a few corners we came upon a beautiful beach. There were no other cars on the narrow unpaved main road, and no civilization in sight. Only rocks, barren hills, some ancient decaying abandoned buildings, and stone walls everywhere. To get to this beach we had to drive off the main road and down a hill on this very narrow unpaved road. There were no signs at all. The rocks and indentations in the road got progressively bigger, and at some point it wasn't safe to drive any more, the rocks would probably have damaged the car, so we just left the car and walked to the beach.

Walking towards the beach on the sand through the strange plants I felt a little uneasy, because there really was no one in sight. Near the beach there were a bunch of buildings that were not completed, and had Grafitti on them. Not a soul in sight. The beach itself was pebbly, not sandy. The first thing we did was put down a blanket, take off our shirts, and put down all of our stuff. Instantly after we did that, an unbelievably powerful gust of wind scattered all of our possessions along the barren beach. The wind blew so hard that it kicked up pebbles into the air, and they hurt when they hit our skin.

Nevertheless it was a great time! We secured our things with huge rocks and went swimming in the deep blue green Aegean Sea, feeling the pebbly bottom and Greek seaweed on our feet. At one point we took off our bathing suits and enjoyed the not too cold water in nakedness! Then we slept in the sun and the wind for hours, absorbing.

Onward, out from the rocky road onto the main road, looping around the corner to reveal another small bay with a beach. We stopped to take in the view of the other side of the bay and observed the strange spiky vegetation. More roads with nothing in them. One hill had on top of it a temple - a blocky white building with a round blue roof. Further, still empty roads, until an old guy on a motor scooter passed us. We passed a bunch of goats, standing there in their spots doing nothing, and an old woman in robes riding a donkey. Oh man, we are really on another planet.


Eventually we came to Chora. The whole thing is one huge structure, with white washed houses piled on top of one another. In the middle of barren dry hills. We parked and walked into the maze of stairs and passageways. It felt like we had gone back in time. Walking through walkways which had walls that looked so organic, never perfect angles, sometimes chipped paint. It felt like this town was not manufactured, but rather grown over a long period of time. I bet in Chora, everyone knows everyone else. We were walking past places where people actually lived. An old Greek guy passed us and said something in Greek to us. Sometimes we could see people's laundry drying on lines outside. It was a nice warm sunny day. Up up up, to the top where the temple is. We were all sweating.


At the temple there is an incredible view down to Livaldi and the Aegean Sea. The sky was hazy, and we could see another island faintly in the distance.

We drove down the hill to Livaldi and had dinner at a restaurant on the seaside. found a cool beach at twilight, went there the next morning to see the sunrise and relax all day, took our ferry back to Athens, and slept in the same hostel as before. The next day we saw the Acropolis, and just barely made our flight back to Munich.

(There is more to tell, but never enough time to write it all. I'll update this post some time with more pictures and detail)