Splendid Syros

(March 14) A very early morning subway ride brought us to Piraeus (the port for Athens) where we boarded a large and quite comfortable ferry. Four hours later we arrived at the island of Syros where we disembarked, to spend a couple of days experiencing the sunny and relaxed atmosphere of a Greek Island.

The main town on Syros, Ermoupolis, was the commercial, naval, and cultural centre of Greece in the 19th century. It has declined economically since then, but still has a textile industry and some ship building, as well as being the legal, administrative and service centre of the Cyclades archipelago. Its current population is about 13,000.

Ermoupolis is very beautiful, curving around a natural harbour. As we arrived on the ferry we could see the town rising up the two hills before us, splendid in the bright clear Aegean sunlight. The buildings were painted in whites and pastel yellows and pinks, with the requisite red tile roofs. One of the main hills is topped by a Greek Orthodox church, the other boasts a Catholic church. The main street is paved with marble blocks the size and shape of patio stones, as are the sidewalks and many of the streets and walkways throughout the town. The main street follows the harbour, and is quite lively, lined with shops and outdoor cafes. The rest of the town is a constant delight, with beautiful streets, walkways and outdoor stairways that invite you to leave the harbour and wander uphill to explore. The main square, just two blocks from the harbour, is surprisingly grand, and also paved with marble. The entire north side of the square, a long city block, is occupied by a large three-story neoclassical building with a tile roof that houses the municipal offices and law courts. The opposite side is lined with palm trees and outdoor cafes. Children were playing and adults were walking and socializing whenever we walked through it.

We checked into an inexpensive but comfortable pension with a terrace overlooking the harbour and a small kitchen. After settling in we set off to walk along the harbour. Later on we visited some old friends of Barb's, Seraphim and Soula Kechayoglou, who came to pick us up and drove us to their beautiful house on the other side of the island, about 20 minutes away, in Poseidonia. Their house was quite beautiful and had a marvelous view of a bay dotted with several small islands. We returned to our pension and ate a late supper at a cafe on the west side of the main square that had the best gyros we had in Greece.

The next day Nikos and I went for a long walk past the shipyard at the southern end of the harbour, and around the peninsula that guarded the southern approach to the town. We passed the ruins of a large stone factory building, quite beautiful, which had been constructed during the 18th century by Venetians to make leather goods. Further out along the point was the ruin of a stone prison, also quite beautiful, which we explored. Nearby was the abandoned stone building of the Eastern Telegraph Company (picture), in quite good condition and right by the sea, that would make a splendid bed and breakfast, or even a tea room, should we get the urge to move to a Greek island.

That evening we were taken to a marvellous restaurant by Seraphim and Soula, which specialized in meats simmered in succulent sauces and flavoured with cinnamon. My veal was cooked in a very rich sauce of plums, onions and sundried tomatoes, all washed down with good taverna wine. The dessert was scoops of rich Greek yogurt, which is the consistency of cream cheese, mixed with halvah, a sublime combination.

The next day Barb and I explored the town, up and down the stairs, and discussed moving there, as we do in most of the fabulous places we visit. Later that afternoon it began to rain and as soon as the sun was gone the chilly winds of early spring reminded us reminded us that every silver lining has a cloud. We got back on the ferry to return to Piraeus, and the next phase of our journey.