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Published: October 1st 2010
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Sunday 19th September 2010
After leaving Kythnos, we had to motor for about 4 hours to get to Syros as there was no wind. After a walk in Syros, we found a cafe with a good wifi connection so we returned there so Judy could connect to answer queries from her uni students. As it was very pleasant we enjoyed a beer and were joined by Ian and Jen. Judy also had time to download the next lot of assessments which she can mark on the boat.
Dinner was at a another cafe we had found earlier in the day, some of the customers leaning out of the alfresco area to tell us how good it was. We were a little concerned at first at the quality of the food when we found they had a limited menu but this was soon dispelled with some delicious dishes coming out. Octopus Stifado was our choice, a delicious dish of octopus in a casserole dish with tomato sauce and many small onions in it. After seeing the dish several others ordered one too, commenting on the taste.
The walk back to the boat involved dropping in to a couple of
cafes where we had icecreams or coffees. It was quite late when we did finally return, all crashing for much-needed sleep.
Monday 20th September 2010
We all lined up for the bus to Ermopouli (Hermes town), the largest city of the Cyclades, only to find that the timetable had changed due to it being the end of the tourist season. After a 30 min wait it did arrive and it took us on a tour of the island past coastlines indented with picturesque bays and swimming areas bordered by grass roofed umbrellas. We also viewed small towns with their vegetable gardens and some large industrial size hot houses.
Syros is both bigger and greener than Kythnos, with a population of over 20000. It's the eleventh biggest island of the Cyclades.
The centre of the town was spectacular, set on a long curving quay from the port with a large cruising ship tied up, along a strip of travel agencies and then becoming a "cappuccino strip". There is a huge natural harbour here with the city built like an amphitheatre around the harbour and crowned by twin mountain peaks.
We tried an ATM along here but
it wouldn't accept our request, luckily one a little further up did. We somehow lost Ian and Jen along here, meeting up with the others and having a coffee whilst keeping an eye open for them. we smsd them only to find out later they hadn't taken their phone!
Lyn wanted to see the fortified medieval quarter of Ano Syros which was perched on the highest hill above the port so we began climbing the stairs up and instead reached the Greek Orthodox church perched on the top of the smaller peak. We were not enthralled with the fact that from here we needed to descend to a valley and once again climb steps to the charming ancient town of Ano Syros. This was very hot work and Judy struggled to keep up with the fitter group so was very pleased when we finally reached the Saint George Cathedral which was interesting enough but no ruins were found nearby.
A small tavern halfway down was our next destination, this establishment on the point of closing as the tourist season was over. We had a competition on guessing how many steps there were down to take our minds off
the effort, Rags' guess of 634 being the closest. If we had returned the same way as we went the number would most certainly have been double that as that route back-tracked more.
After a swim in the bay, dinner was had at a cafe overlooking the harbour, and as they had wifi two of the group were able to make contact home.
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