Our choice of the Cyclades, then a quick stop in Athens (March 2025).

fionasavard
Apr 4
12 min read

We flew to Athens, boarded the bus to Rifana Port and took the ferry to Andros Island, a 2 hour journey. Andros Island is part of the Cyclades. A group of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece, comprising of about 220 islands. We have chosen 5 islands to visit dictated by the ferry schedules, which are limited because we are in low season.

Our ferry from Rafina Port, Greece to Andros Island.

Andros is the northern most island of the Cyclades with a population of 8,500 folks. The island is 40km long, and its greatest breadth is 16km. It is for the most part mountainous, with many fruitful and well-watered valleys; thus called the green island as it has the highest level of rainfall. We caught the bus from the port through the mountains to Andros town on the south west coast of the island.

#1 The resident hound at our accommodations. His name was Max and his little tail never stopped wagging. #2 It was wash day and we also enjoyed a lunch of bread, cheese, salami and wine - yummy! #3 The main drag of Andros town.

At the very tip of the peninsula is an island connected to the mainland by the flying stone "kamara" or arch, on which the ruins of a Venetian castle sits.

#1 The beach on the south side of town. #2 The rocks look like they have seafoam on them but it is granite. #3 The arch to the small island at the far end of town.

Greece has always had a major problem with cats...they are everywhere. The one in the middle of the road above washed his entire body there in the middle of the road with all the cars and trucks going around him - unbelievable! Most of them look unkempt and scavenge from the garbage containers. You have to watch for cat poop as you walk the street because they just poop on the street because there is very little dirt in the towns.

Mykonos, our next stop, is approximately 10km long and 15km wide with ~12,000 residents. The island is composed mostly of granite and the terrain is very rocky with many areas eroded by the strong winds, thus the name "the windy island". It's main industry is tourism - google reports that the tourist industry on the island netted 99.3 million euro in August 2023 (unbelievable!), think of what is netted for the high season yearly. Other industries are fishing and agriculture. The island produces 4,500 cubic metres (160,000 cu ft) of water daily, by reverse osmosis of sea water in order to help meet the needs of its population and visitors. We have been warned not to drink the water from the tap, so it is all bottled water for us. It is known as the party island, with many beautiful beaches.

Old port of Mykonos, with the main center in the background.

We stood and watched how this truck maneuvered its way out. What I missed getting a picture of was all the men lifting the little silver car on the right of the truck over closer to the black car. He ended up with 1-2 inches between both cars...crazy!

We were sitting on a little ledge (it is visible in both left and right picture) and this truck passed right in front of us, we could have touched it as it went by. Also note the difference between the road in the 3 pictures above to the ones where we are sitting. Both roads are the same except in the town center they paint with white lime to give the effect of large cobblestones.

The houses have a cubic scheme, with wooden windows, and doors, painted most often in white lime with blue accents.

So why white lime and blue, was it inspired by the beautiful Greek flag, makes a great story but not the correct one. The colors arose for practical reasons; the stone available to build with on these islands was a dark, earthy color that attracted the sun and made life in the houses unbearable due to the high temperature. So to cool these homes, the Greeks painted the stone white, and after such a method proved successful, it eventually became part of the tradition. In the middle of the 20th century, cholera broke out and the Greek authorities demanded that houses be painted with lime, which also serves as a disinfectant, thus the white lime painted houses of today. The blue accents was paint left over from painting their boats and ships. Blue was the most available color due to its composition; made from a mixture of limestone and the cleaning agent “loulaki”, which was readily available to most people at home. Today, we also see bright yellow and red adorning doors and banisters.

There are 16 windmills on Mykonos, they are an iconic feature of the Greek island. Most of them were built by the Venetians in the 16th century, and were primarily used for grinding agricultural products. Dale & I were puzzled at how they collected wind but we were told each blade had a small cloth/canvas sail attached to it that collected the wind and turned the windmill.

Most of the cats are strays, scavenging from the garbage but some are pets and well cared for. We seen owners walking their dog on a leash with their cat also in tow...of course, no leash for the feline variety! It was so cute.

The fresh oranges taste delicious but there is very little fresh orange juice...this is a big change from when I backpacked Greece in my single life...fresh OJ was everywhere. One of Mykonos's traditional foods is leek pie, it is very delicious as Dale's smile is indicating.

The cemetery in Mykonos town was interesting for two reasons: each tomb was decorated with real and artificial flowers, potted plants and evergreens. Most of the tomb plagues where recently dated 2018-2024.

We met a nice couple, Marcy & Craig, who we spent some time with in Mykonos.

We are having a cold snap with lots of wind, so the smaller ferries are not running. We arrived at the port and were informed that we have been rerouted using the bigger ferries. So we waited an extra 3 hours in Mykonos, then boarded the ferry to Syros, sailing for 2 hours, arrived Syros, where we waited for 8 hours, then boarded another ferry for 1 hour, disembarking at Paros. (An original 1.5 hour ferry ride turned into a 15 hour journey!) Anyway, we walked around Ermoupoli, Syros, capital of the Cyclades. Then we rented a room so we could sleep until the ferry arrived at midnight!

On many of these Greek islands, the infrastructure sits almost on top of the sea. This works because the tide difference is usually less than 2 feet. The Mediterranean sea is connected with the Atlantic ocean through the narrow strait of Gibraltar, a few miles in width. This narrow connection limits the influence of tidal forces from the Atlantic on the Mediterranean Sea. There are many seas within the Mediterranean Sea...these are the ones we have seen: Tyrrhenian Sea between Sardinia and mainland Italy, Ionian Sea between Italy and Sicily, Aegean Sea around the Greek islands and the Adriatic Sea between Italy and Croatia. All these bodies of water have been the most beautiful blues and greens hues. The Aegean sea has been so clean and clear around all the islands we have visited, it is amazing.

Paros - this island is a round shape, with a few mountains of which the highest is 724 m (2,375 ft). The island is 21km/13mi in length by a width of 16km/10mi with a population of ~14,500 residents. The islands main industries are agriculture and tourism.

This is the south west side of Paros looking across to the island of Antiparos.

#1 A large orthodox church dominates the setting of the small hill-town of Lefkes. #2 Some cats chewing on the greenery in Lefkes' center square. #3 All homes are build in the cube scheme but the size indicates wealth...there are a lot of large homes scattered around these islands.

This is the north east side of Paros, with the island of Naxos in the background.

Santorini

Santorini is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. The island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history, leaving a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep. There are three islands forming the caldera ring, Santorini, Thirasia, & Aspronisi (uninhabited). Although the massive volcano of Santorini has been dormant since its last eruption in the 1950s, it is still considered active. The craters of the volcano are located on two small islands made entirely of black lava in the center of the caldera. They are known as Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni.

Fira, the capital of Santorini, is perched on the top edge of the Caldera, 260m above sea level. It offers breathtaking views to the Aegean Sea (BTW, this picture is of a painting but depicts the beauty of Santorini villages)

We visited many interesting beaches, #1 Vlychada beach with black sand and unique white cliffs. #2 Perissa black sand beach. #3 Red beach.

We walked the trail from Fira to Oia, a little scary in places as I felt the cliff was too close but Dale loved it, as he has no fear of heights. The village in the background is called Imerovigil.

The bell tower of John the Baptist church is backdropped against the iconic blue domes & three bells of the Orthodox church.

We visited the largest winery on Santorini. The vineyards of Santorini are reputed to have some of the oldest grapevines on earth. The climate of Santorini is dry and windy, so the vines are grown close to the earth, pruning them into a wreath shape and sometimes a basket, this is called "Kouloura." The grapes are encouraged to grow inside the wreath or basket for protection against the wind. There is no risk of fungus or bacteria affecting these grapes laying on the ground as the volcanic soil doesn't contain the right elements for any bugs to survive. They cannot water the vineyards but the grapes get all the moisture needed from the Santorini fog. We seen this each evening and morning on Santorini. A fog rises from the sea on the north side of the island and moves across the island where it stays in the valley as the cliffs prevent it moving further. All the grapes on Santorini are picked by hand and all the fields are ploughed by donkeys and mules. The main grape of Santorini is white and called "Assyrtiko." Due to the small amounts of wine produced, many of the wines are expensive and rare.

Oia visible on the northern end of Santorini island, our destination on our walk.

The path from Fira to Oia. There are many catholic orthodox churches dotting the landscape of Santorini - traditionally these churches had a blue dome, three bells and a view.

Walking into Oia, it is a very pretty village, I definitely preferred it over Fira.

Donkeys and mules have a long history in Santorini. They were used to pack people and supplies from the volcanic isle's port to its main settlement 400 metres above sea level. In recent years there has been a lot of campaigning to stop the use of these donkeys as they where found to have spinal injuries, saddle sores and exhaustion from taking overweight tourists up the 600 steps that zigzag the cliff from the port to Fira. The animals above where just outside our room; they were bringing construction garbage from a building site to the truck that hauled the garbage away.

The cats continue to abound, most of them are scraggly and unkempt but anything that looked the least bit healthy, we gave them lots of attention.

We visited two little hilltop villages, Megalochori and Pyrgos. It was fun to meander around their little winding streets and alleys.

The lighthouse on the southern end of Santorini.

#1 We rented an ATV to explore Santorini. #2 It was very fun as we could take the road less traveled. #3 We came upon this photoshoot...it is a very popular thing to do in Santorini. They rent these flowing gowns and pose by the cliff with the train of the gown flowing out behind them.

(The story below talks about the same ferry above but these picture where taken on a calm day - our ride from Milos to Athens.)

We caught the bus down to the port to catch our ferry to Milos. We thought we would be rerouted on the large car ferry as the sea was so rough from the high winds. To our surprise we were informed that our ferry would be running. Our ferry, a twin hauled catamaran arrived at the port and it was crazy to watch them trying to get this vessel tied down without damaging it. It was rocking back and forth and sideways. They brought the gang plank down and it was moving all over the place. Anyway, they managed to get everyone off and us loaded. Off we go, this vessel lifts up at the front end and flies through the water at 40-50 knots. Once we cleared the caldera, the sea was rough and we were nauseated the entire 2 hours to our destination. Dale was puking, me laying down, wishing I could puke (I don't remember ever puking in my entire life). It was awful and we were so glad to see the shore line of Milos! Poor Dale's head was spinning when we got off, we headed straight to out hotel and hit the bed.

Milos

Milos is the 5th largest and the southwestern-most island of the Cyclades. East to west it measures 23km/14mi and from north to south 13km/8mi. Milos is in the shape of a horseshoe and literally rose out of the water due to undersea volcanic eruptions. There are two extinct volcanoes in Milos. Population of ~6000 permanent residents.

We stayed in the port village of Adamantas.

Another view of Adamantas from across the Bay of Adamas.

We walked to Sarskiniko, the renowned lunar beach of Milos, it owes its moonscape shape to waves and winds that have corroded the volcanic rock over time.

We rented a car and visited some of the island.

The western side of the horseshoe is way less populated and more mountainous.

#1 The mountain sides are full of rocks on the western side. #2 The winding mountain road. #3 The rock is very colorful with white, brown, yellow, pink and red.

An old Sulphur mine that is no longer in production.

There are still many mines operating on the east side of Milos. The main minerals that are mined today and exported are bentonite, perlite, pozzolan, siliceous stones, kaolin & small quantities of baryte.

Lots of goats and sheep on Milos. The milk is mostly used for making cheese.

The two ends of the horseshoe (shape of the island) and the mouth of the bay.

The bay of Adamas. Plaka, the capital of Milos is visible on the hillside in the background.

One of the church cats lying on her bed of turf.

There were lots of cats at this church on the mountainside...they had a little shelter, water bowl and looked reasonably healthy. We have noticed that many of the residents feed the cats on the islands. The cats wander through the restaurants asking for handouts which most of the time they get. No-one shoos them away!

Wow, are we ever glad to be in Athens, two of the Greek Islands we visited received torrential rainfall and subsequent flooding...it was crazy. In Paros, eighty cars ended up in the sea!

We spent a day walking around the touristy parts of Athens revisiting some sites.

The other side of the Acropolis with the Roman Forum of Athens in the foreground.

The tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Parliament Building which had previously been the home of the Greek Royal Family.

We spent another day visiting the Meteora monasteries – one of the most amazing places in Greece.

We traveled to the town of Kalabaka, where these impressive rocks of Meteora are rising from the plains of Thessaly. Many centuries ago, on these gigantic rocks, reaching heights of more than 600 meters, was formed one of the most important monastic communities of Greece. The Greek word Meteora means “suspended in the air” and this phrase aptly describes these remarkable Greek Orthodox monasteries. Built in the 16th century, these byzantine monasteries housed priceless artifacts and wall paintings. Of the original 24 monasteries, only 6 remain active, with a small number of monks or nuns residing on Meteora. In 1988, the Meteora monasteries were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Monastery of the Holy Trinity - the hardest to access.

Monastery of St. Stephen (Nuns) - a bridge has been added for easy access for tourists.

Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas - we climbed ~600 stairs to visit this monastery.

The interior of any Orthodox monastery is ornately busy!

#1 The only way up to these monasteries in the 16th century was by a net attached to a rope that was winched up by the monks. #2 modern day winch. #3 Flying fox cables.

#1 Dale with one-eyed Pete. #2 Dale was playing cat meows for this pretty feline. #3 My name is "Holy Whiskers," the monastery cat.

Goodbye Greece.