Sifnos day 3 (09/11/2009)

In the morning we went out to buy some pottery souvenirs for friends and family (Sifnos is known for its pottery) -- we experienced one of the only true language barriers during our entire trip at the pottery shop, where the proprietors didn't speak any English and we had naturally left our phrasebook back in our apartment. However, we managed to buy what we wanted (ah, the universal language of money).

After lunch at a taverna on the beach in Platys Gialos, we decided to visit a church at the top of a nearby hill. The owner of the place we were staying recommended visiting there, not so much for the church itself but for the view we would have of the surrounding area. She recommended taking a bus to a stop nearby and then walking a kilometer to the church, but we decided to walk the entire way, since there seemed to be a path that led to the church from the main road in Platys Gialos. Well, it was a bit of an adventure as the path was either not clearly marked or no longer fully in existence. After some wrong turns, we got onto a different path that ended up bypassing the church but was still very beautiful. The entire valley was redolent of wild oregano and thyme. We eventually got to the church by way of the main road (here's a panoramic view of the area from the church), and then got lost again trying to get back down the hill to Platys Gialos. Eventually we made it back just as it started to rain.

We had been planning to take a swim in the ocean afterwards, but the rain turned into a thunderstorm and we decided to stay in and take a nap instead. The thunder, lightning, and torrential rain continued into the evening -- very unusual for the Greek islands at this time of year. We had planned to go into Apollonia for our last night but the weather was so bad (and we misread the bus schedule) that we decided to stay in Platys Gialos instead. We ate dinner at a local fish restaurant where I got to go into the kitchen and pick out what fish I wanted to be cooked for me -- it was expensive but a good meal. There were some ridiculously cute kittens at the restaurant putting on quite a show of begging.



Click here to see more photos from Sifnos, day 3!