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Arguably Greece’s most iconic island group, the Cyclades got their name because, if you squint, the 30-odd main islands form a circle, or kyklos, around the sacred island of Delos, birthplace of the twin gods Artemis and Apollo. In the southwestern curve of that circle sit Milos, Sifnos and Serifos, three Aegean islands that share a stark, wild beauty owing in part to the minerals that made them mining hubs well into the last century. (Mining continues on Milos, where it vies with tourism as one of the island’s main industries.)
All three also offer a number of excellent beaches, hiking paths, seafront tavernas and whitewashed hilltop villages dating to medieval times. But each island has its own flavor. Sifnos tends to attract food-focused visitors, who are drawn by the island’s culinary traditions and history. The birthplace of Nikos Tselementes, who wrote the first commercial Greek cookbooks in the early 20th century, Sifnos is home to Omega 3, the renowned seafood-focused restaurant founded by the chef Giorgos Samoilis, who has a Ph.D. in molecular biology. Serifos is beloved by hikers and bikers, while Milos, the largest of the three (with 5,000 year-round inhabitants), draws those who crave a livelier scene and are eager to pose on the moonscape of Sarakiniko beach.
Only Milos has an airport (the flight from Athens is just 40 minutes), but each island is accessible from Athens, and from the others, by high-speed Seajet and other ferries. (The Seajet trip from Milos to Serifos takes a little over an hour; to Sifnos from Milos it’s a little over half an hour; and between Sifnos and Serifos about 20 minutes.)
Whichever you visit, it’s vital that you hop on a boat to take in the islands’ dramatic coastlines, and swim off the uninhabited islet of Polyaigos. “There are a lot of interesting rocks, so it’s like sailing through a sculptural park,” says Natassa Kalogeropoulou, a ceramist living and working on Serifos. “And you’ll swim in the best waters you’ve seen in your life.” Here, Kalogeropoulou and three other locals and longtime visitors share their favorite spots on the three islands.
The Insiders
Giorgos Atsonios, born and raised on Sifnos, moved back to his home island after studying and working in Athens. He runs Café Mosaico, a meze restaurant in the hillside village of Artemonas.
Natassa Kalogeropoulou, a ceramist, runs Kerameio, a ceramics studio, gallery and workshop on the island of Serifos.
Lito Karakostanoglou, the Athens-based jewelry designer behind Lito Fine Jewelry, has been visiting the southwestern Cyclades for 15 years.
Alexandra Kehayoglou, the Greek-Argentine textile artist, first came to Milos in 2015. She and her husband, the artist José Huidobro, will be showing “Waiting for Venus,” a new series of works, at Tria Pigadia beach on Milos in September.
Illustrations by Richard Pedaline
Sleep
“The villas at Skinopi Lodge, near the site of an ancient obsidian mine overlooking the bay of Milos, are amazing. The owner, Nausika Georgiadou, has a deep love for the nature of Milos. And we saw our first dolphin on the island off the coast here, so it’s a special place for us.” (Rooms from about $500 a night)
“There’s a new hotel called Volcano Luxury Suites, next to Palaiochori beach on Milos. The same family has a restaurant called Sirocco where they cook the food in the volcanic sand. All the generations work there. You can see the papou, the grandpa, who is the owner, going into the ocean with a little boat.” (Rooms from about $220 a night) — Alexandra Kehayoglou
“Rizes hotel has a fantastic view of Chora, Serifos’s capital, where the houses were built [on a hill] to form a big wall to protect the people from the pirates who used to ransack the islands.” (Rooms from about $160 a night)
“The minimalist, modern architecture of the Homa villas, above Vagia, one of the nicest beaches on Serifos, is also very impressive.” (Rooms from about $670 a night) And on that same beach is the Coco-Mat hotel, occupying the site of an old mining camp, which tries to be very eco-friendly and close to nature.” (Rooms from about $360 a night) — Natassa Kalogeropoulou
“Verina is a small company that owns three hotels on Sifnos; all of them are good. One of them, Verina Astra, is on a hill on the way to Poulati, which is one of the best places to swim, below the Panagia Poulati monastery. It’s only rocks — there’s nothing else there. You have to go when the sea is calm; if the wind is strong from the north it can be dangerous. But the spot is really nice.” (Rooms from about $220 a night) — Giorgos Atsonios
Eat and Drink
“On Milos, Medusa is above the bay in Mandrakia, and you can see the beginning of Sarakiniko beach and all these white rocks. They have a small menu but everything is amazing. Some of the food is cooked by the owner’s mother. I especially like the marinated anchovies.
“Embourios is a local restaurant a half-hour drive from Milos’s main port, Adamas, so they give you what they have. Sometimes it’s goat, produce from their own vegetable garden or, if they go fishing, some barbounia, small red mullet. Whatever they have, they put on the menu. And you can see the whole [northern] coast of Milos.” — A.K.
“On the northern side of Serifos is Sykamia beach, with To Akrogiali tou Vitou, also known as Anna’s Taverna. It’s right on the shore, where two hiking paths meet, and most of the vegetables are grown in the garden beside it. There are some great, hidden swimming spots nearby at Skala beach.” — Lito Karakostanoglou
“Serifos has a nice Thai restaurant, Blue Bamboo, in a dry riverbed in Livadi. You can hear the bamboo rustling in the breeze, and the barman makes great cocktails. In Serifos’s Chora, I like Marathoriza. The woman who cooks is from Serifos and knows the traditional cuisine — fennel pie served with honey; fried potatoes; lamb with sage; and chickpeas in a clay pot, which is one of the most famous local dishes.
“Another nice place in Chora, right on the square, is Seriani Restobar; I get the risotto with shrimp and mussels or the rooster with noodles. And there’s a great cocktail bar, Thidira Tap Bar. My favorite drink there is the London Mule: gin, lime and ginger beer.” — N.K.
“On Seralia bay, under Kastro village on Sifnos, Cantina is a must for local cuisine paired with wines from the wider Balkans. They have a five-year-long insistence on a minimal waste culture. I also love its sister restaurant, Pelicanos, on Faros beach, for all-day cocktails, oysters, lunch and dinner. [The chef Giorgos Samoilis, formerly of Omega 3, now oversees the kitchen at both Cantina and Pelicanos.]
“Manolis Taverna on Sifnos’s Vathi Beach serves perfectly cooked local dishes on the beachfront with a variety of wines carefully selected by its sommelier. On Sundays I never miss the traditional chickpea soup (revithada) baked overnight in a wood-fired oven.” — L.K.
“Iliovasilema, or Sunset, is a family-owned restaurant in Troulaki, Sifnos, that uses produce from its own farm. My favorite dish is almyro kataifi, a savory shredded-wheat pastry with cheese and pastourma, a cured meat.
“Kitrino Podilato, or Yellow Bicycle, is a local place for pastry in Artemonas. It has a charming terrace to spend the afternoon on — the Greek afternoon, after 6 p.m. My favorite dessert is the crème brûlée, but there’s also a nice profiterole.” — G.A.
Shop
“In Chora on Serifos, I like Fleva. They have leather bags [by the designer Eleanna Katsira] that are stylish and very well made.“In the main port of Livadi on Serifos there’s a lovely jewelry shop, Fe, named for the chemical symbol for iron. In the port, the shopping area isn’t that big but it’s very interesting because all the shop owners spend the winter trying to find special things, with good fabrics or made by Greek artists.” — N.K.
“You can find a shop with pottery in almost any village on Sifnos. Apostolidis Ceramics, on the way from the port [Kamares] to Apollonia, has also started giving tours and will let you try to throw pots yourself.” — G.A.
Take Home
“In the main port of Adamas, I always buy evil-eye amulets and items made out of obsidian, a magical black stone that keeps dark energies away; Milos was mined for obsidian in ancient times.” — A.K.
“Lembesis Ceramics on Sifnos creates works of art. They still reproduce folkloric designs by the late grandmother of the family on plates, cups and salad bowls that you’ll definitely want to take home.” — L.K.
“There’s a winery on Serifos, Chrysoloras, that has excellent wines. Visit during sunset. The owner serves the wine they produce with snacks from the island — sometimes local cheeses, olives, or tomatoes.” — N.K.
“Theodorou in Artemonas, on Sifnos, has probably been baking for a hundred years. They make pasteli, a honey cookie with sesame you can dip in your coffee, and amygdalota, the sweet almond cookies the island is known for. I use some handmade pieces from Sifnos Stoneware in my kitchen at the cafe; I like the designs and they’re very, very durable. They’re made of stoneware, which is fired at a higher temperature than other ceramics, so it’s very strong” — G.A.
Explore
“The Ancient Theater of Milos, overlooking the sea, is a powerful place to stand and imagine the past. It’s very close to where they found the Venus de Milo, Aphrodite. From there, you can hike down to Klima, with all the white boathouses with their colorful doors, carved out of the rocks. Astakas Cafe, on the shore, is also very nice.” — A.K.
“Firiplaka is one of Milos’s most beautiful beaches. But there are so many. Milos is actually divided into two sides. The east side is where everything happens, and the west side is protected. No one is allowed to develop it; there’s quite a lot of mining but no hotels. The roads are dirt roads, but you can go with a Jeep or four-wheel-drive vehicle and reach stunning Triades beach, all the way to the west.
“Also take a boat trip. On Milos, you can go to Kleftiko and see the sea caves that were pirates’ hiding places or sail all the way to the uninhabited island of Polyaigos. Or you can take the little ferry to the island of Kimolos.” — A.K.
“There are a lot of hiking paths on Serifos. The easiest hike is to start in Chora and follow the steps that lead to Livadi. But I recommend the path from the village of Kallitsos toward Chora because the view is fantastic. Do it early in the morning to see the sunrise. An easy but inspiring walk starts in the coastal village of Megalo Livadi and leads to the beach. But when you’re hiking, never enter any hole in the mountain: These are from the old mines, and they’re dangerous, there are falling rocks. You can stand outside, but don’t enter the mines.” — N.K.
“Every summer I take an [eight-hour day] cruise to Polyaigos between Sifnos and Milos, where the color of the water is unbelievable. Aegeas, an old fishing boat turned into a cruise ship, takes you there, and while you’re swimming, the crew prepares food for you.
“My favorite places to swim on Sifnos are Poulati and Fassolou or Glyfo in the village of Faros. But if you want to spend more time, Cheronissos, on the north part of the island, is a small fishing village with two restaurants on the beach, Ammoudia and Cheronissos. Both have good seafood and typical Greek fare. If you’re with your family, the kids can play on the little beach while you’re at the restaurant.
“I bike a lot. There are bike paths on the island, and there’s a company called Sifnos Bike Experience that rents electric bikes and also does guided tours.” — G.A.
“Don’t miss the hiking trail from Apollonia to Panagia Toso Nero, with a panoramic view and a variety of cultural sites. It also passes small creeks, olive groves and terraced slopes, old fields and abandoned huts. And try to take part in a traditional fete, called a panigiri here. The one for Prophet Elias takes place in July. It begins with an evening mass and is followed by a seated dinner, music and dancing. Dinner is prepared by locals.” — L.K.
Practical Matters
“The best time to come to Milos is spring, when the fields blossom with flowers and it’s magical. That’s my favorite time to go and capture it because I know it fades quickly and then the heat comes.” [Kehayoglou’s textile “Meadow,” now on exhibit in Sweden, is inspired by spring in Milos.] — A.K.
“Obviously, I’d suggest avoiding August. There are too many people and traffic jams. Spring and autumn are the best seasons to come — less crowded than summer and less windy.” — N.K.
“Every year, 40 days after Easter, Sifnos has the festival of the name day of Panagia Chrysopigi, Our Lady of the Golden Spring, the protector of the island. A boat comes from Athens, stops at the port of Kamares to pick up the icon that belongs to the monastery of Chrysopigi and delivers it to the church there, which is the symbol of the island. It’s a big ceremony for the island.” — G.A.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
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