Serifos – Exploring Livadakia and the Chora
We started the day with an amazing breakfast. The lady that picked us up from the port introduces herself to us as Matoula. When we came down she was already preparing our breakfast in the small kitchen off the courtyard. She brought us a generous spread of boiled eggs, bread with jam and honey, cheese, ham, cheese pastries and halva with sultanas and sprinkled with cinnamon. An amazing feast to start the day! This truly makes up for the smelly bathroom and mosquitoes!
As always I’m always naturally drawn to the water so we go to explore the beach which is short walk from the Serifos Palace. We pass houses with poppy filled gardens and poppies have even managed to grow in the sand on the beach. Livadakia beach is delightful – completely deserted at the moment. A small curved beach lined with tamarisk trees.
After a stroll along the beach we head up over the hill (or rather a brough) towards the port. We are pleased to see a bus service running which means we can see more of the island. Up above the port, the white houses and churches of the Chora gleam in the sunshine.
I had read that it is about an hours walk to the chora from the port. It’s hard to gauge looking up at it from below, but for our first trip we decide to catch the bus.
The bus stops on the outside of the village and as you walk through an alleyway you find yourself in a small square. To the left there is a row of windmills and to the right, an alleyway leads you further into the village.
We arrive at another pretty square where the town hall and Church of St Athanasios is located. In the guide book that I had read about Serifos, it described the Chora of Serifos as one of the prettiest in the Cyclades. It is attractive for sure, but in a less ’boutique’ way than Chora’s such as the neighbouring island of Folegandros. This is an absolute blessing.
It is very windy today. The man from the port café on Kythnos was right – the wind is definitely picking up! Vertigo (of maybe it’s acrophobia) get’s the better of me on most occasions and the howling gale isn’t encouraging me to walk up to the Kastro . I’m not sure I could have made it anyway with the sheer drops on either side. Peter is always up for climbing a high peak so off he goes whilst I walk around the streets surrounding the main square which is just full of endless pleasure!
After about an hour or so I bump into Peter in the main square and we go to Kafeneio Tou Stratou for a cup of tea where he tells me about the walk up to the Kastro. He tells me that the walk isn’t difficult (unless you have vertigo) and the views are just magnificent. Even on my walk you catch sight of the Kastro from various different vantage points.
Before we head back to the port on foot, the lady from the Kafenion tells me that it is possible to visit inside the Town Hall. As I work in a town hall myself I am curious to see inside so make a mental note to add this to the itinerary for our next visit to Chora.
The walk back down to the port is 2km – the bus is 4.5km. The path is very good and it’s a really enjoyable walk.
Before we go back to the Serifos Palace we take another walk along the beach. We pass a Alexandros – Vassilia rooms and apartments which also has a little taverna right on the beach. There isn’t anyone in the taverna but we go in and ask if it will be open later. Vassilia is a lovely welcoming lady and told us it would be open though at this time of year it isn’t a full menu. What they have available is Greek salad, tzaziki, local sausage and pork chops. Perfect – we’ll be back later!
The wind is really picking up. We take the opportunity to wash clothes and get them out on the line. I hope it will all be there when we get back.
We make the short walk to Alexandros and Vassillia along the beach and the simple meal doesn’t disappoint. The hospitality is wonderful and good basic Greek food can’t be beaten especially when washed down with the local wine.
We are joined by a very sad looking local dog. We had seen her on the beach earlier. She has a tick on her skin and an infection in her eye – she looks in a bit of a state but she enjoys some leftover pork chop.
The wind has picked up even more this evening. I wish we’d brought the washing in!
