Visiting the Cyclades: Syros

 

If you measure authenticity by the ratio of residents to tourists, then Syros would be near the top of your list.  As the capital of the Cyclades it has a permanent population of over 20,000.  It flies under tourist radar. We encountered only a few foreign tourists during out stay.  The majority of the population is in Ermoupoli, the port and capital.  So were we.

After reading the strong review in Matt Barrett's excellent blog, https://www.greektravel.com/greekislands/syros/hotels.htm, we decided to stay at Hotel Hermes. 

As you can see, looking out the front door, it is right on the port.  What you cannot see is at the back is a private pebble beach.  With 71 rooms, the hotel is the largest on Syros, and probably in all of the cyclades.  Being a full service hotel it has a 24 hour desk, which served us well as our ferry arrived well after midnight.  The beds are comfortable and the rooms are spacious.  Breakfast is included in the 81 dollar per night rate.

Our room had an ocean view with a large terrace with views of the port and of the raging ocean, as shown by two pictures taken by my wife

Breakfast was revelatory.  Virtually all of the hotel guests were dressed for business, not pleasure.  That is the secret of Syros.  Although tourists are welcome, the restaurants and shops are geared towards Greeks, whether visiting business people, or more importantly. local repeat customers.  For that reason, prices are lower, and quality higher than at tourist meccas like Mykonos.

Although it can be a delight to have a drink, or a bite at the port, many of the best restaurants are in the backstreets.

One of our favorite restaurants was Seminario.  I had the slow cooked lamb, and Roslyn was as ever, tempted by a crab salad.

Syros reached the peak of its wealth in the 19th and early 20th century which is reflected in its neo- classical architecture. The port is a prime example.

The architecture is even better represented by the main square.

The original capital of Syros was Ano Syros, which means upper Syros. and upper it is.

We took a taxi up to the top, from which I took the picture above.  Like the Kastro on Sifnos, this is a steep medieval city, built on a hill for military purposes.  Unfortunately, the steps were a bit steep for me.  For reports on the hotels, restaurants and shops you will have to look elsewhere,

Roslyn explored more than I. 

But neither of us made it up the final steep stairs to St. George, a seventeenth century church.  All I got was a picture of the windmill

Although not famous for its beaches, Syros does not disappoint.  For our anniversary we took a taxi to Kini for some time at the beach followed by dinner at the well regarded, Allou Yialou.  Milos set us up to appreciate the lower transportation costs on the other islands.  The taxi fare was only 10 euros.

We rented sun beds for the day at 5 euros each.

By evening the wind had picked up a bit so we had dinner behind the plastic sheeting.

Roslyn had crab salad, we shared the calamari and I tried the local sausage.  In Greece, by law, french fries are always communal.

Syros is on the beaten path.  The path is just not beaten by tourists.  You should go.

Our next stop was Naxos.  Spoiler alert:  We loved it.