Windy arrival

 Sunday 19th June Piraeus and Serifos

So I am lying on my sofa in my quirky and small Cycladian house. It’s been an interesting journey to get here and it’s very windy on Serifos island.


So as I walked the familiar route to Pier Nine where the Sea Jet was to leave to for Milos, the Sunday church bells were ringing. It’s only half past seven and the streets are fairly quiet. I did not have breakfast, as I was still full from last night. I brought myself some instant coffee from the UK as it’s super expensive here and I had a couple of cups in the hotel before I set out. The painting on the side of a building near the hotel has changed, here is the latest iteration.


There was no long queue to get on the ferry, and inside as expected it was quite full. I decided to sit outside at the back. It’s wasn’t too hot and there was a gentle breeze. There were a few cars to be loaded on the ferry, and amazingly we left at bang on eight am. There were seagulls swooping over us, looking for scraps of food. One thing I have noticed on these ferries they have a Greek flag flying when in port, it’s taken down as soon as we set off. Also flying is what looks like the Greek Cypriot flag, the back of the ferry does have the word Limassol on it. We crawl past an enormous cruise ship, all glass and chrome. 

Once we have left the port, the ferry opens up its engines and the sea behind us becomes  a boiling mass with diesel smoke mixed in. Where the sun hits the spray generated by the ferry you get a pretty rainbow effect. We are not really in open water yet, still in the shelter of the mainland coast. Once we do, the sea is much more a rolling having  mass and the ferry starts to rock from side to side. Suddenly without warning the ferry sounds it’s horn. It’s not clear why until we see a small fishing boat behind us, the horn was a gentle reminder from the ferry that it was close! We are in open water now and the ferry rocking is getting more noticeable and people are hanging onto rails outside, and we are getting spray from the front of the boat. We pass what I called Windmill island, it does not look inhabited but has many windmills on it. It does not seem to have a proper name which is a pity.



We will pass the islands of Kea and Kithnos, but we won’t be close to then unfortunately. There are a couple of dogs on deck with their owners, on lead. But suddenly a black Labrador appears off lead without its owner being around it seems. The lab goes and says hello to each dog in turn and wanders around the deck until it disappears. We are now close to Serifos and as we pass the island before turning into it’s port, the wind really gets up and the ferry rocks a lot more. Once we turn in, it abates a bit. In no time we are docked and we are getting off. But the sea has one last go at soaking us, as we get off, there is spray coming off the sea, constantly covering the concrete harbour we have to walk over. 

I walk into Livadi and as I can’t see my transfer, I find myself a free Wi-Fi spot which is supplied by one of the local supermarkets, I then do some breakfast shopping., while waiting to hear back. Eventually my transport arrives and I get dropped off the side of the road, a YouTube video link provided to guide my way up the path, to the door of the house. Inside it’s pretty small but perfectly formed.


I get a couple more message from the host, who does not live on the island. Please put the grey hose from the washing machine into the toilet if you want to use the machine! It’s clearly not plumbed in. Up from the bedroom are a pair of small French windows to the roof. Here the port can be seen and the rest of the Hora and several mountains. It’s super windy up here! But on a nice sunny day it will be lovely, my face is very salty from the spray from the sea.



For now, because of the early start, I am a bit tired, so I think I will get my bearings and see what to do about dinner tonight and how far the upper Hora is from here. 



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