Monday 16 September 2013

Day 23 (Monday) the Cyclade Islands (pronounced sick-la-dees)

How much of this can a man (and woman) take???  As per yesterday's blog, we headed off to an organised Greek meal with the whole group last night - lost count of the number of courses that just kept coming out to share but suffice to say we are VERY impressed with Creek cuisine - lots of fruit, vegetable, lamb, fish, yoghurt, garlic, olive oil and the flavours are very strong but beautiful. Slept in this morning!!

The boat had left Kythnos at about 6 and made good time to our next stop which was a change to the itinerary as apparently there is some strong wind possible so we came to the Island of Sifnos instead of the scheduled one (which we now go to tomorrow)

We arrived here about 10 and unloaded the bikes straight away for today's ride - an 18km trip from the port of Kamares to the village of Kastro on the other side of the island - only 9 km across but of course we had to go up about 450m as well!! Generally, though the inclines are fairly steady and you are OK as long as you get into low gears and just keep a steady pace - and DON'T LOOK UP! As is now becoming common place, beautiful churches and houses and villages along the way - photoghaphers' paradise.

Had a break in Kastro for what our guide Katalina claimed was "the best coffee in Greece" and it was pretty good. Very steep climb back out of Kastro but managed it fine without getting off to push. We got back to the boat for a late lunch - bar-b-qued whole fish (sea perch we think) and as one of the group was having a birthday, we scored a fabulous chocolate cake for dessert.

Think it will be a small dinner at a cafe tonight after all we've eaten today and then we stay here overnight and see what the Captain decides for tomorrow. Cheers all.

Trivia: Solved two queries today: Everywhere we go we have been surprised by the number of tiny churches in strange places and with the number of houses and buildings that have a church in the yard. The deal is that if you build a church (able to seat at least 1 person) as part of your project (including private homes) you pay no tax for the rest of your life!!! So 2 problems explained (1) the number of churches and (2) the Greek financial crisis!!

Pictures:
* The road into (and out of) Kastro (you might pick out the cyclists on the road)
* A street-scape in the village - it actually dates back to BC in its current form
* Coffee break at "best cafe in Greece"

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