Traveling Classroom Foundation
Monday March 27th 2023

Queen of the Cyclades

As reported in the last message, we got off the ferry on the wrong island, so we decided to make the best of it.

Syros is a rather small island, but its capitol, Ermopouli (which means “City of Hermes”), is a beautiful neoclassical city. We have visited here before, so it’s not difficult to find a pleasant room near the market street. After stowing or luggage, we set off to explore.

The first thing we do is walk to the harbor and check on schedules for outgoing ferries to Tinos – our original destination. We purchase the tickets, and then focus our attention on our current situation.

Having climbed the two high hills of the city, we decide to stay on flat ground for a while and explore the wonderful buildings of the city. We also visit the small archeological museum, which was interesting more for its history of archaeology and archaeologists on Syros than for its meager collection of antiquities. Most of the “good stuff” discovered in Greece is transferred to the national museum in Athens, leaving the local museums with leftovers and copies.

We stop for an iced coffee frappe at a cafe in an alley off the quay. While we sat there, a familiar couple walks past on the street … it was Jeff and Elizabeth Carson, our friends from Paros island. We invite them to join us, and they explain they were returning from a writing project on the islands of Chios and Lesvos. After nearly 13 hours on a ferry, they landed on Syros and were now ready to catch the first high-speed ferry home. We part with a promise to meet again when we arrive on Paros.

Related Tags:

Leave a Comment

More from category

Creativity and the Stone House
Creativity and the Stone House

What is creativity? It is the act of turning a unique idea into something we can see, hear, smell, touch, or taste. We [Read More]

El Greco: Old Becomes New
El Greco: Old Becomes New

Driving west of Iraklion on the E75 highway, we turned southward toward Fodele (pronounced Foe-deh-lay). The road runs [Read More]

Under the Sea
Under the Sea

After British friends give us a tour of the renovation project at their Latsida home, they suggest a visit to Elounda [Read More]

The Great Castle
The Great Castle

We have not visited Iraklio for a long while, so we decide to go today. Because it is hot and city parking is awful, we [Read More]

Gates of the City
Gates of the City

An electric tram carries us from the Faliro waterfront to Syntagma Square in about forty minutes. It is a short walk [Read More]

Aqueduct
Aqueduct

Returning from a visit to Knossos and some of the valley towns to the south, we see the remains of an aqueduct not far [Read More]

Passage to Paros
Passage to Paros

Departing for Paros, our ferry moves away from the quay and motors slowly across the caldera of the Theran volcano. [Read More]

Insider

Archives