Sifnos, the gastronomic Greek island (2) Cheronissos, the journey begins, with lunch at Fish Tavern Fyssas
Sifnos is a gem. In an age of over-tourism, here’s an island that still feels untouched, although I suspect anyone who was here thirty years ago will complain that it has developed too much.
To get here you need to take a ferry. There are various choices, but we opted for the high-speed ferry that gets you here from Piraeus (the main Athens port) in two-and-a-half hours. Both ways we were lucky: calm seas and no winds. Apparently when it is windy the high speed ferry becomes unpleasant, and awash with vomit. Not ideal. And the Aegean is often windy, as was evidenced by the fact that on the third day of our visit all the ferries were cancelled. The slow ferry is more stable, but takes five hours. There’s a cost difference: fast ferry is £120 return for foot passengers, while the slow one is half the price.
The ferry arrives into Kamares. And anyone sensible gets out as soon as possible. It’s not a terrible place; it’s just that there are so many better bits of the island to explore. You need a car, unless you want to spend a good portion of your visit waiting on the infrequent buses to arrive. Driving in Sifnos is fine, even though the roads are winding and sometimes narrow. I rarely got out of second gear. Parking is easy because everywhere has a decent-sized car park, although in high season it could be trickier.
Cheronisoss (also referred to as Heronissos) was a great place to begin the trip. It’s a small village right at the top of the island, based around a stunning secluded bay. We checked into our accommodation and headed straight down for lunch at Fish Tavern Fyssas, one of the two options on the bay. It’s a fish-focused taverna, nothing fancy, but solidly good. Unless you get there early, you just wait for a table to become available, and as with any of the decent places on the island with no booking policy, getting there early is the best option, just after noon, when you get the pick of the tables.
We opted for grilled fish, and picked out two sea bream. At €40 each these were expensive – remember, Greece is no longer the cheap holiday destination it once was – but they were stunning. We made up for the fish splurge by sticking to a carafe of house wine, at €6. A few of the more traditional tavernas will have a by-the-bottle list, but often the selection is predictable and uninteresting. It’s always worth asking though.
After lunch, time to swim. The water is beautiful here, and crisp enough to feel fresh, but certainly not cold. It’s crystal clear and full of fish darting around. We were in for ages. Our for a quick beer, then back in again.
Early evening, we walked to the monastery. It was feeding time for the goats. The sun slowly set as we walked back, and it felt remote and other-worldly. The rocks were alive. Early to bed, after eating a cake we’d been given at Pharaoh, and drinking one of the wines we’d bought at Mr Vertigo.
SIFNOS GASTRO JOURNEY
- 1 INTRODUCTION
- 2 CHERINOSSOS AND FISH TAVERN FYSOSS
- 3 PLATYS GIALOS AND OMEGA 3; KASTRO AND LOGGIA
- 4 KASTRO AND CANTINA, LOGGIA REPRISE
- 5 CHRYSOPIGI TAVERN; FAROS; VAHTI BAY AND MANOLIS
- 6 VAHTI BAY AND TSIKALI; KEREMOS AND PARALIA BEACH BAR AND AGYRIS
- 7 BACK TO CHERINOSSOS; SIFNOS STONEWARE
