It is actually June 12 as I write this, but let’s talk about what we did last week.

I was a little tired after the previous week so I was ready for a bit of down time. The wind decided to provide us with some down time whether we wanted it or not! 🙂 We had planned to go to Milos, spend a day there, then come back “north” to visit a few islands before we went to Athens. That plan fell apart because it looked like we wouldn’t get back “up north” in time due to the N/NW winds. (When I say “in time,” I am referring to our deadline for getting to Lefkas to catch a flight to the US later this month.)

So, we skipped Milos. I regret that, but it is what it is. We’ve skipped other islands we’d hoped to visit due to the broken leg and the weather, and we’ve learned to accept the changes.

We went to Sifnos instead. Sifnos is one of the less touristy islands (you might have noticed that we tend to pick those types of islands) and it feels quite laid back. We rented a car and drove around a bit, had a nice meal with four cats, bought some honey, and enjoyed the slow pace.

I should mention that all four cats were ideal lunch guests and didn’t really beg. That could be because we pretty much ignored them . . .

Our next stop on the revised (Plan H?) itinerary was Serifos. We anchored out for the first time in a long time because Michael’s leg had healed enough to allow him to enter and exit the dinghy with little pain.

This big guy screamed past us on the way to Serifos. Look at how churned up the water behind the boat is!

We had already decided that we wouldn’t rent a car in Serifos. It was weirdly expensive and there wasn’t much to see. But we did need diesel. This harbor doesn’t have a fuel dock, but a mini-tanker will come upon request. We didn’t realize that we would need to come to the dock to refuel. We erroneously thought the tanker would come to Seahike. (The “pump out” boat came to us to pump out the heads when we were in Türkiye, so we just assumed it would be a similar deal. It wasn’t.)

It turned out to be very windy the entire time we were in Serifos. When we went to the dock to get the diesel, the wind really wanted to push us away from the dock and we really wanted/needed to go towards the dock. The mini-tanker guys helped us. We were grateful to them because I am not sure we could have done it by ourselves. In fact, I should note that during the couple of days we were in Serifos, we saw several boats struggle to get their lines on the dock. Some took several tries and others gave up and went to anchor.

Anyway, since we were now securely tied to the dock, we decided to stay there. We met several friendly folks at the dock. One couple mentioned that there was a path to the top of the nearby hill and said that the view from the top was quite spectacular. So, that went on my To Do list. But first, we needed another puzzle. We had a couple of days worth of “rest” in Serifos, so working on a puzzle seemed the logical thing to do.

While I was in the store, I bought this other toy as well. I figure we can try to play it (you just hit the ball back and forth to each other) when Michael’s leg is completely healed.

The little village is quite nice. Here are a few pictures. We also bought a small bottle of Ouzo. I think we need to buy another bottle. Hey, it was only 200 ml. Don’t judge. 😉 😉

Okay, time to hike! I didn’t really know where I was going so I just headed in the general direction. There wasn’t a road heading right to the hill, but I could see from the map that a certain road would take a right turn towards the hill. I had probably only been on the road for 10 minutes or so when I saw some stairs off to my left. I switched to the stairs for the rest of the hike. (Can you call it a hike, or should it just be called “stair climbing” at this point?)

The view – which was already nice – only improved with altitude. Here are several pictures.

It was time to leave Serifos. Here are some parting pictures.

We went around the other side of Serifos when we left. We were headed to Sounion and it was a couple of kilometers shorter to go this route. So here’s the “other” side of Serifos:

Our last stop for this blog entry is Sounion. We stayed in the bay at anchor. I took the hike to the Temple of Poseidon but Michael took one look at the path and decided his leg wasn’t ready for it.

It was a short hike, but the view at the top was – again – spectacular. But, the thing is, you didn’t have to be at the top to see it – at least from afar. Here is the view from the anchorage:

Here are some pictures from up top. I accidentally turned on a filter at one point. I didn’t realize I’d done it until I’d taken several pictures. Turns out they are kind of cool so I am sharing a couple with and without the filter.

Okay team! You made it through another blog. We’ll talk about Athens, the Corinth Canal, Gulf of Corinth, a very cool suspension bridge, and our first visits in the Ionian Sea the next time!