Look at the dry-stone walls; they are not just pretty

On Sifnos, wherever you go, you will see them. In fields, on hills, beside footpaths, above beaches, on slopes that look embroidered. Dry-stone walls are so woven into the Cycladic landscape that, in the end, you risk not noticing them.

They are not decoration. They are necessity. They are the way islanders found to hold soil on the slopes and make fields. They built terraces and created the louriá, led animals through them, ploughed them and sowed them. They marked roads and fields without concrete and posts, without engineering plans. Stone upon stone. With building knowledge passed from hand to hand.

The next time you are walking along a path, stop for a moment and look at how the wall stands. Without mortar. Without binding material. And yet it has stood for centuries. It protects the soil from erosion, holds water, protects crops from animals and defines property lines.

Sifnos is not only white houses and blue sea. It is also these grey lines that look quiet but carry a great deal of work. Notice them as you pass. They deserve it.