Admire the architecture without knowing anything about architecture

You do not need to know about styles, periods, techniques and terminology to enjoy the architecture of Sifnos. You only need to walk a little more slowly.

Look at the flat roofs, the clay chimney pots (flaroi), the courtyards paved with schist, the outdoor staircases, the arches, the doors split horizontally in the middle, the windows that seem small but know exactly how much light to let in. Look at how the houses lean into one another, how the narrow lanes turn to cut the wind, how white is not simply “Cycladic”; it is a way of living with the sun.

In Artemonas you will see grander houses, with large gardens and neoclassical elements. In Apollonia you will see life, lanes, shops, everyday movement. In Kastro you will see a different logic, more defensive, older, with narrow passages and lontzies (entrances to the village). And in the other villages you will notice details that do not always make it into guidebooks. Take a walk in Exambela and Katavati and you will remember me.

Do not rush past everything just to get “somewhere”. On Sifnos, very often the “somewhere” is the road itself and the walls around you.