|
 At
the Cycladic landscape civilization flourished through the daily
routine, the celebrations, the religious festivals, the whitewashing of
the house taking care of the cobbled lanes, the maintenance of the dry
stone walls in the fields, the wise cultivation of the land, the
creation of works of art for clay, the picking of the olives, the
meeting with the saltiness of the sea. The houses harmoniously woven
knitted with the natural landscape even today emphasize the need for the
respect of the civilization with which they harmoniously boarded with
the passing of the centuries.
 Here,
in Sifnos island,
one still can find routes lined with stones, forests with cedar-trees
and oak-trees, lentisk and olives groves, sand hills and sea plants
(like little lilies) which are threatened with extinction from the
Mediterranean coasts. Today we are invited to pass into a future which
is much friendlier towards civilizations and the environments which were
both created and respected by previous generations.
 Sifnos,
the birthplace of perhaps the best known chef and food writer, Tselementes, and of Markou, another highly esteemed of Greece, has a
delicious local cuisine. Make sure you try some of the Sifnian
specialties, such as revithokeftedes (chickpea-balls), manoura or
mizethra (cheese made at Sifnos), ambelophasoula, a local variety of beans
accompanied by skordalia (a thick spread of sauce made of garlic),
chickpeas cooked in the oven, salad with locally produced capers, and
lamb cooked in mastelo (special ceramic pot made in Sifnos). The Sifnian home-made
cookies and pastries are famous; many of these; such as biscuits, almond
cookies, little pies filled with local cheese and the local variety of
sesame snaps, you can find the traditional bakeries and pastry shops on
the island, as well as in some restaurants.
 Sifnos
is the rampart of development and propagation of pottery in the area of
the Cyclades. The first samples of pottery art date back to the early
Cycladic period (small statues, decorative items and utensils) and this
art continues since then until today. Initially, the pottery shops were
located in the inland of Sifnos, near Artemonas and Ano Petali, in order to be
protected from the invasions of pirates dominating in the Aegean Sea.
Later, they were transferred to the bays of Sifnos and particularly to
those protected by the strong north winds.
 The
Sifnian people diffused their art all over Greece while many pottery
shops were established by Sifnians or by people having served as their
apprentices. Today there are still more than twelve pottery-making shops
throughout Sifnos, contributing in continuing the tradition of our
ancestors. So, Sifnos' visitor may find wonderful decorative pots
made by the skilful hands of Sifnian potters, who since many centuries
have been working with craftsmanship and devotion the Sifnian soil,
shaping objects of unique beauty and art.
 Equally
worth mentioning is the Sifnians contribution to the sciences and the
Greek literary tradition. As someone wrote, "if, in ancient times,
Sifnos's wealth was measured by the gold and silver it produced, in the
last two centuries it can be measured by its cultural output." indeed,
the island can boast a large number of Sifnians who contributed to the
social development and reconstruction of the modern Greek state:
politicians, teachers, religious leaders, journalists, lawyers and
economists. And we shouldn't neglect to mention the local literary
tradition that has become an integral part of the literary tradition in
Greece, and which still remains vibrant today.
 Known
as the "Poets Island", Sifnos has given birth to such poets as Ioannis
Gryparis, Cleanthis Triantaphillou (also known as Rambaya), Aristomenis
Provelengios, Stelios and Theodosios Sperantzas, Titos Patrikios , and
Nikos G. Stafilopatis, the editor of the Anthology of Sifnian Poets the
collection of folklore songs and carols which won the Greek Academy's
Prize, as well as the playwrighter Manolis Korres, the folklorist Manos
Philippakis.
At the
summer months the centre of nightlife is
Apollonia,the
capital of Sifnos,
but there are picturesquely little café and bars almost in all
villages. |
