Sifnos: Our first taste

 2 plane rides, a quick 20 hr stop in Athens, and one ferry ride later, we arrived in Sifnos, Greece! We were introduced to Sifnos through a friend of mine, Christina, who told us that if we want an authentic, non-tourist experience than Sifnos was where we needed to go. And the cherry on top is that her dad lives in Sifnos 6 months out of the year, so we were guaranteed a local's perspective. 

Well the first 48 hours have far surpassed any of our expectations. Stepping off the ferry, I hear a voice call "Sammar" - what do you know, Christina's dad, Maki, met us at the port to ensure that we had a warm welcome! So Z and I hop into a cab while Kyle and Zaylee ride in the Maki Chariot with a car seat just for her. 

Driving from the port to Platis Gialos (our home for the next 3 weeks), my head was on swivel trying to take it all in. The terrain is really unique in Sifnos that it has a more dry, desert feel with pops of white washed villages with blue accents, olive trees, and bursting brilliant flowers when you least expect it. As soon as we arrived at Thalassea (which we highly recommend for anyone visiting Sifnos), we were in love. The hotel is located right on the beach. *Pause - funny story here. We told Zaylee we were staying right on the beach and when she arrived she was quite upset that our physical room was not in the sand* We were warmly welcomed by the owners and immediately put our swimsuits to hop into the ocean! 

Day 1 we leaned into island life - spending hours on the beach, fueling up with a late lunch and nap (yes! the whole family, including Zane, napped), and enjoyed a delicious Greek dinner at To Steki, a local restaurant, thanks to Maki and Martha! So many of the flavors reminded me of meals in Syria and I could easily eat there every night while we are here. The kids, and let's be real us too, loved the set-up of the restaurant. Kiddos would run back and forth from the tables to the beach so we could enjoy a 2.5+ hr dinner and they could expel some extra energy and meet new friends with their toes in the sand. 

Zane basked in the glory of a 10:30pm bedtime (that was really 12:30am by the time he finished reading his books) and we all slept in until 9am. Yup, you read that right. 9 AM!! I don't know if we can ever leave. Naps and kiddos sleep past 6:45am?

Day 2 we ate one of the most delicious breakfasts of our lives at Palmira, the restaurant next door. Z requested taking an egg making class here after eating his eggs. We took an awesome stroll / tour along the beach with Maki who pointed out all the places to eat and introduced us to the local owners and chefs. And then we just melted into the beach life - spending as much time in the water and sand as possible. We took advantage of our amazing veranda for a dinner overlooking the water and capped off the night with a walk to an historic church overlooking the bay. 

For the rest of the week, we will be soaking up all that Platis Gialos has to offer before renting a car next week and taking day trips around the island

Oh and if you're wondering, the kids did amazing on the flights over! They slept over 6 hours and were bright eyed and bushy tailed when we landed. They even loved our airport pickup in their fancy car seats and coco melon music on repeat (they have the driver to thank for that, not us). And...we quickly remembered one lesson learned from our Round the World, take every precaution to prevent hangry Sammar (Zaylee shares this lovely trait).