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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 local specialties, such as revithokeftedes
(chickpea-balls), manoura or mizethra (local
cheese), 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). 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, 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 island's bays 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,
the island's 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,
but there are picturesquely little café and bars
almost in all villages. |