Σύρος · The capital of the Cyclades: two hills, two churches, an opera house and loukoumi
A Cycladic island that is also a real town: a 19th-century merchant capital of marble squares and mansions built by refugees, a medieval Catholic hill where the king of rebetiko was born, an opera house, a shipyard, and beaches you reach by bus.
Greetings from Syros
Syros
The ferry comes round the headland and there is a whole city on the water, with two hills behind it: a Catholic cathedral on one, an Orthodox church on the other. In the morning, eat loukoumi on the steps of the town hall, which looks like it belongs in Vienna. At noon, swim off a ladder below the mansions of the sea captains. In the evening, climb the hundreds of steps to Ano Syros, where Markos Vamvakaris was born, and watch the lights of Ermoupoli come on below. Tomorrow there is opera in a theatre the size of a jewel box, and on Sunday a bus to a beach facing the sunset.
Hour by hour
A marble square, a medieval hill, a swim below the mansions, a long lunch in the farmland and the sunset over the west coast.
Coffee and a halvadopita under the arcades, facing Ziller's town hall, while the town opens its shutters.
Take the little bus up and walk down: through the covered lanes of the Catholic town, past the cathedral of San Giorgio and the house of Markos Vamvakaris, with Ermoupoli below.
Walk through the captains' quarter to the blue dome of Agios Nikolaos and swim off the ladders into the deep water below the mansions.
Drive up into Ano Meria for a long lunch at a country taverna. Ask for San Michali cheese, louza and the island's capers, with the wild north of the island all around.
Cross to Kini for a late swim from the sand as the light goes gold.
Take a table by the water for the sunset the whole island drives over to see. Then stay for dinner.
Where to stay
Ermoupoli
Boutique Hotel Ploes · Boutique hotel in a mansion · €€€€
Ermoupoli
Apollonion Palace · Suites in a listed mansion · €€€€
Ano Syros
Anemomylos · Rooms by a windmill · €€
Only on Syros
What makes Syros different from every other island in the Cyclades.
Syros has one of the largest Catholic communities in Greece. The Catholic cathedral of San Giorgio crowns the hill of Ano Syros, and the Orthodox church of the Anastasi crowns the hill of Vrontado next to it. The two communities have lived side by side for two centuries, and on Syros Catholics celebrate Easter on the Orthodox date, so the whole island keeps Holy Week together.
In the 1820s refugees from Chios, Psara, Kasos and Asia Minor came ashore below the neutral Catholic hill and built Ermoupoli. Within a few decades it was the main port of Greece, with the country's first steamship company, its shipyards and mills, and the money to pave its squares in marble and build an opera house.
Syros is the Turkish-delight island of Greece. Workshops in Ermoupoli have made loukoumi since the 19th century, flavoured with rose, mastic, bergamot or nuts, and sell it by the box to every ferry passenger. Its partner is halvadopita, a thin round nougat pie with almonds between two wafers.
Markos Vamvakaris, the bouzouki player and singer who made rebetiko the music of modern Greece, was born in Ano Syros in 1905. His song Frangosyriani, about a Catholic girl of the island, is one of the best-known Greek songs of the 20th century. There is a small museum to him on the hill where he grew up.
Towns & villages
A 19th-century merchant city of marble squares, mansions and an opera house, built by refugees
Ermoupoli, the city of Hermes, god of trade, is the capital of the Cyclades and the most unexpected town in the Aegean. Instead of white cubes it has marble-paved squares, neoclassical mansions in ochre and pale blue, a town hall like a palace, a small Italian opera house and a working shipyard. It was built almost from nothing in the 1820s by refugees from the war of independence, and within a generation it was the busiest port in Greece. It is a real town, with schools, courts and a university department, where people live all year, and you can swim off the rocks below the captains' houses ten minutes from the main square.
The medieval Catholic hill town where the king of rebetiko was born
Ano Syros is the older half of the island's capital: a medieval town of white houses piled up a steep hill above Ermoupoli, with a Catholic cathedral at the top. It was founded by the Venetians in the 13th century and has been Catholic ever since, so its churches have bell towers and saints with Italian names, and its people still call themselves Frangosyrianoi, the Frankish Syrians. No car can get into its lanes, which are steps, tunnels and covered passages. Markos Vamvakaris, the father of rebetiko, was born here in 1905.
Things to do
Culture
See an opera, a concert or a play in the little 19th-century theatre, ideally during the Festival of the Aegean in July, then join the town in Miaoulis Square.
Ermoupoli
Beach
Climb down the ladders at Asteria or the rocks below Agios Nikolaos and swim in the deep water in front of the captains' houses.
Vaporia, Ermoupoli
Hike
Take the bus up to the Catholic hill, wander its covered lanes to the cathedral of San Giorgio, then walk down the long stairways to the harbour, with the whole town in front of you.
Ano Syros to Ermoupoli
Good to know
Syros is about 84 km² in the middle of the Cyclades, and it does not look like its neighbours. Its capital, Ermoupoli, is a 19th-century city of marble squares, neoclassical mansions and a palace of a town hall, built in the 1820s by refugees from the war of independence, and for a few decades the busiest port in Greece. Above it, on its own hill, sits Ano Syros, a medieval town that has been Catholic since the Venetians, and next to it the Orthodox hill of Vrontado: two faiths, two skylines, one town, and one Easter. About 21,000 people live here all year, so the island has an opera house, a shipyard, a university department and buses that run in winter. It also has sandy bays facing the sunset, a wild farming north, Turkish delight made in the same workshops for generations, and some of the oldest finds in the Aegean. It is not the island for one famous beach or a party scene, and the old town is mostly steps. For islomaniacs tired of islands that close in October, this is the one that lives.
When to go
Syros works almost all year. June and September are best for swimming, July has the Festival of the Aegean and August is busy, hot and booked out. Easter is special here. Because people live on the island all year, spring and autumn trips work better than on most islands, though the sea is cool until June.
Getting around
The island buses are frequent and cover most beaches on a loop from Ermoupoli. You only need a car or scooter for the wild north, where buses are few. In town, walk: the centre is compact, and Ano Syros and Vaporia are steps.
How long
Three or four days gives you Ermoupoli, Ano Syros, a sunset in Kini and a couple of beach days. Add two for the north, a boat to Grammata, and a day trip to Tinos across the strait.
Getting there
Ferries from Piraeus and Rafina in about two to four hours, all year round, or a short flight from Athens to the island's small airport.
Flights & ferries
One of the great Bronze Age sites of the Cyclades, a philosopher who taught Pythagoras, a Venetian hill town under French protection, and a refugee city that became the first port of modern Greece.
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