Ano Syros
The medieval Catholic town on the hill above, a steep climb of steps or a short bus ride, with the cathedral of San Giorgio at the top.
Syros · Ermoupoli · Ερμούπολη
Ermoupoli, the city refugees built
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.
Greetings from Ermoupoli
Ermoupoli
You come off the ferry into a town that looks nothing like the Cyclades: marble squares, palm trees and a town hall like something from Vienna. At noon, buy a box of rose loukoumi on the market street and eat half of it on the steps of the town hall. In the afternoon, swim off a ladder below the captains' mansions in Vaporia, with old ladies doing slow lengths beside you. At night there is opera in the little Apollo Theatre, and afterwards the whole town is out in Miaoulis Square, children on scooters and grandparents with ice cream, at midnight.
A 19th-century merchant city of marble squares, mansions and an opera house, built by refugees
The story of Ermoupoli
In 1822 there was almost nothing on this shore. The islanders lived up on the hill of Ano Syros, and they were Catholics, under the protection of France, so when the Greek War of Independence broke out they kept out of it. That neutrality made Syros a refuge. Survivors of the massacre on Chios, and then families from Psara, Kasos, Smyrna and Crete, came ashore below the hill with what they could carry, and started building.
They were merchants, sailors and ship-owners, and they built fast. Within a few decades Ermoupoli was the main port of the new Greek state, the place where goods from east and west changed ships. It had the country's first steamship company, founded here in 1856, shipyards, tanneries and cotton mills, banks, insurance offices and newspapers, and a population of Orthodox newcomers who soon outnumbered the Catholics on the hill. The town took its name from Hermes, the god of trade.
The money went into stone. The heart of the town is Miaoulis Square, paved in marble and lined with palms and cafes, and on one side of it stands the town hall designed by Ernst Ziller, the German architect who shaped much of 19th-century Athens, built between 1876 and 1891. A few steps away is the Apollo Theatre, opened in 1864 and modelled on the Italian opera houses of the day, with tiers of boxes and a painted ceiling of Dante, Verdi, Mozart and Bellini. In July it hosts the Festival of the Aegean, with opera, concerts and dance.
On the slope north of the square is Vaporia, the steamship quarter, where the captains and ship-owners built their mansions on the rocks above the sea, with painted ceilings and marble balconies. Below them, at Asteria and around the church of Agios Nikolaos with its blue dome, the people of Ermoupoli swim off concrete platforms and ladders in deep, clear water, from spring to autumn.
The boom ended when Piraeus took over the shipping, and the factories closed one by one in the 20th century. But the town never emptied. The Neorion shipyard still repairs ships at the southern end of the bay, old factory buildings nearby hold the Industrial Museum, and the shops on the market street still sell loukoumi made in the town's workshops since the refugees brought the recipe from the east.
Hour by hour
A perfect day in Ermoupoli
A marble square at breakfast, a church with an El Greco, a swim below the mansions, a climb to the medieval town and a night at the opera. Here is one way to spend it.
- 08:30
Coffee on Miaoulis Square
Start under the arcades of the square with a coffee and a halvadopita, the thin nougat pie of Syros, while the marble is still cool and the town hall glows in the morning sun.
- 10:00
The El Greco and the Apollo
Walk to the church of the Dormition to see the icon of the Dormition of the Virgin that El Greco painted on Crete before he left for Venice, then look inside the Apollo Theatre and up at its painted ceiling.
- 12:00
A swim in Vaporia
Wander up through the captains' quarter to the blue dome of Agios Nikolaos, then go down to the rocks of Asteria and swim off the ladders in the deep water below the mansions.
- 14:00
Lunch by the harbour
A carafe of tsipouro and plate after plate of small fish and seafood near the port, then loukoumi from the market street for later.
- 18:30
Up to Ano Syros
Climb the steps to the medieval Catholic town on the hill for the view over Ermoupoli and the harbour as the sun goes down behind you, and an ouzo in the lanes where Markos Vamvakaris was born.
- 21:00
Opera, then the square
If there is a performance at the Apollo, go. Afterwards, dinner in the lanes behind the square, and a last walk across the marble of Miaoulis Square with the rest of the town.
Where to stay
Where you'll wake up in Ermoupoli
Ermoupoli
Climb down from a merchant's mansion into the sea before breakfast
Boutique Hotel Ploes · Boutique hotel in a mansion · €€€€
Ermoupoli
Fall asleep in a 19th-century mansion with the sea under the floor
Apollonion Palace · Suites in a listed mansion · €€€€
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Harbour hotel
Diogenis Hotel
Ermoupoli
Forty rooms in a 19th-century building on Papagou Square, right on the port. In its time it has been a store for wood, coal and tobacco, a tannery, a cabaret and, in the Occupation, the Italian military police headquarters; a hotel since 1980, renovated in 2015. The handiest bed for an early ferry.
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Seafront town hotel
Nisaki Hotel & Elite Suites
Ermoupoli
A classic town hotel by the sea near the port, renovated in 2010 and open all year, with 42 rooms and two suites. The sea-view rooms look across to Tinos and Mykonos, the others up to the two hills of Ano Syros and Vrontado. Buffet breakfast included.
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Town rooms
Archontissa Rooms
Ermoupoli
Renovated rooms on Iroon Square, about 350 m from the port, with a bus stop to the beaches outside the door. Every room has a balcony, and some look up at both of the town's hills, Catholic Ano Syros and Orthodox Anastasi. A simple, central and good-value base.
Where to eat
Tables we love in Ermoupoli
Restaurant
Peri Tinos
Ermoupoli
A restaurant in the lanes behind the waterfront of Ermoupoli, in Thymaton Spercheiou Street, a street back from Miaoulis Square and the Apollo Theatre. A good choice for dinner before or after a night at the opera.
Taverna
Ta Giannena
Ermoupoli
A Greek taverna on Kanari Square in the middle of Ermoupoli, a few minutes' walk from the harbour, for an easy, unfussy meal of Greek cooking.
Taverna
To Archontariki
Ermoupoli
A Greek taverna in the centre of Ermoupoli, near the old market street. Ask for something made with the island's own produce: San Michali cheese, louza, the cured pork of Syros, or capers from the rocks.
Taverna
Syriani Kouzina
Ermoupoli
'Syros Kitchen', on the waterfront of Ermoupoli in Akti Ethnikis Antistaseos, cooking Greek and island dishes with the harbour in front.
Fish taverna
Sergiani
Ermoupoli
A fish taverna in Sofokleous Street in the centre of Ermoupoli, open since 2019 from noon to midnight, with tables outside and fish and seafood by the plate.
Tsipouradiko
Tsipouradiko tis Myrsinis
Ermoupoli
'Myrsini's', a tsipouradiko near the port: order a carafe of tsipouro and the small plates of fish and seafood arrive with it, round after round.
Cafe & restaurant
Laoutari
Ermoupoli
A cafe-restaurant in an 18th-century building in Thermopylon Street, open from late morning to midnight, for a coffee, a light lunch or Greek dishes in the evening.
Within an easy drive
Around Ermoupoli
Azolimnos
The nearest proper beach, a sandy bay on the east coast about ten minutes south by bus or car.
Kini
The fishing village on the west coast for the sunset, about twenty minutes across the island.
The Industrial Museum
The story of Ermoupoli's shipyards, mills and tanneries, in an old factory at the southern end of town.
Good to know
Before you go to Ermoupoli
Getting there
Every ferry and the buses from the airport arrive in Ermoupoli. The town is best on foot: it is compact, but steep at the top, and the lanes of Vaporia and the upper town are steps. The island buses leave from the bus station on the waterfront.
When to go
Ermoupoli is a town for all seasons. July brings the Festival of the Aegean at the Apollo Theatre, and in Holy Week the Catholic and Orthodox churches celebrate Easter together. Spring and autumn are warm enough to swim off Vaporia, and the town keeps its tavernas and cafes open long after the beaches close.
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