The best way to get to Vathi is by taking the tiny Agios Simeon

Until two years ago the only way to get to Vathy was by taking the tiny Agios Simeon. It's still the best way but now you can drive there on the newly completed road. Just go through Appolonia like you are going to Platyialos but take a right at the windmills and follow the signs.

There is also a bus. Vathy is a beautiful little harbor with rooms to rent and excellent, inexpensive restaurants. The nightlife here is quite enjoyable because it does not take very long to get to know people.

My favorite is Manolis. The best clay oven food on the island. If you are lucky he may be roasting a lamb. Just take a left when you get to the water and stop at the basketball court.... He runs the restaurant with his son Stellios and it is really the heart and soul of Vathy. If there is a wedding or a panagiri the celebration is held here.

I have an image etched in my mind of Manolis sitting at a table closest to the sea, gazing out. He is one of the most fun-loving, spirited people I have ever met and is a favorite of everyone who visits the village. His son Stellios raises rabbits in the back yard which sometime find their way into the delicious stifado that they serve.

Vathi is a very popular place for sailboats to stop, with a perfect sheltered harbor. The beach stretches for about a mile and though not officially a nude beach, you can get far enough away so that nobody will care. There are several of the islands potters located here including a very impressive workshop on the far side of the bay.

For the last couple of years we have spent ten days in the small monastery that rents out it's spartan rooms for a few dollars a night. There was only a long dusty dirt road passable only by jeep. It's a popular yacht stop and there is a daily boat that comes at 11am and leaves at 4 that deposits tourists on the long beach. Few of them spend the night.

It's a very quiet place except that every restaurant has a gasoline powered generator because there is no electricity. When they are all cranked up it can sound like Charlotte Motor Speedway. Still it's a lovely place and the people are wonderful.


We have had many adventures there. Last year we found a rabbit that had swum to shore. Don't ask me from where. It had an epeleptic fit and died in our room. I had also seen a smyrna as wide as a telephone pole. I had caught my largest octopus ever and impaled my foot on a rock while I was trying to get him off my spear, so badly that I could barely walk for two weeks.

We had become buddies with old Manolis and his son Stellios. I had even gotten a job herding sardines. Manolis and Andreas would throw out their net from a small rowboat. While they splashed the surface with the oars I would chase the sardines into the net. My payment was as many sardines as I could eat in their restaurant.


There were also some sponge-fishermen from Kalymnos. They would go to deep waters with their ancient diving helmets and air pumps, walking around the ocean floor, picking up octopus, which they would sell to the restaurants. They would also find these orange lichens that they would put in glass bottles with vinegear.

They gave Andrea and I some to taste. It was fishier than fish. I couldn't eat mine and hid it in my hand the whole time we were talking to them. Then I could not get rid of the smell for days.

Every morning a fishing boat from Milos would sell it's catch on the small pier right outside our window. By seeing who bought what fish, we would decide upon where we were having dinner that evening. It was usually Manolis. He had built a huge clay pot oven that swiveled on ball bearings. Manolis was about 80 years old and always happy. He ran the clay oven and the grill.

Stellios and Andreas waited on tables and Manolis wife, who was deaf did the cooking, potato peeling, string-bean cutting, cleaning and everything else. Manolis wife does not hear very well and I can barely understand what she says.

But she has the nicest smile in Vathi. They also have a farm with lots of rabbits, chickens and most anything you might find on your plate.

Now They have built some really nice rooms behind the restaurant. Stellios built and landscaped them. With the road finished they know they tourists will be coming. I can't blame them. I'll be there. I can't think of a better place to be with a dozen of my closest friends.

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You can take the Agios Simeon from Kamares every morning at 10:30, returning from Vathi at 4pm. It is a beautiful trip, hugging the rocky coast of the island and it is not uncommon to be joined by a dolphin or two.

The trip takes around half an hour. It is a magical feeling to pull into the harbor and dock at the tiny port on a clear summer day. Information on accomodations and transportion can be obtained from Aegean Thesaurus Travel. Ask for a room at Manolis. Book your accommodation right here with the best travel agent in Sifnos...

Used with permission from Matt Barrett's Guide to Greece