Today, our original plan was to rent scooters and ride across the island to see some of Sifnos' main attractions-- white sandy beaches, little towns and villages, hiking trails leading to churches and monasteries, etc.
It turned out, however, that in order to rent a scooter in a foreign country, you need an international driver's license. This detail, we were completely unaware of, so unfortunately we were unable to rent scooters for the day.
I was really looking forward to this, but who knows, maybe we'll find another rental service that has less stringent rules and regulations, and are simply looking for a profit. This is understandable though. If something were to happen their insurance would likely sky-rocket as a result and a fine may also be administered, too.
Nonetheless, our day was still full of a lot of excitement. After breakfast, we decided to meander around until we found a walking trail, which are not really that hard to find around here.
We stumbled upon a trail which was located right behind the Apollonia Post Office (out of all places). The trail started out easy and progressively got more and more difficult as we went on.
One interesting characteristic about the Greek islands is that basically everything is constructed from stones. There are stone paths everywhere which are lined by walls that are stacked head-high made from nothing but stone.
Can you imagine all the time and man power that it would take to construct such laboring projects?
It really is quite baffling to me, and not to mention the unwavering difficulty of transporting these materials up the steep and treacherous mountain slopes-- it's really something special--the Clyclades islands.
The trail continued for quite some time, so we decided to turn around after about 45 minutes of hiking, so we did not get lost in the middle of, who knows where.
Next, we caught the bus (1,80 Euro each) to a town called Platis Gialos near the southern tip of the island. The area was so nice that we decided we were going to see if there were any rooms for rent available.
We lucked out. No longer than 5 minutes after getting off the bus, we had scored a spot with an oceanfront view for 40 Euro a night. This is perfect because our current accommodations require us to checkout tomorrow at noon.
So, we will catch the bus tomorrow to Platis Gialos and call this place home for the next 3 days. It should be a good time to just relax, catch some rays and enjoy the beautiful blue waters of the Aegean Sea.