GREECE’S

GIFT
T O T H E WOR L D
The Aegean island of Syros is eager to
welcome visitors—but on its own terms
BY Robert Kiener
The architecture of
Ermoupoli is a reminder
of Syros’s long and
varied history. 06.2025  reader’s digest    3
 engines to a mild roar as it glides into island’s Industrial Museum, I ask recipes, pottery workshops, and art and

(BELOW LEFT) DVASILAKIS.PHOTOGRAPHER/SHUTTERSTOCK. (BELOW RIGHT)

Ermoupoli, the main harbor of Syros. A Papitsi how Syros will handle the grow- music festivals. “One of our main goals
handful of luxury yachts are tied up at ing number of tourists—last year about is to introduce visitors to our island’s

WHEN
the seafront, and the semicircular 400,000 people visited the island. local culture and traditions and let them

(PREVIOUS SPREAD) LOOP IMAGES/CONTRIBUTOR/GETTY IMAGES

shoreline is dotted with tavernas, shops “You mean our ‘guests,’ ” she says as get to know our people,” Papitsi says.
and small hotels. Instead of the tradi- she smiles and brushes back her long Her full title is Vice Mayor–Tourism,
tional picture-postcard, sugar-cube black hair. “We like to think we can which reflects the importance Syros
I told my Athens-based Greek friend houses one sees spilling down hillsides treat all travelers to Syros as our guests places on managing its relatively young
George that I was thinking of visiting on other Greek islands, I am surprised rather than tourists. Happily, we have tourism industry. She peppers her con-
the world-famous Greek islands of to find that Ermoupoli, which is the not experienced the crowds—and the versation with terms like “sustainable
Mykonos and Santorini, he grew silent. capital of both Syros and all of the overcrowding—that some other desti- tourism” and “place authenticity.” And

GEORGIOS TSICHLIS/SHUTTERSTOCK
That wasn’t like George—he has the gift Cyclades (Greek for “circular”) island nations have, so we have the chance to it’s clear she is well aware of the oppor-
of gab. Something was wrong. group, is composed of a cosmopolitan preserve the special qualities that make tunities, as well as the possible pit-
“They are wonderful islands,” he said collection of three- and four-story Syros unique.” falls—such as overcrowding, inflated
after a long pause. “But the truth is that white, pink, blue and other pastel- She ticks off a list of tourism-related prices and unchecked development—
they have become so jam-packed with colored buildings that range in design programs that her office is promoting, that tourism can cause.
tourists, it’s hard to see the ‘real’ Greece from traditional to neoclassical to Ital- including visits to local wineries, coun- For example, while massive cruise
through the crowds.” ianate to Byzantine. tryside picnics, cooking and tasting ships have largely bypassed Syros in the
Instead, George said, I should visit Under a clear blue sky, these elegant workshops with Syrian ingredients and past, the island recently agreed to add
the island of Syros. “Its history is fasci- mansions, smaller whitewashed
nating, its beaches are uncrowded, the homes, public buildings, commercial
food is wonderful, and the locals are spaces and an ornate public square
super friendly.” climb from the waterfront up twin con- (Left) Syros’s historic and unspoiled beauty
is drawing more visitors to the island;
I did some reading and quickly dis- ical hills, each of which is topped by a
(below) the Vaporia district in Ermoupoli.
covered that George was not alone in towering church, one Roman Catholic,
his love for Syros. Fodor’s travel guide the other Greek Orthodox. As I raise my
praised the island’s “untouristy urban- camera to take a picture of this elegant,
ity.” A Lonely Planet travel writer architecturally rich city, I realize why it
scolded travelers who treated Syros as has long been called “The Queen of the
“a brief stopover,” and a Greek journal- Cyclades.” George was right; there is so
ist noted that many of the island’s small much here to explore.
villages had been “practically untouched To help me get my bearings, Syros’s
by tourism.” dynamic vice mayor, Christianna
I was hooked. I booked a flight to Papitsi, has agreed to meet with me the
Athens and a ferry to Syros. next morning and give me a brief intro-
duction to this historic island.
AFTER A TWO-HOUR, 150-kilometre
ride southeast from Athens’s port city AS WE SIP STRONG, foamy cups of Greek
of Piraeus, my high-speed ferry cuts its coffee in her modest office near the

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 a limited schedule with MSC Cruises. islanders can be. When I greet anyone what we can to keep these wonderful new state and eventually the entire

SOCK; ROBERT NICKELSBERG/CONTRIBUTOR/GETTY IMAGES; ROBERT

(CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT) CHRISTINA TSAMOURA/SHUTTERST-
While other destinations such as Ven- with my well-meaning but clumsily- streets clean. After all, we all know how eastern Mediterranean. It was an
ice, Mykonos and Santorini are trying pronounced “Kaliméra” (“Good day!” lucky we are to live here!” important stop on the trade route link-
to curb cruise ship arrivals by charging in Greek), their faces inevitably explode ing Europe, the Middle East and the
visitor access fees during the peak sum- with a wide smile and they answer with ERMOUPOLI’S DIVERSE architecture East Indies. Other industries such as
mer season, Syros is (carefully) wel- a singsong “Yia sas!” (“Hello!”). And as offers a treasury of clues to the island’s textiles, iron works, and tanneries
coming the new business. Papitsi is I walk down the narrow, winding streets fascinating past. The island’s history helped the island’s economy grow.

NICKELSBERG/CONTRIBUTOR/GETTY IMAGES
aware that in 2023 more than 800 cruise of downtown Ermoupoli, I notice local can be traced back several millennia. During World War II, Syros was heav-
ships, carrying almost 1.3 million pas- residents and shopkeepers sweeping or The remains of the nearly 5,000-year- ily bombed, and later occupied, by Ital-
sengers visited Santorini. Each year hosing down the glistening marble old Bronze Age settlement of Kastri, ian and German forces, who closed
only around 30 ships, with up to 15,000 sidewalks and the roadways. about 8 kilometres north of Ermoupoli, factories and confiscated crops and
passengers, visit Syros. “We are taking Intrigued, I pop into the Kois Optics is one of Greece’s most important dis- food. An estimated 2,300 to 4,000
it slowly,” says Papitsi. “We want to pro- eyeglass shop and ask the owner if this coveries of the Early Cycladic period. islanders (out of a total population of
tect what we are so lucky to have. Syros is a common occurrence. “Every morn- During the Middle Ages, Syros was 17,000) died of starvation during the
and our residents are so special!” ing,” says Stavros Kois, who wears a frequently raided by pirates operating famine that followed. A telegram sent
It doesn’t take me long the experi- bright blue pair of eyeglasses he in the Aegean Sea. Beginning around by an islander to an Athens official at
ence firsthand just how “special” designed himself. “Each of us does 1200 A.D., islanders from Venice built the time summed up the tragedy:
the then-isolated hilltop town of Ano “Either send us wheat or coffins.”
Syros, which still stands above Ermoup- Syros’s economic decline continued
Clockwise from below: A traditional Greek oli, to protect themselves from pirate after the war but had somewhat recov-
folk dance in front of Ermoupoli’s town raids. The island fell under Venetian ered by the 1980s, thanks in part to the
hall; a historical food market in Ermoupoli; rule until the middle of the 16th cen- reopening of the island’s famous ship-
vacationers relax in the Syros beach town
tury, which left a strong Catholic influ- yard and a burgeoning tourist trade.
of Agathopes.
ence. Interestingly, while 95% of all Today, thanks to influential islanders
Greeks are Greek Orthodox, almost a who are working diligently to protect
third of Syros’s population is Roman their island from unchecked tourism
Catholic. Today, when mixed-religion and overheated development, Syros is
couples marry on Syros, it’s common to enjoying an ever-increasing, but con-
have wedding ceremonies in both trolled, rise in visitor numbers.
churches.
After Greece gained its independence IN A JEWELRY STORE in the center of
from the Ottoman Empire in 1830 after Ermoupoli, where I have come with my
nearly 300 years of rule, mariners and wife, Shari, to find a birthday present
tradesmen moved to the island from for her, owner Chrisanthi Zarari shows
the mainland and elsewhere. Thanks in us several necklaces of her own design.
part to its large port that supported a Zarari eventually tells Shari, “I want
shipbuilding and refitting facility, you to have this one.” It’s a strikingly
which still stands in the harbor, Syros beautiful, asymmetrical necklace with
flourished as the economic hub of the a large tortoiseshell bead on one end

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 The chapel of Agios Stefanos
was built in a sea cave in
Vaggelis Chavatzis for a tour of the boaters and swimmers to enjoy. “We
western Syros. coastal waters of Syros in his twin- have the perfect balance between visi-
engine, 10-metre rigid inflatable boat. tors and local islanders,” he explains.
For the next four hours we zip along the “Unlike some other islands, we’re not
deep, clear blue, almost turquoise, sea overwhelmed by too many tourists.”
on the western coast of Syros, exploring After I jump off Chavatzis’s boat in
little-visited bays and remote, pristine yet another secluded bay and paddle
beaches. toward a nearly empty beach, I marvel
The first stop is the sea cave chapel of at the crystal-clear waters that sur-
Agios Stefanos, which sits in the steep round Syros. Everywhere I swim, I can
rocks just north of Galissas, one of the see to the sand 2 metres below.
island’s most popular beaches. Accord- Back on board, I ask Chavatzis if
ing to local legend, the chapel, which is more tourists coming to Syros would
wedged into an opening of a sea cave, mean more money in his pocket. “For
was built by a local fisherman to give sure. But money isn’t everything. Just
thanks to St. Stephen after he miracu- look at that pristine beach,” he says as
lously survived an octopus attack in the he gestures toward the nearly empty
waters off the coast. “Some people get arc of sand in the northwestern bay of
and series of thin, polished stone bars is a way of embracing visitors.” married here, and there’s even a guest Marmari. “Like almost everyone else
on the other. “Syros is about giving, and Indeed, it is an “embrace” that I will book to sign,” says Chavatzis. on Syros, I want to see it stay the way it
I want to give you this.” experience many times during my stay At the northwestern tip of Syros, we is. It’s our responsibility.”
“No, we cannot accept—” Shari and on the island. For example, every meal slip into the remote bay of Grammata. It’s a sentiment that I have heard time
I both insist. I order, whether it’s at a small taverna There’s just one other boat and only and time again during my time on Syros.
“But we are starting a chain of love,” or a large restaurant, is invariably four people on the 150-metre-long As we head back to Kini and the late
Zarari tells us as my wife begins to tear accompanied by a tasty dessert that I white sand beach. Chavatzis explains afternoon sun starts to make its magi-
up. As she wraps the necklace, she did not order. When I ask, “How much that the bay was a haven for sailors, cal descent over the island of Kythnos
adds, “Take this and then give some- is that?” the waiter—or owner—smiles travelers and even pirates when fierce to our west, I remember my friend
thing to someone else, yes? I won’t take and says, “No charge. It is a gift.” storms brewed on the Aegean. He notes George’s advice, “Syros is the real
no for an answer. Welcome to Syros.” that many of the outcroppings on the Greece. Explore it. You’ll thank me.”
Later, when I meet Christianna SYROS IS JUST 84 square kilometres and north side of the bay bear inscriptions The next time I talk to him, I will.
Papitsi’s assistant, Elena Papagouna, roughly the shape of Great Britain. from seafarers thanking the gods for
HERACLES KRITIKOS/SHUTTERSTOCK

for a tour of the nearby town hall, a After exploring its capital and visiting their rescue. “Some of these are thou-
19th-century, three-story Neoclassical some of its more remote villages, where sands of years old,” he explains. “I bring
treasure, I tell her about the necklace. goats grazed over steep, rocky fields a lot of archeologists here.”
She is impressed but not surprised. and sparrowhawks and buzzards cir- After we anchor at a half-dozen small
“Let’s just say it’s a Greek thing,” Papa- cled above, I’ve decided to see what the beaches, including Varvarousa, Lia and
gouna says as we explore the ornate island looks like from the sparkling Avlaki, the Syros-born and raised cap-
building. “The spirit of gift giving is an waters of the Aegean Sea. tain tells me that his island is lucky to
ancient tradition in Greece. In Syros it In the fishing village of Kini, I join still have such isolated beaches for

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