Site of Europe's earliest known mines, Sifnos has a long history. Modern Sifnos is quiet, and undeveloped. This island of sandy beaches and white houses is exactly what one expects to find on a Greek island.
Few visitors to Sifnos, know that the oldest mines of Europe were on this Cycladic island. The Phoenicians were the first to exploit Sifnos' gold, silver and lead resources in the third millennium BC.
Later, Minoans and Ionians settled on Sifnos, continuing to take advantage of its rich soil. Historians suggest that the name Sifnos derives from the Greek word for empty. Perhaps this is from a time when the island was completely destroyed and left empty. The ancient Sifniots were rich, because of the island's gold. They were able to build a splendid treasury at Delphi, Greece's religious centre. And so, the god Apollo, demanded an egg made of solid gold every year. Tired of this tithe, they cheated and sent a gilded egg sometime during the Sixth Century, infuriating Apollo.
He curse the island's mines, giving the pious Samians a pretext for invasion.
Not much survives of Sifnos' golden age. Once Apollo's rage calmed (and his divinity was abolished) Sifnos prospered once again.
Sifnos is a Cycladic island, a part of a group of Islands in the centre of the Aegean Sea. The name Cyclades comes from the word kyklos meaning circle in Greek. These islands are positioned in a circle around Delos, a tiny island which the ancients considered sacred to Apollo. The Cyclades have a long history, and have had many different rulers - Minoans, Ionians, Athenians, Romans, Byzantines, Franks, Venetians, Ottomans.
Sifnos has known several flourishing and prosperous periods. For Sifnos - as for most areas of the Eastern Mediterranean - there was much political stability until the late 19th century. There seems to have been a balance. Many island cultures had some political, cultural and religious autonomy. On Sifnos, the "School of the Holy Tomb" was established, to encourage Greek studies. It attracted students and intellectuals from many parts of Greece, who contributed to the War of Independence, and later to the formation of the Modern Greek state.
The modern inhabitants of Sifnos seem to want to keep their island unspoiled and clean, retaining its authentic regional flavor. Although it can get crowded at the height of tourist season, especially in August, it never gets loud, remaining instead a great place for decent family vacations. Combining natural beauty, attractive sites for long walks, sandy beaches, an archaeologically rich architecture, and fresh local cuisine, there's plenty to do.Sifnos is also noted for ceramics produced on the island - clay casseroles, pots and all kinds of household vessels. The craft is now in a period of revival.
Sifnos is a beautiful island, with sandy beaches then wide blue sea spreading out from its coastline. Like most islands, Sifnos changes colours during different seasons, becoming green in the spring and golden in the summer. Walls of stone - so old, their dates of construction have been forgotten - cut across the hilly land. The walls often seem to be a natural extension of the island's rocks. Clusters of whitewashed houses are built far from the sea, on steep hills, one on top of the other, often in maze-like fashion.
Walking these paths, one can easily forget that this is the 21st century. Especially since remnants from different eras are incorporated into modern buildings. Nothing was thrown away in the past, all building materials were reused with respect.

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