Sifnos hiking vacation in Greece

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

Our tours do not include air transport and start on the Greek mainland. However we do use ferries between the Greek island. The different ferry companies are making some efforts to reduce their emissions with improved technologies.

On Sifnos island, the hotel transfers us in its minibus or we use a local bus.

However our intention is for the walking routes to be circular and return to the starting point as much as possible. This avoids use of taxi or bus returns to the hotel.

Vegan foods are staple diets in Greek cooking, such as vegetables, fruit, beans, chickpeas, lentils, olive oil and many others. All these products are available on the tours

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

Our Travelers Code of Conduct includes two pages of useful information covering the fitness required of walkers, clothing and shoes, and the natural sights to see, such as flowers, plants and animals. For each trail, we provide a map of the route, distances, the height of hills, difficult terrain, and natural hazards. We urge walkers to be respectful to farmers and their animals.

To ensure respect for the environment, we use hotel and taverna that follow the local recycling rules for materials such as plastics, tins and other items. Also we favour hotels with solar power for at least part of their energy needs. We will limit our use of taxis or minibuses to the minimum and go on foot via trails that do a circuit and end near where they started. On beaches we take any food rubbish or packaging to a proper container.

With our hiking vacations, we want to demonstrate that this ecologically-sensitive form of tourism can help the local economy. We want to be an advocate in the local community for preserving the calm and history of Sifnos. Our guides will explain during the walks all efforts being made to preserve the natural environment and nature and stop wild development. Also the island's efforts to properly treat animals, domestic and farmed.

Some of our trails pass through the Natura 2000 wildlife protection zones in Greece and Sifnos in particular. When the weather is suitable we run nature tours and have published guides of flora and fauna to help guest identify species.

Our guides understand nature and point out its virtues. When we meet World Wild Life officials visiting the Cycladic islands we interest ourselves in their work and support their efforts to protect species such as seals and turtles.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

For accommodation we use locally owned hotels or room, not big chains or swanky luxury places. They hire locally as much as possible and source breakfasts and dinners from their local agriculture.

For hikes, we will use local guides and pay them a proper wage. The tavernas where we eat are chosen for their use of local produce such as meat, cheese, vegetables and salad in order to support island farmers. Olive growing is big on Sifnos and we try to visit an olive press even though it may not be at the time of the harvest of olives. We support Sifnos's role in the vanguard of Greek cooking and its annual Cycladic cooking festival in September, which we hope to visit on one of our tours.

Food and craft shops proliferate in Sifnos's capital Apollonia, Artemonas and the port of Kamares. There are several offering local olive oil and other farm produce. Also craft shops making pottery and jewelry, particularly in the narrow streets of the villages. These are also on our schedule.

The Sifnos cooking festival to recognise the efforts of island cook Nikolaos Tselementes, whose work became internationally recognised, also includes traditional music and dancing events. Traditional dancing is a joy to behold and where possible we will organise dance classes to involve guests. Over three days in September tasting of Sifnos and other Cycladic cuisine takes place each evening from 1900 until 2200. At other times particular villages take part.

Certain religious celebrations of saints names day also take place with music. We aim to go to these events when they happen. Particularly during July, August and September there are many of the celebrations, called panagiri, which in former times and maybe still are an occasion to meet locals, enjoy their company, and eat and drink local produce.

EMPLOYMENT AND DIVERSITY

Hotels, taverna, bars and museums create jobs for locals, Collective working agreements in these sectors dictate the wages to be paid.

Sifnos also boasts well organised museums about the civilisations which occupied the island back as far as 3 millenium before Christ. In particular remains of a Mycenae city reveal the developed civilisations which were important in previous times. The museum in the former Venetian capital of Kastro shows some of the archeologicial finds about ancient times.