There will be no reference to that social media site in this post. Instead, it will be about more important things in life; cats, cocktails, sunsets and more booze.

We’re in Kini on the island of Syros. It seems to have everything you need for a small seaside village including two mini-markets, cocktail bar, four decent restaurants and a sandy beach that is so shallow a that a good distance walk into the sea results in still being able to stand.

The beachside restaurants face west and result in glorious sunsets that graduate from blue to deep orange every night. An early favourite of ours is Noho cocktail bar that has a great selection including “Greek Fizz”, “Noho nights” (both mastika based) and Strawberry delight (like an alcoholic strawberry sherbet). It is also 20 meters away from our apartment.

We chose well on our apartment, a big relief since we are here for 31 nights. It is everything that, sadly, is quite rare for an Airbnb; everything works and not just for show (yes, we’re looking at you Melacca one), the aircon is quiet and effective, it has enough kitchen stuff to actually make meals, it’s spotlessly clean and has simple things like a sofa that is capable of being sat on instead of one that could cause permanent spinal damage. Overall, it looks like the owners have actually lived here and not just created a web friendly place that is impractical to actually live there. And, it’s less than a minute away from the beach as shown in the video above.

There’s very little do in Kini. We have missed our not-so-little, 5am alarm clock, bundle of fluff a lot. Our cat (sorry, flat) sitter has been sending us lots of pictures of him and we can only conclude that he’s living the life and not missing us whatsoever, so when Chloe spots “Syros Cats”, a cat sanctuary just up the hill, we simply must go.

It’s a superbly run place that looks after over 70 cats and try to rehome as many as possible, in addition to an outreach programme that helps feed and neuter other stray cats on the whole of Syros. They warmly welcome us at the 7pm feeding time and we get our feline fix including massive hugs with the incredibly cute kitten and one that looks uncannily like our one back home. The question is whether our cat will greet us with such warmth when we get home?  Of course he won’t.

So, what else to do on Syros? Again, a top Chloe spot sees that they make Mastika here in a village along the coast. A short bus ride gets us to the Makryonitis Syros Distillery. We’re given a tour of the place that takes less than 10 minutes then it’s the trying out of their products.

Having thought it just produced Mastika, this also could have been quick. However, they produce Ouzo, many varieties of Tsipouro including fig, herby and carob. We are served a taster of nine different ones by our knowledgeable & euthanasic host and we learn many things including how aged Tsipouro (and whisky) gets its brown colour – from the barrels if you don’t know. 

This tour was entirely free. We feel educated, enlightened and amazed that one very small distillery can produce so many different types of spirits – all of which are very drinkable – although the extra strong 55% Tsipouro was a quite a challenge. We also feel a little drunk and buy quite a selection of drinks to have for the rest of our time in Syros or to bring home.

So, what will our remaining time in Kini bring?  Is there actually anything else to do?  Watch out for the next instalment in a couple of weeks.