Apologies to all in case my three previous posts, ones that all dealt with the topic of rare storms, have given the impression that Sifnos in winter grinds to a halt. No, not at all.

Sifnos, in fact, is very much alive at this time of year. Almost every second day or so you’ll find somewhere on the island a church adorned with colourful flags aflap in the breeze and from inside, there’ll be the smells of cooking going on, clear signs that there’ll be a party there that day. With plenty of food and of drink. Musicians too. And, this being Greece, priests. Plenty of priests.

I know precious little about Greek Orthodox religious practice, but this I do know – this church has plenty of saints and each one of them has their own feast day. So on Sifnos which is said to have 365 churches, ranging from…