What can I tell you about Syros, my native land, my island? What is there to say that I haven’t said before? SYRIANO PANORAMA is a free-press magazine published on Syros. That magazine is host to prominent personalities –locals and visitors alike- who love the island. I’ll let them do the talking and explain why Syros is an island that’s one-of-a-kind!

Vangelis Perris, journalist

“Syros is an island with street cred”

Anna Dalara

“Syros has something no other island has. It’s a melting pot of cultures, with breathtaking architecture and that iconic, magnificent theater you find nowhere else”

Giorgos Michalakis, actor

“Syros has succeeded in squeezing the greatest diversity (ways of life, architecture, nature, people, religions, etc) into the smallest possible space. That makes it ideal as a place of permanent residence”

Platon Rivelis, photographer

“You always come back to Syros”

Elena Papavasileiou, television presenter

“Syros has guts and style. It’s an autonomous society that can easily rival any other capital”

Christos Dantis, composer/singer

“Syros is one of those islands that never lose their character. Every single time I visit it, I have the impression that I’ll meet the same people, at the same age I left them the last time I visited, at the exact same places”

Konstantinos Rigos, choreographer/stage director

“In Syra, friendship is a luminous affair. Something magical is going on here, people in Athens are grey but here they’re radiant! Go ahead and take everything away from me, even my skin, but Syra will remain within me as long as I live”

Giorgos Dalaras, singer

“Hermoupolis is a wondrous place. When gazing on an old, stately mansion in Hermoupolis, the first thing that comes to mind is the celebrations and happy times experienced in there by the person who built it. You look at the abandoned factories and the city’s founding fathers’ spirit of entrepreneurship springs to mind. Those things are living cells, witnesses to entire lifetimes.”

Giorgos Evripiotis, architect

“My love for Syros doesn’t stem from my family ties there. I absolutely worship it because it’s got beauty that is solidly packed”

Manolis Mitsias, singer

“Milan may be fabulous, but paradise is definitely right here on Syros”

Efi Anastasopoulou, model

“I look on Syros people as if they were my compatriots! I’m part of this land. I wandered around it and learned some of its secrets, the place’s sweetness has grown on me, and that’s what I keep from Syros: its sweetness!”

Alexander Payne, script writer, Oscar-nominated director

“There’s this heavenly serenity about Syros, this tranquility. Everywhere you turn you spot its nobility. And that nobility emanates not only from its squares and alleys, but from its people, too. It’s my second homeland”

Maria Bekatorou, television presenter

«Syros is a significant hub of creative expression. That’s why all painters want their resume to cite at least one exhibition held in Hermoupolis”

Michalis Makroulakis, painter

“Syros is a different kind of island, it’s a metropolis. It isn’t an island that tosses a plateful of salad on your table and off you go, it isn’t random! It’s got spellbinding beauty”

Lambis Tagmatarchis, journalist

“Syra isn’t just a gorgeous island. It’s a pioneer in the cultural movement and traffic around the Cyclades. It’s inspired my love for culture!”

Katerina Maragkou, actress

“Syra is always bewitching and always charged with a sense of culture and tradition. Few are the places around Greece that have such grace and such stateliness”

Ilias Andriopoulos, composer

“In my opinion, the rest of Greece should be just like Syros”

Iris Ksyla Ksanalatou, engraver

“Ano Syros is pure magic! It’s like it’s suspended in mid-air”

Stelios Mainas, actor

“Whenever I’ve got even one and a half days off, I bolt for the island. I want to live here. My future is in Syra”

Giorgos Printezis, international basketball player