An English traveller wrote in the 19C that no view in the Cyclades was more magical than that of Serifos Chora, crowning a rocky spur over the sea. Since then, apart from the vestiges left by a century of mining, and the tourist facilities of the port and around, Serifos has barely changed. This steep, dry and rocky island is where Perseus - the mythological hero who cut off Medusa's head - grew up. With its austere beauty, it has an archetypal Cycladic appearance.