Ano Meriá (Stavrós) - Agios Geórgios - Agia Paraskeví - Stavrós - Chóra |
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| Evaluation:
There are several ways to return from Ano Meriá to Chóra on foot:
besides the long hike via Livadáki and Angáli, there is also the
shorter hike from Stavrós, which is described here. This hike is really
useful if you have taken the bus to Ano Meriá in the morning and if you
have then descended to one of the beaches; afterwards you can return to
Chóra on foot, leaving from Stavrós. The trails are marvellous and
this trip thus gets an evaluation of ***. Estimated time:
It will cost you about 50 minutes to reach the hamlet with the palm
trees of Agios Geórgios (Giorgi t'Aga) and then another hour to Chóra.
The total actual walking time is 1h50, which refers to a hike of some 3
1/2 hours. Route
description:
[If you have first visited one of the beaches in the northwestern part
of Folégandros (Ambéli, Agios Geórgios or Serfiótiko), you have to
walk back along the asphalt road for a short while – until you arrive
at the ruins of the mills of Stavrós: from the starting point ( also
the end point) of the descent to Ambéli this will take about 26
minutes; from Agios Andréas (where the descents to Agios Geórgios and
Serfiótiko end up) it will only cost you 13 minutes...] (0h00) You
find the starting point of this hike near the little church of Stavrós,
some 3 minutes past the large church with the blue dome of Agios Geórgios
(when coming from the farthest point of Ano Meriá); it can easily be
recognised by the two ruins of mills.
The ruins of the mills, with the little church of Stavrós. Over there you take the little concrete road off the right, which goes down and which soon becomes a gravel road. After 6 minutes, on your right-hand side, you notice a lot of terraces that are still being cultivated; further down, also on the right, you pass a beautiful trail which descends into the valley. You stay on the gravel road and after 3 minutes this road reaches a kind of pass between low hills. The meandering gravel road descends at first and then it goes up again. In this way you get close to a beautiful farm on a hill on your right – this hill dominates the valley, located on its right-hand side and running to Livadáki.
The hill with a farm, on the right of the path. The road turns to
the right and a little further down it splits up. You take a RIGHT, but
you have to watch out now: a little later, before the gravel road curves
to the right, towards the farm, you find a vague, reddish brown path on
the left. It moves away from the road and it is indicated by means of a
cairn. (0h15) After
3 minutes you
notice a much clearer trail, running straight ahead between walls. You
DO NOT take this attractive path; later on it will continue in the
direction of Livadáki. Instead, you take a LEFT, on the left of a
little stable with a grey, flat roof. By
keeping to the left you thus find another, really nice trail between
walls. In front of you, in the direction of Angáli, you can distinguish
the entire continuation of your trail. |
(0h24)
Some
1-2 minutes
later you DO NOT descend on the right, but you curve to the left. You
thus find another nice path which goes down between walls. You now have
a great view on the bay of Agios Nikólaos and after a quick descent of
some 9 minutes all together you reach the bed of the valley going to the
bay of Agios Nikólaos. (0h33) Your
path keeps going straight ahead, between walls and it then goes up
rapidly again on a rocky slope between walls. After a little over 3
minutes you arrive at a stable surrounded by cacti. The following part
is nice and flat; a short while later you keep to the left – the trail
on the right is another trail going to the valley of Agios Nikólaos.
You now walk on a nice gravel path – with a beautiful view all the
time - for quite a while. Some 13 minutes after the bed you pass a trail
off the left and a little further there is another path on the left –
this is the trail to Theológos. You proceed straight ahead, though, and
in this way you easily get to the stables, the house and the palm tree
of the hamlet of Agios Geórgios (Giorgi t' Aga). (0h48) The
continuation is really unambiguous: a rocky descent of some 5 minutes, at the crossing you go straight
ahead and then you follow a gravel path for another 6 minutes.
Thereafter you go down to the road to Angáli, but before descending you
can clearly see the continuation of the trail on the other slope. (0h59) At the concrete road (to the right it descends to the beach of Angáli) you continue on the concrete slope straight across and in the curve you take the path straight on: this is first a beautiful, ancient stone staircase and then it becomes a stony trail. After about 5 minutes you describe a sharp turn to the left and you keep going up. You get to a steep climb and thereafter the trail becomes flatter with on the right a beautiful view on the bay of Angáli. Quite rapidly you see the main road in front of you and further on also the church of Panagía. A couple of minutes later you can clamber onto the road, via a slope with debris. (1h18) You
take a LEFT for a short while, past the chapel of Agia
Paraskeví, and then you follow the little road on the right (signpost
Voriná). When following this beautiful trail you pass two trails off
the left; you keep to the right all the time and you go up in the
direction of the mills.
Your way back, in the direction of the mills... (1h26) You
arrive at a gravel road and you follow this road past the mills. Further
on you keep to the right and after some 5 minutes you thus get to the asphalt road, where you take a left of
course. (1h36) You pass next to the chapel of Stavrós and after 5 minutes of asphalt you take the gravel road off the left. After 3 minutes this road runs to a dead end and it turns into a nice trail. A little bit further you go up on the right, following a staircase alongside a large wall. Some 3 minutes later you pass the gravel road on the right, but then you DO NOT take the trail going down on the left (this trail keeps going down and by a roundabout route it also gets to Chóra). You take a shorter route, however, going up and straight ahead. Via a staircase and a concrete slope you thus reach a small square, near a bakery and the restaurant "To Spitikó". You go right and in this way you get to the other little squares of Chóra. (1h50)
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