Ano Meriá (Stavrós) - Agios Geórgios - Agia Paraskeví - Stavrós - Chóra

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. 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 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.
The descending rocky trail turns into a flat gravel road after a while; it continues between walls – sometimes you also notice green or red dots. After 5-6 minutes you get to a slope, where the path becomes vaguer. The direction is still obvious, though, because you have to get to the road running in the direction of some white buildings. There are many cairns and also the dots and the traces of donkey manure help you to find the right way. You keep approaching the wall on your left-hand side and in this way you arrive at a beautiful and flat path in a passage between two walls.

(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.  

(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)