Estimated time: It takes about 40 minutes (AWT) to hike to the top of the Fanári-mountain, then one hour to the bifurcation of the path to Moní and finally 45 minutes to reach Chalkí. This makes for a total of 2h25 of actual hiking time, which means, in reality, that you should devote about four-five hours to this hike. From Chóra you can catch the bus at 9.30am; you will then arrive in Apíranthos at 10.45am. Taking a fairly long break on top of the mountain and having a picnic somewhere on the way down, means that you can perhaps make it back to Chalkí before the 4h45 bus passes. Eventually, you will have to return by taxi to Chóra...

Route description: Do not get off at the first bus stops in Apíranthos, but wait until the bus reaches the furthest part of the village, after having described a large bend. On the left you will see the church Kímissis tis Theotókou and on your right-hand side there is a large war monument. From this bus stop you enter the village, where you can first wander around for about one hour.

You first get to a rectangular square with the shop of "The Aperinthian women’s association" (where they sell all kinds of different textile), with some fancy bars and with the workshop "Apiranthos Art". The square leads to a beautiful street, paved with marble tiles: to the left there is the café Samarádiko with a great outdoor terrace; you also pass the tiny little church of Agios Sardónis. A little further down you get to the archaeological museum that was established by Michaïl Bardáni: to be seen in this museum are a lot of small Cycladic statues, a clay vase from the 3^rd millennium BC, a geometric tripodos from the 8^th century, some prehistoric stone tools, bronze arrowheads, etc.

The platía of Apíranthos.

You then reach a small platía with beautiful houses from 1846 and 1897. Above these houses you find the folk museum, consisting of three rooms of a not too old house: in the living room, the kitchen and the bedroom you can see all kinds of traditional objects and tools. If you want to, you can then continue to walk in the street for a little while, whereupon you should return to your point of departure. If you follow the asphalt road further to the left for a short while, you can also pop into the museums of natural sciences and geology

(0h00) You begin this walk on the square, opposite the church of Kímissi tis Theotókou (so to the right, if you come from the asphalt road), and you thus take  the marble staircase. After 42 steps you go RIGHT - with a kamára (or archway) on the left side - and then you take a left (2 X red mark). After another 73 steps, you follow a flat street, you turn right and further you go to the left, near a power pole. A little later, you turn right, then you go straight; after a right turn, there is again a flat stretch and finally, you go up and to the left again.

(0h05) You thus reach a small concrete road: you are here in the northwest tip of the village, with on the left the church of Agia Paraskeví with its white dome.

Above Apíranthos, the little church of Agia Paraskeví.

You follow across another small concrete road, which rises to the right of the ruins of a mill; the road turns right until you pass a large cistern after some 200 metres. At this point the path bends to the left sharply and it goes up (note the red arrows and dot). A little later, you go right through a breach in a wall. Later, the trail winds and describes 4 times turns right and left. The retaining walls of the monopáti are still clearly visible, but also the red dots are convenient. The path goes up fairly steeply and behind you, you can see that Apíranthos is quite extensive – it also appears to consist of two parts. Beyond the village, towards the south east, you have a great view on the island of Donoússa (on the far left), the island of Amorgós and behind the hill the other small islands or “eremonisiá” (the little islands between Náxos and Amorgós).

Panoramic view over Apíranthos.

(0h17) After climbing up steeply for about six minutes you go through another breach in an wall; the trail then continues in between walls. You now walk again on a marvellous stone monopáti, that climbs gently on the almost white slope of the Fanári - further, there are also beautiful steps, then you come again between quite abundant vegetation (two cairns).

Het pad naar de Fanári.

De top van de Fanári.

(0h24) A little under ten minutes after the breach, you get to a clear junction: a red arrow directs you to the right sharply, at an altitude of 750 metres. Further on you arrive at a gravel road, which you follow to the right. Two-three minutes later though, you arrive at a sort of pass between the top of the Fanari and a lower summit on your right.

(0h30) You take the path that goes up to the left towards the wall and the chapel on the top of the Fanári. This is a beautiful climb,  the last minutes on a staircase with 70 heavy steps. On the right, on the lowest summit, you find the small church, with a picnic table; the left-hand top is another ten metres higher. (0h39)

(0h58) Some minutes later you get to a wonderful descent, on a meandering rocky trail and amidst an impressive landscape. On the right you see the steep cliff of the Fanári, in front of you there is the marvellous valley with the villages of Moní and Chalkí (invisible on the left). At first the landscape is very rocky, later on you get to fields with olive trees. This might be a good spot to have a picnic: if you are lucky you can even see eagles circling high up in the air. You can also try to figure out the details of the landscape in front of you: on the left-hand side of Moní you can distinguish Drosianí; on the right of Rachídi you can discern the basilica of Agios Isidóros; and deep underneath you can see the trail in between the walls you will follow later on. 

The monopáti that meanders downhill from the Fanári-mountain.

Next, you get to another great descent on a meandering trail; you go down steeply in this grand landscape! After going down for about fifteen minutes, guided by red dots and arrows, you get against a wall. You take a right for a short while and you then go left in between the walls. You walk over a large, rocky stretch, where water might be flowing sometimes. After some four minutes you keep to the right again and you thus get to a real bed of a river, in between oleanders.

(1h25) You continue to follow this bed, strewn with large rocks, for about 200 metres; you stay on the right hand side of some fields with lots of “machaires”-flowers (machairi = knife). At the point where the bed narrows, you go up towards the right on a fairly rocky terrain (there is also a red arrow). A little further down you take a left again in between walls (another red arrow) – this is the rocky terrain you saw from high up, some minutes ago.

You now get to a pleasant earth trail, which runs between stables and flocks of goat; above the valley with olive trees this trail describes a large bend to the left. Some seven minutes later you reach a couple of small fields, but the red dots (even on trees) do a good job in showing you the right way.

Un regard en arrière sur la terrasse avec les oliviers, juste avant de quitter la promenade vers Moní.

After ten minutes all together you get to a cart track or a road, that comes from the right.