Apollonía - Artemónas - Agios Simeoón - Kamáres

Evaluation: Again a marvellous hike on this island of Sífnos, which really has a lot to offer! The route is very easy to find, thanks to the signs that lead the pilgrims to the monastery. The view is extraordinary and from the Agios Simeoón you can also reach the Profítis Ilías Troulakíou without too many efforts. To go back you can follow some trails, or you can take the not very attractive gravel road to Kamáres. The beach of Kamáres makes for some great swimming, but another possibility is to return by taking the same trail back to Artemónas. This hike definitely deserves an evaluation of ***, if you choose to return by the paths.
[Update by Raymond on April the 5th, 2012.]

Estimated time: The walking time (AWT) from Apollonía, via Artemónas to the summit of the Agios Simeoón is about 1h55. Returning to Kamáres takes about 1h50. The entire hike thus takes about 3h45 (AWT).
But, if you want to spend some time at an outdoor café on the platia of Artemónas, if you want to relax for a while on top of the Agios Simeoón, and if you also want to have a swim in Kamáres, you better devote a full day to this hike.

Route description: [ If you did already hike from Apollonía to Artemónas, you can continue to the platía of Artemónas by bus. Today, though, we will leave from the platía of Apollonía.]

(0h00) In between the shop Tésseris Epochés and the bar Lákis you take the pedestrian road, which goes up like a staircase. You pass a couple of streets off the right and the left and you continue in the direction of a white dome. Do not forget, however, to visit the 18^th century Panagía Ouranofóra, after about one minute, on the right of the street. This is a beautiful church with a very picturesque courtyard. 
You then go back to the main street, which you follow till you reach the white church after some minutes. The street continues to go straight and up, past hotel Petali, until the main church of Páno Petáli with a blue dome. Past the mitrópoli you descend until you almost get to the road and then it goes up again. In this way, you enter the village of Artemónas, with its beautiful, majestic houses. At the Platía Chrysogélou (with a bust) you keep to the left and you continue to go up. You will then get to the Platía Artemónas, about ten minutes after your departure. The bus stop is close to this square.

(0h15) You leave the platía on the left of café Margarita; you walk past the beautiful school and past two nice villas, in the direction of the highest windmill. After the two villas you have to take a left, past the really wonderful church of Panagía tis Ammou (have a look at the great interior!). You are now walking in the direction of the Panagia Kóchi with a blue dome. Next to this church, you have to go right for another twenty metres, and then you take the Odos Grypári off the left. Following this street you take the second street on the right, just before two palm trees and a little church with another blue dome. This paved, and later on cemented street leads you in between the last houses until it curves to the right at a dark wall. A little further on you will see the first metal sign to Agios Simeoón; by following this sign you have to go straight. You have now been hiking for about 10 minutes after you have left the platia of Artemónas.

(0h24) You first walk for a few hundreds of metres on a concrete path and then you take a left. The next ten minutes you walk on a beautiful path in between fairly high walls, in western or northwestern direction. This path is usually tiled and sometimes there are steps. It is easy to follow this trail because of the signposts. Some ten minutes later you get to a kind of platform and for a couple of hundred metres the path becomes a broad, sandy road, on the left hand side of a wall. In front of you, from the left to the right, you can admire the Profítis Ilías, the two monasteries above the bay of Kamáres (with the Agios Simeoón on the right), and two other monasteries on hilltops even further away.

(0h36) After a few hundreds of metres you go left again, following the sign. For the first time you now go straight towards the Agios Simeoón. Later on you descend, in front of the beautiful church of Agios Dimítrios. Five minutes later you can take a right for a quick visit of this church. This is a very peaceful spot, with a well covered by a stone; there is even a little bucket with a chain to draw water. 

[From here you also have a marvellous view on the Panagía ta Mángana, a church you can reach by continuing on the gravel road you have been following for some hundreds of metres just a moment ago – see the hike Artemónas - Panagía ta Mángana - Pouláti - Kástro].

(0h43) After Agios Dimítrios you descend into a valley and you go up again by taking a path that at first is paved and later on rather stony – note the beautiful terraces on the left!  About five minutes past Agios Dimítrios you have to watch out: you DO NOT take a right to go up, but you follow the trail in the direction of your goal, going down slightly. Another five minutes later you go into the next valley via a beautiful staircase - on the opposite side you can see the stairs going up again! A little later, you follow a path that continues rather horizontally; afterwards, you start a gradual descent, often on big flat stones.

(1h00) Just before you get to the bottom of the valley you will find a well, but unfortunately the well has dried up - this is Tris Pigés. Here, you have to take a left to go further down. A little later, there is a signpost, which points to the right. You follow the stony bed of the valley for some 3 minutes, and then you have to climb up to the left, leaving the bed behind (there is another sign). You are now following another very beautiful staircase – a modern water tank is to be seen on the right. For the next 25 minutes you have to go up continuously, via a staircase of about 330 steps, with a couple of concrete strips. In this way you get to a rocky plateau: to the left there is a smoking rubbish dump on the place of the old silver mine of Vorini – the red colour on the final part of the trail already indicated the presence of ore. In front of you and much closer now, you see the monastery and the aerials on the Agios Simeoón.

(1h25) On the right of the modern asphalt road that comes from Kamáres, you can now follow a path for a little while. Very soon, though, this path disappears under the recently constructed road. During the next half hour you will take this road and the ancient path alternately. For the first ten minutes, though, you have to follow the road – sometimes you can see traces of the path, and at a certain point there is even an old signpost on the left. 

(1h38) Some fifty metres past a white closet, at a bend to the right and next to a big cistern, you can follow to the left a gravel road: a little further, you can see the old staircase, going up to the right - in the beginning, it is a little overgrown. After a while you will again get to the road. However, some 50 metres further you can leave the road again by climbing up the steep side of the road – not without difficulty. You can climb further up along the path, more or less guided by little cairns to show the way. By doing this you will cut off another large curve in the road; when you reach the road again you are already very close to the aerials. You cross the road, you follow the ancient path again, and you then cross the road for the last time. DO NOT follow the road at this point, since approaching the monastery via the ancient staircase is really worthwhile. (1h56)

The monastery, the church as well as the dining hall, is open to the public, and in the well you can find some refreshing water. The panoramic view, at an altitude of 476 metres, is absolutely magnificent. You can see the bay of Kamáres, the island of Sérifos (with even the town of Chóra on a clear day), and the monastery on the next hilltop, the Profítis Ilías Troulakíou. This is a great spot to have a picnic.

[In order to hike to the other monastery, you can climb down on the northwestern side of the Agios Simeoón, until you get to a curve in the road. This fairly difficult climb down takes about ten minutes. Of course, you can also just follow the regular path going down and then take a left at the road (keep to the left at the junction, obviously), until you get to the same curve.  
From the curve – you could already distinguish this trail from the top of the Agios Simeoón – you can take a path going up, and after some ten minutes you will be able to see the second monastery. Keep an eye on the path on the opposite side before you dive into the bushes, first going down and then up again – this will make it much easier to find the right direction. The final part consists of another staircase, painted in white and with over 200 steps. These stairs have been constructed in 1965 and they make again for some great panoramas.
On the way back you follow the same road until you reach the bend (10 minutes) and then you continue along the gravel road. If you would like to go down the trail to Agios Lázaros, you have to go up on the right at the junction to the Agios Simeoón; after a steep stretch of about 5-6 minutes, on a concrete road, you notice in a bend to the right the old trail coming from the left – this is the trail you followed when going up earlier today. You thus take this path, going down on the left – see later for the continuation.]

(1h56) For the return route from the Agios Simeoón, you have to return by following the same road as a few minutes ago - during about 8 minutes you take the old trail, three times interrupted by the road:
- 1 minute going down along the staircase and then, at the road, continuing straight ahead
- after another 3 minutes you get to the road again, near a little shed – not without difficulties you continue past the bend, on the trail straight ahead (note the dot and the cairn)
- 4 minutes later you climb down to the road again; you follow the hairpin bend of the road and you then continue on the ancient trail off the right (note the orange dot).

[This is also the place where you arrive if you have first visited the Profítis Ilías Troulakíou.]

(2h12) You have to watch out now: after exactly 2 minutes on the trail and the beautiful old staircase you get to a place where the staircase bends to the left – you are about 30 m away from the wall in front of you. Over here, you find a path off the right: it runs between the green bushes, straight in the direction of the far away Profítis Ilías. This is the old, a little neglected trail to Agios Lázaros: this trail might be difficult for people who suffer from a fear of heights, because the depths on the right will be rather steep. But in any case, this is a far better alternative than following the trail straight ahead, which will bring you to the monotonous gravel road – not a very attractive way to go down!

[If you would still prefer not to take this path, you have to go straight ahead; after a couple of minutes you then reach the gravel road, which you follow for about 10 minutes. When you get to the Voríni-mine you have to choose: you can either take the gravel road to the right, going to Kamáres (which takes about one hour), or you can follow the same attractive trail back to Artemónas as you took on the way out, see also the second part of the hike Apollonía - Agios Simeoón.]

First, you walk in the direction of the corner of a wall with a goat shed; later on you go more to the right and then to the left again – but you are well guided by the blue and sometimes orange dots. You descend now quickly between the bushes – the ravine on your right, to the valley of Kamáres, is really impressive. 

(2h22) After some 10 minutes going down rapidly, you can take a left at the blue arrow and dot. When you reach a wall you have to go right and you then descend for about 7-8 minutes on the right-hand side of that wall. You continue to follow this wall and the orange dots, also when the wall bends to the left after some 8 minutes. Two minutes further down – you have been following this trail for 19-20 minutes now – you do move away from the wall. You still descend in the direction of the far away hill + aerials (on the left of Apollonía). You get to another corner of a wall and you continue to follow the wall with a metal fence on top of it – later on it becomes a regular wall, now leading more in the direction of Apollonía.
You go down along the wall until you reach a metal fence – some 26-27 minutes after the beginning of the trail. You go through this fence and you continue on a fairly stony trail between one crumbled away and one tall wall and ... after 2 minutes you get to a bend in the asphalt road. You go down on the right and after a couple of minutes you get to a farm (underneath the church of Agios Lázaros). 

[The road describes a bend to the right – you can also see the two stone towers, remnants of a station of the old cable car which was used for the mine exploitation of the Voríni-mine. The asphalt road on the right actually follows the line of the old railway which came here all the way from the harbour of Kamáres (in the years 1900-1920)! 
Over here you can decide to take the slightly shorter, but monotonous road on the right, straight to Kamáres - this will take about 45 minutes, while the trajectory via the trails takes some 55 minutes...]

(2h52) To orient yourself in the bend underneath Agios Lázaros: the small road in front of you runs almost straight ahead to Agios Lázaros and on the left of this road there is a trail that goes back to Artemónas – see the hike Apollonía - Artemónas. Today, though, you go down on the right, following a small gravel road. About 10 metres further down, on the right of a metal gate (+ orange dot), you find the beginning of a concrete staircase, which becomes a path later on. At first, this path is slightly overgrown, but it is still recognizable and it bends to the left. 
After 5 minutes you descend into a small valley and then the trail continues more or less horizontally. You go down a little steeper, followed by a flatter part again. You walk above a field with olive trees and on the opposite side of the large valley you notice the road Kamáres-Apollonía. You descend even further on a zigzagging staircase; you bend to the right and you continue horizontally, now approximately at the same height as the large road on the opposite side. Underneath, you can see rests of the dam that once flooded part of this valley, but which was broken before it had even been used.
Fifteen minutes after your departure from Agios Lázaros you go down steeply and you reach the sandy bottom of a small river.  

[Straight ahead and slightly to the left, but on the right-hand side of the rock with the largest of three cairns, you find the beginning of a beautiful rock staircase. This staircase could also lead you to Apollonía – see the hike Kamáres - Apollonía.]

(3h14) You now follow the road at the left side of the valley; a little further you go slightly up and at the level of the broken dam you go down on the right until you get to the bed of the river. After 6-7 minutes you continue on the gravel road, which comes from the bed of the river on the left. You follow this gravel road for some 20 minutes, all the time on the left-hand side of bed of the river. You take a right at the junction and some 2 minutes later you reach a trail, running on the left of some fields with vegetables and grapes. Another 4 minutes later the trail becomes a gravel road and after 4 more minutes you get to the asphalt road to Agia Marína. You continue straight ahead and after two minutes you walk through the dunes and you reach the beach of Kamáres, on the right of a field with reeds and some palm trees. (3h47)