Apollonia - Agios Elefthérios - Panagía Tóso Neró - Vlási and back

Evaluation: This hike to Panagía Tóso Neró is really a unique one! It leads to a part of Sífnos where there are very few trails and where you probably have not been yet. You will discover a wild landscape with a great panorama on Kamáres and on the other side of the valley. There is an opportunity to have a swim on the rocky beach of Vlási, just under Panagía Tóso Neró. And…everywhere you come it is wonderfully calm. This hike is a real must and therefore we give it an evaluation of * ***.
[Update by Raymond on April the 8th, 2012.]

Estimated time: This is a fairly long hike, you have to consider 2h15 (actual hiking time) each way (each 6,06 km long). But you have to spend enough time in the two monasteries and you can picnic for about one hour at Panagía Tóso Neró. If you go down to have a swim at the beach of Vlási (do not forget that you also have to climb back up, a difference in altitude of 400 metres!), this hike will turn out to be a full day trip.

Route description:  [Just a few years ago, the beginning of the hike was not that pleasant - you had for example to follow during 20 minutes the gravel road which curves around the valley in which Theológos tou Mongoú is situated. Since 2011 however, there is a new and well marked path - it is not (yet) on the maps of Anávasi and Terrain Maps.]

(0h00) Starting from the platía of Apollonía (where the bus stops), you have to return on the asphalt road towards Kamáres during 2 minutes; just opposite the parking lot, there is a staircase on your left side (hiking sings Agios Elefthérios/Panagía Tóso Neró and (=)). Almost immediately, a paved path goes right (=) and after a little less than 2 minutes, you keep to the right again, next to a concrete staircase. You follow now a nice path between walls (=) that runs straight to Agios Elefthérios. A little bit later, you go down to the right and via some steps you get to the bypass (=).

(0h06) You cross this road and next to a kind of sewage pipe you keep on going down into a little valley (=). From the rocky river bed gorge you go up again, between walls (blue dot adn a ]6] a little bit further), and then you follow a grassy path.

(0h12) You arrive, at the left of the church of Agia Varvára and the graveyard, to a gravel road, which you follow to the left (=). This road runs in a wide curve around the valley in which Theológos tou Mongoú is situated  - this is the road you had in former times to follow during 20 minutes.
But pay attention: after a turn to the right and before a slight turn to the left, you can follow on the RIGHT side a little road which turns into a path that continues between low walls, to the left of a field with olive trees (=). You go down in a valley and go up again; you continue again next to olive trees, on a narrow and steep path. It is overgrown here and there, but you get without problems to the gravel road - you follow it up to the right (=). 
Do NOT go left to early (there is a little road, then a path), but stay on the gravel road until it turns into concrete, just next to the barrier with behind it the monastery of Theológos tou Mongoú.

(0h26) For a short while you follow a little road on the left, in the direction of Agios Elefthérios (there is a sign and a (=)). After a bend to the left, you will see the beginning of a monopáti to the right of the road. This path goes straight to the monastery higher upwards, with next to it a huge radar reflector. The beautiful, rocky trail continues rather flatly for about five minutes, alongside some fields with olive trees - the subsoil is calcareous and you can find here some orchids (8th of April 2012). After 6 minutes, you start to climb rather steeply, following some 150 steps and some pieces of concrete or rock. When you get to the top of the hill, after about five minutes, you have a marvellous panorama: Agios Elefthérios is already much closer, high to the left you see the fortress of the Profítis Ilías and behind you you have a great view on Artemónas and Apollonía, all the way to the sea.

(0h42) The trail then continues flatly, in between rocks – you should definitely try the echo! -, you pass through a metal gate, and after a turn to the left, the path goes up again steeply over a lot of steps (these steps have been renewed in 1997 and you start wondering who is doing all this work). A little further you walk between dense shrubs of juniperus until you reach the modest buildings of Agios Elefthérios already after 20 minutes. (0h54)

The well is almost dried up, there are only a few names in the guestbook and there is a lot of peace and silence on this isolated location, at an altitude of about 325 metres. It is almost unbelievable that you have left Theológos tou Mongoú only half an hour ago.

(0h54) Your trail now goes to the right, before the buildings, towards the radar reflector. Before you get to the reflector the path bends to the left, in northwestern direction. It is now an easy stroll over a rather flat path which sometimes goes up slightly. You have a beautiful view on the opposite side of the valley towards Kamáres: you can distinguish the two “guards” of the bay, Agios Simeoón and Profítis Iliís Troulakioú, the (smoking) mine of Vorini and the road zigzaging down from this mine to Kamáres. Also on your side of the hill you will see remnants of mine exploitation. 
After about 15 minutes, you pass the path that descends to the right to Kamáres, at the left side of a big water tank (hiking picket [6] and [6a] Kamáres 1 hour / 2,5 km, Tóso Neró 1h05 / 2,6 km and Apollonía 1h40 / 2,5 km)  - this path was totally cleared in 2011, see the walk Kamáres - Panagía Tóso Neró - Vlási and back).
After some 20 minutes the trail goes up again and in this way you will gradually get a nice view on the bay of Kamáres and then on the houses of Agia Marína, the port of Kamáres itself and the beach – 25 minutes after Agios Elefthérios.

After some 20 minutes the trail goes up again and in this way you will gradually get a nice view on the bay of Kamáres and then on the houses of Agia Marína, the port of Kamáres itself and the beach – 25 minutes after Agios Elefthérios. A couple of minutes later on, when the port starts to disappear behind a rock, the trail goes up again on the rocky slope. Some five minutes after you have had the nicest view on Kamáres you will easily reach a stony pass, to the left of a big rock Kamáres disappears and in front of you you will discern another coast line, the sea and the islands of Kímolos and Mílos. You are now at an altitude of 410 metres and the wind can blow here very fiercely.

(1h24) The path now zigzags down again. You will see goats once in a while and you will get a beautiful view on Panagía Tóso Neró and the coast line. The trail now descends much faster and you have to be careful not to slip on the rocky trail. Some 30 minutes after the pass you will reach the fairly big monastery, still at an altitude of 150 metres: there is a draw-well (but no bucket), there is a kitchen with cutlery and a fridge, a large dining room, four beds and a church – there is even a bathroom.  Everything seems to wait for a large group of pilgrims, but at the moment there is only peace and quiet.   

(1h54) There is a path descending further towards the coast and to the bay of Vlási, where you can have a swim.
At first the steps go down straight towards the south. After five minutes of descending steeply and immediately past a huge, jagged, brown rock you get to another trail: you have to go to the right, further down to the sea. You then continue to descend for another 15 minutes; the last couple of minutes you take a zigzaging flight of stone steps (176 steps), which begins immediately to the left of a valley full of  oleanders – they are magnificent  in the flowering season! In this way you will reach the idyllic little beach of Vlási, where the crystal clear water invites you to swim.

(2h14) The way back will be easy to find, because it follows exactly the same paths: first you have to climb up for 20 minutes till you get to Tóso Neró (do not forget to go up to the left at the junction past the passage between two trees and underneath the brown rock - there is a big stone with a red dot in the middle of split up). Then you have to climb up for another 40 minutes till you get to the pass, and another 35 minutes to Agios Elefthérios.

(3h49) During the descent from Agios Elefthérios (=) you first descend some 270 big or little steps; after a stretch that continues almost flatly, you pass through the gate and turn to the right; you descend some more steps, and then your monopáti continues in a idyllic landscape.

(4h12) You get to the little road where you go to the left of course; you arrive at the gravel road with the gate of Theológos tou Mongoú in front of you, and you take a right (=). You go up for some minutes, but you descend only 50 metres, because then you need to follow the narrow path on the LEFT (=). You descend in the little valley and go up again, between some nice olive-trees.

(4h23) You arrive again at the gravel road where you go left for 3 minutes; just before the graveyard and Agia Varvára, the path starts again, on the right side and next to a wall (=). You again go down in a little valley and you go up on a concrete staircase (=). You pass on the left side of a house and you get to the bypass. A staircase continues just opposite (=); you keep to the left on the nice path between walls, you go left after a few minutes and at the end of the path, you go left again, on some paved steps. You get to the asphalt road - the platía of Apollonía (with the bus stop) is only 2 minutes to the right. (4h36)