Apollonía - Artemónas - Kástro - Fáros - Chryssopigí - Platýs Gialós

Evaluation: This wonderful hike combines a number of highlights of the island of Sífnos, an island with a lot of attractive aspects: the grand houses of Artemónas, the magnificent spot of Panagía Pouláti, the nice little streets of Kástro, the small harbour of Fáros, the wonderfully situated monastery of Chryssopigí and the beautiful beach of Platýs Gialós. This hike is thus ideal for people who do not have a lot of time to explore Sífnos. Also, the trails, among which the descent to Panagía Pouláti and the great path between Kástro and Fáros, belong to the most beautiful of the island. This hike thus deserves the maximum evaluation of ****.

Estimated time: Walking the pedestrian street from Apollonía to Artemónas will only cost you about 10 minutes and from there to the Panagía Pouláti takes about half an hour. The trail along the rocky coast to Kástro takes another 20 minutes – in Kástro you should obviously spend some time visiting the village – also having lunch in the café-restaurant Astéri is very pleasant.
The trip to Fáros takes about 1h20, with two marvellous trajectories. And finally it will cost you another 20 minutes to the monastery of Chryssopigí and from there good half an hour to Platýs Gialós. The actual walking time is thus 3h10, but with a visit to Kástro and – why not? – a wonderful swim at the rocks of Dialiskári, underneath Panagía Pouláti included, this becomes a long, but marvellous hiking day of some 7 hours. We hiked from 11am to 6.30pm.  

Route description: If you have already covered the walk from Apollonía to Artemónas, you can continue by bus to the platía of Artemónas. Today, we leave from the platía of Apollonia.

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 Petáli, until the main church of Artemónas 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 a little further to the right.

[If you have a little bit of time, you can first go straight ahead, in order to get to know a couple of wonderful corners of Artemónas. You then have to continue on the left-hand side of the very pleasant café Margaríta, past the beautiful school, situated in a green garden, and past two magnificent mansions, in the direction of the highest windmill. Past the second mansion you take a left, you pass the very nice church of Panagía tis Ammou (with a marvellous interior!), in the direction of the Panagía Kóchi with the blue dome. At the Panagía Kóchi you can go back the way you came and at café Margaríta you take a left to the bus square and the asphalt road.]

In any case, you proceed in the direction of the bus stop, past the hotel Artemon, the pantopolío – where you might buy your supplies for the day – and Radio Sífnos. After 2-3 minutes you take the first concrete street on the left (hiking sign + [1]. The walk will be marked by [1] until Kástro.
You follow this street until you get to the lovely square of A. Verníkou. Just before the square you take the small street off the left and slightly further you take the first street on the right. In this way, you go down into a nice little valley alongside a small pine forest – which is rather unique on the Cycladic islands. You then follow the main street again, going up. At the corner of an old, tall wall, you take a small concrete street off the left. At this point, you should have a look around you: high in front of you are the mills and far away, above Apollonía you can see the monasteries of the Profítis Ilías and of Agios Andréas.
For a short while, the street is nicely paved, then it becomes a little sandy and after 1,5 minute you take the first path on the right (blue dot). After a couple of minutes this path gets to a restored mill with a blue roof. The trail now descends and you can already see the beautiful town of Kástro in front of you. In the sea you can distinguish Antíparos and Páros and more to the right Síkinos and Folégandros. After 2 more minutes you cross the asphalt road; straight across you find the ancient trail, which will go down gradually from now on.
After a little under 6 minutes you arrive at a junction, where you keep to the right (blue dot). A couple of minutes later, the blue dome of the Panagía Pouláti appears deep down in front of you - beyond, you notice the rocks of Dialiskári. Thereafter, you cross the dividing gravel road for the first time. On the opposite side, the old trail has disappeared and further down it is rather difficult to go down on a rocky trail – there is a low wall on your right-hand side. After a few more minutes you cross the gravel road again (dots) and some 2-3 minutes later you cross the road once more. All the way, you have a nice view on the church and the rocks in the sea. Slightly later, about half an hour after the platía of Artemónas, you arrive at the beautiful and peaceful monastery.

Further down, the sign "PARALIA" (beach) points to a staircase, which descends to the wonderful, rocky beach of Dialiskári – the staircase consists of 170 steps and all the way you walk alongside reed and streaming water (on the 4^th of June 2006). At the beach it is great to swim and dive for some a little while, provided that there is not too much wind. After this refreshing break you go back the way you came (up the staircase) and at the main trail you go left in the direction of Kástro.

You follow this beautiful monopáti, high above the rocky coast, for some 15-16 minutes, until you arrive above the water treatment station. You get to the gravel road for a short while, but very soon you can continue on the trail – as a result of the wet winters of the years 2003-2004 there are a couple of caving ins, however. After 19 minutes all together you reach the small asphalt road and 2 minutes later you get to the last mill on the main road. Almost immediately, you find the ancient entrance to the town of Kástro on the left. A little further, you can go left and thus make a circuit of the kástro, but you can also continue straight ahead to the centre of this ancient and truly beautiful little town – in this way you reach the restaurant Astéri or Star after about 4 minutes. On the terrace you can have a very nice lunch – you should try the 'pikilía' (some little snacks) with the tirokeftédes (cheese balls), the saganáki (fried cheese) and the melitzanosaláta (a salad of aubergines). While having lunch you can admire the landscape: on the right the mills of Artemónas, where you departed, above the low hill the summit of the Profítis Ilías, the blue dome of the church of Exámbela in the middle, then the top of Agios Andréas and in front of you the entire valley of Erkíes, with on its left-hand side the trail you will follow later today.

After lunch you can still stroll around the beautiful little streets of Kástro. Also the ring road is very interesting. You then return to the other entrance of Kástro, where you can find the parking place and the bus stop (at the nice bar To Konáki). Over here you take the modern staircase down (signpost "Serália"); after a few minutes you cross the asphalt road and straight ahead you continue going down. Some minutes later you get to a dry bed of a river, which you cross, with on the right a renovated farm. Straight across you find the beautiful old staircase, going up on the opposite slope.

For the next 10 minutes you climb continuously, but after 2 minutes already there is a trail off the left to Fáros (see the hike Fáros-Kástro); you take a right here and you now follow the left-hand side of the valley of Erkíes, going up all the time on the steep slope. On your right, on the opposite side of the valley, you notice a pigeon tower, then, there is a small white church. You thus go higher and higher for about 10 minutes, with a great view on Kástro behind you. The climb then gets a little less steep and Kástro disappears behind the side of the hill – you can now really enjoy the beautiful valley with lots of blooming oleanders (on the 4^th of June 2006). After about 13-14 minutes of climbing, you arrive at another junction: straight ahead, past a few vertical stones and on the right-hand side of a wall, there is a flat trail, continuing to Exámbela and Apollonía (red dot) – see the hike Kástro - Apollonía. Over here you go up on the left.

The nice path goes up quite steeply again; after 7 minutes you arrive at a small plateau where you can admire the magnificent view: on the left Agios Andréas with underneath the monastery of Vrísis, more to the right the Profítis Ilías with underneath Exámbela, further on the Agios Simeoón with underneath the village of Apollonía, then Káto Petáli and more to the right the mills of Artemónas, and all the way to the right the mills of Kástro. A great view on a large part of the island!

After 3 more minutes you get to a gravel road for a short while and you follow this road to the right. Some 100 metres further you find another trail on the left (2 purple dots). At the junction, a couple of minutes later on, you go right (again two purple dots) – the islands on the left are Antíparos/Páros, Síkinos and Folégandros. About 5 minutes later you get to a small gravel road, besides a house; you follow this road to the left and very soon it turns into concrete. After 3 more minutes you reach the asphalt road, next to the power station.

Unfortunately, you now have to follow this asphalt road to the left for about 13 minutes; after 12 minutes you pass a trail off the left - this trail leads to Kástro via a shorter route (opposite a cabin with a tap and a red fire plug). One minute further on you take the gravel road on the right (signpost to "Fotovoltaïc plant") and some 1-2 minutes later your path continues straight ahead.

You now keep going down: after 5-6 minutes you keep to the right, of course, and after another 2-3 minutes you reach a three-forked-junction; over here you take the gravel road straight ahead until you find a trail going straight ahead again, after about 10-15 metres – for a short while you can already see Chryssopigí deep underneath. Some 7 minutes later you get to the final descent, with Fáros and also Chryssopigí nicely situated in front of you. Slightly further you have to walk through a typical Greek gate and after a descent of 15 minutes all together you arrive at the church. You continue to go down and by keeping to the left you reach the small harbour and the first little beach of Fáros.

After a possible break in Fáros you traverse the cape beyond the first beach, on the left of the ouzéri O Fáros (signpost Glyfó) and you walk over the larger, second beach, with some small trees.  

On the other side of this beach, you find a staircase path, leading up, above the sea and round a cape – above the ruins of a loading quay. You then walk around a second cape, underneath the little chapel of Agios Charalámbos and a picturesque house with a tree – from this point you can make some marvellous pictures of the cape with Chryssopigí. You keep going down, through a wooden gate, until you reach the beach of Apokoftó.

This is a nice, sandy beach, with smooth rocks in the water, beautiful large trees and a very pleasant terrace of the restaurant To Apokoftó – it has now been 20 minutes since you left Fáros...
At the far end of the beach and on the right of the 2nd terrace, you follow the concrete road to Chryssopigí (this will cost you some 5 minutes): you obviously go down to admire this picturesque monastery. After your visit you take the concrete road inland, but after 10 metres already you find a staircase on the left. By means of some 250 steps, a few times interrupted by a paved stretch and a small road, this staircase brings you all the way up, to the main road to Platýs Gialós, next to the bus stop.

You follow the asphalt road to the left for about 2-3 minutes, until you get just before the road descending to Chryssopigí (there is also a signpost). At the – for the moment – first house on the right, there is a gravel road off the right and a little further this road turns into a trail. Maybe, this trail will become a gravel road in the near future, because after a couple of minutes already you get to some houses under construction. Some 4 minutes later you reach a small gravel road, indeed, which turns into concrete further on. But, when you arrive at the asphalt road, after 3 minutes, you seem to have cut off a large bend.

You cross the main road and straight across you go down a small concrete road, all the way along pretty fashionable hotels with swimming pools. After 4 more minutes you thus get to the least nice part of the beach of Platýs Gialós. The best thing to do is to walk to the right for a few more minutes: the pebbles will then become sand and there are also some tamarisks. You thus get to the jetty in concrete, and further down the one in wood – over here begins the nicest part of the beach and you can spend the rest of the day here, while waiting for the bus to go back.

[When walking to the asphalt road, situated a little inland, you arrive between the 3^rd (on the right) and the 4^th bus stop; a few more minutes to the left you find the terminus (the 5^th stop): over here there is a small road, leading to the camping on the right (this is the beginning of the hike to Vathý and Fikiáda – see the hike Platýs Gialós - Vathý), straight ahead you can go to the beautiful hotel Platýs Gialós.]