Apollonía - Vathý via the monastery of Agios Nikólaos T' Aeriná

 

Evaluation: This is a very nice variant of the hike from Apollonia to Vathý via the Kalamítsi-well. In this way you avoid the steep descend into the Kalamitsi-valley, you walk rather flatly with a marvellous view on the coast, and you also pass the picturesque monastery of Agios Nikolas T' Aerina – which makes for a great picnic spot! And at the end there is again the attractive beach of Vathý. This beautiful hike deserves the maximum evaluation of ****! 

Estimated time: it is a good idea to leave early, especially in summer time. If you add the three-hour-detour via the Profítis Ilías, you definitely have to leave at about 8-9 o’clock in the morning. The hike from Apollonia to Vathý (without the Profítis Ilías) takes about four hours, but it is nice to also have some time left on the beach.
From Vathý you can take the bus back to Apollonia (the bus departs a little inland; take one of the little roads leading inland from the beach). Do not forget to note down the bus schedule before leaving from Kamares!

Route description: The bus from Kamáres stops on the Platia Iroöon (the Square of Heroes), where you can relax for a while on a bench in the shade. On this square you will find the museum of folklore (closed on Sunday mornings), the war monument and the post office. The pedestrian street to Katavatí begins on the right of the square, in between the bar I Gonía and a pay phone. The pedestrian street to Artemónas begins in between the little store Tésseris Epochés and the bar Lákis.

Two hikes by themselves are to walk up and down from Apollonía to Katavatí and to Artemónas, while enjoying all of the beautiful churches and all of the picturesque spots. But in fact, you can as well explore these streets on the hikes from Apollonía to Vathý and to the Agios Simeoón.

So, for the trail to Agios Nikólaos T' Aeriná and Vathý you take the very picturesque street to Katavatí, in between the bar I Gonía and a pay phone. After some ten metres this street curves to the right and it continues past the beautiful churches of Stavrós and Taxiárchoon. About five minutes later you get to the Mitrópoli, the main church.

You then go straight, up the long staircase, and after another five minutes you get to the gymnásio, the secondary school. You continue up this street, you walk on the right hand side of a curve in the asphalt road for a couple of metres, going further towards Katavatí (sign-post). On the right you pass the street which leads to a church with a white dome and you walk past the hotel Galíni. You continue to go up slightly (you pass another path off the right) until you have passed another little white church with a white dome, the Panagía Angeloktisti – there is a beautiful sarcophagus in front of this church. The street goes further down for a little while, but then you have to take a street off the right with a sign-post to the Profítis Ilías – some fifteen minutes after your departure.

You then follow the broad concrete path. You pass a little concrete road on the left, an earth path again on the left, and a little further another earth path on the right. The trail then turns into a typical donkey path. It runs in between walls and after a couple of minutes it reaches the bypass around Apollonía. You cross this road, slightly going to the right, and there you will find the beautiful monopáti with a big sign the Profítis Ilías and Mávro Chorió. It has now been almost 20 minutes since you have left Apollonía.

You take this path, which first goes up along a marvellous paved staircase for about five minutes – you just have to ignore the little side roads. Afterwards, the trail continues rather flatly. After ten minutes you pass a path which goes up to the left to Agii Anárgyri, and after some fifteen minutes - you are already right into the magnificent interior Sífnos – you get to the path which goes up to the right towards the Profítis Ilías. At this point you cannot yet see the monastery on the top of the mountain.

[If you first want to climb all the way to this 681-metres high top, you will have to go up steeply along a zigzag trail. The monastery looks like a fortress and inside you will find an interesting church and an impressive dining hall. On the 18th and the 19th of July there is always a great festival on this location. From the summit you have a great panoramic view over the whole of the island.
It is possible to combine this hike to the Profítis Ilías (to go all the way up and back down you have to count about three hours) with the hike to Vathý. However, when the weather is really hot it makes much more sense to do this on a separate day. On the way back you can then also visit Agii Anárgyri - from there you have to go back the way you came, though. You can also continue a little further and then take the path to Agios Andréas – see further.]  

If you do not want to visit the Profítis Ilías, you go straight, towards the left, and the path then continues through a small gorge. After some three-four minutes you get to a kind of rocky plateau – in front of you you will see the corner of a wall. On the opposite hill you can distinguish the beautiful church of Agios Eustáthios. 

[At this point there is a path off the left towards the south; this is an opportunity to visit the interesting site of Agios Andréas and to return to Apollonía – in this way you get to the hike Apollonía - Agios Andréas .]

In order to go to Vathý, though, you have to follow the main path to the right. You keep thus to the right hand side of the wall and you go up slightly (you will find a sign and there is also an old indication for this hike: a red cross in a square with dotted lines). The trail is still very clear, it curves to the right, following the valley and very soon you will see some ruins and also the beautiful old church of Taxiárchis tis Skáfis in front of you.

Before the church you pass a little road off the left.  You then walk on the right hand side of a palm tree and you cannot help thinking: “Where does this tree come from?”. A staircase on the right leads towards the monastery. This is a very pleasant place to have some rest: the door is often open, there are some wall paintings behind the ikonóstasis, and there is a strong smell of incense.

The actual monopáti runs underneath the monastery and during the next 20 minutes it goes up gradually, sometimes like a staircase. Often, the path is narrow, in between a wall on the left and the rock on the right – in Summer time this is really a very hot spot! After some eight minutes you descend for a little while into a green valley, on the right hand side you have a nice view on the Profítis Ilías and the monastery. A little further, though, the trail goes up again steeply. Twenty minutes after Taxiárchis you will thus get to a platform with a lot of bushes. Just before this platform there is even some shade underneath a couple of trees – you better take advantage of this!

Immediately after you get to the end of the wall and on the open platform, there is a junction: you DO NOT take the broad path straight ahead, but you go left, more or less along a wall (there are blue dots). After some three minutes there is another junction and at this point you have to watch out: here you take a different route than the one to Vathý via the Kalamítsi-well. The other hike goes right, but you have to take a left now, guided by some blue arrows and dots.

The following five minutes the path goes up the hill slightly and it bends towards the left – you can also see the old red-brownish sign of a cross in a square dotted line. The path has even been cemented for a little while. Some five minutes later you reach the top; in front of you you can see Kímolos and Mílos. In front of a wall you have to turn towards the south, to the left – a red-brownish arrow on the wall points to the left as well. A little further on you leave the wall behind; the trail splits up into two paths which run parallel for a while. The lower one continues alongside the wall, but you follow the upper one – again there are red-brownish arrows and blue dots. Before you, in a distance, you can already distinguish the white dome of Agios Nikólaos T' Aeriná. Straight ahead, deep underneath, you see the white chapel of Agios Ioánnis. You continue, more or less flatly, on this upper path for another five minutes. You walk like on a balcony and you can see the chapel of Agios Ioánnis moving along underneath. Exactly above this chapel the path descends somewhat, but further on it goes up again, straight in southern direction. At this point you lose sight of the lower trail, which descends to Agios Ioánnis. To the right, deep down and on the left of the chapel, you can see the deep Kalimítsi-valley – which you would have to cross if you were following the variant of this Vathý-hike. 
Another five minutes later you see a deep gorge on the slope to the right. On the opposite side there is a flat hill with a little pillar on top of it. By walking further on you approach a large wall straight ahead: 50 metres before this wall there is a vague path off the right, which you ignore. Later on, there is a clear junction: to the right, in western direction, there is a path with red dots and red-brownish stripes. This is yet another trail going to Vathý, which, further on, joins the path from the Kalamítsi-valley to Vathý.

However, you would like to pass Agios Nikólaos T' Aeriná, so you have to go straight. You walk on the right hand side of a wall (which surrounds a couple of large fields with two white buildings) and you follow this wall for about four to five minutes (notice the orange-red dots). By continuing in this way you get to a rocky plateau and at this point you have to watch out again: you have to follow the path along the wall until you have turned towards the south east and until you see red arrows on a three-forked junction. Going to the left, following the wall, the trail leads towards Agios Andréas (see the hike Apollonía-Agios Andréas). You have to take a right, though, in southwestern direction, on a vague path (with some dark red arrows), in between juniperus bushes. All of a sudden you will get to the rim of the plateau, where you have a beautiful view on the bay of Vathý.

You can now see the path more clearly again; it goes in western direction and Vathý remains to the left of you. After a couple of minutes, by following the red arrows and dots, you reach the picturesque and very white monastery of Agios Nikólaos T' Aeriná. The nickname of this monastery refers to the fact that this spot is often very windy. It is perfect to have your picnic on this refreshing place.

The path to Vathý begins on the northwest (thus under and to the right) of the monastery, a large, red dot indicates the right direction. After a while, this trail gets to the lower path you have left behind some time ago; this is the regular trail to Vathý. Guided by a lot of red dots you cannot get lost anymore, so half an hour later you arrive on the inviting beach of Vathý.