Artemónas - Tris Pigés - Agios Silvéstros - Trouláki - Agios Simeoón - Kamáres

Evaluation: This hike explores the rather unknown northern part of the island of Sífnos, via the trails to the Agios Silvéstros and the hamlet of Trouláki. Your goal, the marvellously situated monastery on top of the Agios Simeoón, can also be reached by means of other hikes (see the hikes from Apollonía to Agios Simeoón), but this alternative hike definitely deserves an evaluation of *** as well.

Estimated time: Hiking from Artemónas till underneath the Agios Silvéstros takes about 85 minutes. You can also shorten this trajectory considerably by catching the bus from Artemónas in the direction of Cherrónissos (in June 2006 there were busses at 8.15am, 11.50am and 3.30pm); you should then ask the bus driver to get off at the junction to Agios Sóstis. From the Agios Silvéstros it takes 20 minutes to get to the asphalt road and then another hour and a half to the monastery of Agios Simeoón – over there you should really take enough time to admire the panoramic view, possibly while having a picnic.  
To continue to Kamáres via the trail to Agios Lázaros and then via the valley of the Livadás will cost you some 85 minutes. All together this turns out to be a rather long hike of 4h40 actual walking time – so, a hiking day of some 8 hours! If you decide to leave from Artemónas, you should leave fairly early in the morning; otherwise you would better take the bus to the signpost to Agios Sóstis.  

Route description: For this hike, you should depart from the bus stop in Artemónas.

[If you would rather leave from the platía of Apollonía, we refer to the first part of the hike Apollonía - Agios Simeoón. This then means an additional small hike of some 10 minutes.]

Leaving from the bus stop, you first continue on the asphalt road until you reach the platía Artemónas, with a few attractive cafés and restaurants. At café Margarita you take the mean street off the right, 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 Panagía Kóchi with a blue dome. 

Next to this church, you have to go right for another twenty metres, and then you take the Odós 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.

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 (Agios Nikítas to the left and Agios Silvéstros to the right).

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. You also have a nice panoramic view on the Panagía ta Mángana, a little church you will get to visit on the way back.]

After Agios Dimítrios you descend into a valley and you go up again by taking a rather dusty path – 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 keep following the trail, going down slightly.

After about 5 minutes you descend into the next valley by means of a beautiful staircase – on the opposite side you can see the staircase going up again (you could follow this staircase on the hike to Agios Simeoón). Just before the bottom of the valley you find a beautiful well with a water tank on the right – this is Tris Pigés.

At this point you DO NOT go further down, but you take the trail on the right; the following climb is quite steep. After 4 minutes, the walls slightly move away from each other and a little further on they come together again. Again further on, you have to keep to the left. The trail becomes flatter now and you arrive at the asphalt road to Cherrónissos, on the right-hand side of a large gravel and concrete company. You follow this road to the right for about 100 metres and then you find a gravel road on the left, with a small sign pointing to AGIOS MHNAS + AGIOS SOSTHS. 

[If you catch the bus to this point, you should watch out where to get off exactly – since, in fact, there are two paths you can take in order to hike to Agios Sóstis. If the bus stops at the first sign, you should follow the description given hereunder; if the bus stops at the second trail, opposite the large gravel company, you should go to the LEFT after 1 minute and you will not pass Agios Minás – see also further down.]

After one minute you keep to the left (signpost) and two minutes later you walk next to the small church of Agios Minás. Thereafter, the gravel road straight ahead turns into a decent trail again, sometimes a little paved with concrete. Some 3-4 minutes later you take a right (signpost).

[You will reach this point after a short hike of 1 minute, when the bus has dropped you at the second trail to Agios Sóstis – in that case, you take a LEFT here, of course.]

The trail – which is sometimes very stony – runs more or less horizontally and it describes a large bend around a valley – with a nice view on the chapel of Agios Geórgios ta Livadákia and beyond the sea the islands of Antíparos and Páros. Some 9-10 minutes later you get to a wooden gate, with on your left, up the stony slope, another wooden gate and a blue dot on the wall. Over here you go up on the left, through the left-hand gate.

You now have to watch out, because the somewhat vague trail to Agios Silvéstros begins immediately on the left; it is in fact a red-brownish track, going up between white rocks. After one minute you get to the right of a wall, but 1 minute further on you take a left. You meander up in the direction of the highest remnants of mining, which you can already notice in front of you. You keep to the right and after 6 minutes you arrive at the first rests of mining; you then go higher up, to the right, and after another 12-13 minutes you get to the main trail, just underneath the remnants of mining and a large pile of mining residue. Behind you, there is a great view on the coast line and the island of Páros.

You take a left, following the clear, flat trail, which was used for the mine exploitation in earlier days. Some 6 minutes later, the modern gravel and concrete company appears down under and also the smoking mine of Vorini. To the right you notice the summits of the Agios Simeoón and of the Profítis Ilías Troulakíou. You curve to the right and the trail without retaining walls becomes vaguer. After 2-3 minutes you get to a wall, so you have to climb up to the right, in the direction of the summit of the Agios Silvéstros – during one minute, bushes are somewhat blocking the trail, but then you find a much clearer trail, to the left and alongside the wall. You keep following the red-brownish path between the grey rocks for about 6-7 minutes – all the time at the same altitude. You curve to the right, but you should go neither down, nor up! Some 8-9 minutes after the path became more obvious, and definitely BEFORE you reach the large circle of grey walls, you go down on the left. In this way, you proceed on the opposite side of the valley.

You curve to the left and you keep walking amongst the bushes, at more or less the same level. After another 5 minutes you reach a wall again, which you follow to the right. Some 2 minutes later, you get to another sharp curve to the right. Shortly thereafter, though, you move away from the wall, following a red trail leading to the north.
After one minute you reach another wall; you go through a wooden gate on the left and you then find a nice trail, going down on the left towards a large valley. The trail describes a couple of zigzags and it seems as if you curve too much to the left. In front of you, there is the noisy gravel factory and after 11 minutes you thus arrive at the asphalt road – although you have followed a nice trajectory, you have not really made a lot of progress towards Trouláki...

You take a right on the asphalt road and you continue steadily for about 10 minutes – after 5 minutes you notice a sign on the right, indicating the path to the Agios Nikitás; this time, you go straight ahead, though. After another 5 minutes you see the small chapel of Stavrós down on the left – there is also another small building and a small garden. Slightly further you finally take the concrete trail off the left. This concrete trail turns into a nice path between tall walls; after 2 minutes you get to a stony bed of a river, which you follow to the right. On the map of Anávasi this trail is indicated, and indeed, you also notice traces of dung quite regularly. The name of this "river" is the "Xerolágado", which means that it is usually dried out.

You follow this bed for about 10 minutes and then, with a lot of difficulties, you have to creep under an iron fence, which cuts off the entire width. Slightly further, you find a path leaving the bed of the river on the left, but you have to stay IN the bed – which means that you, again, have to creep under a fence. A little further, you finally get to a real trail, leaving the bed of the river on the right. For quite a while, you now stay on the right-hand side of the "river"; one more time you get into the bed again, but then you find a nice trail on the right – the traces of dung and also the empty cartridges tell you that this trail is often used by people. Some 10 minutes past the second fence you curve to the left; at the corner of a wall you go up a staircase and by keeping to the left you go up a next flight of beautiful steps – until you finally arrive at the asphalt road (to the left in front of you, you can see the hamlet of Trouláki, and more to the left there are the summits of the Profítis Ilías Troulakíou and of the Agios Simeoón).

You thus follow the asphalt road to the left and after a few minutes, past a chapel, you take the gravel road on the left (there is also a signpost). The following climb is really steep, until, after 8 minutes, you notice a trail and a staircase on the right, with a signpost to the Profítis Ilías Troulakíou.

[At this point, you could take a right and from the top – with a truly beautiful panoramic view! – you could follow the trail in the direction of the Agios Simeoón; as a result you would then also get to this gravel road, but a little further on.]

In order to save some time, you now follow the gravel road straight ahead; after 8-9 minutes the Agios Simeoón appears in front of you. Some 3-4 minutes later you arrive at a curve to the left and over here you find a path on the right that comes from the Profítis Ilías. After 22-23 minutes all together you finally reach the concrete road on the right, now really leading up the Agios Simeoón - the Agios Silvéstros seems nearby again – you have really described a huge curve!
The following stretch of 5-6 minutes is really steep, but then, in a curve to the right, you finally notice the ancient trail coming from the left – this trail was largely destroyed when this road was constructed. About 10 metres PAST the bend you can look for the continuation of the trail, guided by a red dot and a cairn. You go up now for about 6 minutes, guided by dots and cairns, and you then arrive at the road again, at a kind of look-out and on the right of the radar station.
You take a right for a short while and on the right of the small house, the concrete path continues up the slope. After 3 minutes you get to the road again, but straight across you find the beautiful entrance staircase, bringing you to the monastery in about 2 minutes. The monastery, the church as well as the dining hall, is open; and there is also a well with refreshing water.  

The panoramic view, at an altitude of 476 metres, is absolutely marvellous: you can see the beautiful bay of Kamáres, with the island of Mílos beyond, more to the right there is the Profítis Ilías Troulakíou, then the island of Sérifos (with the villages of Livádi and Chóra visible in clear weather), the small island of Vous, and finally the islands of Serfópoula and Sýros.
On the other side, you can distinguish the islands of Antíparos and Páros, beyond Sýros; in front, there is the Agios Silvéstros, then the villages of Artemónas and Apollonía and the entire valley of Kamáres. Above this valley, there is the high Profítis Ilías and underneath the monastery of Agios Elefthérios with the radar reflector. 
This is really an ideal spot to admire the view and to have a picnic.

On your way back, you have to follow first the same road as a few minutes ago - during about 8 minutes you thus take the old trail, three times interrupted by the gravel 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).

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 attractive trail back to Artemónas, see 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. 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 gravel 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 gravel 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 Vorini-mine. The gravel 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...]

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 smaller 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.]