Evaluation:
This is a
recent
hike, following some
trails around
Vrachnoú and
Fállika, trails which a few
years ago were often
impassable because of the
vegetation. There are some
difficult sections, but in general, the trails
and the views are great. In addition,
the signaling with hiking signs
and trail markers [18] is excellent.
Deserves the maximum of ****.
The walk in the sense Chóra
- Aladinoú -
Vakóni, takes about 3 hours (AWT),
so it is unlikely that you
will follow the way back to Chóra
(see the hike Vakóni
- Aladinoú -
Fállika -
Pétrias - Vrachnoú
- Chóra)...
A good solution is to take the
bus in Vakóni,
to return to Chóra
– so, you should ask for the
bus schedules of the line Gávrio
- Batsí -
Chóra!
Another possibility is to
retrace your steps, for example in
Pétrias, or to continue from there
on the walk [1], which returns to
Messariá and then to Chóra
– this possibility
will ask 2h07 in AWT,
pretty about the same time as
if you retrace your steps from
Pétrias...
[The translation of
this walk was
made with some help of Google translate - so, do not mind the mistakes...]
Estimated time:
The walk up
to
Vrachnoú takes about 45 minutes, in actual walking time; then you will
need 1h15 until
Pétrias where you
cross the hike [1].
Finally, the AWT is 40
minutes until the bridge
of Aladinoú
and a little
less than 20 minutes until the
asphalt road in Vakóni.
The actual walking time thus amounts
to a total of almost
3 hours - but
the total time (TWT)
can rise up to the
double – it will of course depends on
the breaks for some rest and for
picnic. We walked from 10.30am
until 5.30pm, a TWT of 6 hours…
Route description: (0h00)
For
all hikes leaving
from Chóra you have to depart from the main street near the large church
of the Panagía tis Kímisis – which is visible from all over this town
(for more details you might have a look at the description of the small
hike in Chóra itself). Today you should follow the main street to the
right (facing the church) and soon you arrive at the big square of Vas.
Goulandris, where you find an information sign of Andros Routes. You
keep following the pedestrian street (little signs
[1], [2], [3], [8a],
[17] and [18]!). At the end of this street, after 70 meters, you keep to
the left and continue obliquely to the right, in the direction of the
parking lots (signs [3], [17] and [18]). You follow the concrete street
on the left side of the parking lot and you keep to the left next to the
second parking lot – where walk [17] goes right.
(0h07)
You arrive at the bridge over the Megálos Potamós: you cross it to the
right and continue to the right ([3] and [18]. A little later, next to
the old bridge
(now useless),
you take a RIGHT on a small
concrete road [18]. After
another 2 minutes, you
go left on a small
road where you see a
lot of garden machines
(to the left, there is an advertisement for
Yamaha...) -
and you discover
a big
hiking sign and
a trail marker, announcing
the walk [18].

The rather impressive
hiking sign for hike [18].
(0h19)
A
minute later, you
have to make your way through
the reeds, then you are continuing
between 2 walls:
after a straight stretch, you
veer to the right - and
on the left side you see
the beginning of a staircase.
You climb the 110 concrete
steps [18] and then
you follow a very
nice trail that was cleared
recently, with from time to
time old steps.
After 5-6 minutes, you go up
to the left [18] and climb some 120
old steps -
behind you, you can enjoy a
magnificent view of Chóra.

The view behind you
over Chóra.
(0h31)
You thus get to the asphalt road that
leads to Sineti ([18]
on a small post)
and just opposite, you go up
the concrete
stairs painted in white [18] and
leading to a
chapel, where another staircase starts
to the right. After some
40 steps, you continue on a rocky
trail or on old
stairs. The trail starts
to zigzag and
while you veer slightly to the left,
Chóra disappears behind you
and Vrachnoú appears.
Just next to a house, you veer
left and you get to the asphalt road, where you take a
right [18]. After 3 minutes,
you arrive at the parking lot of
Vrachnoú - again,
you have a beautiful view here!
(0h44)
You continue straight ([18]
on a pole), and in the village
you climb the many
concrete steps.
You arrive at a junction
where a street leads on the
right to Agios
Dimítrios and an old
source: you continue
diagonally to the left ([18]
on a pole). A paved street
takes you out of the village
and after some concrete
steps, you still
reach a junction:
a nice hiking sign (Pétrias 3.2 km)
+ [18] send you to the right.
(0h50)
A little further, a staircase goes up
to the left [18], you pass a cistern
and you continue on a
beautiful trail between walls
and under trees. It runs
flat and then gently down
on a carpet of leaves,
sometimes with great views
through the trees and the bushes
on the valley, and on
Vrachnoú and Chóra.

View on Vrachnoú and Chóra...
You always continue straight ahead
[18], a really beautiful
stretch; after these nice minutes,
you pass through the rocky bed
of a small side valley, where you
veer to the right [18].
(1h00)
The views remain
wonderful, you go up and down a
little, then you take a sharp left [18] and continue
as on a balcony.
But then you descend
suddenly to the right on
a very steep slope, and you continue to the left
on a flat trail [18]. Later
on, you go down until you arrive underneath
some beautiful oaks, you
veer left again
and after a flat stretch,
you still go down
quickly, sometimes between nice walls
and you arrive next to
a row of beautiful
cypress.
(1h13)
You now get for some moments to a difficult stretch, then you
still go down to the right [18]:
it becomes a steep descent on a rocky
and difficult path,
but suddenly you get to a small dirt
road, where you go left
([18 ] on a
small post).
(1h19)
A few minutes later
and 60-70
meters before reaching the
chapel of Agia Triáda, the
trail continues diagonally to
the left [18]:
the beautiful climb will sometimes be
very rocky and will last
for 5 minutes. You pass
another chapel, and once
arrived at the top, you keep to the to
right, with the wall [18].
You go down a little
in the direction of a side
valley, but fortunately
you veer to the left in order to
continue around the valley -
the walls are really beautiful,
topped with stones
piled vertically
- an admirable stretch with
a deep ravine on your right side.

The trail between Vrachnoú
and Pétrias.
You
go up and arrive in front of a
pile of branches, underneath
a Mediterranean maple
- but the trail
continues...
(1h31)
You pass the obstacle
[18] -
notice the taffoni on the
left! - and
as you continue below the
rocks, you get to the spot where
the side valley ends more or less:
this spot seems mysterious
and you veer right,
between the rocks and under the
trees.
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A nice, rather
mysterious spot...
After a flat end,
you still go down
a bit to cross the
rocky bed of the
side valley -
but you then begin a difficult climb
[18] that will be extremely steep: after 2 minutes, you
should step over a low wall to the left,
then the climb
becomes really hard, passing
over loose stones and
a kind of subsidence, until
you arrive at the top, to the
left of the chapel of Agios
Rafaël.
(1h41)
The trail becomes nice again
and rises gently, sometimes
next to ruins.
You reach the top and
discover Fállika
and the monastery in front of you, again with to
the right a beautiful view of
the valley. Near a
bifurcation, you keep to the right
[18]: the trail continues
flat at first, but you then descend
among the ruins - you alternately
proceed flat or on a gentle slope, with the monastery
right in front of you and next to
several water pipes.
(1h57)
You arrive next to overhanging
rocks, then go down again -
for a few moments on
a beautiful staircase -
and you cross
a valley with
a little water.

A nice staircase, not
so far from Pétrias.
You go up on a
shaded path, and after another
2 minutes, you finally get to
the main path of walk [1].
For some moments, walks
[1] and [18] continue
together to the left, but then you reach
a crossroads, where the path
[1] continues its climb to the
monastery - see
among others the hike Chóra
- Ménites -
Panachrántou or Messariá -
Panachrántou.
In the neighbourhood lies the
abandoned village of Pétrias...
(2h03)
You take a right here ([18] to the right
on the wall)
and go up a
few steps; you get to a grassy path (in Spring) that ascends slowly, but
after 8-9 minutes, you begin to go down again and to veer to the right
in direction of Fállika.
You cross a brook, you go up a little, then you veer again to the right
and cross some water. Later on, you cross a nice little bridge that
spans a narrow crevice with murmuring water. A concrete path and a
staircase [18] bring you near the first houses of Fállika and you ascend
some steps to the first height. You go down again until you arrive next
to the church, then you go up on some 30 steps until you get to the
highest point ([18] on a pole).
(2h16)
You go
down and from now on,
the descent will be long
[18], first on
75 concrete
steps, then on almost
170 paved steps.
You pass two
fountains, and after another
40
concrete steps,
you leave the village on a trail.
You cross for the first time
the asphalt road and
continue your descent straight
across [18], on a rocky
trail or on steps. You
cross the road again
and continue your descent [18],
first on steps or on
a rocky path, later on a path that has
was cleared recently
- it will cost some
effort to maintain this
path!
(2h31)
You thus reach a junction,
where the right
path leads to the
bridge of Stichioméni
(hiking sign and trail marker [1c]).
[You will need not even a
quarter of an hour to follow a
beautiful trail and
a magnificent staircase, to arrive near
the bridge; it is also on
the route of the hike
[1], and so
you could go to Messariá.]
For now, you
take a
LEFT [18]:
the trail is initially steep,
sometimes with uneven steps, but after
two sharp turns, the descent
becomes slower, always with a
beautiful view of the valley
with cypresses. Finally, the
rocky path still gets to
the asphalt road.
(2h39)
You go left for a very few moments, then
you turn right on a
concrete road, but
immediately, you go down the stairs
on the left side (2 X [18]
on a small post): after
140 steps you arrive next to the
river and you thus reach the
bridge of Aladinoú.
On the left, you see the
hiking signs that mark the
walks that pass here: on the
staircase to the left, you could follow
the little walk
[18a] to the cave
of Aladinoú
and possibly to the villages of
Sasá and
Kouréli - see the walk
Aladinoú -
Kouréli
-
Sasá -
Aladinoú.

The old sign ant the
recent hiking signs for the walk [18] in Aladinoú.
At the other side of the bridge,
the walk [18] continues
to the hamlet of Vakóni,
located on the asphalt road between
Messariá and Pitrofós.

The bridge of Aladinoú.
The old bridge crosses
the "Megálos Potamós" ("The Great River"), which has its source on the other
side of the island, near the village of Zaganiáris.
Downstream, there is thus also the famous bridge of Stichioméni, where the walk
[1] that leads from Messariá to the monastery of Panachrántou, passes. The river
flows into the sea near Chóra, on the beach of Parapórti.
The spot is very picturesque - do not forget to go down, until under the bridge.

The bridge of Aladinoú,
from the edge of the water.
(2h42)
So you go over the bridge and
after 2 minutes, you go up the
white staircase on the left,
next to a large gate
(hiking sign "Vakóni" and
[18]). After some
150 steps, you come next to some
houses (2 X [18]) and get to
a small asphalt road:
the hiking sign to the right show
the road to the source of
Chamóvrysi, to the left to
Vakóni.
[A short detour of 200 meters
following first
the asphalt road, then a small path
next to some houses, can lead you
to the restored
source (dates
1896 and 1902).]
(2h48)
You go left and
you so you arrive underneath the church
of Agia Triáda:
here, do NOT
go down to the left, but you
better go up to the right, towards
the church and two sources.
You then continue (sign
"Vakóni" and [18]) and after
115 steps [18], you get to a
small concrete road (sign).
There is still a source
on the left, you turn right
[18] and after following a
small road and 95 steps,
you finally get to the asphalt road.
(2h58)
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