Chóra - Diaséli - Agios Ioánnis and back
Evaluation: This
hike follows a
beautiful
path,
with basically all the time a marvellous panoramic view on the coast and the bay
of Mylopótas.
The walk can end on the asphalt road which comes from Manganári, but a visit
to the traditional cheesery “Diaseli”, which is located a little further to the left, is also very
interesting.
You can try to climb the side of the Pýrgos to the monastery of Agios Ioannis,
but the path is quite difficult to find.
This
hike gets an evaluation of ***.
[Updated by Raymond on April 27th, 2013 and on April 30th, 2023.]
Estimated time:
The hike to the asphalt road to Manganári takes about 1h20 (AWT), for a distance
of 3,53 km. For the return route you should count on 1h15 - this means a total
actual walking time of 2h35. We hiked, as usual, twice as long, from 11am to
4pm, a TWT of 5 hours.
[For the possible ascent to
the monastery on the summit of Pýrgos, it takes - after 9 minutes of asphalt - a
little less than 40 minutes for the ascent following fairly vague paths.
The descent to the road only takes
30 minutes.]
Route description:
(0h00) You leave, as for many
walks on Ios, from one of the most famous spots of Chóra, the row of
mills, with ruins of 12 mills, situated on a windy ridge. You enjoy there a
beautiful view on Chóra and the hill with the three chapels.
You walk over the terrace and keep to
the left in order to pass next to the 2nd and 3rd mill.
You go down to a little asphalt road, that veers left and right between the
3rd and the 4th ruin of a mill (sign Profítis Ilías + [2] and [3]). You
then go up on this road that soon crosses the broader road to Manganári. You
follow the little road going up on the right side of the other mills (there is a
hiking sign and also a signpost to the theatre). Further on you continue
straight ahead and after 7 minutes you arrive at a curve, near steps that go up
on the right-hand side of a house (sign to the theatre).
(0h07)
You thus
go up to the
right of the house and, near the second house, you go up to the right on other
steps, until you reach a concrete road which you follow to the left.
To the left of the chapel there is
a path that starts to the right (sign Profítis Ilías 2h40 + [2[ and [3]) and you
continue to the right of the large museum building and thus reach a third chapel
(with an inscription of 15 October 1894 above the door).
[You can possibly take a look at
the small modern theater.
There you have a beautiful view of
the bay and the beach of Mylopótas.]
(0h13)
This is the place where the actual trail begins, straight ahead between walls
(next to a heavy black water pipe). You get in this way at the bifurcation of
paths [2] and [3].
The trail to the left leads to Agios Prokópios (see the hike Chóra - Agios
Prokópios - Chóra) and possibly to the Profítis Ilías (sign
Profítis Ilías 2h35 + [2] /
Agios Ioánnis 2h25 + [3]).
You thus keep to the right on a nice trail between walls; this trail slowly goes
up for the first 5 minutes
– far away in front of you,
you can distinguish the 714-high Pýrgos, with aerials on top of it, and you can
already discern a small tip of the monastery! Very soon you will also see the
island of Síkinos behind you.
You
arrive at the top after 6 minutes and you see how the path continues far ahead
of you, while on your right you discover a beautiful view of Mylopótas beach.
You really walk on a kind of balcony now, on a flat path with
the nice view on the beach of Mylopótas.
(0h26)
You climb a little, then you continue easily, always accompanied by the black
water pipe which sometimes gets in the way.
You
now climb a wide rocky slope and
after a few minutes you reach a rocky ridge, from where you see how the path
continues to the left, to the left of a wall.
You then get to an ascent, often on leaning rocks –
then you begin a fairly difficult descent.
(0h52) All together 39 minutes after the start of this trail, you arrive
in a narrow valley and a river bed, with some oleanders.
You continue to follow the rocky path + the water
pipe, while climbing to the left of a wall.
At the level of a wall with a broken wooden gate, you
should stay to the left of the wall.
(1h03)
After about 8 minutes you reach yet another crest, and from this point you can
already distinguish the main road, on the side of the mountain Pýrgos.
The path next
to the wall becomes easy again, then there is another rocky stretch of a path
that goes up.
(1h19) Pay attention: near a junction, you should keep to the RIGHT,
through a low wall: in this way, you can easily go down to the asphalt road.
(1h21)
[The Diaséli cheesery is located a little to the left, on the asphalt road.
There, you can visit a small museum and taste a fine
selection of local cheeses.
See http://www.diaseli.com/en/]
[If you follow the wide, little-used asphalt road for about 9 minutes to the
left, you will find, in the left turn, the vague beginning of a path that could
lead you to the monastery of Agios Ioannis
Prodromos.
Which is very annoying is that there is indeed a trail all the way to
the summit, sometimes indicated by means of red dots, but that this trail is
very hard to describe.
(0h09)
You proceed on the left-hand side of a very small gorge and three times
the red dots help you to follow the vague path. Eventually you go more to the
left, in the direction of a metal fence and after 5 minutes you find a clearer
trail, which you follow by going up and to the right. You can already see the
aerials on top of the mountain, which can be regarded as your aim.
(0h14) At first you can take the
aerials as your target and you go up on the left of the hill crest, about
halfway between the bed of the valley on the left and the crest on the right.
You should watch out not to cross the bed on the left too early – you can
only do so after about 20 minutes after you have turned to the right, just past
a typical rock, consisting of several large blocks.
(0h34)
After you have crossed the bed, you soon notice the highest tower of the
monastery. You
continue in that direction, on a yellowish trail – if it comes to a dead end you
should return in order to find another and better way.
(0h47)
Some 13 minutes later
you get to the summit: the monastery is a very quiet spot, with tables and
benches in stone – there is still some construction going on. This is a nice
picnic spot...
Behind the monastery you
find a gravel road, which you can follow to go down. You should then describe a
large curve to the left and once you have reached the asphalt road you should
take a left again. You will then get to the sharp curve where you took the vague
path going up earlier today. After another 7-8 minutes on the asphalt road you
will arrive at the place from where you can follow the obvious trail to the
right, back to Chóra.]
(1h21)
For the way back, starting
from the asphalt road, a few short indications will suffice.
You
climb for 2 minutes on the path that leads to the main path;
then you progress quite easily,
almost always next to a wall.
(1h38) After 17 minutes you arrive at the first ridge and after a total
of 19 minutes you see on your left the beach of Mylopótas and the Profítis Ilías
with its antenna in front of you.
You then descend for a while to the
valley with the oleanders.
(1h47) You climb for another 5 minutes, then there is an easy passage
over rocks that are sometimes wide and sloping;
then, you begin a long stony
stretch.
After another 20 minutes, there is
the beautiful stretch as on a balcony with
the view of Mylopótas.
If you look behind you, you just
can see the monastery, to the left of the antennas of Pyrgos.
(2h14) After a beautiful way, you arrive in the little valley, then you
go up for the last climb;
the theater and the first chapel
appear, Síkinos seems very close and you also see Santoríni - Mylopótas
disappears behind you.
(2h28) You thus arrive at the crossroads of the 2 walks: you keep to the
left alongside the chapel and you go down alongside the museum and the second
chapel.
You continue to descend on the
rocks to the right of the lowest chapel: here you keep left towards the theater,
then you take the staircase to the right.
You get in this way to the concrete
little road, to the left of a house, and you follow it straight down.
You arrive to the left of the
mills, you cross the roads and you go up to the plateau of the mills, up to
between the penultimate and the last mill -
quite likely, you will truly enjoy a cool beer on the
terrace of
tavern
The Mills!
Gpx-files:
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/ios-chora-diaseli-agios-ioannis-154085833
https://www.routeyou.com/en-gr/route/view/13823885/hiking-route/ios-chora-diaseli-agios-ioannis