Chóra - Tripótamos - Xóbourgo - Falatádos - Voláx - Agápi
Evaluation:
This is a fairly long hike, giving you the opportunity to climb to the
platform of Xóbourgo and to hike to the wonderful villages of Voláx
and Agápi. Most of the trails are simply marvellous. You can have a
picnic close to Xóbourgo, but also the restaurant in Voláx is a great
spot to sit down for a while. This hike definitely deserves an
evaluation of ***.
[Updated by Raymond on April the 29th 2016.]
Estimated time:
The total hike takes
3h35 – actual hiking time: 1h40 to the foot of Xóbourgo
(and about 30-40 minutes
extra
to hike up and down to the kástro), 30 minutes till Falatádos, 35 minutes till Voláx and then another 50 minutes to Agápi.
You can shorten this hike considerably by taking a taxi to Xóbourgo (7
€ in April 2005). To return from Agápi you have to call a taxi in any
case – this will cost you about 10 €.
Route
description:
(0h00)
When leaving from the town of Tínos or Chóra there are two ways to get
to the important hiking trail leading to the interior of the island:
- you can either leave from the quay at the old harbour; from the little
square with a kind of modern stage in the middle you then take the broad
Leofóros Megalocháris, which goes up to the large cathedral of the
Panagía Evangelístria. You thus follow this street upwards.
- you can also
leave from the modern harbour and then you will enter Chóra via the
Leofóros Stavroú - Kioníoon. In this case you arrive at a first
little square with palm trees and a playground. If you go straight ahead
in the left-hand corner, you reach a second little square with a
fountain + dolphin. Over here a narrow street leads straight ahead to
the third square, at the foot of the Leofóros Megalocháris, where you
can go up on the left.
However, maybe you did already see the small blue
sign in the corner of the first square. The text on this sign says Xóbourgo
- Falatádos - Liváda / Fáros and you can follow this sign by taking a
left into the Odós Theológos Afentoúli. Later on this street becomes
the Odós Nikoláou and after some 4 minutes you get to a sign pointing
to the Evangelístria on the right.
[If you want to
you can first visit the church, but it might be a better idea to
postpone this visit to a more relaxed day!]
If you departed via the broad Megalocháris-lane, you have to take a left on the last crossing before
the large church: over here you can also find a blue sign pointing to Xóbourgo
and Falatádos. In this way you get to the Odós Nikoláou as well,
which you can follow to the right.
(0h12)
Slightly further
down you get to the old paving and you also walk between the traditional
walls; remember that this is still the ancient Venetian trail that many
centuries ago already connected the harbour and the fortress of Xóbourgo.
On your right-hand side you pass a drive with a misleading red arrow –
which you ignore, obviously – and further down you also pass a broader
gravel road off the right. You continue straight ahead all the time,
going up on a marvellous kalderími.
After about 40
minutes you walk on a gravel
road coming from the left for a short while. Going
straight ahead, though, you get to the old monopáti again,
after about 10 metres. You walk underneath a small church
and you gradually curve to the right; in this way you get a beautiful
view on Chóra, right underneath your trail. After some 50 minutes you
thus arrive at the chapel of Agia Xéni – this is a spot well
maintained, with lanterns, but it is often very windy over here. You can
take some rest on a bench inside the church.
(0h49)
In fact, this
place is an important crossing of hiking trails, so it is a spot you
might pass a number of more times when hiking on the island of Tínos. On
the right there is only a blocked trail; on the left a nice path runs
downwards in the direction of Ktikádos and Kámbos; and straight ahead
(on the right-hand side of the chapel) the trail continues to Xóbourgo
– today, this is the way to continue.
Your trail keeps
going up beautifully until you walk underneath a high-voltage cable
after some 10 minutes – from here onwards you start to descend
gradually. A couple of minutes further down you get to a three-forked
junction: your trail continues on the left, over a little bridge; on
your right-hand side you notice a nice well. After another 6 minutes the
trail leads to the asphalt road, next to some houses of Tripótamos. On
the opposite side, on the left, you can see the famous cheese factory or
"tirokomío"
(wooden sign).
(1h10)
On the right of
the drive to the factory you can go down on an overgrown path. You can
also proceed on the grounds of the factory for a short while and on the
right you can then find the old trail again. In any case, you should
walk on the left-hand side of a small church and in the direction of the
right-hand wind mill.
Once
arrived there, you have to watch out: do not go directly to the
right on a vague trail. Instead, you should continue straight ahead,
along a small white building. Usually, it is very windy over here – it
is no coincidence that wind mills have been built on this place.
Just
past the white building, you should take the right path and about 20
metres further, you take again the right path.
You climb up again, with
a great view over the broad valley underneath the monastery of Kechrovoúni – on your right you can also see some excavations.
A little further, walk
[3] goes to the right – see the hike Kechrovoúni – Xóbourgo –
Kechrovoúni – but you should
continue straight ahead.
By climbing up all the time you get underneath a white chapel and
slightly further down you can already distinguish the large building of
the monastery of Iera Kardía. A path on the left leads to the small
church – this is a pleasant, though rather early picnic spot, not only
because of the great panoramic view, but also because you can sit out of
the wind.
The landscape is green and grand, with a view on Falatádos towards the
left, with the Tsikniás and the monastery and Mountádos in front of you
and with Chóra on the right. The islands located in front of you are: on
the left the island of Mýkonos with the smaller islands of Dílos and
Rhínia, and further to the right first the island of Náxos and then
Páros.
From the little church you walk back to the main trail, which you follow
to the left.
(1h39) Just
before you reach the large building of the monastery of Iera Kardía, you
find a sign on the left, pointing towards the Kástro – you are now at an
altitude of 440 metres.
[If you have enough time, you can climb to the top: after about 3
minutes you already walk through some remains of ruins and after 8
minutes you arrive at the actual Venetian remnants of the kástro. By the
way, the name
Xóbourgo comes from the Italian Sobborgo (= suburb, walled city).
At this place, though, also remains of much older buildings have been
found, such as the remnants of the ancient city of Tínos, founded at
about 1000 BC. During the excavations, some geometrical and archaic
statuettes have also been discovered.
The trail continues now under the form of steps, until you get to the cross of 1931 and the aerials on top of the 559-metres-high summit. The panoramic view is fantastic over here: from the southeast to the southwest (and from left to right) you can distinguish in clear weather: Mýkonos with Dílos and Rhínia (and the islands of Náxos, Páros and Antíparos beyond), Sýros (with the islands of Sífnos, Sérifos and Kýthnos beyond) and the uninhabited island of Giáros. You can also discern many villages: in the east, you can see the Profítis Ilías and the villages of Falatádos, Myrsíni and Stení, and then the top of Kechrovoúni (with antenna), with to the right the monastery and below Mountádos. In the south, there is Tripótamos, with in the distance Chóra and rightmost Ktikádos, Chatzirádos and the beach of Kiónia. To the west, you see Kámbos, with higher Tarampádos and Smardákito. In the valley there are Xinára, Loutrá and the larger village of Kómi - with beyond Kalloní, Káto Klísma and the distant Aetofoliá; still more to the right, you see Krókos, Skaládos and even Agápi. To the north finally, you discover Koumáros with beyond it Vólax. In total, you can distinguish more than 20 villages!
The descent is quite easy and takes about 8-9 minutes - the path is rather
uneven and there are 200 steps.]
(1h39) Down again, you continue to the
left to the catholic monastery of the Holy Heart (Iera Kardía); you walk on the
right-hand side of the wall, and with that wall, you veer to the LEFT [2] - a
blue sign points in the direction of Falatádos. You then veer to the right until
you get to the asphalt road, where you take the LEFT road [2]. You follow it for
some minutes until you arrive at a stable with a flat roof after a couple of
minutes. On the left of the stable you find the beginning of two paths
(1h49)
You thus take the
right-hand path
and in this way you get to
an overgrown trail between walls. There are also thistles, so some long
trousers come in handy. After about 8 minutes you arrive at an asphalt
road; you climb down,
you cross the main asphalt road and you proceed straight ahead on the
asphalt
road
in the direction of Falatádos. You follow this rather monotonous road
for about 14 minutes – fortunately, the green fields with flowers
offer some distraction.
[Straight ahead it
would only take you one minute till the church of the hamlet of Kathlikádos
and then another 5 minutes to Falatádos itself. The village is quite
attractive and the café of Falatádos (underneath the main church) has
very tasty tsípouro... After visiting this village, though, you do have
to go back the way you came, until you get to the place where the gravel
road of Xóbourgo joins the asphalt road.]
(2h11)
Immediately on the
left, at the corner of a wall (and underneath the electricity cables),
you find a path going to the left. Almost immediately the trail splits
and you continue on the lower trail that descends into the valley.
Slightly further you keep to the right and in this way you arrive at a
beautiful trail between walls. You reach a stable some 4 minutes later
and over here you DO NOT go down on the left. Instead, you go up slightly and in this way you get to another path,
which you follow to the left. Later on, you go through another iron gate
and then you describe a bend to the left, midst a very rocky landscape.
The following 5 minutes are really beautiful: you walk between large
boulders and you go down slightly, until you arrive at the picturesque
chapel of Theoskepastí.
(2h23) You follow the path further down, you DO NOT go through a low gate to the gravel road, but you keep descending on the rock trail for a couple of more minutes. Finally, you do get to the sandy road, which you follow to the left for about 7 minutes.
(2h32) You then have to watch out: in a bend, near a couple of large trees, you find a sandy path on the left side. Pretty soon, this path goes down into the valley, between the boulders and with the village of Voláx in front of you. About 3 minutes later you keep going down between the walls until you get to a sandy road again, which you follow to the right this time. You follow this road upwards for some 5 minutes and then there is a stretch in concrete for another 2 minutes.
(2h45) In this way you easily arrive in Voláx, right at the very nice outdoor terrace of the estiatório I Voláx. Next to this restaurant there is a pergola with oleanders and two stone tables and benches – you can thus decide to either picnic or to eat in the restaurant.
In the village itself you soon get to a picturesque crossing with amongst others two very nice houses with flowers. On the left you notice an arrow to the well (pigí) and the small open air theatre. By walking straight ahead you reach the church and behind the church there is a paved road running in north-north-western direction, out of the village. You take a left for a short while, on concrete [5] that soon becomes a gravel road. About 3 minutes later you step over an iron gate, which spans the entire width of the road [5], and after another 6 minutes you do the same again. In a landscape with large boulders the sandy gravel road keeps meandering up and down until you reach a first junction, where a sandy road descends to the right - you take to road that goes up to the left [5].
(3h03) A few minutes later, you reach another bifurcation, in a sharp bend to the left. The main road continues on the left; in about 20 minutes this road could bring you to Skaládos, but this is not our intention today. Instead, you take the narrower gravel road going up on the right ([5] on a small rock): a little later, you keep to the right and the road descends now for 5 minutes, until you get to some concrete. Pay attention now: after 10 meters and in a slight bend, you should go to the RIGHT (a blue arrow and a little further a [5] on a rock).
(3h07) The following descent into a deep valley is really wonderful; you walk on a shaded and sometimes overgrown trail, with a couple of pigeon towers on your right-hand side. After 9 minutes you arrive at a crossing with a wooden bridge and streaming water on the right, but you continue straight ahead. You go down slightly on an overgrown path and you thus get down in the main valley after another 4-5 minutes, near a pigeon tower and a small building with a little water tower. You continue straight ahead, across a nice arched bridge and then you take a left – you DO NOT go straight ahead up the steps.
(3h20)
The trail goes up
gradually, above the marvellous green valley; straight ahead you can see
the village of Sklavochorió. After some 7 minutes the trail becomes a
small concrete lane and a couple of minutes later you already reach the
village of Agápi. You walk underneath a number of different arches and
at the end the little street is almost completely vaulted. Over here you
find the nice kafenío O Mitsáras on the left – this café has a
pleasant outdoor terrace with a great panoramic view; this is a
wonderful spot to conclude this hike.