Chóra - Profítis Ilías - Moní Chozoviotissa - Chóra
Evaluation:
Also this is a marvellous hike, because the view from the 698-metres
high Profítis Ilías is wonderful, and because you get to know the
truly magnificent monastery of Chozoviótissa on the way back – insofar
you have not had a chance to visit this place earlier. This hike
definitely gets an evaluation of ***.
[Updated May 2010 by Ivan Polunin, Mallorca and on September the 15th 2011 by
Raymond.]
Estimated time:
The hiking time to the Profítis Ilías is a little more than one hour, to the Xenodochío
(on the hike Chóra - Egiáli) takes another hour, and back to Chóra is
another 70 minutes – all together this makes for a hiking time of three
hours and 20 minutes.
You should try to make this hike on a clear day, for example after a
rainy day or when there is some wind – although in that case it can be
very windy on top of the Profítis Ilías.
Route directions: (0h00) From the bus stop at the entrance to
Chóra you leisurely walk to the other side of the village, via the Mési, the
main street. You start from the bus square and you go left of the beautiful
church of Agii Pántes; a little further, you see two other churches, Agia
Paraskeví and Agii Apóstoli: on this beautiful street corner you take a right
and you arrive at the main street, the Mési, where you take a left.
While going straight ahead all the time, you pass under the Kástro and after a
few minutes you reach the Plateáki, a pleasant square with the nice outdoor café
of Kath' Odón. Over here you go left up the stairs and on the beautiful square
with trees you continue on the left-hand side of two simple little churches. You
continue through the Embrostiáda, a beautiful kamára or archway, and you then
leave the village by passing the schools (the gymnásio and the dimotikó) until
you reach the OTE-building (the telephone company) and the aerial.
[For more details about the route you follow through Chóra, see the walk Katápola - Chóra - Katápola.]
(0h10) To the right you can see the beginning of the descent to the
monastery (see the walk Chóra - Egiáli), but for the moment you have to follow
the concrete road to the left - but you can almost immediately take the path you
discover straight across. It crosses a small concrete road after some 2 minutes
and you go straight ahead on a rocky slope besides a circular wall. While
keeping to the left, you arrive at the asphalt road again – the path was only
a short cut…
You follow the road to the right for a short while, but when curving to the
left, some 50 meters further, you take the little concrete road on the right, on
the right- hand side of a little building, surrounded by a wall. Some 60 meters
further you discover a nice staircase on the left. You follow this beautiful old
staircase, and after 7 minutes you open a wide gate made of railings.
(0h22) A little further, the stony path gets very clear, sometimes with the retaining wall next to it, sometimes with red dots and cairns. Behind you, there is a nice view of Chóra, with the kástro and the mills, and you discover also more and more islands. At first, the red trail runs between two walls, later on it continues in between gray stones; in front of you, you see the hill with two peaks, with 2 large stone circles or fields on its slope. After a little over 10 minutes you reach the wall of the left-hand circle and you follow the wall to the top of it – over here you are already at an altitude of 500 m.
(0h36) You take a sharp turn to the right (you notice a very vague red arrow with a dot and a cairn), but a little later your path goes left again. You proceed easily now, rising slightly on an overgrown hillside, with lots of cairns. You also have an exceptional view of Chóra and the bay of Katápola. After 10 minutes another path arrives diagonally from the left - you can already see the small chapel on top of the Profítis Ilías.
(0h51) Exactly 15 minutes past the sharp curves, and just at the moment you would go up on the right of a clear ridge, you need to take a RIGHT up a vague trail - there are some cairns.
[If you would continue further on, you would get to a second ridge from where you would have a great view of the coast and of Nikouriá - in that case, you have to go back the same way for about 2 minutes ...]
You now walk straight to the top with the chapel, but when the chapel disappears from your sight, you have to keep a little more to the right, to the southeast. On the ridge you see a large pointed rock, and you go up in that direction – you will also come across several cairns and vague spots of green pain. At the sharp upright stone you find out that the hill ridge is considerably higher, but you do see the chapel again. So you curve to the left and you walk straight to the top – in fact without a real path, while walking on gray stone steps. The chapel disappears again, but there are again some cairns and you should aim at the wall just below the summit. You clamber up on the right of this wall and in this way you arrive at the simple chapel, which is open. (1h08)
From the 698-meter summit you have a magnificent view over the island, from
Egiáli and Tholária in the north until Vroútsi and Kastrí in the south. You
also see Katápola and especially the view of the whole east coast is
staggering!
From the door of the chapel you can distinguish - in clear weather! - (from left
to right) Astypálea, Anáfi, Santoríni (with in front of it the tiny island of
Anidros) and then (beyond the southern tip of Amorgós) Ios, Irakliá, Schinoússa
with behind it the very faint contours of Sifnos, and Keros with behind it
Koufoníssi and in front of it to the left Antíkeri. Next you see the big
island of Náxos with behind it some high peaks of Páros and the vague
Antiparos on its left; behind Náxos lies Mýkonos, and then you can discover
the small Makáres and Donoússa, and finally, far away, Ikaría. Of course you
can also see the nearby island of Nikouriá with to the left the small islet of
Kramvónissi.
(1h08) Starting from the chapel you descend the rocky slope towards the white and red aerial and the circular field, on the right of the bay of Katápola. Be careful, because the gray stones are sometimes very sharp! Soon you see the first cairns and after 9-10 minutes you reach the big rock ledge and the sharp, upright stone. Over here you have to keep a little to the right - you now descend in the direction of the island of Kéros, the pointed island of the Small Cyclades. Anyway, you can not miss the side path – we also left a big cairn, halfway the descent ...
[If you prefer not to continue to the monastery, but to return by the same way to Chóra, we refer to the walk Chóra - Profítis Ilías and back.]
You now
aim at the right-hand edge of the rock ridge near the 3rd
electricity pole and from there onwards at the slight dip in the next
rock ridge – by still following the cairns and the red dots. On top of
the 2nd elevation you suddenly see Nikouriá, the island of
Donoússa, the bay of Egiáli and Tholária appearing in front of
you.
You go down the
stony slope, straight in the direction of Tholária, far away in front.
Later on the trail gets clearer again and you can see it continuing on
the next slope – you reach this slope after about 6 minutes.
Thereafter you walk higher gradually, with the asphalt road deep
underneath.
It is also easy to
follow the trail because of the retaining walls on the left; all of a
sudden the trail goes to the left abruptly (follow the cairns!) and you
go down the green slope, straight towards Nikouriá. On the next slope
you can distinguish the trail, running narrowly in between the bushes.
Very slowly you curve around the hill on the right-hand side. Finally,
after another 8 minutes, you can see the large bend in the road in front
of you, and you descend towards this road.
(1h55) You follow the
asphalt road to the right for a short while, but after 50 metres already
you take the gravel road off the right. In about 10 minutes this road
brings you to a crossing – when curving to the right you can see the
Xenodochío on the rocky hill in front of you (these are the remnants of
a kind of medieval hotel on the road from Chóra to Egiáli).
(2h05) So, about one hour
after you left from the summit you get to a crossing of four roads: the
road on the left leads to the asphalt road and on the left-hand side of
the next road you can find the beginning of the trail to
Asfondilítis and Egiáli (see the
hike Chóra - Egiali).
On the right there are also two roads: the nearest one leads to Panagía
Theoskepastí, the farthest one is the correct one – there is a sign
pointing to the monastery in 50 minutes and to Chóra in 1h25.
You have only just
started on this gravel road and you can already see the highest point of
the monastery appearing far away in front of you. You follow the
monotonous road for about 15 minutes; at the end of this useless road
the trail continues down on a fairly difficult slope. After 2 minutes
there is a turn to Agios Chrysóstomos off the left, and after another 3
minutes you pass a difficult trail to Panagía Theoskepastí off the
right.
(2h25) For the next 15 minutes the trail is easy to find, but once in a while it is only passable with difficulty because of the loose stones. In a really magnificent landscape you walk underneath the steep rock of the Profítis Ilías and you then approach the brownish cliffs against which the monastery is situated. After 17 minutes, past a difficult spot with many loose stones, the trail goes up steeper; it narrowly runs alongside the cliffs and you then have to go through a gate. The next stretch is beautiful: you walk on a narrow rock ridge in between the high rock on the right and the deep sea on the left – the shades of green and blue are marvellous and deep down you can also distinguish the two islands of Viokástro. All of a sudden you see the monastery appearing in front of you; you go through another gate and you then arrive at the foot of the Chozoviótissa-monastery – every time again this is very impressive. (2h45)
You have to keep in mind that in the afternoon the monastery is only open between 5 and 7pm - and by that time it is already cast in the shadow of the giant cliffs -, so maybe it is a good idea to return some other day (in the morning) for a more relaxed visit. You should also remember that you have to be dressed decently in order to enter (men need to wear long trousers and women a skirt or long pants and they have to have their arms covered). The oldest habituation here dates back from the 9th century, and the present day building is 5 metres large at the most and counts 8 floors. Have a look at the Venetian arch above the low entrance (dating from the 15th century) and at the beautiful icons in the church. You are given water, loukoum and a small glass of liqueur – so do not forget to leave a small gift for the guardians of this amazing place.
(2h45) Past the monastery you take the long staircase and you descend in 10 minutes to the parking – you are still at an altitude of 200 metres. You follow the asphalt road for 5 minutes until you get to the turn to the beach of Agia Anna on the left. You then continue up on the right for another 2 minutes, until you find the path and the staircase on the right leading up to Chóra (there is a sign which indicates 20 minutes to Chóra – this will take you about 18 minutes).
(3h18) When you reach the top you go through another gate and you are back on the parking at the east side of Chóra. You go to the left in order to enter the village, you pass the three schools, then you keep to the left and you go through the Embrostiáda. This brings you to the beautiful square at the back of the Triërarches churches and you then descend to the Plateáki. You continue on the main street, the Mési, but at the end of it - where you arrive at a house - you go up on the right, past the church of Agii Pántes, and in front of the elegant little towers of Agii Apóstoli, you take a left to the bus square. (3h27)