Chóra - Stavrós - Pýrgos - Panagiá - Chóra
Evaluation:
This hike through the interior of Sérifos is a shorter variant of the
superb hike - really a must on this island -, leading to Kéndarchos,
the monastery of Taxiárchoon, Galaní and Panagiá - see Chóra - Kéndarchos
- Galaní - Panagiá - Chóra. This is a hike with an evaluation
of **.
Estimated time:
You can make this hike in about 3h30 (actual walking time): it takes one
hour, indeed, to Stavrós, then a little over 40 minutes to Pýrgos,
half an hour to Panagiá and then 1h20 to hike back to Chóra. In a
steady pace we hiked from 10.30am to 17.30pm – as usual, the total
walking time is about twice the actual walking time.
Route description: Assuming that you depart from Chóra, we start
this hike on the bus square.
[If you first walk
from Livadi to Chóra, we refer to the route description of the hike
Livadi-Chóra-Livadi.]
On the bus square,
you take the small street on the left of the shop of Michail Bofilios.
This street goes down and for about 4 minutes you thus walk past a few
fairly beautiful houses.
[On the right of
the shop, so between the shop and the kafenion I Mili (The Mills), there
is a staircase going down steeply – this is the classical beginning of
the hike to Stavrós – see the hikes Chóra - Kéndarchos and Chóra -
Agios Ioánnis.
The variant of today passes a beautiful well, but it ends in a rather
difficult clamber...]
After these four
minutes you DO NOT go up the staircase on the left, but you take a
right, and then immediately a left again; this is the beginning of a
clear and narrow gravel path. Some 2 minutes later you get to the left
of a ruin and you go down, in the direction of some pigeon towers. Again
4 minutes further you walk underneath the pigeon towers and you descend
further. A couple of
minutes later you thus cross the bottom of the small valley – next to
you, you notice a well with the famous frogs of Sérifos. On your right,
you see the deep valley with a bridge and further down there are the
frog pools which you can also visit on the hike Livádi - Psíli Ammos
(in the route description of this hike, you can also find some more
explanation on the legend of the frogs...).
Past the valley,
your trail with retaining walls continues to the right, in eastern
direction. After a climb of some 7 minutes you cross the hill crest,
with a nice view on Chóra and Livádi. In front of you, against the
mountain slope with lots of aerials, you can already distinguish the
chapel of Páno Stavrós, your first goal. Slightly further, you arrive
at a gravel road, which you follow to the right. You describe a large
curve to the left, but in the following curve to the right you follow
the gravel road straight ahead. After walking on the gravel road for
about 8 minutes, you see before you an old stone bridge; you leave the road and you go down towards
this bridge
and a small white building. Down in the valley and to the right, you
notice another bridge – the direct hike [1] from Chóra to Stavrós
and Kéndarchos passes over that bridge.
Because you do not
find the alternative path that, according to the map of Anávasi,
continues over the bridge, you DO NOT cross the bridge. Instead, you
follow the valley, about 5 to 10 metres on the right-hand side of the
bed of the river; you thus walk over some fields in the direction of the
lower situated bridge. At the end, it becomes a little difficult because
of a wall with thorny bushes; by walking through a couple of vineyards
you can reach the stone bridge with the bent iron railings – you thus
arrive at the main trail [1] to Stavrós.
Your next goal is
now the chapel of Páno Stavrós, easily recognizable by the blue arch. You
thus take a left on hike no. [1]:
your trail then continues clearly between tall walls, but after a couple
of minutes you get to a rocky open terrain. On this terrain you have to
watch out: you should go up on the left (there are also red dots and a
small sign with the figure 1), in the direction of two stone walls,
which run towards one another in the shape of a funnel – you still
proceed in the direction of the aerials. After 12 minutes you arrive at
a windy hill ridge, with on the right a nice view on the bay of Psíli
Ammos and on the small island of Vous. You then climb up the hill ridge
for about 10 minutes, until you reach the chapel of Páno Stavrós. Up
here you really have a marvellous view (from left to right) on the beach
of Psíli Ammos, Vous, the island of Sífnos, the bay of Livádi and the
town of Chóra.
This is thus an
ideal spot to have a rest: the chapel is closed, but the stones or the
steps on the side of the shade, invite you to sit down and to maybe eat
or drink something. In the meanwhile you can look back and you can try
to find the vague trail that goes up against the slope on the right,
close to a small building – that is where you will continue within a
few minutes.
After the break it
takes you precisely 2 minutes to walk back and opposite a grey-brownish
building, you look for a trail to the right: a vague goat path goes up
against the slope and it meanders never far away from the low wall on
your left-hand side. You go through a hole in the low wall in front of
you and then you describe large zigzags on a fairly visible trail, going
up in south-western direction. Some 14 minutes altogether after you
departure from the chapel you get to a ridge, where you can also spot
two white houses higher up. You now have to keep climbing on the
left-hand side of the ridge; finally, after another 9 minutes, you
arrive some 100 metres on the right of a white house.
Over here, a stony
path seems to continue between walls, but you DO NOT follow this path.
You take a left instead, towards the house, and there you find a cart
track going up on the right. In this way, you get to a gravel road after
some 4-5 minutes, and you follow this road to the right for a short
while. After 1 minute you notice a vague track on the left and you thus
find the trail to Pýrgos – this trail continues between a wall and a
metal fence. Deep down, you can see Galaní, towards the right and in
front of you. After 2 minutes also Pýrgos appears in front of you, with
the blue dome of the church.
After a couple of
minutes you DO NOT keep to the left alongside the iron fence, but you go
straight ahead in the direction of the large well, situated before you
arrive in Pýrgos, in a curve of the asphalt road. For a short while,
the trail is very overgrown, but then you continue easily. From far away
you can already hear the loud croaking of the frogs in the basins next
to the continually running well – these frogs are definitely not
mute…
After a short break and some refreshing you follow the trail going
straight ahead above the well, in the direction of the village. You
reach the village only three minutes later; at the first house you take
a left until you get to the elegant little church. This church is open
and on the inside it is remarkably small – the Saint-Nicolas looks
very severe.
Leaving from the church you go back for a couple of metres and you descend on the right of the first house. You thus walk into the village, until you arrive at the asphalt road. Straight across you see the hiking sign of hike no. 6 and you follow this obvious and beautiful rocky trail, that descends fairly steeply in the direction of Galaní. After 6-7 minutes this trail gets to a rocky gravel road - the path [6] continues to the right and takes a right again immediately, between small walls - this monopáti could bring you to Galaní and the bay of Sikamiá.
You proceed on the gravel road to the left for the following 12
minutes, with on your right-hand side a nice view on the green valley.
After a steep climb you arrive on a concrete road next to the cemetery
of Panagiá: over here you DO
NOT proceed straight ahead on a descending trail. Instead,
you follow the road to the left for about 30 metres; you then take a
rocky gravel road on the right – this road curves to the right and it
describes a large bend around the valley, underneath the houses. After 6
minutes you find a steep and narrow trail off the left and this trail
leads you higher into the village in about 3 minutes. Fortunately, the
first house on the right is still the old café with a small shop, where
you can drink something or where you can eat an omelette or a salad…
After your break
you continue straight until you reach the little square next to the
beautiful Byzantine church of Panagiá, dating from the 10th century
A.D.. This church is devoted to the Virgin Mary, with a huge celebration
on the 15th of August.
In
the left-hand corner of the small square you continue with hike [5]; you
take a right for a little while, but at the second trail marker [5]
(which indicates another hike in the direction of the bay of Sikamiá)
you take a left. You go up the steps and then you keep to the left on a
large staircase. In this way you walk through the village, as high up as
possible and in southern direction. Some 5 minutes later you get to the
asphalt road, but you can continue straight ahead, since you notice the
beginning of a kalderími leading upwards.
[Besides
hike [5] there is also hike [4], which leads from Panagiá to Gýftika
via Protógia. To follow this hike you also take the staircase on the
left, at the point where hike [5] leaves the village. However, at the
beginning of the large staircase, at the corner of a beautiful house
with a balcony, you have to take a right: the small concrete street
curves to the right and becomes a nice earth trail – there are no
indications whatsoever.]
You now walk up
calmly, for about 15 minutes. Behind you you can clearly distinguish the
island of Kýthnos (with the town of Kanála in the middle). When the
weather is clear you can even see the island of Kea behind Kýthnos. In
this way you get to the asphalt road. You will have to follow this road
to the left now, since there is no useful trail. After 20 minutes you
get to a junction. The road on the left goes to Chóra, but you continue
to the right for a while, towards Méga Livádi. After another 5 minutes
(and after having passed some truck wrecks) you get to a water tank and
a sign to the heliport (there is also a sign with the number 2). Over
there you take a left, you follow an asphalt for about 5 minutes and
where the road bends off towards the small airport, you take a path in
front of you. This trail goes down gradually in the direction of an
aiguille with a white chapel and a circle of walls. Guided by redundant
red dots and by a sign with the number 2 you reach the chapel after some
10 minutes. From this point onwards you will gradually get a wonderful
view on the other side of Chóra. After descending the trail for some
more minutes you get to a marvelous kalderími. This kalderími is
sometimes even completely paved and it has impressive walls – some
real cyclopean work!
While admiring the beautiful view on Chóra it will take you some 25
minutes to get down to the mills and the bus square. At this spot you
can wait for the next bus, you can discover Chóra or you can return to
Livádi by taking the ancient steps.