Chorió - Psáthi - Goúpa - Agios Nikólaos - Klíma - Xaplovoúni- Chorió
Evaluation: On the south-east coast of Kímolos there are a few small fishing villages, with the typical boat garages – on the island of Mílos, there also many boat garages, some of which are even much more beautiful, such as the ones in the villages of Klíma, Fourkovoúni, Mandrákia, etc. Although the hiking trails are not really extraordinary, it is still very pleasant to walk along this picturesque coast. The hike deserves an evaluation of **.
Estimated
time: In a
little under 20 minutes you descend from Chorió to the small harbour of Psáthi;
via the bays of Goúpa and Agios Nikólaos it will take only 40 minutes to reach
the most distant point of this not very long hike, namely the beach of Klíma.
Via the mills on Xaplovoúni it will then cost you about half an hour to walk
back to Chorió.
Route
description: (0h00)
Just like for all the other hikes
you have to leave from the Kámbos. This time you take the little street
on the left of the row of houses with the kafenío and the kámara (a vaulted
passage). This street goes up and it runs on the left of the Byzantine church of
Ioánnis Chrysóstomos. You follow the signposts to the "archaeological
museum", you thus walk around the kástro and you get to the museum and
then to the large Mitrópoli.
[The
museum is often closed – it should be open, though, from 8.30am to 3pm, every
day except on Mondays.]
(0h05) Between the museum and the large church - near the war monument – you take the broad staircase going down. This is the ancient road to the harbour and the staircase is painted with white figures and squares. After 1 minute you keep to the left, of course, and in this way you descend for a few more minutes, until you arrive at the asphalt road. You take a right for a short while, but after 40-50 metres you find the continuation of the paved path on your left. Unfortunately, this old trail is almost completely covered with concrete.
(0h12) Some
3 minutes later you
pass a small church and immediately thereafter you find a trail off the left,
leading to Goúpa.
You could of course take a left here right away, but today you decide to
first descend to the little harbour. After 3 minutes you reach the asphalt road, you go left and after a
little while you get to the waterside. Straight across you notice the small
jetty for the Panagía Faneroméni, the small ferry boat going to Pollónia on
the island of Mílos. On the right there is the pleasant restaurant "To Kýma",
but the road continues a little to the left, where there is also a larger pier
for the bigger boats.
(0h18) For
the continuation of the hike you return to the asphalt road,
and already after one minute you find the ‘old’ trail on the right. You take
this trail on the right, BEFORE the little church: at first it is a gravel path,
but then it turns into concrete. About 2 minutes later you reach a fence with a
sign "no entry", but on the left you notice a narrow path continuing
into the valley. The somewhat sloppy trail runs in the valley, between tall
walls, until it gets to the little harbour of Goúpa, where you already notice
some boat garages. The Greeks talk about "sýrmata" ("dragging
roads") or "magaziá" ("shops, storehouses") –
nowadays these old storages for fishing boats are often converted into depots or
even very simple holiday homes.
(0h30) Sometimes
you have to clamber in order to continue between the waterside on one side and
the boat garages on the other. A little further you have to walk over a simple
bridge next to the limestone rocks. You thus get to a small road where you take
a right, going down to a second little bay with even more boat garages. By means
of steps you arrive at a path, which runs around a little cape – BEFORE a
house you have to keep to the left on a concrete slope. You then get to a third
bay with boat garages and via some steps and a trail you proceed easily in this
remarkable landscape. Have a look to the right, towards the little island with
rock arches.
(0h39) Watch out now: just before walking between a wall and some trees, you have to turn to the left sharply and take a trail between walls, on the right-hand side of a house – the continuation along the sea is really picturesque as well, but the trail runs to a dead end and in any case - if you continue - you will have to walk back until this point.
The path is worn away in
the rocks and it runs towards the interior of the island. After some 2 minutes
it gets to a small concrete road which you follow to the right. Another 3-4
minutes later you keep to the left, of course, and a while later you go straight
ahead. You pass four modernized, so ugly, boat garages; the road narrows and it
turns into a stony path between walls. It continues meandering, not too far away
from the water. Between tall walls you finally reach the bay of Agios Nikólaos,
some 12 minutes after the sharp turn. You notice another 10 not very picturesque
boat garages.
(0h51) Next
to the final garage there is a small road going up; you pass underneath the
chapel and after 6
more minutes you reach the asphalt road.
You follow this road to the right, past the petrol station EKO and after 4-5
minutes you arrive at the modest pebble beach of Klíma – there are a couple
of nice trees to provide some shade.
(1h02) You
return, past the petrol station and the point where you came from Agios
Nikólaos just a moment ago. Already half a minute later, though, you take the
gravel road on the right, past a few houses. The road curves to the left, it
passes some heaps of stones and then it goes straight up – unfortunately, the
gravel road was recently broadened and ‘improved’. This turns out to be
quite a steep climb and you have to stay on the main road all the time, also
when you notice a trail coming from the right after about 10 minutes.
[This trail comes from the
valley, near a stone quarry. And indeed, from Klíma there is a path running in
the valley to this quarry; you could then turn to the left sharply and take
another trail going up between walls, until you reach the gravel road – it
seems that the final part of this trail is completely overgrown, though.]
You keep climbing, you
curve to the left and you get to a kind of stony plateau, where you already
notice a couple of mills right in front of you. You stay on this very
unattractive road, which meanders to the left at first, but then it takes a
right to get to the mills – after some 23-24 minutes of climbing up.
(1h30) You are now on the
hill ridge of Xaplovoúni, where you discover the remains of 8 mills all
together. Only two of them are somewhat preserved, even with their roof covering.
The entire site looks rather miserable: only ruins are remaining, with flung
down millstones, and a few turning mechanisms with their large spindles. The
panoramic view from here is really worthwhile, though.
For
the descent to Chorió you should leave from the last but three ruin, on the
left of the only house. You go down in south-southwestern direction, on the
nicely paved path. It meanders on the southern slope of the Xaplovoúni, which
is covered with a mass of cacti. About 3 minutes later the pavement becomes
concrete and after a little over 6 minutes you reach the Kámbos again, via the
Odós Marigos Polyxénis. (1h36)