(0h49) Shortly thereafter you pass some drinking troughs with another bench besides them. You go up steeply now on a trail with a lot of rocky steps – if it were not for the sea on your left-hand side, you could really imagine yourself in the Alps – also because of the mountain goats. The path meanders up nicely and then you reach a flatter stretch again. Over here you have to watch out, because the trail splits up: our trail continues straight to the tower of Chimárrou.

[On the right you can see a couple of obvious cairns – they mark the trail that goes all the way to the top of the Zas.]

Panoramic view on Zas mountain, from the road Chimárrou - Filóti.

You walk on the right-hand side of a tall wall, but after a couple of minutes you leave this wall to continue on a very beautiful stone path. Later on you descend into a valley with some trees and with lots of goat. You go through an open gate and you move on in south-western direction, underneath a couple of trees. At first you walk again on the left-hand side of a wall, actually going too much to the south-west. After a short while though, the fairly obvious trail curves more to the left. You go down amidst the trees and the bushes and you reach a beautiful and flat path – this path now goes straight in the right direction, so to the south.

The monopáti with Zas mountain in the background.

After 7-8 minutes you arrive at some large trees, located in a depression of the hill. You continue by curving to the left; for a short while you walk on he right-hand side of a wall, but then you should go a little further to the right on a vague trail, running on a rocky and fairly flat side of the hill. You follow the stony hillcrest, you get to the right of a crumbled away wall and you go slightly down on a fairly obvious trail. In front you get a magnificent view on the island of Amorgós, with above it the typical rectangular cloud; to the right there is the island of Irakliá, then the flat island of Schinoússa, the 2 Koufoníssia and beyond the higher island of Kéros – all the way to the left there is the isle of Donoússa. This is a windy, but absolutely great spot. 

You follow the gravel road for some five minutes, first going to the right and then meandering to the left. You finally get to a very ugly, modern church. This spot is still littered with building materials and debris, and you can also notice a new bell on the ground (on the 27^th of May 2004). This spot is windy and not very pleasant, but the panoramic view on the island of Amorgós and on the smaller islands is still magnificent. You continue on the left-hand gravel road and you go down for a short while. Already in the first bend though, you find another trail going straight ahead. This path goes towards the south-southwest and at first it is fairly unclear. You should move on towards a point between the lowest tree and the lowest but one tree in front of you. In this way you get to a more obvious trail, which runs about 100 metres above a stable. You are now at an altitude of 550 metres. From here you can see the trail continuing in front of you on the hillside next to a wall – your aim is the depression between the hills in south-southwestern direction in front of you. These are the twin hills of Leproú, the one on the right-hand side has an altitude of 524 metres and the left-hand one – with a small pole on top (a trigonometric point) – has an altitude of 523 metres. On the map the trail runs between these two hills, but it seems a better idea to first aim for the hill on the right. Watch out not to go too much to the left, because you might end up in a very steep valley…

After five minutes you reach some skinny trees and from this point your aims already seems a lot closer. The trail goes clearly to the right, but first you should cross two side-valleys. After another 3-4 minutes you cross the first small gorge in between some trees. You then continue on a vague path, staying more or less at the same level, until you arrive at a very picturesque spot between two trees. From here you can see an obvious trail descending on the right and you can also distinguish the lines of paths continuing on the opposite side – that is where you will finally end up. This means that after the descent between the trees you will have to climb up again quite a lot in order to reach the right trail. But maybe, it is a good idea to first have some rest here – this is an ideal picnic spot, since you can sit on a rock under a tree. The only sounds you hear are the bells of the goats; you can see the sea, the islands and the cliffs of the isle of Amorgós, far away at the horizon beyond the sea. 

After this pause you descend for some three minutes until you get to the narrow gorge. You then go up again to the left straight away, till the lowest path. You continue to go up in the same direction for some five minutes; thereafter you go a little higher up in order to arrive at a  second path. You now walk on a clear earth trail, but do not go too much down or to the left! The slope is longer than expected, but you should continue straight towards the south, until you notice the asphalt road in the green valley in front of you. Also at this point you should not proceed in the direction of the valley. You should continue straight ahead on a barely visible, red-brownish trail between grey rocks, towards the hilltop directly in front of you. At last you arrive on top of the rocky and flat hilltop. The view is marvellous from here as well: in front of you, in south-eastern direction, you can finally discern the Chimárrou-tower at the far end of the road. And further away in front of you, there is still the great view on the islands of Ios and Amorgós, with in between the Small Cycladics. Over here the silence is overwhelming…

You now descend towards the east, in the direction of the twin hill with the pole on top of it. In the gentle valley between the hills you take a right on a very vague trail. Do not try to descend straight towards the tower or the road, because otherwise you will also have to cross a very deep valley! You thus continue more towards the right, in south-western direction – as indicated on the map. You go towards the trees, straight to the extreme right-hand point of the asphalt road. At first there is still a vague trail, but very soon this trail seems to disappear. You should avoid to end up in the bed of the river; instead you should try to get to the right of the bridge. At the end you go through a breach in a wall and then you go through an iron gate. You thus arrive on the asphalt road on the right-hand side of the bridge. You have descended from an altitude of 524 m to an altitude of about 380 metres.

You follow the road to the left; some eight minutes later you can see the tower. After about 12 minutes the asphalt road comes to an end and after fifteen minutes all together you finally reach the tower. The Chimárrou-tower is a Hellinistic tower, which belonged to a fortified farm. This tower was in fairly good condition, until it was badly damaged by a stroke of lightning quite recently – as a result the tower almost collapsed. Restoration works began in 1997, but due to a lack of money the work is not continuing – some piles of marble blocks in the neighbourhood await better times… Inside the tower you can still see the spiral staircase, which goes upward against the inner wall. Really visiting this monument is impossible.

The  Pýrgos Chimárrou.

From this point it is a good idea to call a taxi – walking along the road on foot to Filóti would be 12 km, and once arriving there the bus would have left most probably.