Firà - caldera - Ia
Evaluation:
This is the most obvious hike you can make on the island of Santorini
and it will lead you - if you have not discovered them by now - through
the sister villages of Firà, Firostefáni and Imerovígli, going higher
up all the time above the caldera. It then continues through the
expanding housing in northern direction and it finally goes to Ia via a
really magnificent path. This hike offers so many changing views on the
volcano, the sea and the caldera, that it definitely deserves an
evaluation of ***.
[Update by Raymond on May 23rd, 2013 and on March 10th, 2014.]
See the walk Ia - caldera and back.]
Route
description: (0h00)
From the bus square in Firà (when you get to Firà by bus) you have to
continue to the very busy square of Theotokopoulou. This is the modern
centre of Firà with a lot of travel agencies (the Santo Volcano next to
the Emporiki Trapeza-bank is a very decent one), banks and bars. In the
corner, in between the George's Snack Corner and the Pelican travel
agency you go left, in the direction of the caldera. You can then take
one of the three streets off the right, they all lead towards the higher
part of Firà.
You can also depart from the spot where one has the most beautiful view
over the volcano, high up near the cathedral and the Hotel Atlantis.
From here on you walk in northern direction, past the old hotel
Panorama, through the highest of the three parallel streets and past all
the jewelry shops. You DO NOT go left to the staircase and the old
harbour downstairs, but you go straight, by following the signposts to
the "cable car".
After 5 minutes each of these three streets arrives at the
Archaeological Museum higher up (this museum is open till 3pm, but not
on Mondays). It is best to take a left here, past the upper station of
the cable car. You then go right above the caldera, until the red-brown
building higher up that dominates this neighbourhood of Firostefani: it
is the P.M. Nomikos Conference Centre, where a lot of exhibitions take
place – on the extending corner in front of this building many people
take pictures of the marvellous panoramic view.
[If you do not
take a left at the Archaeological Museum, but go straight instead, the
little streets higher up, on the left and the right of the catholic
Dominican monastery (the youth hostel is in this area as well) will also
bring you to the Nomikos Centre.]
(0h10) On the left of the
Centre you follow the tiled road and stairs, while you enjoy the view
– in front of you you can see the even higher situated village of
Imerovígli - here and there
there are markers [6]. Some
6 minutes later you pass the little church Agios
Gerasimos; you then move away from the caldera into a busier street,
further, the
alley
has
an uneven pavement,
between walls built
with lava stone
[6].
You go higher again on the path on the left of the main road and some 15
minutes after you have departed from the Nomikos Centre you reach the
monastery of Agios Nikólaos – also this is a great viewpoint.
(0h27)
Your street continues on the right of the monastery and you go further
up till Imerovígli. You walk on steadily and you pass some beautiful
villas and apartments. After about 10 minutes you reach the highest
point of Imerovígli, near the little baroque tower and the church –
both of them decorated with a blue dome. Some 30 metres further,
you should
take a left for a moment ,
towards a small door
of a chapel, but once
arrived in front of
the door, you go right
again.
[A little further,
you can
go down on the left, via a steep path with approximately 100 steps,
until the little chapel of Agios Geórgios. The view from here is
fantastic and there are some banks to have a rest. You can approach the
caldera even more by getting on the protruding cape.
You go up a bit, while keeping to the right, and then you continue first on a paved later on a concrete alley between houses. Now, you continue for another 10 minutes: you go up a little, down a little, all the time along new apartments and villas, some of them with swimming pools. You then finally get to a gravel path and then on the old, tiled trail, some 45 minutes after your departure from Firà.
(0h45) This is only the temporary end of the buildings, because a little further down the path turns into a gravel road again. In this way you walk for another 25 minutes past apartments – new ones or under construction. Past the Pantheon de Luxe the road splits up: on the left you can take a path and then some concrete steps to descend to a marvellous spot: you are at the peaceful church of Agios Antónios, and a couple of picnic tables invite you to take some rest. If you have left a little later, then this is the ideal picnic spot. The other small road, going up on the right, leads to the snack bar To Monopáti and a hundred meters further on starts a concrete path.[You could go up to the left to that chapel: in this case, you will follow during about 10 minutes a path with a nice view on the caldera; that path will join with the trail you will follow now, see below under the point (1h29).]
(1h15) You do NOT go up to the left, but
about 50 meters BEFORE the chapel,
there is a paved path that goes right (hiking
sign Vouniá 15 ').
It is an alternative route which is marked with the number [3].
The beautiful trail that descends slowly, is very easy and offers nice views of
the other, rather monotonous, part of Santoríni.
The pavement becomes stony after 12 minutes – it is here that the path
that follows the caldera, joins your path from the left.
(1h33) Shortly after, you get to the
asphalt road - you are to Vouniá and you now will follow the road to the
left for a little less than 6 minutes.
Just beyond a cantina - the spot is called "Stérna
Louloudíou" = "Cistern of the Flower", a path covered with pumice and lava stones starts to the left (hiking sign Ia 60 ').
The path becomes a little road, and after 7 minutes, you climb a staircase with
a beautiful dark pavement along a black wall [1] - note also the beautiful
layers of pumice stone on the left.
Another 10 minutes later, there is a section where you continue on gray ash,
which also takes 10 minutes - no wonder the hill on your right is called Mávro
Vounó (= Black Hill) ...
You slowly go down while describing
a wide turn, with behind you a beautiful view over the road you had to follow -
from the upper chapel with the blue dome, until Vouniá, the asphalt road and the
trail from Stérna Louloudíou.
Finally, you arrive between the chapel of Stavrós and a small older chapel -
you can enjoy the splendid view towards Ia and the northern part of the
island.
Through the small tower, you often can see beautiful sunsets!
(2h06) The descent lasts 10 minutes
and most of the time, you walk on a beautiful uneven pavement, sometimes on the
black or reddish lava - and so you come near another chapel,
also dedicated to Profítis Ilías.
(2h17) You continue while keeping to
the left - the right path leads to the small village of Finikiá, where also
begins the short walk to the beach of Baxédes.
Very soon, you come next to the first big hotel: the pavement becomes gravel and
after a little more than 10 minutes, you get to a concrete ground, next to the
water company of Ia.
(2h28) The small road, the Odós
Persefónis, continues next to luxurious hotels with pool, then it leads to the
asphalt road next to Perivolas Market.
You still can follow the little paved street besides the asphalt road, then the
road itself, and you finally arrive next to three churches.
(2h36)
[Optionally, you can continue straight on the main street, to
discover the streets of Ia, you can drink or eat something in one of the bars or
restaurants, you can descend to the beach of Ammoudi,
or you can stay to watch the sunset, which attracts hundreds of tourists
each evening in summer time.
Until late at night there are buses back to Firà, but remember that the first
buses after the sunset are usually overcrowded…]