Kamáres - Agios Lázaros - Apollonía 

Evaluation: During this hike, you necessarily have to follow the road to Agios Simeoón for the first part of this hike, a road that has been partly asphalted recently. Later on, past the church of Agios Lázaros, you will get to a quite beautiful trail. This trail runs above the large valley that goes from Kamáres to Apollonía, on the opposite side of the main road. Nevertheless, this hike could be an alternative for the bus ride to Apollonía. We give this hike an evaluation of *.
For an alternative route following the valley, first along some gravel roads and then by means of beautiful trails, see the hike Apollonía - Kamáres.

Estimated time: This is a rather short hike: 10 minutes on the beach, then 45 minutes (AWT) along the boring road to Agios Simeoón and finally a little under an hour over a pleasant and rather easy path to the centre of Apollonía. This is an ideal hike for a not too active afternoon. In the opposite direction it is a good alternative when you have just missed the bus in Apollonía and would have to wait for two hours anyway.

Route description: From the harbour of Kamáres you can take the main road towards Apollonía for a short while and then take the turn to Agia Marína. However, since you will have to walk on asphalt and gravel roads for a large part of this hike already, it is much better to walk over the beach in order to get to Agia Marína on the other side of the bay of Kamáres.

In about 10 minutes you reach the other side of the beach; by walking on the right of the bar and then on the right of the wall and the stairs, you go to the little church of Agia Marína. In this way you get to the beginning of the asphalt road. On a signpost you can see that it is 8 km to the monastery of Agios Simeoón. After some 20 minutes you get to the provisional end of the asphalt road. A couple of minutes later - immediately before a large farm in a curve to the left - there is a road off the right leading to the Panagía Ta Langadákia.

[To avoid an other 20 minutes on the main road, you can take a right here. This road goes down to the left and zigzags then up again until you reach the simple chapel, after about 7 minutes. There are some great picnic tables on this spot. The little road that continues comes to a dead end after 5 minutes. On the west side of the chapel there is a staircase though; these steps go down and are partly overgrown. The stairs then curve towards the left and go down steeply into a narrow valley. On the opposite side you have to go up again (this part is completely overgrown and some long trousers come in handy). After this fairly steep climb up you arrive again at the same altitude as the chapel. The trail is now clearly visible and it continues in between olive tree terraces; it runs fairly flatly in the direction of Apollonía. You now walk above the dam. You cross a rather small valley and you then go down gradually, until you get to the bottom of the valley. It has now been 20 minutes since you have left the big gravel road to Agios Simeoón. If it is possible to follow the main valley - works are going on to destroy the dam -, you can walk to the left until you see on the left a smaller valley. There you will discover the cairns and the rock stair, as described below.]

If you want to go on to Apollonía, you have to continue on the gravel road, past the turn to Panagía Ta Langadákia. By gradually going up you describe a large curve to the left and then to the right, and then an even bigger curve to the left and to the right, until you see Agios Lázaros in front of you – about 22 minutes after the turn to Panagía Ta Langadákia. In order to give a little bit of orientation when you have arrived at the hairpin bend underneath Agios Lázaros: in front of you there is a little road going more or less straight ahead, and leading to Agios Lázaros. [If you take a left, continuing on the gravel road in the direction of Agios Simeoón, you will find a path. It is situated in a slight curve to the right and you will reach it after about 200-300 metres and past a house. This path goes straight, through the debris of the road constructions; it is a yet undiscovered trail, which should lead to Agios Simeoón.]

When you are in the curve underneath Agios Lázaros, though, you can also go downwards to the right onto a smaller gravel road. In this way you will get to the beginning of a concrete staircase, about 10 metres further down and on the right hand side of a metal gate. Very soon, however, this staircase turns into a trail. At first, this trail is a little overgrown, but it is still easily recognizable; it curves to the left, which is the right direction.

After some five minutes going down you get to a valley; from then onwards the trail continues fairly flatly. Later on you descend rather steeply and you then get to a flat part again. You are now above a field with olive trees and on the opposite side of the large valley you can distinguish the main road from Kamáres-Apollonía. You go further down on a zigzaging staircase; you curve to the right and you continue horizontally. Now, you are almost at the same altitude as the main road on the other side. Underneath you can see the construction works of the dam, which will soon cause a part of this valley to be flooded.

Fifteen minutes after your departure from Agios Lázaros you descend steeply and you get to the sandy bottom of a small river. You take a left for a little while, but on the right hand side of a rock with the biggest of three stone figures, you find the beginning of some beautiful rock stairs. At first it looks as if this staircase curves back into the interior, but it finally appears again high above the large valley. Since some time there is a water pipe next to the trail and the blue church of Artemónas already looks much closer as well. You now walk on a fairly flat path, which becomes really beautiful and which, about 30 minutes after your departure from Agios Lázaros, finally arrives on the left of the Panagía Platánou.

Up till now your trail has been unambiguous, but now you get to the first junction: one trail, with the water pipe next to it, goes up on the left; you have to take a right though. For five minutes you thus walk on a marvellous trail, high above the valley with the uncountable terraces. On the opposite side you can see the large monastery of Agios Theológos. You pass a trail going down on the right, but you continue straight ahead at the same altitude. At this point, the monopáti becomes sandy; you first pass a path off the left, which goes to a little church. Later on you pass another trail going down off the right. After three minutes you have to go straight/to the left when you get to another junction. You now have a great view on some large valleys and on the town of Apollonía. You continue to go straight for another seven minutes; you do not mind the paths off the left and the right, and you aim at the white dome of a little, picturesque and anonymous church. On the opposite side, the cemetery and Agios Theológos move past slowly.