Evaluation: Just like the classic walk on Páros, "the Byzantine road" - see the hike Léfkes - Pródromos and back - this walk is very nice, because it introduces you to an almost unknown kalderími who is as nice as the Byzantine path. Certainly deserves ***.
[Updated by Raymond on May 8, 2018 and June 4, 2021.]
[The translation of this walk was made with some help of Google translate - so, please, do not mind the mistakes...]

Estimated time: The actual walking time until the path leading down to the chapel of Agios Nikólaos is 1h30. The descent towards the chapel and especially the kalderími in the valley of the Kavouropótamos gives you a real walking pleasure of 25 minutes! You finally follow unknown paths to Aspro Chorió, a walk of just over another 45 minutes. The actual time (AWT) thus amounts to 2h40, but the total time (TWT) can reach 4-5 hours - we walked from 11 to 4.30 pm.

Route description: [From Parikiá there are quite regular buses to Léfkes, Pródromos, Márpissa and Dryós. If you arrive by a rented car or motorbike, when approaching Léfkes, take the asphalt road down to the left, in the direction of the center. Near the bus stop, where the road continues to the left towards Márpissa, you can park your car ...]

(0h00) Near the bus stop, where the road turns left towards Márpissa, you continue straight on the paved street (sign Léfkes). You pass the dimarchío (town hall) and the school and after 4 minutes or 300 meters, the street describes a left turn and on the left you see a nice square with trees and the war memorial. Three walks start here:
- at the start of the bend, just after the school, a paved street goes up to the right; this is the start of the walk [4]. After 20 meters there is a staircase that goes straight up: there is a [4] and a hiking sign
- a few houses further to the left in the bend, a paved street climbs steeply to the right; this is the start of your walk [2] of today - there is a hiking sign Langáda 1h15 / Dryós 2h40 / Aspro Chorió 2h25
- if you follow the street beyond the left turn ("dead end" sign and "Byzantine road" sign + [1] on a pole), you could follow the well-known walk [1] towards Pródromos, the "Byzantine road".

But today you have to take the paved street in the bend that goes up to the right. There, you continue straight [2], the street becomes narrower between the houses and gets to a side road.

(0h07) You take a left and immediately a right and down and then right again: so you climb straight to the edge of the houses, where a path begins straight ahead [2]. The obvious rocky path climbs next to a valley, becomes cemented and after 4 minutes gets to a small asphalt road next to a house.

(0h11) You go left for a moment, but then you take the small concrete road which climbs in front of you [2] and which comes after a few minutes to a dead end - but there a nice path continues to climb, a little to the left. After a nice stretch, you get to a gravel road that you follow to the right, but soon you take a left [2] in order to follow a path which becomes paved.

(0h24) Almost the top, you keep to the right on concrete; the climb is steep for a few moments, but then the road becomes a pleasant dirt track, with a valley on the left and further on the small monastery of Agia Kyriakí.
Four-five minutes later, you veer left, on a nice pavement; shortly after, you go up to the right between walls, in front of a gate, and you continue on beautiful slabs.

(0h34) After another 4-5 minutes, you pass between a large rock and the ruin of a small chapel: you still climb and after 3 minutes you veer to the right, in the middle of abundant vegetation, then to the left to cross a green valley. You come to a road that becomes concrete, but you can almost immediately continue on a rocky path between walls; this path becomes a paved, then a concrete road and gets to a side road - you have a beautiful view on the left!

(0h41) You go up to the right and the road is still paved or concrete; already after 1-2 minutes, you get again to a side road, where you go right again. You continue straight ahead, then keep a little to the right, you pass between houses and the road becomes gravel. When you come to a fork and onto concrete, you go left on a small gravel road towards a nice and large house: this road passes to the right of the house and a dexamení (cistern). You keep to the right on the path between walls, it is a little obstructed by vegetation, but already after a minute you get to the gravel road towards Langáda - here you have a very nice view on the coast, on Náxos, with Irakliá on the right.

(0h51) You follow this pleasant road to the left and continue as on a balcony with a view over the whole east of the island and Náxos. The road climbs slightly, then descends into a gentle valley with beautiful cypress trees and eucalyptus [2] and then climbs again. You pass a side road towards Agii Akýndini (sign), you go up towards the pass, you pass a second road on the left and you cross the windy pass while continuing straight ahead.

(1h08) You descend [2] now for 7 minutes with a deep valley and the church of Langáda on your right and with, in the sea, the islands of Ios and Síkinos in front of you. After 4 minutes, you leave a path on the right (cairns).

(1h17) About 10 meters beyond a hairpin bend, there is a path that starts sharply to the left (cairn and a little further a [2]): this beautiful path, paved here and there, winds down in 9 minutes and gets with some difficulty to a road, to the left of a chapel.

The beginning of the path that descends to the chapel of Agios Nikólaos.

(1h28) You take a right here – to the left the road leads towards the monastery of Agios Geórgios - and you thus arrive, while keeping to the right, to the right of the chapel of Agios Nikólaos - it is open.

You return to the road and you continue to follow it; rather soon you arrive on a beautiful pavement. As you turn left - there is an obstructed path to the right - the pavement becomes even more beautiful, with large stones, and you zigzag down into the valley. You now follow a real kalderími, with splendid brown stones, with very well-built bends and a beautiful retaining wall. Especially after 11 minutes since the chapel, there is a beautiful bend: notice the borders and the large flat stone in the middle!

A nice spot on the kalderími to the valley of the Kavouropótamos.

(1h44) A few minutes later, you continue for a few moments on a rocky path, but afterwards, the beautiful pavement starts again, for about 6-7 minutes, with nice curbs and a series of very well-constructed bends.

Very nice border stones...

... and beautiful constructed bends!

You arrive on some rocks, the paved path becomes narrower, but it remains paved until it zigzags to the bottom of the valley.

[Two minutes before the kalderimi arrives in the valley, there is a nice path that starts to the and continues on the hillside - this is the continuation of the walk [2] towards Dryós. We followed it for a few minutes, but we didn’t find the continuation of the path.]

(1h53) At the bottom of the valley, you veer to the left and you go up a little: the gravel road now follows the right slope of the valley. You have to keep to the right after 2-3 minutes and you thus get, after another short paved stretch, to a concrete road.

(1h55) You take a left and you climb slowly above the fairly green valley, mostly on gravel. After 4 minutes, you keep to the right and a little further, you continue to the left on concrete. The concrete turns into gravel and you now walk for a little over 20 minutes up and down slightly, until you see the blue roof of the church of Aspro Chorió.
But first, you make a wide right turn and finally the road becomes concrete: you pass the first houses and it is only then that you can turn sharply to the left. You still have to continue between the houses in the village for quite a while, until you get to the main road, where the bus stop is. (2h39)

[Here, you can wait for the bus - in June 2021 there was a bus at 5pm. You can also follow the road until Dryós, but it would cost you half an hour to walk!]

Gpx-files:


https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/paros-lefkes-kavouropotamos-aspro-chorio-91203276

https://www.routeyou.com/en/route/view/10064290/hiking-route/paros-lefkes-kavouropotamos-aspro-chorio