Léfkes - Pígados - Panagía Thapsanoón - Parikiá


Evaluation: This rather long walk follows relatively unknown trails through the interior of the island – sometimes, it is difficult to find the right path, especially between Pígados and the Panagía Thapsanoón. Some of these trails are not (yet) on the map of Terrain Maps or Anavasi...
This hike can optionally form the continuation of the classic walk Pródromos - Léfkes, the so called "Byzantine Road". Deserves the evaluation ***.
[Updated by Raymond on May 17, 2013and on September 1, 2023.]
[The translation of this walk w
as made with some help of Google translate - so, please, do not mind the mistakes...]

Estimated time
: The actual walking time (AWT) up to the hamlet of Pígados is 1h05, and then it takes 35 minutes to get to the Panagía Thapsanoón. The final stretch to Parikiá requires 1h20. The AWT of the total walk thus amounts to a little more than 3 hours, for a distance of 9,08 km – but the total time (TWT) can be the double, some 5 to 6 hours...

Route description
: (0h00) On the platía (square) of Léfkes, you take the paved street which passes in front of the school on the right (facing this school). After about 4 minutes you come to a crossroads where the main road goes down to the right towards Pródromos - here is also the bus stop. You continue straight on the main road coming from Parikiá, but immediately you go up a paved slope diagonally to the left (sign Maráthi 1h25 / Thapsaná 1h30 / Parikiá 3h00). You pass some houses and, a little further on, you arrive at the upper asphalt road, which you follow to the right until the crossroads.

(0h09) There you find on the left a paved road that goes down [1] [3], a small road that follows the route of the Byzantine road: it soon becomes unevenly paved and goes down quite quickly.
After about 5 minutes you reach the asphalt road via a concrete slope - opposite the road continues to the Byzantine bridge (signpost).

(0h13) Attention: BEFORE reaching the asphalt road, you turn LEFT (dead end sign) (sign Thapsaná 1h15 and [3]).
You follow this more or less paved gravel road for 4 minutes, then – pay attention - you have to go down to the RIGHT (2 X [3]) to cross a stream bed. You go up on an old path, well marked by [3] and red dots. After 8-9 minutes, you arrive near a house with a pottery workshop, you continue between 2 walls and you arrive next to a chapel.

(0h29) Here you go straight ahead, to the left of a modern low wall (2 cairns), then you veer left until you arrive under a power line, but then you go up again to the left on an uneven path ([3]
and dots). The ascent is steep, you pass to the right of a small house, then you continue to climb steeply between walls. After a flatter section, you go up to the left of the farm that you have already seen on the pass, you cross a gate in reinforcing steel, but you immediately take a right on concrete, until you go up sharply to left on a difficult concrete slope, to the right of some buildings.

(0h51) Just before the summit, you can take a path on the left between walls [3];
you continue to follow it to the left of the road, until reaching the crest, where you follow the concrete road for a while.

(0h54) You now follow this descending concrete road for about ten minutes, while you can already see the enormous pink-red monastery far in front of you.
After 6 minutes, you describe a sharp turn to the right.
Pay attention: a few minutes BEFORE this road arrives at a crossroads in the hamlet of Pígados (with the chapel of Agios Geórgios on the right and where one could continue straight towards Agios Minás and Maráthi), a vague path goes LEFT (cairn).
This is a welcome shortcut, and after a few minutes you reach a side road that ends here and comes from Pígados. There is a small building and at the corner of a wall you see the mark [3b].

(1h07) You go left, then you cross a gate in reinforcing steel and you pass to the left of an ugly dovecote.
Your progress - especially in spring - is difficult because of the tall grass. After 4 minutes, the path improves, then it descends between walls in a small valley, with a vineyard on the right. You DO NOT take the path that goes up to the left, but first you go straight; a little further, you do NOT go straight, but you go down to the RIGHT, to the bottom of a small valley.
Once at the bottom, you turn left and you have to pay attention now: you cross a gate [3a], but 50 meters further on, you have to look for the path which goes sharply to the right, difficult to distinguish between
broom bushes. The paved path, narrow and uneven, climbs quickly and winds, then it improves and ends at the top at a sort of road between walls (cairn on the right wall, [3a] on the left wall.

(1h24) You climb for 2 minutes, you turn left to follow a side road for a while, then there is another path on the right (cairn).
You follow this nice dirt path for 5 minutes, and then continue on a beautiful path between walls - and the monastery finally appears in front of you. After another 4 minutes you keep right at a fork in the road and then you get to a gravel road where you turn left. You follow it to a wider gravel road, where you turn left again for 2 minutes to the monastery. 1h41)

This enormous and modern monastery only dates from 1939 and was built on the remains of a monastery dating from the 17th century. This is a convent for nuns and can only be visited by women.

(1h41) For the rest of this walk, you retrace your steps for a few moments while following the convent wall until the fork in the gravel road, near a large double electric pole. Just pas this pole, you go left on a concrete road which goes down between walls. The concrete becomes gravel and after a total of 12 minutes, you arrive in front of a closed gate, with the chapel of Péra Panagía behind it.

(1h53) A path begins here to the left, to the left of a low wall and behind a low gate in reinforcing steel.
The obvious, but sometimes overgrown, path descends into the valley, to the left of the inaccessible Péra Panagía. You cross the bed, then you continue to the right on the path which continues above the river bed in the direction of the coast. Further on, you get a nice view of the Péra Panagía.

You pass some difficult subsidences, then you arrive in a more open landscape, where you begin to descend between a wall and olive trees. The trail continues to go down on the right side of a valley and eventually descends to the right into a side valley to a kind of dilapidated pumping station.

(2h13) You go left (red arrow) and you begin a somewhat difficult passage in the bed: the path passes sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left of the bed, or it continues in the rocky bed itself.
After a few difficult minutes you arrive at a small road on the right bank.

(2h17) You will now follow this road for approximately 16 minutes, up and down.
You can already feel the sea breeze and you enjoy a beautiful view of Parikiá.

(2h33) You get to a gravel road which makes a bend here, you continue straight ahead and you arrive on concrete near the first house.

(2h36) Down, you thus get to a side road, with the football field on the right;
you go left, but after 2 minutes you turn right onto a concrete road. You reach an asphalt road which you follow to the right; after a few more minutes you arrive at the Parikiá ring road.

(2h57) You now follow the winding street opposite for another 5 minutes and you arrive at the sea, with the Mitrópoli on the right, recognizable by its blue domes and its double towers.

(3h02) The port and the center of Parikiá are on the right.

Gpx-files:


https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/paros-lefkes-pigados-panagia-thapsanoon-parikia-158879402

https://www.routeyou.com/en/route/view/13992288/hiking-route/paros-lefkes-pigados-panagia-thapsanoon-parikia