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 was
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.