Panagiá - Vársamo - Panagía Kamarotí - Pyrgí and back

Evaluation: This hike begins in Panagiá and follows first of all for twenty minutes walking path [4], which continues thereafter until Gýftika. Then you follow beautiful trails through the real interior of Sérifos, passing by the Panagía Kamaroti, from where start three to four paths. Your ultimate goal could be the beautiful beach of Karavás, but there is only a clear path down to the abandoned hamlet of Pyrgí, situated above the bay. Deserves ***.
[The translation of this walk was made with the help of Google translate - so, do not mind the mistakes...]

Estimated time: First you need 45 minutes to reach the chapel of Panagía Kamarotí, then another 45 beautiful minutes until Pyrgí. The way back takes exactly the same time – one hour and a half, always in actual walking time.
That AWT can amount to a total walking time (TWT) of 6 hours, with a picnic near Pyrgí, where you can enjoy the amazing views on the bay of Karavás and the silence ...

Route description
: [As you start from Panagiá, you first must take the direction of Pýrgos and Galaní, until you take the road to the left to Panagiá. You can leave the car near the first houses where there is also an  anonymous café and store, which is almost always open. You continue to walk up to the square and the Byzantine church with the red dome ...]

The beautiful Byzantine church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, whose feast is on August 15th – the church dates from 1000 AD! When it is open, you can admire frescoes dating back to the 1300s and there is also a beautiful iconostási.

The church of Panagiá.

Some antique columns...

... but the ancient frescoes suffered a lot...

(0h00) You continue in the left corner of the small square – there is a sign indicating walk [5] and some signs 4-5 show you the wright way. You then go right, left and right, and at the next crossroads, walk [5] continues straight while walk [4] goes to the left. It is this walk [4] that you will follow and you thus keep to the left.

A very obvious signposting in Panagiá.

You continue straight through the village, you ascend a winding staircase and when you see on your left a concrete staircase, you go straight - you go up again, then you descend slightly on a concrete street. You leave the village after 4 minutes, on a beautiful monopáti, with a deep valley on the right. Another 4 minutes later, you descend a little and you see how your path continues ahead of you. Down in the valley lays a simple white chapel and then you get to a low stable with a few buildings to the left.

(0h13) You continue straight [4] and after about 5 minutes, you descend into the riverbed of a small green valley, with a source on the right. The beautiful trail climbs again above the valley, while gradually turning left. You again pass next to some stables - it is here that the path of walk [4] turns to the left, a little less than 4 minutes after the valley.

(0h22) You see also a pigeon house down in the valley and you get in this way next to a small white building with a more or less overgrown path on the left: you here descend to the RIGHT, into a valley. You go up again and you get once more next to a white building - further, you may NOT go down to the right, but you stay on the main trail that continues at about the same height.

(0h36) Further, you go up to the left and you get a beautiful view over the valley with the distant village of Panagiá. You arrive at a junction where you again go up to the left - the stretch that follows is really beautiful, because you continue as on a balcony, high above the Dipotámata-valley with its numerous terraces. You begin to climb again, and suddenly you see in front of you the Panagía Kamarotí.

The path leads to the Panagía Kamarotí.

The Panagía Kamarotí.

From the chapel, you enjoy a beautiful view over the bay of Sikamiá - there is a trail that descends in this direction, but it stops near Agios Ioannis, the beach is much further down, so it is inaccessible from the Panagía Kamarotí ...

(0h44) You follow the gravel road for a few moments, but you almost immediately take a right onto a path that continues to the right of the road - further on it will pass to the left of a farm. At first, you descend slowly, but later much faster following zigzags, to the left of some trees. You then go up again to the left in order to reach a path between walls. You must in any case get to the left of the (abandoned) farm.
The stretch that follows is very nice: right in front of you, you see Kýthnos, and on the right side you always see the wide beach of Sikamiá. You get to a rocky ridge, where you find again a deep valley in front of you, with many terraces.

(0h56) You continue first straight and slightly to the right, then you veer left - your path is really beautiful, it is apparently still in use and you meet shepherds with their herds of goats. In front of you, you can see an impressive trail that climbs the opposite slope.

Sometimes, you meet herds of goats...

A winding path goes up on the opposite slope!

After 4 minutes, you keep of course right and descend on a rocky slope, first right, then left - there are other trails here, but the main trail is very clear. You descend in the rocky valley, but you do not continue down to the bottom: before reaching the bottom, you go left. You arrive still in the riverbed, and then you go up again on a winding path.
The climb is long, sometimes there are steps - after 6-7 minutes, you keep to the right. After a stretch that continues flatly, you go left towards converging walls; you always climb higher and higher, and then you keep to the right this time. The trail arrives at the end of the ridge and you cross it: you finally have a beautiful view over the bay of Karavás.

The distant bay of Karavás.

(1h17) You descend the ridge in front of you, but you find no path down to the left towards Karavás, although there is one on the map. After having followed a vague trail along a wall during a few minutes, the path becomes much clearer. You always follow the ridge, you pass a few stables or abandoned houses and a path on the left that goes to other buildings. You get to a small white building and you finally arrive next to a big white house, which seems still inhabited (in summer anyway), next to other houses in brownstone – this is the hamlet of Pyrgí.

The only inhabited house of the hamlet Pyrgí...

... and a view on the bay of Karavás.

(1h28) Because we find no path down to Karavás, we prefer return from here the same way we came. You thus go up, back to the small white building and other ruins – pay attention: you continue of course always straight and you stay on the crest of the hill, without taking to the right or further to the left and down.
You continue mostly to the right of the ridge itself, you arrive after 6 minutes along the wall and after another 4 minutes, you veer to the right with that wall, so that you finally get to the RIGHT of large rocks, on a sort of promontory.

You should arrive to the right of these rocks...

(1h39) You go up to the left and pass on the left side of some other rocks; after a flat stretch of 3 minutes, you may NOT continue on the beautiful path, but you must descend obliquely to the left, on a relatively difficult terrain. You continue again horizontally, and then you descend to the left between walls. The following descent is steep and the trail zigzags down to the riverbed; you cross it between boulders. You go up again and a little further, you keep to the RIGHT and up in the direction of the walls that are above you – the other paths lead to some stables ...
So you zigzag up to the wall, where you keep to the right again. A little later, you keep to LEFT this time, on a rocky triangular spot; you go up slowly and you reach another triangular spot between ascending walls. You already can see Sikamiá on the left, but you go right and up, so that you get between the walls.

(1h58) Above, you can already see the distant Panagía Kamarotí. The following part is again very beautiful: you first continue flatly, but just after a still inhabited house and before reaching a group of trees, you need to go down steeply to the left – and afterwards you go up again to the right.

(2h13) Close to Panagía Kamarotí, you get to a gravel road that you follow for a few moments left up to the chapel. More or less in front of the chapel, a beautiful trail starts again - Panagiá is already visible in the distance. However, you must go around the whole valley of Dipotámata: you thus veer t first to the right, then you describe a wide left turn. Besides, you can distinguish the line of the path on the slope of the hills ...

The terraces in the valley of Dipotámata, with Panagiá in the distance.

After 12 minutes, you should of course not go down to the left in the valley, but you continue further to the right. A little later, you descend to the left this time in a small side valley, and then you go up again until next to a small white building (with the date 1942).

(2h30) There is here an overgrown path to the right, you go straight, at the right side of the building. After 4-5 nice minutes, you pass the path  of walk [4], that continues to the right. You continue straight [4] and later on, you cross the rocky bed of another small side valley, where you veer left. Further, there is another depression where you veer further left.

(2h41) The climb is steep, but above, you see only the cemetery of Panagiá. After 6 minutes however, on the next height, you see that the village of Panagiá is already close, but you always can see the Panagía Kamarotí, behind you to the left - you have described a huge curve in 40 minutes ...
Already after a few minutes, you enter the village on a concrete lane; you head straight to the red dome of the church, but you keep to the left as you see the concrete stairs on the right. You descend an old staircase, but you do not continue down and take the street on the right side. Down, you again go right, you veer left and then right, left and right again, and you reach in this way the little square with the church.
If you continue straight, you will get near the cafe and the car ... (2h58)


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