Tarampádos - Smardákito - Perástra - Krókos - Skaládos - Agápi - Voláx
Evaluation: This
hike is really interesting for a couple of different reasons: it departs from
the beautiful village of Tarampádos, famous because of its marvellous pigeon
houses, and it brings you to some picturesque villages such as Agápi or Voláx,
situated in the heart of the interior of Tínos. If you did already visit these
two villages, you can opt for a variant of this hike, see Tarampádos - Perástra
- Loutrá - Kámbos - Chóra. Again, this hike deserves an evaluation of
***.
Estimated time:
The trajectory from Tarampádos to Perástra takes a little under one hour
(actual walking time!). From Perástra to Agápi you will have to hike for about
1h40 – the church of Aedes S. Annae, between Perástra and Krókos, is a very
pleasant picnic spot. From Agápi to Voláx it will take you another 55 minutes.
In Vólax you can then call for a taxi. In actual walking time the entire hike
will thus cost you 3h35. Taking into account the pauses and the visits, we hiked
from 10.45am to 6.30pm – as usual, you have to allow for the double of the
actual hiking time.
Route description:
[Off season you have to take a taxi in order to get to Tarampádos.]
(0h00)
On the parking lot you have to keep to the right, in the direction of the
church and you walk under a couple of vaults. At the crossing with the signpost
"peristeriónes" (pigeon houses) to the left, you can see the main church on the
right.
[If you will not come back
to Tarampádos one of these days, and if you would like to discover some more
beautiful pigeon houses, you definitely have to make a small detour: some 10
metres away from the church, you find a trail on the left in the direction of
Kiónia , see the hike Chóra - Tarampádos - Kiónia. This trail is rocky and it
passes a pond. Later on you pass a nice well and a washing place and a little
further down you get a view on a number of beautiful "peristeriónes".
You can continue even further in order to reach a double pigeon house, which is
marvellously decorated. You then have to walk back to the church with the small
blue spire...]
Today, though, you
continue straight ahead on the main trail till you get to the little church;
from the front yard of the chapel you have a wonderful view on almost ten pigeon
towers!
You narrowly pass a nice pigeon house and after 4-5 minutes you get to a
bifurcation, where you go up to the left (red and blue dot), but later on you go
right again. You walk underneath a small church and the ruins of a tower; you
then go down, quite suddenly, and via a staircase built with bricks you reach
the asphalt road.
(0h10) You
follow this road to the left for a short while, but almost immediately you take
the staircase on the right (red dot); a little further you curve sharply to the
left, in the direction of the village of Smardákito. The path is overgrown, then
you descend on a staircase and you reach a nice, flat path, with some fig trees
and, in spring, a multitude of flowers.
Some 2 minutes later you
have to take a left and 3 minutes later you go left again. The path is only
passable with difficulty and – as was to be expected – about 5 minutes
further you get to a little field. The gravel road seems to be very nearby,
though, so you climb down by following some goat paths. You can see a kind of
mausoleum in front of you – later on you will notice that this is the church
of the Holy Anna…
Without too many
difficulties you arrive at the sand road – trying to walk to the small white
church on the right and thus cross the valley to the large church of the Holy
Anna is unsuccessful. This is a pity, because this means that you will have to
make a large detour of about 35 minutes via Perástra – and as a result you
will arrive almost straight across...!
You thus take a left on
the sand road and you describe a large bend in order to get above the village of
Perástra. It might be a little difficult, but you will discover an old monopáti
on the right, some 15-16 minutes after your departure from the sand road. You
climb down, away from the main road and some 3-4 minutes later you reach the
village itself. You cross a small bridge (there is lots of water in the little
stream, on the 30th of April 2005; this is the same water that about 20 minutes
earlier on prevented you from crossing the valley...) and before you get to the
church you take a right.
A paved trail brings you
outside the village (blue dots) and you now walk on the other bank of the deep
valley of the Megálos Potamós – in fact, you are now turning back in the
direction of Loutrá. After 8 minutes you walk on a gravel road for a short
while, but quite soon you can continue on a trail that begins on the left-hand
side of a small iron gate (blue dot). Some 15 minutes after your departure from
Perástra you get to the "Aedes Sanctae Annae", the church of the Holy
Anna. This catholic church is surrounded by a nice terrace with 7 strange white
pilasters. Half an hour ago you stood just opposite, near the small white church
– but the water was much too deep…
This is an ideal picnic spot!
Thereafter you continue on a beautiful and flat trail for another 10 minutes, it is really pleasant walking this way. You then get to a T-junction, where you go left (there is a blue dot on the wall).
[If you would go straight ahead here, it would take you 10 minutes
to arrive at Loutrá, on the right of the Jesuit monastery. This would also be a
way to return to Chora via Kámbos – see the hike Chóra - Xóbourgo - Loutrá
- Kámbos - Ktikádos - Chóra.]
You now walk through lots
of flowers – in springtime – in the direction of Krókos; on the other slope
behind you, you can clearly see the village of Smardákito. You climb quite a
bit for about 7 minutes and you then curve to the left with a nice view on Loutrá;
finally you get to an asphalt road. You take a right, but immediately thereafter
you go left on a concrete slope (signpost): this is a steep climb till you reach
the village of Krókos.
You walk through the
peaceful village, but you go left up the staircase after the first arched
passage; this is directly after the house with the inscription GEIA XARA and the
small fountain with a little sailing ship – you can see the village of Skaládos
already in front of you.
The trail is still very
beautiful, with alternately flat stretches and nasty slopes – all around you
there are real carpets of wildflowers. After 9 minutes you get to the village;
you take a left and then you go up a staircase on the right, on the left-hand
side of a chapel. In this way you get higher and higher until you reach the
forecourt of the (catholic) church; from this point you have a great view, as
usual: down in the valley you can distinguish from left to right the villages of
Kámbos, Tarampádos and Smardákito.
You go back the way you
came for a short while; you then go up a couple of steps, you walk through a
small gate and you take a right, out of the village. A little further down you
do not have to go in the direction of the small church, but you have to take a
left, up a paved staircase – you thus get to the asphalt road, the road to Voláx.
You follow this road to
the right for about 7 minutes and then you take the road off the left (there is
a signpost to Voláx). Another 3 minutes later you take the narrow gravel road
on the left, going down into the valley.
You follow this road for another 7 minutes – you can see Agápi already in
front of you. All of a sudden, the sand road describes a sharp bend to the
right, in the direction of Voláx.
If you would first like to go to Agápi, you have to go straight ahead at this
point, still following the narrow sand road – later on you will have to come
back over here in order to continue to Voláx. This detour to Agápi will cost
you about 65 minutes in actual hiking time.
Supposing that you would first like to proceed to Agápi, you thus go
straight ahead. After 4
minutes already you have to watch out, though: at the moment you get a nice view
on the village of Agápi, you see a large boulder with a blue arrow (+ the
figure 36 in red, without any significance) on your right-hand side. Over here
you take the path on the right and you begin to descend beautifully into the
deep valley. On your right you can spot a couple of pigeon houses. After going
down for about 9 minutes you get to a crossing: there is a wooden bridge on the
right, but you have to go straight ahead. After 4 minutes this beautiful trail
reaches the main valley, next to a pigeon house. You continue straight ahead,
you cross a large bridge and you take a left – in any case, you should NOT
climb up the staircase straight ahead!
The monopáti now runs
above a marvellous green valley, with the village of Sklavochóri on the other
side. After 7 minutes the trail turns into a small concrete road and a couple of
minutes later this road arrives at the beautiful village of Agápi.
You walk through a number
of arched passages and at the end the small street is almost entirely vaulted.
On the left you see the nice kafenío O Mitsáras with a pleasant outdoor
terrace and a great panoramic view – this is an ideal spot to have a rest or,
if you want to, to conclude this hiking day.
[Indeed, you can end this
hike over here and call a taxi. In this case it is better to wait for the taxi
downstairs, at the asphalt road next to the church. To get to this spot you have
to go down the small street near the café. In this way you reach the platía
Agapítou Filipoússi, with the small town hall and a nice washing place with
lots of streaming water beyond. You curve to the left, towards the other part of
Agápi and you thus arrive at the asphalt road underneath the second church –
this is a good spot to wait for the taxi.]
But, if you still have
plenty of energy, you can continue to another really beautiful village, Voláx.
To do so, you have to go back the way you came: you thus have to walk through
the arched passages again and at the end of the village you have to take the
small paved lane; later on this becomes a beautiful trail running above the
valley. After 10 minutes you reach the large bridge again; you cross this bridge
and then you take the staircase on the right-hand side of the pigeon house. You
follow this nice path without paying attention to the side roads. Also at the
crossing with the wooden bridge on the left, you have to proceed straight ahead.
The shaded monopáti curves to the left and it goes up steeply – with some
pigeon houses on your left. After about 20 minutes you get to the sand road,
where you take a left. Some 4 minutes later you finally reach the broader sand
road; over here you take a left again, of course, in the direction of Voláx!
The road meanders up and
down through a landscape with large blocks of granite – this resembles the
typical landscape around Falatádos. After 7 minutes you step over a low gate,
blocking the entire road and you do the same about 6 minutes further down.
Another 3 minutes later you get to the church of Voláx and you continue
straight ahead through this picturesque village. A signpost points to the well
(pigí) and to the small open air theatre.
You can go straight ahead or make this small detour – in either way you
finally get to a charming crossing with houses with lots of flowers.
You go straight ahead all the time and you thus reach the end of the village. Over here you find the nice estiatório I Voláx with a very pleasant outdoor terrace. Next to this terrace there is a pergola with oleanders, 2 tables and stone benches. This is another great spot to conclude this day.
If you call a taxi from
this place, you can quietly wait for the driver while eating or drinking
something in the lovely tavern.