Antíparos - Diplá - Sifnéikos Gialós - Antíparos

 

Evaluation: This short walk leads from the pleasant small town of Antíparos to the beach in the north of the island, next to the campground. From this beach, it is possible to wade to the neighboring island of Diplá or Káto Fyrá - it is a great feeling.
You thereafter follow the coast until the beach of Sifnéikos Gialós, then you return to Antíparos. Deserves **.
[The translation of this walk was made with some help of Google translate - so, do not mind the mistakes...]

Estimated time: : The actual walking time (AWT) from the harbor to the beach in front of Diplá is only 20 minutes, and then you need another 25 minutes until Sifnéikos Gialós. The actual walking time amounts to a total of an hour, but the total time (TWT) obviously depends on the time you spend on the beaches and in the water, and possibly to a visit to the kástro ...

Route description: (0h00) From the small port (with the ferry-boat and the chapel), you go to the right, along the edge of the water, and you pass a few cafes, with among others the internetcafé Nautica. A little further, the main street goes to the left, but you continue along the edge of the water - and you pass next to some houses with rooms to rent and the hotel Mantalena.

(0h05) At the level of a small beach, you leave the edge of the water: you follow the road that continues straight; near the Pension Kaloudia you go to the right and a little further to the left (sign-post to the campsite). The concrete becomes gravel, and a little later, you turn right to follow a sandy trail that continues beside an electricity pole through low bushes. This track becomes a sandy path that still continues in the same direction; after 3-4 minutes, you pass through a gate in a gray wall, the trail is again cemented and continues straight to the two islands that you see in front of you . The trail becomes sandy again and you arrive after a total of 16-17 minutes at the sand tongue.

(0h17) The island Diplá (or Káto Fyrá) seems close - it lies on the other side of a narrow strait, that is only about 200-300 meters wide.
 From this sandy point of Antíparos you cannot directly cross to Diplá – usually, the current is too strong and the water also gets too deep. You should thus first wade a little more to the right, in the direction of the following cape of Antíparos. When you approach this cape you can cross straight to Diplá, orientating yourself towards a small building. The water is about 1.2 to 1.4 metres deep, which allows you to make about 500 steps in 7 minutes. On the opposite side there is nothing really going on, there are only a few goats waiting for you...
For the return route through the water you should wade in the direction of the cape for the first part, but after having covered 3/4 of the way (about 350 steps), you should bend to the right, towards the extension of the beach (still about 150 steps to go) – in this way, the water will never get deeper than 1.4 metres.

(0h17) For the continuation of your walk - after crossing the strait - you retrace your steps on the sandy path, that is cemented after 2 minutes, and 1 minute later you take the sandy road on the RIGHT - you find yourself then at about 100 meters BEFORE the gray wall. The grassy track comes near the entrance of the campsite: here you go right, along the wall, and you reach a small crossroad where you take a left.

[You can just as well, starting from the sandy point, walk to the right, through the dunes and not far from the sea; you will also arrive at the small road that you can follow to get to the right of to the campsite ...]

(0h24) You now continue between the wall that surrounds the camp and the sea; shortly thereafter you pass next to a splendid tree and at the angle of the wall – here you have a nice view of the strait. You continue your walk along the sandy road between a wall and the edge of the water; when this road turns left after another 3 minutes, you continue to the right of the wall in front of you, while following a small beach covered with seaweed.

(0h29) A sandy gravel trail continues, always between the sea and a wall; you turn to the left, following the wall, and your trail continues winding between the coast and the wall. You thus arrive at a rocky bay with a small pebble beach.
You continue a little higher above the coast and you arrive at a flat and broad cape, where you take a right onto the grassy slope. The obvious trail runs almost until the end of the cape, and then turns left.

(0h40) You are already seeing the wide beach of Sifnéikos Gialós: the trail becomes vague on the stony slope and passes through an gate of reinforcing steel, just above the water. Your path becomes narrower between the bushes, but then you get to a small gravel road, which you follow to the right.
A few minutes later, you arrive on concrete: you pass to the right of a palm tree and continue along the coast - there are some beautiful terraces, among others the Sifnéiko Café.

(0h47) Just after a playground, you can go to the beach, but left the paved street between walls leads back to the small town of Antíparos.
You follow this road for 4 minutes, while keeping to the right just past the tavern Stella's Garden. You thus arrive at the platía of Agios Nikólaos. Under the big tree there are some attractive terraces.

[From here you could follow the sign to the kástro and to the Folk Museum, and you thus arrive after some 30-40 meters near an archway - this is the entrance of the kástro.
 As is often the case, also this kástro dates from the Venetian time (13th -16th century), and more in particular from the mid 15th century, when Giovanni Loredano married Maria Sommaripa from Antíparos. The kástro is square, with a side of 53.8 metres long; the houses contain three floors. In the middle of the kástro there is a circular tower, on which you can now find the Folk Museum (closed on Mondays). Leaving the kástro, you return to the Platía Agíou Nikoláou.]

(0h53) On the square of Agios Nikólaos, you continue straight (if you don 't have made the detour to the kástro) - but by keeping to the left, if you have visited the kástro. You continue in any case to the right of the church, then left, and you get in this way to another small place; here you take a right into the main street. Some 5 minutes later you reach the harbour again. (0h59)