Evaluation: This long hike [4] starts in Megalochóri: its route is partly followed by walks [3] and [4b] and is often marked with orange squares. It runs via the very old chapel and the abandoned hamlet of Panagítsa and then on the slopes of the highest peak of the island, the Chelóna (740m). It gets to the asphalt road Kaïméni Chóra - Makrýlongos where you can descend into crater of Makrýlongos, from where you continue to follow a nice path to the foot of the Profítis Ilías.
Here it can give connection to walk [5] to Megalopotámi through Stérna Gambroú; but you can also switch to walk [2] to Kypséli or walk [1] to Méthana. For the way back, you follow exactly the same route. Deserves the rate ***.
[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) of the way out up to the asphalt road, near the crater of Makrýlongos, requires 90 minutes. The stretch through the crater to the base of the Profítis Ilías takes another 25 minutes and for the climb, you will need half an hour - the total actual walking time of the way out thus amounts to 2h25. The return route takes a little longer, so the total AWT rises to 4h50.
The total walking time (TWT) can be much longer - that means another long walking day!
As for most of the walks you can significantly shorten the walking time if you do not climb to the summit of the Profítis Ilías and if you, for example, retrace your steps at the moment that you arrive at the asphalt road…

Route description: (0h00) You start in the center of Megalochóri, at the crossroads below the church: a road goes down towards the sea (signpost Archéa Akrópoli) - see walk [9] – and there is also a paved street that goes up (signpost "Pros Iero Náo Ypapántis ").
However, you follow the asphalt road to the left (with your back to the church, watching the coast), for a little more than one minute, to the end of the village.
Here, a little concrete road goes up to the left (sign "Diádromi Chelóna"); after 2-3 minutes, you keep to the right and up, and so you meander between the last houses until the little road ends in a dry river bed - on the left there is a sign "Chelóna / Panagítsa) and on the wall you see a blue dot and a red square.



The hiking sign near the beginning of walk [4].

(0h06) You take a left in the bed; after a little more than one minute, you veer right and leave the bed: you now can follow a clear trail made up of steps between lava walls (red pi on the left wall). You will climb a lot of minutes on beautiful old rocky steps, accompanied by lots of red signs and letters pi; so you get a nice view of Megalochóri and the whole bay.



Signposting on the trail to Panagítsa.

(0h09) The rocky path continues to rise, mostly winding between heavy walls with large round boulders, and so you gradually get a nice view behind you of Vathý with the small harbor. After a short flat stretch you rise again quickly in the direction of a pass between two hilltops.

(0h20) After a nice stretch between terraces, you pass on the left side of a beautiful, big alóni (threshing floor) with a well.



The nice rocky trail to the Panagítsa.

(0h25) After about 21-22 minutes of climbing, you reach the pass, but you see that you need to climb even higher, to a depression between two distant hills, with an antenna to the right of that pass. However, you gradually veer to the right and after seven minutes, you reach a bifurcation below the Panagítsa chapel. Here you can go up to the left and get near the old church. The chapel is open (21 April 2013), and inside there are still seen some frescoes from the 12th century.



The Panagía or Panagítsa, with some frescoes.

(0h32) The continuation of the path is clear: the earthen trail continues to the right and underneath the church. At first, it is flat (twice a large red dot), while it bends around a depression, but then it goes up again to the left and between walls (large red dot); a little further, near a ruin of an old farmhouse, it forks and you should take a LEFT again (large red marks).
You now meander up between terraces - do not be distracted by little side paths to terraces... You continue to walk many minutes in the direction of two houses next to a high cypress – it is a wonderful end between terraces with olive trees.
After another 8 minutes of climbing, with many red square marks and blue dots, you take a right at a junction - the left path is a dead end. A little further you veer left and you zigzag in this way upward towards a fairly well-kept house and some ruins, with next to it a high cypress and an eucalyptus - you can rest in the shade, with a beautiful view of the gulf.

The path between Makrýlongos and the Profítis Ilías.

After 9-10 nice minutes, you should pay attention: you should keep to the left and then down to the right - the path that continues straight ahead, leads to the road. You descend in this way to the bottom of the valley, and there you can follow a clear path; later on, you have to cross a few terraces, and so you arrive at the foot of the Profítis Ilías.

(1h56) Here, you will discover some red and yellow marks on signs, which means that the walks [1] from Méthana and [2] from Kypséli pass here. The ascent of the Profítis Ilías begins to the left.
Indeed, on the left side of a small meadow, you will see the path that climbs in zigzags between the rocks (many red square signs). After a flat stretch of some 6-7 minutes, the real climb starts over again, on the left slope of the Profítis Ilías.

(2h10) After a long straight end, you encounter a solitary cairn, where you go up to the right for a steep and winding climb. A few colored marks help you to find the passage between the rocks. The chapel eventually appears: it is like dug in  on a small plateau and is usually open – you discover the date 1892 on it.

The small chapel on top of the Profítis Ilías.

From here, you can climb to the top (712 m - just below the highest point of the peninsula, Mount Chelóna, which is 740m high). The view to Makrýlongos and the Aegina island is gorgeous.

On top of the Profítis Ilías.

(2h25) You retrace your steps - not without caution, as the descent is sometimes rather difficult – and so you get again to the road.

[If you climb to the road, you can switch to walks [1], [2] or [3].]

(2h51) You go right, to the south, following the bottom of the valley – do not take the vague, yellow marked path to your left. In the valley you pass some walls, but after about 4 minutes, you should keep to the LEFT and find the clear path that runs higher. This will continue now for 9-10 minutes, almost flat, with sometimes very faint red marks.

(3h05) At the moment you arrive at the level of the green plain of the crater of Makrýlongos, you descend as quickly as possible to the left – the best thing to do is to descend to the terrace with the almond trees. You can follow that terrace in the middle, on the obvious path running in a northwesterly direction. You ascend to the next grassy terrace, the highest terrace with a tree in the middle: here you immediately go to the left and just in the prolongation of the wall between the two terraces, you will discover the beginning of the clear path. It passes to the left of two gnarled trees and then rises like a clear rocky path, sometimes between remnants of walls.

The path that climbs from the crater to the road.

After 5 minutes you see the road in front of you: you pass through a small breach in a wall and then you keep to the right, in the direction of the road and the shelter.

(3h17) You thus come to the point where your path back to Megalochóri starts, just between the shed and the little gravel road that starts here diagonally to the right - there are orange signs on a sharp rock. After one minute you walk on a terrace: here, you go up to the left through a breach in a little wall, to a higher terrace (orange square). After 3 minutes, you pass to the left of a large rock (big orange square), with behind it the ruin of a house. A little further you go up to the left again, through a wall (orange arrow) and the nice path arrives in this way between the trees.

(3h22) The trail seems to split and you go left (vague orange square): the trail now becomes very clear, but it is stony and steep – you get to a climb of 10 minutes.

(3h32) You pass an old lava flow and continue to climb to a pass between two rather low hills, amid sparse trees.

You cross an ancient lava flow...

(3h38) Beyond the pass, you descend more to the left and soon you discover the road that from Agios Panteleímonas and the OTE antenna runs in a large curve to the two houses of Panagítsa – the hamlet itself is still invisible.
You enjoy here a splendid view over southern Méthana and the isthmos, with to the left the sea and Póros and to the right the Saronic Gulf.
You descend while meandering on a pretty slippery and stony path - after 5 minutes you pass a wall (orange square) between a few dry trees. You continue straight south, again meandering on old terraces that are now overgrown with trees. While keeping to the right, you thus arrive next to a big pine tree (clear square on the stem).

(3h45) The descent is now steep again and while keeping to the left, you arrive against the edge of a lava flow: you follow the right edge (orange signs) and you descend on a very vague path that will run to a beautiful grassy plain. Below the lava flow, you should look for a passage through 3-4 terraces, but on the last terrace, you go 20 meters to the right in order to find some steps that lead to the nice meadow.

Descent to a beautiful green plain...

(3h52) You cross the plain diagonally to the right - across the plain, you see a square sign next to a breach in in a wall, to the left of some large trees. Beyond that breach, you immediately take a left (!), where we left the cairn - there is also an orange sign on a rock. You now descend in wide zigzags - soon you see the houses of Panagítsa and even the chapel, and also the beautiful meadows to the left of Panagítsa, which lie as in an amphitheater.

View on Panagítsa.

The path becomes nice, arrives between walls and is sometimes paved, but it ends a little bit difficult on a grassy field next to a well, to the left of the highest house.

(4h05) You descend on the left side of the ruin, but then you keep to the right, between all kinds of rubbish and nettles, in order to arrive under the highest house, where you descend to the right of the lower house with  the cypress. Here, you descend to the left to the small terrace with the cypress and the eucalyptus (an orange square at the end of it). The path now descends on steps and then in steep zigzags – you discover now blue dots next to the orange signs.
The path becomes wide: the pavement is sometimes uneven, but mostly it is rocky. After the short bends, you get to a long straight end, between pretty idyllic terraces with olive trees, and then you descend to a big green meadow.
Here, you should pay attention: just above the meadow, you should not take the path to the left, but do continue winding down, while you stay to the right of a small stable. In this way, you get to a path that runs on a narrow terrace all around the depression with small meadows.

(4u20) So you end up exactly under the chapel of the Panagía.

The simple chapel of the Panagía.

You go down the wide path that some years ago was cleared by the Belgian scouts: the pavement is sometimes uneven and often, the path is strewn with round rocks. You arrive between walls and pass after 7 minutes to the right of the big alóni with a well.

The path becomes beautiful!

A nice alóni with a well.

(4h27) The rapid descent is splendid – mind the walls built with large round blocks! You also get great views of the coast and the harbor of Vathý, and later of Megalochóri and Megalopotámi. During the following minutes, the path meanders between walls and after a total of 25 minutes since the chapel and after a series of steps you arrive in the rocky riverbed.

The splendid trail between Panagítsa and Megalochóri.

(4h45) You follow it to the left for a while, but after one minute you go up to the right between two walls: you follow the little concrete road through the highest part of the village, further you keep to the left (small hiking sign) and then you continue straight ahead until you get to the asphalt road (hiking sign). You go right and after one minute you arrive at the crossroads below the church, your starting point. (4h52)