Apíranthos - Fanári and back
Evaluation:
This short walk describes the way out and back
between the beautiful village of Apíranthos and the summit of mount Fanári.
Given the wonderful panorama at the summit of 883 meters, this walk gets ***.
[Update by Raymond on the 12th
of May 2018.]
[The translation of this walk was made
with the help of Google translate - so, please, do not mind the mistakes...]
Estimated time:
The way out until the
summit of the Fanári is 1,54 km long and it takes
only a little less than 40 minutes (AWT);
the
descent takes the same time.
The total actual walking time of 1h15 means a total time (TWT) of about 3
hours.
Route description:
[Do
not get off at the first bus stops in Apíranthos, but wait until the bus reaches
the furthest part of the village, after having described a large bend.
On
the left you will see the church Kímissi tis Theotókou and on your right-hand
side there is a large war monument.
From this bus stop you enter the village, where you can first wander around for
about one hour.]
[You first get to a rectangular square with the shop of "The Aperinthian
women’s association" (where they sell all kinds of different textile), with some
fancy bars and with the workshop "Apiranthos Art". The square leads to a
beautiful street, paved with marble tiles: to the left there is the café
Samarádiko with a great outdoor terrace; you also pass the tiny little church of
Agios Sardónis. A little further down you get to the archaeological museum that
was established by Michaďl Bardáni: to be seen in this museum are a lot of small
Cycladic statues, a clay vase from the 3rd millennium BC, a geometric
tripodos from the 8th century BC, some prehistoric stone tools,
bronze arrowheads, etc.
You then reach a small platía with beautiful houses from 1846 and 1897. Above
these houses you find the folk museum, consisting of three rooms of a not too
old house: in the living room, the kitchen and the bedroom you can see all kinds
of traditional objects and tools. If you want to, you can then continue to walk
in the street for a little while, whereupon you should return to your point of
departure.]
(0h00)
You begin this walk on the square,
opposite the church of Kímissi tis Theotókou (so to the right, if you come from
the asphalt road), and you thus take
the marble staircase (hiking sign Fanári 30' / Moní 1h50 + [8]).
After 42 steps you go RIGHT - with a kamára (or archway) on the left side - and
then you take a left (2 X red mark). After some steps and a flat stretch, you
meander left through a kamára, then right, and at the end you take again a left
and a right. Then you go up again on steps (red dot), you veer to the left and
after a flat stretch you finally go up and reach a small concrete road.
(0h05) You are here in the northwest
part of the village, with on the left the church of Agia Paraskeví with its
white dome. You follow across another small concrete road ([8] on a pole), which
rises to the right of the ruins of a mill; the road turns right until you
pass a large cistern after some 200 metres.
(0h09)
At
this point a path starts sharply to the left (hiking sign and [8]).
[The other branch of walk [8] continues to follow the little road - see the hike
Apíranthos - Sífones - Stavrós - Keramotí.]
You thus take a sharp left (red dots), but a little later, you go up to the
right, through a breach in a wall. You pass through a gate in reinforcing steel
(red dot) and later, the trail winds up and describes 4 times double turns to
the right and to the left. The retaining walls of the monopáti are still
visible, but the red dots are also very useful. The climb is steep and behind
you, you can see that Apíranthos is quite large and consists basically of two
parts. Beyond the village, towards the south-east, you enjoy a beautiful view
over Donoússa (left) , Amorgós and behind the hill over the other eremonisiá
(the small islands between Náxos and Amorgós).
(0h16) After a steep climb of 2-3
minutes, you again go through a breach in a wall, and the trail then continues
for 3 minutes on the green slope. Later on, the beautiful stone path rises
slightly on the almost white slope of the Fanári - further, there are also
beautiful steps, then you come again in the midst of a quite abundant vegetation
(two cairns).
(0h26) Some 10 minutes after the
breach, you get to a gravel road that you follow to the right (cairns), but
after 4 minutes you arrive at a sort of pass between the Fanári and a lower
summit on your right.
(0h30) You take the path that
goes up towards the left, straight in the direction of the wall and the chapel
on top of the Fanári. This is a truly beautiful climb; during the final minutes
you take a meandering staircase with 70 heavy steps.
On the right, on the lowest summit, you find the small church, with a picnic
table; the left-hand top is another ten metres higher.
(0h38)
Over here you have a great panoramic view: in the Tragéa-valley you can see the
villages of Damariónas, Chalkí and Moní. Beyond you can discern the bay of Náxos,
with also the islands of Páros, Sýros, Tínos and Mýkonos. On the other side
there is the bay of Mutsúna, with beyond the islands of Donoússa, Amorgós and
Koufoníssi all the way to the right.
[On April 23rd, 2012, the view was particularly clear and you could see
even more islands:
- to the east, you could see, from the left to the right: Ios - Síkinos and the
monastery - the elongated island of Folégandros - the group with Polýaigos and
Kímolos, with Mílos behind – very close the island of Páros with to the left a
tip of Antíparos – behind these islands Sífnos, Sérifos to the right and the
vague silhouettes of Kýthnos and Kéa – Sýros, rather close, then more to the
right the very clear islands of Andros and Tínos - and rightmost Rhínia and
Dilos, with Mýkonos, hidden behind the Kóronos
- to the west: Ikaría (behind the mills) and the distant island of Samos (!) -
some islands off the coast of Turkey – the nearby island of Donoússa, with the
two islets of Makáres – the long island of Amorgós with behind it Astypálea –
Kéros and before it the low
Koufoníssi – to the right Anáfi and then Santoríni, hidden behind the highest
peak of the Fanári.]
(0h38) For the way back, you descend
about 10 minutes until you reach the gravel road that you follow to the right.
You follow this road 4 minutes, then you can take the side-path to the left,
next to the cairns [8].
(0h50)
The rest of the way is very easy and you continue smoothly, with a beautiful
view over Apíranthos and Amorgós.
(0h58) After the stretch between high
walls, you go through the breach in the wall, where the path begins where you
carefully must follow the curbstones, in order not to miss the curves. Again you
describe 4 times double curves.
After another 6 minutes, you come next to the big cistern and you get there to
the concrete road. You descend to the right and you arrive after 3-4 minutes at
the side-road, near the first houses of the village.
(1h09) You continue on the stairs just
opposite [8] and you descend the winding streets:
- 26 steps, then the first street on your right and further on veer left
- descend to the right and at the end turn left and right
- again to the left and the right, through a kamára
- after a flat stretch and some steps, to the right and, before the kamára, left
again; finally the 42 steps down to the main street.
(1h15)
Gpx-files: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/naxos-apiranthos-fanari-25818899 https://www.routeyou.com/en/route/view/5432667/hiking-route/naxos-apiranthos-fanari |