Panagiá - Sykamiá - Galaní

 

 

Evaluation: This hike takes place in the northern part of the island of Sérifos and the goal is the lonely beach of Sykamiá. It follows beautiful trails that are well marked – during the way there with red markings and the number [5], during the way back with the number [6].  Deserves ***.
[Update by Raymond on October the 5th, 2015 and on October 11th, 2021.]
[The translation of this walk was made with the help of Google translate - so, please, do not mind the mistakes...]

Estimated time: The duration of this hike is approximately 1h45 (AWT): it indeed will cost you a little less than an hour to reach the beach of Sykamiá and the return route [6] to Galaní takes about 50 minutes.
The total walking time (TWT) depends on how much time you will spend on the beach – but often, the total time is approximately the double of the AWT – we walked from 10.30am until 4.30pm, a total time of 6 hours, for a total distance of 5,88 km.

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 lady of the café keeps the key of the church…

(0h00) You take, in the left corner of the small square (with your back to the church), the alley (small sign [5]), you continue first to the right [5], then to the left and again to the right – a little further on begins a paved street [5] which goes straight. You veer right and descend, first on a few steps, then on a somewhat neglected path. After 4-5 minutes, you descend while keeping to the right, on a winding and quite difficult path.

(0h06) You get in this way to a side path where you go to the left (small red arrow), but pay attention: after another 1-2 minutes, you must continue to the RIGHT of the ruin of a stable (red and white =). You thus get to a narrow little road, where you descend to the left.

(0h11) After a concrete section of 2 minutes and a minute of gravel, you pass on top of some white buildings, then the path ends: a rocky path goes straight and down, to the right of a stable ([5] and =). This trail is nicer: the path descends in the direction of a green valley and a chapel with a blue roof, and it meanders in beautiful, fairly short bends.

(0h17) You thus pass to the left of the (open) chapel of Agia Anastásia: you can continue above the chapel or via the chapel; you then descend to the right of a ruin, then between 2 ruins [5], and the descent then describes short bends. You arrive on the right of a wall and – pay attention – you go just before the bridge sharply to the right to cross the bridge in this way [5] – also notice the washing place on your left.

(0h23) After the bridge, the path climbs gradually, but further on it descends slowly: after 4 minutes you arrive at the height of 2 dovecotes, on the other side of the green valley. The trail is now quite easy, it goes slightly up and down, then up again on rocky steps – and so you have a nice view of the whole valley with Panagiá behind you.

(0h30) You continue more or less flat and after 3 minutes ([5] and =), you have a beautiful view of the bay of Sykamiá. You begin a little further on a difficult descent, which brings you after a few minutes to a gravel road.

(0h38) You go to the right for a short moment, then to the left; your descent is now very slow and after another 7 minutes you get to a wider road, which you follow straight (and NOT to the right). This road still describes a detour to the left and only after 13 minutes you can turn sharply to the right – and you continue in this way straight towards the sea. At the end, you veer left of course and you reach the beach. You go a few more minutes to the right until you reach the middle of the beach (0h58).

This beach is really very nice and wide and  is usually completely deserted. There are pebbles, but in the water the beach is sandy. Large tamarisk provide a lot of shade and there are even some benches.

(0h58) For the way back from Sykamiá, we choose path [6] towards Galaní. From the middle of the beach, you go right between the two groups of tamarisks and soon you reach a road that continues between reeds. You can see in front of you a blue chapel which is on the slope of the hill which separates the 2 valleys, and further on to the right the village of Panagiá.
You thus arrive to the right of a wall with palm trees next to it; beyond this wall you keep to the left [6] – the concrete road on the right leads to Panagiá, see the hike Galaní – Sykamiá – Panagiá – Galaní.
You continue straight following the sandy road; it becomes more stony and you see Galaní already in front of you.

(1h11) Don't go left too soon: two minutes after a concrete building and a little beyond a stream bed and a large tree, you see the path going left. You continue obliquely to the left (=) and you arrive to the left of a low wall ([6] and =); at the end of this path, you discover the beginning of the old path.
You go up meandering against the slope, first more to the left (= and [6]), but after 1-2 minutes, you go sharply to the right [6]. The splendid rocky path climbs gradually: there are many marks and Galaní is right in front of you - you now climb big rocky steps.
After 9 minutes, you pass to the right of a ruin; the climb becomes more difficult, then you continue more flat. You now have a good view of Pýrgos, located further to the right on the slopes of the Petriás.

(1h24) After 12 minutes of a fairly steep ascent, you arrive next to a wall. A little further, you can take a little rest, sitting on a low wall in the shade of an olive tree. Below you lies the green valley of the Kálamos, but also the green valley of Kalavrádos which rises on the right towards Pýrgos and Panagiá! Your path now climbs only very slowly for quite some time and after a final climb of 3 minutes, you get to the asphalt road (small sign [6]).

(1h37) You take a right of course and already after 3-4 minutes you arrive near the first houses of Galaní; beyond the first house, you keep to the left on the concrete street to enter the village. You take the white staircase which goes up on the left, you go up again twice and near a bifurcation, you go up again to the left on the staircase. You thus arrive at the end of the village, where you see the concrete road which continues straight. (1h47)

[Here you can call a taxi – explain exactly where you are! – but you can also complete the circle and return to Panagiá – see the hike Chóra – Kállitsos – Galaní – Panagiá, starting from the point (2h14) and more precisely starting from “In front of you there are two valleys…”. This walk takes 52 minutes in AWT, it is marked at the beginning with [6].

 

Gpx-files:


https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/serifos-panagia-sykamia-galani-96053090


https://www.routeyou.com/en/route/view/10305913/hiking-route/serifos-panagia-sykamia-galani