Evaluation: Just like the similar hike, which first follows the same route as the walk to Monastíria – see the hike Agios Geórgios - Profítis Ilías - Cave of Agios Ioánnis –, this hike also leads to the summit of Profítis Ilías, where you have a marvellous view on a large part of the Cyclades. It first follows a beautiful path on the slope of the Kambiá and eventually leads via a rather difficult path to the cave of Agios Ioánnis. This cave is one of the most interesting in Greece. This hike gets an evaluation of ***.
[6th of May 2018.]
[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 from Dolphin Apartments, at the beach of Agios Geórgios, to the summit of the Profítis Ilías is almost 1h15; it will then take you about 45 minutes to the cave. This means that the actual walking time (AWT) for this hike of 6,75 km is about 2 hours. The total walking time (TWT) can be a lot more – we walked from 10.30am to 2pm, with a long break on the Profítis Ilías.

Route description: (0h00) From Dolphin Apartments and the crossing with a signpost to Antíparos you follow the large sandy road, which runs parallel to the coast, about 20-30 metres away from the sea, in western direction.

View on the straits between Antíparos and Despotikó.

You take the 4th transversal road on the right, after 9-10 minutes, and you are now heading towards the interior of the island. You reach the asphalt road after another 8 minutes and you take a left. Where the asphalt road descends to the left (signs Despotikó / taverns Zombos and Captain Pipinos), you take the dirt road that climbs to the right.

(0h26) Once arrived at the end of this road, near the last transverse road, a dirt road continues straight up to some houses - a little further, it becomes a steep concrete road.
After another 5 minutes, at the height of a gate that leads to the house with a mill, you go LEFT: you see a big cairn and red marks, near the beginning of the trail.

(0h31) The trail is sometimes very vague, but it is very easy to follow because of innumerable cairns and red marks. After 4 minutes, you veer left towards the first summit and you go through a gate in reinforcing steel - the path becomes wider, sometimes a stony track. Pay attention: after another 3 minutes, you veer right (cairns); you climb the slope of the Kambiá and you arrive between the vegetation - the path has been cleared recently. You climb slowly on a very clear path, to the right of the summit.

The nice path towards the Profítis Ilías.

(0h42) You have to pay attention to a very deep hole to the left of the trail! After a few minutes, the Profítis Ilías appears in front of you, but it is still far away; the slow climb on the right slope of the hills takes a long time and continues between juniperus - there are still many marks.

Panoramic view over the straits between Antíparos and Despotikó.

(0h53) The trail now follows more or less the ridge of the hill (cairns), it goes down for a few moments in a depression and then goes up slowly, right to the antenna on the summit. You arrive again between the juniperus (cairns) and you meander up in this way to the small gravel road that will pass below the summit of Profítis Ilías.

(1h04) You go to the right and you pass below the summit; you leave a small road on the left, because you want to continue straight to the top (you will return here later). You describe a sharp turn to the left - it is here that the other path descends to Agios Geórgios (cairns) - see the hike Agios Geórgios - Profítis Ilías - Agios Geórgios.

(1h13) In this way you reach the 301-m high summit of the Profítis Ilías, the highest top on the island of Antíparos . There is a chapel and the inescapable aerial.

Holes of the former mine exploitation...

(1h43) A little later you arrive at a kind of wall, made of mine waste; the path is caved in and you have to continue carefully, on the right of a bush. You descend with difficulty amongst the debris, more or less without a trail; thereafter the path becomes visible again and you go down in the direction of the bend and the junction of the asphalt road. You descend a little more to the right for a few moments and then you keep more to the left again, on a barely visible track (big cairn) – for a short while you can see the other side of Antíparos, with the tip of Páros and Náxos. You descend carefully on a stony slope, without path, going towards the road. Make sure to arrive at a distance of about 50 m to the left of the junction, right at the end of the crashbarrier.

(1h51) At the road you take a right and when you get to the junction you go up on the left. You will soon reach the large parking lot and then the paved entrance road to the cave of Agios Ioánnis . (2h01)

From 1^st May to 15^th October the cave is open from 10am to 3pm. In the year 2008 this site was redesigned and opened to the public.
You first go down 209 steps, leading you past a beautiful ‘waterfall’ of rocks and also past a very impressive gorge.
You can then go down another 125 steps on the right; you will notice the inscription commemorating the visit of the first Greek king Othoon, on 27^th September 1840 – unfortunately, though, there are also some recent inscriptions and even some graffiti….

The inscription commemorating the visit of the Greek king Othoon.

Behind a rock you can see names such as Devernon (1784), Brossay, Dumas and Vernizet.

You can climb back up until you get to the junction and then you go down a bit towards the right. Very interesting here is the stalactite of 8 metres high, which is called the Agia Trápeza (Holy Table).

The Agia Trápeza - Raymond shows the location of the famous Latin inscription. 

The inscription of 1683.

It is called the ‘Holy Table’, because on the 24^th of December 1673 a midnight mass was celebrated here, attended by the French ambassador in Constantinople, marquis de Nointel – this is indicated by a Latin sign. The ambassador, and a retinue of 500 people (!), was brought to this place by the ship of a famous pirate, called Daniel. He stayed in the cave for three days.
The Latin sign commemorating the midnight mass reads: "Hic ipse Christus / adfuit Eius natali / die media nocte  / celebrato / MDCLXXIII" or "Christ himself was present here, when his birthday was celebrated at midnight, in the year 1673".

All around you notice inscriptions of Cabuchet "père et fils" (3 June 1776), and of names like Chanazeilles, La Canorgue, Courtivron, Essarts (is this the same "gladiateur" who left his inscription in 1876, on the large stalactite on the right of the Agia Trápeza?) and Valère Mabille (1889) – all of which are French names, but there is also a certain H. Cadisch (1888).
Behind a narrow passage you can see even more names, such as Diego Murray (1818), Hilaire Foucherot (1776), the same Valère Mabille (1889) and the famous inscription of the proud nobleman, marquis de Chambert, when talking about his wife. This amusing inscription reads: "Hélène Täscher, incomparable femme, trésor du marquis de Chambert, à Paris 1776" - "Hélène Täscher, unequalled wife, treasure of the marquis of Chambert, Paris 1776".

The inscription of the marquis de Chambert.

[In Summer, there is a bus at 3pm to Agios Geórgios and at 3.45pm to Antíparos.
If you made an appointment with Dolphin Apartments, someone will be happy to come and pick you up from this point. If not, you have to call a taxi (00 30 6970 62 47 50)...]