Agios Geórgios - Kambiá - Profítis Ilías - Cave of Agios Ioánnis
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 ***.
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.
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.
(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.
(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.
The view is wonderful
on all sides: below you notice Agios Geórgios, with Despotikó, and with Poliégos,
Kímolos and even Mílos behind it. More to the right you see Sífnos, and
Folégandros is situated more to the left. Santoríni is very far away and the
islands of Síkinos, Ios, Irakliá, Schinoússa, Koufoníssi are closer. You can
also spot a small tip of Donoússa and then also Náxos and Páros. On the other
side you have a nice view on the entire island of Antíparos , with the harbour
of Poúnta at Páros, and then, to the left of Páros and Náxos, also the islands
of Mýkonos, Dílos, Tínos, Sýros, Sérifos, and Sífnos again.
On Antíparos itself you notice the town of Antíparos in the north, then the
plain of Kámbos and the beautiful beach of Livádi on the left. Towards the south
you notice the peninsula of Faneroméni on the left, with Sorós on its left and
Agios Geórgios and Despotikó on its right.
You can also see the trail that continues in the direction of Páros, a long line
in the landscape, which arrives at the curve of the asphalt road – that is where
the cave is situated.
(1h13)
You go down the same road, in the bend you veer sharply to the right and a
little further, you continue to the RIGHT.
You now surround the summit all the way and after 9 minutes, you see the
continuation of the path to the right far ahead of you
After a very stony end of 4 minutes,
you can continue easily on a
stony path that curves further to the right. The stony road goes up and down
slightly, with again a great panoramic view on Folégandros, Síkinos and Ios on
your right-hand side.
(1h33)
You curve somewhat to the left and then you notice a road coming from the left
– you veer to the far right here. The road narrows gradually, until it becomes a
real stony trail. After yet another 4 minutes you notice a path on the right,
which descends by describing a curve, until it reaches a hole of a mine, just in
front of you (cairn). You continue straight ahead and slightly upwards. A couple
of minutes later, the path becomes rust-coloured – at certain places you can
still see the holes of former mine exploitation (cairn).
(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 1st May
to 15th 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 27th
September 1840 – unfortunately, though, there are also some recent inscriptions
and even some graffiti….
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).
It is called the ‘Holy
Table’, because on the 24th 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 as the "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".
[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)...]