Agios Geórgios - Megála Monastíria and back |
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| Evaluation:
This is a rather short walk, following a gravel road and passing quite a
few remains of mining industry. It brings you to the beach of Monastíria
- in a very desolate part of Antíparos. The hike gets an
evaluation of **.
Estimated time:
The actual walking time from Hotel Dolphin, at the beach of Agios Geórgios,
to the beach of Megála Monastíria is about 1h35 – 1h40 and it will
take you as long for the return route. You should thus count on a little
over three hours for the total actual walking time – this makes for a
nice hiking afternoon. Route
description:
(0h00) Leaving from the Hotel Dolphin and after the crossing with
a signpost pointing to Antíparos, you follow the broad sandy road for
about 10 minutes. This road runs parallel to the coast, at about 20 - 30
metres from the sea.
View on the sea channel between Antíparos and Despotikó. (0h10) At
the end of this road you take a right and you follow the asphalt road
going inland.
At the end of this road you go left on another asphalt road and at the
curve to the left you continue straight ahead, on a sandy road. You
cross the bed of a river and you go up the first road on the right. (0h21) You
now walk through an area with many heaps of rubbish and you go up until
you reach a few stables;
all the way you never turn left. Past the stables the landscape becomes
greener and in this way you go up for about 38-39 minutes all together. (1h00) When you arrive at a pass, the main road continues by going up on the right. You take a left, though, and you descend to a beach by describing large zigzags. After 10 minutes already you can distinguish this beach far away in front of you. All around you notice holes and waste heaps, indications of the past exploitation of iron ore. Also your road, looking rather like a broad and impassable trail now, is rust-coloured.
Waste heaps of the past mine exploitation... (1h26) After quite some time you get into the bed of the river which you could have noticed deep down on your right-hand side for already a long time. You then take the road on the right of the bed of the river – NOT the private road on its left-hand side and NOT the right-hand road that goes up. |
(1h37)
After
a few more meanders you arrive at the beach of Megála
Monastíria, a beautiful sandy beach, very lonesome, but with a lot of
litter. Fortunately there is a sign "Don't Litter - Min afínete
skoupídia" – this seems like Greek humour... This is a very nice place to have a swim; sometimes the water is as smooth as glass, because of the deep bay. It is really a pity that there is so much rubbish, plastic and dried up seaweed.
The bay of Megála Monastíria. For the return
route you follow the same road, obviously, so you first walk
horizontally in the valley. After about 11 minutes you should watch out:
at the point where the “main road” goes up on the left – at the
sign "To the beach" – you should take a right, across the
bed of the river, and then left again. In this way you go up rather
steeply on the right-hand side of the bed – midst the green landscape,
studded with remnants of mine exploitation.
The path from Monastíria going inland. (1h48) You
go up for about 31
minutes, on the rust-coloured path, climbing higher and higher above the
valley on your left-hand side. When seeing all those heaps of rubbish,
you could really wonder about the enormity of those past mining
activities! (2h19) After going up
steadily for about 30 minutes, you reach the pass. You
take a right, of course, in order to gradually descend. You keep walking
on the right of a valley, with a view on Despotikó. (2h58) You
arrive at the curve in the asphalt road again, and you keep following
this road for another 3 minutes.
At the asphalt road going to the right (there is also a sign to Despotikó)
you should of course proceed towards the sea. (3h08)
When you get to the gravel road off the left, you can decide to continue
straight ahead – you will then arrive at the three restaurants at the
seaside, where you could have something to eat.
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