Hiking on Sifnos
Have you been thinking about hiking on Sifnos or another Greek island? We have been hiking there for three days, and we also celebrate the Oxi/Ohi-Day.
We arrived Platis Gialos in the afternoon and because no one else were in the guest harbour we berth longside. The weatherforcast was not good, a lot of wind from north, but we hoped we could stay safe here on the south side of the island.
We had a short walk in the bay, just to check it out. There were a few restaurants and a couple of small supermarkets. Actually there were a lot of people (tourists) in this small village.
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Here is the harbour. In the season you have to use mooringlines and stern lines.
Trail 2 Towards the Moraculous Saint
We read about Sifnos Trails, so the next morning we were ready for our first hike. The trail 2 – “Towards the Miraculous Saint”, starts in the next bay, but we choosed to walk from Platys Gialos. We started walking pretty steep and soon we had a great view of the bay where we were anchoring.
Over the hill we followed the main road, it is not much traffic anyway. From the main road it is stairs down to the Chrisopigi Monastery where the trail starts from.
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A nice place, no people around
The monastery is build at a top of a rock, on the top of an older church, established in the 16th century.
There is a small bridge connecting the monastery to the mainland. Actually so small you couldn`t see it if you didn`t knew it was there.
From the monastery we walked down to the beach.
At the end of the beach the trail went up in the hill
Sifnos Trails is a project started in 2015 and are now one of the most updated path network in Europe. Here you can choose from short easy walks, to longer hard uphill trails, so it is something for everyone.
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Over the hill to the next village, Faros
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Faros looks like a very cozy village, but unfortunately we didn`t had time to stop there
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From Faros we started to “climb” up the hill. It was very easy to see where to go
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Good signs everywhere
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It is a lot of small churches along the trail and when we came to Agios Nikitas it was time for a rest to eat an orange. Outside the church we met an old man and he tried to say something, but in Greek… The only thing we understood was “mooo”, like from a cow…. He went further on and we sat down outside the church.
Within 2 minutes this cows came and we run to get away (you can see the orange peel still there) They come the trail right against us so we were lucky we met them right there (I would not have met them on a narrow path… ) So that was what the man ment, cows are coming!!
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I was glad the cows didn`t come alone. One of the guys came with a donkey and left him in the middle of the trail.
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Within a short distance after the church we finally saw Kastro which was our goal for this trail.
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We had to go down to the beach, before going up the stairs to the town
This route was around 8,5 km and we used 2,5 hours
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Puh… my feet hurts a bit at this point!
Kastro has been inhabited for over 3000 years and was at one point the capital town in Sifnos. You can only enter the town by foot. If you are coming by car you have to park it outside the town. We had a plan to take a bus to Apollonia, which is todays capital at the island, so we checked the timetable when we arrived Kastro. We thought buses run often, but it was only three time this day, the next one went one hour later. So we had to run through the town to see most of it.
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We also had a plan to walk down to this small church, Church of Seven Martyrs, which is one of the most photographed spots of the Cyclades. But we didn`t had time to go down there today.
The view from Kastro
Some kitten
Only us at the bus. It costs us 1,80 EUR each and took about 10 minutes.
In Apollonia we went stright to a car rental company and rented a car. From Apollonia we drove up to the northern part of the island. Our first stop was at Heronissos. There is a snorkling spot down by the sea
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A quiet, small village.
We drove on a narrow steep road up to the church Agios Symeon. An amazing view from the church!
The town of Kamares, where all the ferries departures from.
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We went down to Kamares, had a little stop, tried to find something to eat, ended up with an icecream 🙂
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After Kamares we drove back to the boat and had a relaxed evening with dinner
Oxi/Ohi-Day
Friday 28th of October is the Oxi/Ohi-day in Greece. Greece has two national days, and this is one of them. It is a public holiday and everything is closed, exept the restaurants, everyone is eating out on this day!
The Oxi-Day remarks the day when the Greek prime minister rejected an ultimatum given by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini during the World War II.
Greece celebrate this day much like we does in Norway on the 17th of May. But since we stayed on a small island as Sifnos it was not that big. We saw school children walking the parade and they ended up at the town square, where everyone was waiting.
The priests had a speach
And official people lay a wreath
Also kids from different classes did the same
and had a small speach
What is the Ohi/Oxi-Day? Read all the details about it here
After this everyone walked further into next road and the kids were walking a new parade, this time with music.
It was no orchestra, like we have in Norway, it was music from a speaker
It was not a long parade, but it was fun to watch
After they finished, we went to Kastro to visit the “Church of Seven Martyrs” which we didn`t had time to yesterday.
I was wearing a nice dress for this special day (almost the only one with colours, the Greek people were already using winterclothes and mostly black/brown colours)
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It was a lot of wind so I had to hold on my hat!
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We had a short walk through the town with empty street
Then we went down to the beach next to Kastro, because we some beautiful waves there.
It looks like I am telling the weather forcast 🙂
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It was a bit risky to stand there because the waves was very big sometimes
I stood on stones, it should have been better if it was sand on the bottom
So I almost fell and I lost my pink hat on the sea….
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I guess this car has been here for ages…
3 – The Agricultural Road, from Apollonia to Platis Gialos
Saturday it was time to deliver the car in Apollonia. And what else to do than walking back to the bay??
It was time to check out the route 3 – The Agricultural Road, from Apollonia to Platis Gialos
We started to go east from Apollonia to Kato Petali on a nice paved roads with marble rocks
This road used to be the main road between the two villages
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I found this beautiful flower, tried to find the name. Anyone?
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Good signs everywhere
We met this family of pigs
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Walking through beautiful areas
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A nice view down to Kastro
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I have a plan to come back here in spring, it would be amazing with all the flowers and greener landscape
I like horses but I like it when we have a fence between us 🙂
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It was a little bit windy so it was nice with an extra jacket
And when we came down in the valley it was warm enough to take the jacket off again
Astor and me has total different temperatures…
After 8,5 km and 2,5 hours we reach the boat (7,5 km to the bay, and then an extra kilometer to the harbour. )
Platys Gialos is the most famous beach on Sifnos, laying at the south side
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One of the most ancient crafts practised in Sifnos from the early Cycladic period all the way to the present day is pottery making
4 “Cedars, Olive trees and the sea”
On sunday we were ready for our third hiking – 4 “Cedars, Olive trees and the sea”
Sifnos Trails has two loops, where you can start and come back in one place. If you are walking the other routes you need a bus, taxi or a car to come back. Route 4 is the shortest one of theese two, 11,4 km.
Route 4 starts in Platys Gialos so it was convient for us
Our first goal was to reach the small church at the top of the hill which we could see from the boat.
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After the village we start climbing up the hill. It was a nice trail to follow.
And pritty soon we got an amazing view of the bay
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At the end of the ascent we came to Church Profitis Ilias Kondou. A nice place to have a stop and look at the view. It was an ascent of 260 meters up here.
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We continue our hike to the west on the hill
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I was courious about what this would be like when it grows up…
After a while we got the view down to the bay of Vathy
Looks like a nice place to anchor, but it was windy here as well
Good marked everywhere, it was not possible to go wrong
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Down from the hill we had to follow a gravel road for some hundred meters
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After coming to an fence in front of an industri area, we believe it was quarry, stone industri or something, you start on the trail again
After a while on a nice trail we got the view down to Fikiada bay
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Here we had a short stop, beautiful and quiet. No people around. This is a beach where you have to walk a distance, or coming by boat.
Astor had to take a swim, even if it was cold (for me)
This is a very nice area to walk in
In the autumn most of the forrest is grey and brown, but once in a while it is also green
We walked through an old olive ground
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After the olive ground we come to the abandoned mansion of Moussia
This poster has to be newer…
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If you like to read more details about all theese trails, click here
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At the end of the trail it is a steep ascent, you can feel it in your feet when you have been walking over 10 kilometers…
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But finally at the top of the hill and we got the view of Platys Gialos. This aroundtrip is in the southern part of Sifnos, 14 km in 4 hours. Perfect trail!
Since it was a perfect time for lunch we stopped at a restaurant on the beach
We got some company of 7-10 cats
One of them wanted some extra treat
The harbour was not the best one in so much wind, even if it was from north. We had up to 36 knots of wind two of the days. Astor used two of the mooringlines to hold the boat away from the dock.
I have to say that if you are in to hiking you have to come to Sifnos. With its 200 km of trails all over the island, it is always a trail to go. The best time to go here is in the spring and autumn, but I will definately come back once in the spring to see all the flowers.
Next week we are sailing west to Paros and Naxos and we are hiking to the highest mountain in Cyclades.
If you like to see more of our hikings, check out our post from the highest mountain in Kefalonia!
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