Exploring the Cyclades islands Folegandros, Sikinos and Ios
Folegandros
We sailed from the mainland south of Athens, through the night south to Folegandros. It was 25 hours and 125 nm from Aegina, where we started earlier that day. In the beginning it was okay, but then the wind died, waves didn`t so it was a bumpy ride. We had a nice sunset when we started the sail south. It was amazing arriving Folegandros and we could have a sleep.
The whole first day we just stayed in the boat and relaxed. We were tired after a long sail. Where we anchored we could have the sun almost to the end.
The second day we went ashore to hike to Chora. We saw it was a nice trail right from the beach. This beach is a nude beach, so if you don`t like nude people don`t go there 🙂
The trail is going up to the church in the hill above the bay.
It was pritty steep so we needed to have some stops.
It was a really nice walk!
Up in the hill we walked through farmers land.
You need good shoes.
Three old windmills just outside the town.
It was signs and marks everywhere so it was easy to find where to go.
Walking a short distance on the main road you arrive at this hotel. Take to the left here and follow the trail against the town.
A nice trail and a view to the church in the hill above Chora.
Walking by a small church on the way.
Closer to Chora
This is not the main entrance of the town, but when you are coming by foot you will arrive just in the city center.
I didn`t know much about Folegandros before we came here, but we saw immediately that this is a nice and clean town. (we read that many people has this island as their Greek favourite)
Bouganvilla is blooming the whole summer and is the most beautiful flower I can think of!
Nice details everywhere!
A small supermarket where we had a stop later to by some vegetables.
The square, waiting for guests for lunch and dinner!
Outside the church in the town.
The way to the church on the hill.
The same place when you turn around.
So many nice buildings, flowers and backyards, so clean!! I think it is the cleanest place in Greece!
Hotels everywhere. Some of them has a pool. That is fine, because it is a long distance to walk to the beach.
So beautiful!
Of course we had to walk to the church up in the hill. And the view from the trail up there is stunning!
Astor on the way to the top. It was not steps here (only a few) and that was really nice.
Astor and the town behind him.
Chora is build on a edge, I saw some houses with balconies there, I am not sure if I want to stay there…
Finally at Church of Panagia (Virgin Mary)
The church was only open in the evening, so we couldn`t get inside.
I read that you should walk up the hill behind the church to have extra view. Of course we had to try! It was not easy to find a path up there, but we manage to walk all the way up the hill.
It is a stunning view on the top!
And we could see the next island, Sikonos. In the distance we could see Santorini!
After a break on the top of the hill we walked back to town.
Amazing!
With a pink t-shirt you can hardly see me.
This is really a nice town. This is the end of the season, so not much people around.
We had a small lunch on one of the restaurants.
We also met a nice Norwegian couple, they were waiting for their transport to the boat, back to Athen and then Norway. Ah… it is so nice to think about we have many months left…
Bouganvilla is not only pink, this is red.
On the way back we met this donkey.
On the trail back to the boat.
Yep, the boat is still in the bay!
We checked if the church was open, but it was not.
We followed the trail back to the beach (when we started we walked almost stright up the hill), we found it on alltails.com.
A video from the beautiful day on Folegandros!
Our walk from our anchorage to Chora:
Sikonos
Sikonos is an island I have never heard about, I think. The island is between Folegandros and Ios. We sailed over there and anchored in the main port. Nice small place with some restaurants and a small supermarket.
And of course, our plan was to hike up to Chora. You can see the monastery on the hill on the left side of the photo.
A quiet little bay, with incredibly water!
We saw on a youtube video a guy was walking up this road and we thought that would be the correct way to Chora, so we didn`t doublecheck…
It is steep, so we needed some breaks on the way up.
On the end of this road we stopped by this small church. Actually the road was going further on, but “my” trail went in another direction.
Yes, many years ago it has maybe been a trail here, but if you choose to go here, bring a garden shears.
From the road, the “trail” went down again, and then up in the next hill… and still no visible trail. A bit of a challenge…
We came down the hill on the right side, crossed the gravel road and walked uphill again.
After that we found a gravel road and I was so happy!! But only a few meters… then we needed a garden shears again, even more than earlier.
But we tried! (it was not a choice to turn and walk back..)
And a lot of sticky bushes…
But finally we found a visible trail!
And it was up hill again. You can see Chora in the distance, and the monastery on the top of the hill.
A lot of stone terraces build by humans many many years ago.
When we came closer to the town there were nice stairs up to the first church.
The view down the stairs.
Beautiful, but very quiet. And when I am writing very quiet, I mean VERY QUIET!! No people, nothing open, no music, nothing!! And we had a plan to have lunch here!!….
We saw a sign on a restaurant in the beginning of the town that said it would be open from 5pm. So we thought “ok”, we can go to the monastery first.
This was in the middle of the day, so we guessed it was siesta too, but I have never been into such a quiet town before…
On the way to the monastery.
Well, it was not correct when I said nothing. There were some cats…
Most of them were afraid of us.
The steps got steeper when we passed the windmill.
***
The view back to town.
The steps up to the monastery.
We passed by a small church.
The monastery; nothing special, and closed. It said it should be open later, but I am not sure.
The view down to the port. Felizia still on anchor!
Many cozy places.
But also old ruins.
When we came down to the restaurant which should open at 5pm (it was 5 minutes before), a guy was closing the gate and we asked him when they opened. “In April”… he said… Their chef had left… So there we were, in a town with nothing to eat…. Luckily the bus was going down to the port at 5 pm, only a few meters from where we were. So we reach that bus and went to a cafe in the port to have a small lunch before taking the dinghy back in the boat.
A video from the hiking on Sikonos:
Here is our hike. Don`t follow our track if you don`t like a challenge!
Ios
Our next stop was Ios. We had heard so much about Ios so I was looking forward to see the island. We were looking at the weather forcast and it was not very good, so we decided to stay here only to see Chora. Yes, the name is Chora. All main towns in all Greek island is Chora. So it can be a bit confusing 🙂 After two days of hiking to Chora we this day decided to take the bus from our anchorage.
Yes, it is a nice town, but here it also was quiet. But it was a Saturday so a little bit more people than in the other Chora`s we have visited the last days.
But we had much space!
Nice flowers here as well!
We walked through town to the windmills.
Not all of them was nice, but I guess they are old.
From the windmills you can see up to the hill with three small churches. Of course we had to walk up there.
A big stair!
And up in the hill you will have a nice view of the town.
The view down to the port where the big ferries are coming in. We didn`t anchor there.
I am sure Ios is a nice island, but we didn`t had time to explore more of it. Next time!
I had a hat, but it was so windy I couldn`t use it…
Above two of the three churches.
The southernmost part of the town. We anchored in the bay in the distance. It is walking distance, but not this day!
The ferry is leaving. Naxos next stop??
The church below the three churches.
We had pizza for lunch before we crossed the main road to walk to the church on top of the next hill. We walk first in wrong direction, so we had to turn and walk around. We didn`t had much time until the bus was leaving so we didn`t had a long stop on the top.
And it was still windy!
This is the reason I wanted to walk up to the other hill, because of the best view of Chora, Ios.
A video from Chora, Ios:
Our next plan was to sail to Schinoussa where our friend from our National Day celebration on Leros, Harald was. But did we manage to sail there?? Follow us next time!