Holiday Walks on the Greek Island of Patmos.
Photos, Sightseeing and Walks Guides for the small but often busy Greek Island of Patmos in the Dodecanese.
Kampos - Coastline - Beaches - Skala Harbour.
approx 7kms with a few ups and downs. Catch the bus from Skala Harbour to Kampos
- the bus stops in the village square by the church - there is also a taverna located here.
From the Square and with the church on the right follow the road downhill
(it's the same way that the bus continued along) heading towards Kampos beach.
Around 75 yards down
the round turn left onto a concrete path between houses - this soon becomes a
dirt track as it continues to wind down through the valley. Go right at a track
junction now heading towards the sea - you shortly arrive at where a narrow path
leaves on the left between a wall and a blue gate. Take this path which winds on
down between fields and then heads on towards the sea - it meets the track again
- follow this the short distance on down to Kampos Beach. This quite long sandy
beach has got several tavernas, a small drinks kiosk and you can hire sunbeds
and chairs etc. if you wish to stay for a while. From the beach go right (i.e.
with the sea on your left) - at the end of the beach take the left fork and
continue on round the coastline to shortly arrive at a hotel complex.
There is the small church of St Nicholas just below on the left - this is a nice little church
and well worth visiting. Continue past the hotel complex and then bearing left pick up a
narrow path which goes on up and over the hillside. You reach a wall - do not
cross over - simply stay on the fairly clear gravely path with the wall now on your left and
this will take you the rest of the way over the hill. Continue on what becomes a quite rough and
rubble-surfaced path on round the coastline to reach the beach at Agriolivadi. This beach is
also sandy and as often the case with Patmos beaches was mostly tree-lined for some free shade;
there are also beach chairs and sunbeds available for hire plus there is a quite large taverna. Go
across the beach and pick up a path leaving on the far side - this leads to a
small road where you turn left.
Go steeply upwards passing several houses then
at a fork go left - continue straight on soon passing a taverna a little way
down on the left. You eventually come to a gate - go through the gate
remembering to close it securely and then wander down to the coastline where you
will find two deserted stoney beaches.
Return back to the gate and turn left now
on a very rough track then shortly take a narrow path on the right. This quite
overgrown path takes you up the hillside to reach a road where you turn right.
Follow this road round the hillside until you arrive at Meloi Beach - where you
will find a really nice taverna.
The sandy beach here is quite narrow and does
not have sun chairs etc however there are lots of trees to provide enough shade.
From the beach head back along the road but at the fork go left and head on
uphill soon passing a small church to arrive at a road junction where there is a
triple barrelled church.
(From this junction it is possible to divert to Koumana
Monastery.).
The walk continues by going straight on along the road which will
soon bring you back to the far side of the harbour at Skala.
Skala Harbour - The Cave of the Apocalypse - Monastery
of St John - Grikos - Psili Ammos Beach - Chora - Skala Harbour.
Approximately 20kms depending on how much you wander around Chora. There are
several climbs involved - the whole walk is quite long - and especially on a hot day this
could easily be considered a quite strenuous walk.
Starting from Skala Harbour walk through the Main Square
keeping to the left of the cafes and keep straight on along the narrow street.
You pass the OTE phone exchange on the left and several tavernas then the road
bends round to the left soon passing a small church. Stay on the road until you
reach the main Chora Road (If unsure just ask anyone for directions to Chora).
At the main road go across and onto a really nice wide cobbled path - this heads
upwards and is often tree-lined. A little way up look out for a narrow path on
the left which takes you through the woods to the Cave of the Apocalypse.
Since the idea was to walk the whole of the moni-path up to Chora we then returned
back down through the woods on the narrow path and then turned left back onto the original moni-path.
This shortly arrives at the main road again - cross over and continue on up the
ever steep moni-path - later cross the main road again and eventually arrive at
the bottom edge of Chora. The moni-path ends here - turn left along the road and
then cross over to where the taxis and buses wait and walk up on into Chora itself and the Monastery. Having looked round the Monastery it is
well worth spending some more time enjoying Chora's really nice narrow streets
and alleys - there are some excellent old buildings and plenty of churches to admire here.
The next part of the walk involves making your way towards the
windmills and getting onto the main Grikos road. How you get there to them
depends on where you end up having wandered around Chora - in our case we ended
up just to the right of the windmills - you can always ask for directions to the
Grikos Road. Once on the road turn right and follow it until you reach a
triangular parking area on the right and where there are lots of telegraph
poles. Take a concrete road on the left which heads down passing farm and other
buildings and also a small church - ignore two junctions on the right - the
track changes to dirt and winds down the hill and then soon becomes one of the
nicest cobbled moni-paths you can hope to find.
This wanders on down the
hillside and eventually arrives on the main road - turn left and almost
immediately right and follow the road down to the beach at Grikos. Turn right
along the coast and follow it passing several beaches (Petra, Kali Katsou) and
then you arrive at the boatyard at Dia Koftou. Turn right on the track in front
of the boatyard and cross the island to soon arrive at Stravrou Bay. Go left and
follow the coast road soon passing a small taverna - just right to stop for a
drink and to perhaps cool down a little before the next bit - it's nearly
another 2kms to Psili Ammos..)).
Continue along the coast/beach and soon arrive
at a gate - go through this and remember to close it because of the goats - now
you are on a narrow path which commences to undulate along the coast. You
eventually arrive above Psili Amos - the first impression is often the site of
the heavy waves crashing onto the seashore - the next is the final steep walk
down to the beach with the thought that eventually you will have to walk up it
again. There are no beach chairs etc available on the beach (at least none were
around when we visited in early July) however there are trees to hide under.
There is one taverna and the beach itself is a mix of quite course sand and
fairly pebbled at the far end (where there are also some nice rocks to sit on).
The return is simply a retrace of the outbound route going all the way back as far as the outskirts of Chora to
where the concrete road meets the Grikos Road.
Turn right and follow the road heading round the edge of Chora and soon you will see the windmills in a line
above on the left. As you get level with the last windmill you will find a sign
pointing to a moni-path which leaves on the right. This is yet again a really
nice path to walk - thankfully it just keeps descending (this has been quite a
long walk after all) and gives some nice views both of the harbour below and
also do take a look back now again for great views of the Monastery and the
windmills. The path has been a bit ruined at the end because of idiots with
bulldozers who have smashed it up whilst working on several nearbye houses but
this is only the last little bit - you end up walking along a walled dirt track
and then onto a narrow street before the last few 100 metres into the Harbour.
Skala Harbour - Monastery of St John - Skala Harbour. Obviously the walk above does include this but it's worth pointing out that if time is limited you can enjoy both moni-paths and also have a visit to the Monastery just by using the paths mentioned above. The distance involved by walking the two moni-paths is around 4.5kms plus however much you walk whilst up in Chora itself. Alternatively you could get the bus up to Chora and walk back down on either of the two paths or walk up and get the bus back or whatever. Or how about getting the bus to Grikos and walking back via Chora - all sorts of variations are possible.
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