Perisa - Emborio - 8 windmills - Vlichadha Harbour - Perisa. Walking distance 16kms. This mostly flat walk takes you out from Perisa to the bottom of the Profitis Ilias hills where you skirt clockwise using an old track and a nice path to get to Emborio. From there it's a walk mostly on a quiet road which climbs gently up going by several old windmills - then something of a scramble down terraces towards Santorini's coast at Vlichadha followed by a walk back along roads and finally by using the beach road into Perisa.
This walk starts off at the northern end of Perisa's Beach by a parking area (this
is almost under the hills and
next to the ruins of the Byzantine church of Aghia Irini) - follow the road heading
inland and staying to the right where the road splits. Pass the Hotel Mariana,
continue past the dirt track signed to Ancient Thira and then take the
next track on the right.
This track heads directly towards the hills and then bears left around the far side of a house. Now
walking along through Santorini's nice countryside follow the dirt track to eventually join a road.
Turn right on this road and continue along soon passing the church of Aghios
Stefanos. When the road bends very sharply left keep straight ahead by some houses and go onto a sunken
moni-path - when we walked this route the path was fairly overgrown in some
places.
The path swings round going past a quarry and then joins a road. Turn left and then shortly go right passing by the front of a church - a path leaves from the far side of the church by a retaining wall. Follow the path with the retaining wall on the right - when the wall starts to turn away continue left across the field to reach a dirt track.
By now you can see a 3-barrelled church which is where you are
heading for. Turn right on the dirt track - at a junction go right again and
soon passing below the church - it is worth just diverting up to take a closer
look at this very interesting building. Having just passed the church the track
soon ends at a field - take a moni-path on the left which heads up between
houses and then swings round to the right and takes you to a narrow road.
The views of the castle and of Emborio itself are really excellent as you walk along
this moni-path. Turn left on down the small road and then at a junction go right
and then left into the castle - this bit of the walk is ambiguous since you will
probably want to look around and could end up anywhere. The aim to continue the
walk is to get to Emborio's main bus stop and centre which is by Emborio's
church, a large school and play area. From the main bus stop head up the main
road going towards Thira until you reach a road junction on the left. The road
joining from the left has an immediate fork and you need to take the smaller
right hand road - it follows the main Thira road for a little while and then
twists away going steeply up and left heading towards the ridge.
There are eight windmills varying from really derelict to not too bad to one which has
been restored up along the ridge - these are really interesting. Having reached
the high point the tarmac road ends by a taverna? - it then continues as a dirt
track now going straight towards the small church of Profitis Ilias. The track
forks in front of the church - take the right hand track which then soon ends by
a wall. Climb down the wall on the left and join a small path - this has
initially got occasional markings to help show the way - you can now see the
harbour at Vlichadha way down below on the right. The aim is to get to this
harbour - after a while there is no clear path - you have to make your way down
the old field terraces always aiming towards the harbour.
As you get further down you will see farm buildings and large greenhouses - aim to get to the right
hand side of these green houses where there is also a large sterna.
From here there is now a clear path and then small road which will take you down into
Vlichadha where there is a harbour with cafes and tavernas. Around the area you
will notice some old buildings with very high chimneys - these used to be tomatoe
processing factories - an activity on Santorini which started at the end of the 19th Century.
Turn left along the main road - unfortunately you have to
use this road for around 2.5kms when a road leaves on the right which heads
towards the coast - you can see another large chimney (another ex-processing plant) in the distance.
Once down on the coast road just follow it along with the coastline next to you on the right and
wander back into Perisa.
Red Beach - Akrotiri - Kaparies - Panaghia - Taxiarchis Monastery - Kambia Beach - Red Beach. Distance 7.8kms.
There is quite a lot of car-parking available at Red Beach's parking area -
if this is full up you can also find a large car park near to the Archaeological
Site - which it should be noted is currently closed for visitors (as of June
2008). From the Red Beach car park walk back up the road to the Archaeological
Site car park - at the far end corner of the car park and up the bank you will find the
start of a narrow path heading straight ahead with fields on the left and a nice
stone wall on the right - this is a bit hard to find because the bank is
overgrown with foliage but it is there.
Go ahead and soon join a moni-path - turn right onto this really nice path which
goes along the countryside and gives great views of Akrotiri and it's castle.
The path goes round the side of a hill and has extremely high rock walls either
side - when we walked this there was a considerable amount of undergrowth in
places which was mixed up sadly in places with general rubbish - no way to treat
such a really good path.
The path comes out on a small road, turn right and on
reaching the main road turn left and follow this main road up and around to
reach the square and bus stop in Akrotiri.
Opposite the bus stop/bus shelter
take a narrow road on the left which goes uphill and soon reaches a school where
you keep left. Just a little way along you can take steps on the left which lead
up into what is left of the castle. Otherwise bear right going past a church to
reach a road - here go right and follow it until you reach a hairpin bend where
you need to take the alley on the left which continues up hill. A little way up
the alley take the first left soon passing a sunken church and village houses -
continue on out of the village to reach a road. Go right and soon reach a
mini-market on the right - follow the road on round to the left and just after
passing some more houses a very rough surfaced concrete track leaves on the
right. This goes below a new villa and then continues round the hill-side now
thank goodness in the form of a nice path.
The views from here are excellent -
you can see everywhere - for instance Oia, Thira, Pirghos and the Monastery - in
other words the whole of the cauldron. The path reaches but does not end at a
road but stays as a path for some time just above it. On eventually joining the
road you only have to follow it for around 50 yards when you reach a twin church
on the left and right next to this steps lead down to Panaghia Kinisi church.
This is quite an area - there are several churches here including one just left
of Panaghia's entrance gate which is almost built into the rocks. Continue on
from the church on a mule-track which goes between fields of grape vines to
reach a dirt track.
Turn left then around 80 yards along turn right onto a wide fairly
sunken path which goes between more fields and finally arrives at another track.
Turn left and now follow this track heading towards Taxiarchis
church which is nestled in the hills in front of you.
The church is situated just off to the right of the track - actually it's quite a knee-bender to walk
those last few metres up to it. This quite large church almost looks as if once it was used as a
monastery - it is very interesting to look round the various parts of it. There is plenty of seating
around the church and there is also a well where you can have a nice
refreshing splash. From the church return to the track and turn right - continue
along as the route takes you down heading ever closer to the coast and reaches a
sort of farm which is situated on a bend. As you walk round the bend there is
much higher ground to the right - you can if you wish walk up here and on
reaching the top there are suddenly views of the sea and cliffs etc.
Continue along the top on a rough path - this opens up even more cliff views and you can
also see small beaches below. The path reverts to a very slippery track just
before some rocks - walk back down the left hand fork to get back onto the
original track. Continue along and shortly a small church appears ahead of you -
however follow the track as it bends right and soon arrives at Kambia Beach. The
beach is extremely stoney in places but there are some bits where you can
stretch out on a towel and have a sunbathe etc. if you wish - also there is a
small taverna on the beach offering drinks and food. Facing the sea turn left
and follow the shoreline to go round an outcrop and then arrive at another quite
scruffy beach - you can now see Red Beach in the distance. When we did this walk
the shoreline was covered with thick layers of seaweed - it did not look too
inviting to stay around on.
At the far end of the beach you have to scramble up
about 2 metres or so of loose rock and shingle to reach a narrow path - turn
right and follow it on round the hill. Vertigo Note: I
dislike some heights and I did not at all take to the first 20 metres of this
path as there was a big drop down on the right - I therefore scrambled on up the
hillside for another 2 to 3 metres where there is another parallel path which
is wider and better to walk as the drops were not so apparent. Whichever path
you chose they both meet a little way round the hillside and then just continue
along to quite soon arrive at Red Beach.
This part of Red Beach is mentioned as a popular
place for naturists and nudists but we did not see anyone stripped off. Walk on across this black, white but
mostly red shingle beach with it's impressive overhanging but badly crumbling
red-coloured cliffs (in fact in some places the cliffs are now coloured white as
erosion has collapsed the red rock layer). There are beach chairs and so on
available towards the far end of the beach but we could not see any drinks or
food facilities on it.
At the far end of the beach just walk on up and over the
rocks and then shortly arrive back at the Red Beach car-park.
Please visit our Santorini HomePage for more topics and information about this scenic Greek Island.
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