A Guide for several Holiday Walks on The Greek Island of Sikinos.

Sikinos has quite a few kilometres of paths available for some very enjoyable walking trips - we have described several circular and one way walks we did whilst on holiday there in May 2008.

There are quite a few churches scattered around the hills on the island - as you walk out into the hills it is sort of surprising to suddenly come across a sometimes quite large church sat tucked into the fold out on the hillside with perhaps just a rough path leading to it. There are also the remains of various windmills to be found out in the hills as well as threshing circles near the terraces where grain was once grown.

Kastro to Profitis Ilias - Aghia Triadha - Zoodochou Pigis - Kastro - a sort of circular. Starting off from the bus stop at the Chora/Kastro saddle head up to Kastro's Main Square and the large church of Panagia Pantanassa where you will see an obelisk/war memorial. From the war memorial continue on past the church on it's left hand side and then turn left into an alley - soon passing a ferry ticket office and then the small cafe Posto. Go ahead along the alley - ignore the first alley on the right where there is a bakery but then take the next alley on the right immediately passing a small church.

Do not take the bright white stone steps on the left which lead up to the Monastery, instead stay right heading out of the village. After leaving the village the path stays fairly level and becomes a proper moni-pati - you get excellent views of Sikinos's rolling countryside. Also do not forget to keep looking back for views of the Monastery and great views of Kastro and Chora.

As you get close to some aerials the path forks - you can divert to take a look at the small church of Aghios Charalambos. From the church return back to the main path and continue along to reach a metal road where you go left and soon reach the church of Aghios Modhestos. Continue along the road and just after reaching the heliport road keep straight ahead on a dirt track which climbs up through the hills. Note there was a huge amount of quarry and road building going on just here when we did this walk - as you climb up the track look down on the right into the valley and you can clearly see that the return route is possible despite the mess.

As you walk the track you get really good views of the coast on the left - also it is possible to see more Cyclades Islands such as Milos, AntiParos, Paros and Naxos in the distance. Eventually you reach the small church of Profitis Ilias - an excellent place to stop with seats and views of everywhere including the end of the Island, Ios and even Santorini. From the church the track soon becomes a really nice walled moni-pati - it undulates along going through the hills but then drops down and crosses a hollow. Once up and over the far side of the hollow the path pretty much disappears - continue ahead aiming for a dry stone wall - when you reach this turn right and follow it on a more visible and then good path to reach the quite well hidden church of Agia Triadha. From here return back to Profitis Ilias church - down on the right at the bottom of the valley you can see the small church of Aghios Ioanis - this is the next target, however getting to it is not particularly obvious as the path has disappeared. From the back of the church a path does leave heading southeast - this soon drops down going round the left side of the hill - you can see a white hut below however the path has now disappeared. Make your way towards the building and here a really gorgeous walled moni-path leaves which initially takes you up the hillside and then heads downwards to the left of the hillside to finally reach Aghios Ioanis church.

Actually the path does not go right to the church - you have to climb over the high wall if you want to go and see it close up. Continue along this beautiful moni-path and soon you are walking along the right hand side of the valley with the excellent view of the previously passed building and quarry works ahead of you. The path finally arrives at a small track - turn left and walk towards and then pass through the piles of stone and rock to reach the heliport road. Just past the heli-port take a small road on the right which is signposted/marked to Zoodochou Pigis Monastery - follow this on up to the monastery but on the way take a look over the cliffs on the right for some really nice sea and cliff views. The monastery may or may not be open - it was not in May 2008 when we were on holiday on the island but is apparently open during high season at certain times - this is a Greek Island remember. From the Monastery take the wide white rock path which leads you back down into Kastro.

Chora out via Episkope and it's 3rd century burial monument and back to Alopronia. If you decide to walk this route from Alopronia then it is a trip of around 17 to 18 kms which is quite a significant walk when the weather is hot. We decided to start of by getting the bus up to Chora and starting from there making the walk around 13.5km. Even so this walk is quite tiring as there is not too much shade and underfoot the surface on the moni-paths and mule-tracks is often rocky making walking difficult at times and not too fast. For most of the time the paths used are very clear and easy to follow however around halfway you do have to "make it up" a bit for a short distance as the undergrowth has obscured any obvious route.
Note1. There are no facilities out on this walk so take plenty of water etc.
Note 2. All the churches visited on this walk either had a key in their doors or take a look under a nearbye stone since the keys might be there instead.

From the bus stop at the saddle between Kastro and Chora take the wide flight of steps which head up into Chora - keep ahead through the town's alleys passing two churches on the way. As you get towards the far side of the town some of the derelict buildings are being renovated - then right on the top edge of Chora the alleys change to a moni-path. Stay left when the path splits and just continue on what is now a really nice path which gives excellent views of the valley, churches and countryside down on the left. Just after passing a farm a little way down in the valley the path splits again - this time take the right hand path which goes the hillside - when this flattens you are once again on a really nice moni-path however it is somewhat overgrown. Just before reaching Aghia Paraskevi church the path has become so overgrown you cannot get along so instead go over the wall and walk up to the church. Again there are really good views of the countryside and coast up here - there is also a derelict windmill just above the church. You can also see clearly the onward route i.e. the next church, the ruined village and then the road. From the church a path continues to the next church which is called Aghios Polikarpos - where there is a well and then drops down heading through the ruined village of Stamatini and then on via a rough track to reach the tarmac road. Cross the "busy" road (actually we did not see any people let alone vehicles for the whole walk) and go left walking uphill for a short distance to turn right onto a marked path (signposted Old Road to Episkope). This gorgeous path wanders along the left hand side of the hillside and has the coastline on it's right sometimes not too far away. You can divert to take a quick look at the church of St George on the right of the path on the way. Generally speaking the path is in good condition although somewhat rocky underfoot - it just undulates it's way between the old terraces and cornfields - always stay on the main path and ignore any side paths. The only part of the path which is in poor condition is towards the end where it has been subject to damage from falling rocks and in one place is nearly gone and has a nice drop on the right. Just before reaching the tarmac road the path swings round to the right and originally continued just below the road however this has been messed up by the road builders and is blocked. You therefore have to slightly scramble up onto the tarmac road instead, then turn right and follow it for a short distance to reach it's end and a car park. A track leaves from here and heads towards several churches and the now visible Episkope.

This is obviously a convenient place to stop for a sandwich and drink however the nicest bit and also somewhat cooler due to sea-breezes is to walk up to the church of Agia Ana which is located via a path above and just off to the right.

From Episkope walk back down towards the road but then take a rocky moni-path on the right - this swings down into and then through the valley and soon becomes a series of marble steps. This is yet another really nice walking area with lovely rocks and just generally beautiful countryside - from time to time you pass old lime kilns either side of the path. Around 1.5kms from the Episkope the path splits - this is marked by two small cairns. The right hand path continues to Manali's Well however we took the narrow path on the left which winds down to the valley bottom - this path is fairly hard to follow due to rocks and foliage but people have placed small cairns in places to help navigation. Always you are heading down but also veering left to more or less reach the floor of the valley. When you reach a deep dip keep to the left of the valley and the path will take you up and round to the other side. The path from now on is quite faint and very narrow but continues to be marked occasionally with small cairns. As you round the hill the coastline comes into view on the right - simply stay on the path which does get easier to find after a while. You pass a really interesting rocky needle - the path is quite narrow here and very close to the edge of the quite high cliff. Just after this the way continues a little more inland passing various caves on it's way and then the church of Agios Panteleimon comes into view. Wind your way on down to the church where you will find some seats, perhaps some shade and anyway the opportunity to have a quick rest.
From the church the path continues on inland heading up the valley - it eventually drops down to reach a path junction although the other path was not very clear to see - this junction is around half a kilometre from the church.
Go right heading across the valley and then the path climbs up the hillside - at the top you can clearly see that onward route still has some way to go. Continue on round the hillside on this very clear path until it drops down to reach a dirt track.
Keep straight ahead on this track and eventually reach the outskirts and soon the harbour at Alopronia.

You may be interested in seeing our main Sikinos Topic.

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