Alonissos Greece - Hiking Guides.

Steni Vala, Votsi and Patitiri Greek Island Holiday Walks for Alonissos plus walks visiting Gheladhia, Meghalo Chorafi, Medghali Amos, Tourkovighla and Aghi Anarghiri.

Steni Vala to Patitiri Quite honestly we did not find Steni Vala itself that exceptional, in fact it just was a frontage along the very small harbour with just a few fishing boats and some yachts moored. There are several tavernas and a supermarket which are basically there to service the yacht flotillas and the day trippers coming for the bus ride from Patitiri. However as a start point for a very enjoyable walk back to Patitiri then Steni Vala's existence is certainly justified.

The walk starts from the harbour - facing the boats go right to the end of the quay and then continue on round passing the beach on a paved path, the walk is marked here as Walk 10. The path climbs easily out of the harbour and then along the coast - there are good views of Steni Vala from here. The path converts to more of a dirt path just before it reaches the very picturesque beach at Aghios Petros.

Continue along across the beach and near the far end take a soon narrow path, lookout for and take an even more narrow path on the right a little way along which heads up quite steeply inland to reach a dirt track. Turn right and when you reach a T-junction turn left - follow this for a few metres and then look out for a yellow 10 path marker on the right. Take this path - it climbs and winds quite steeply up into the hills - this is a well marked path. The path eventually levels out somewhat on a more open area and then reaches another dirt track - turn right and on reaching the main dirt road turn left. Continue on this main track as it goes through a small village - the area is called Isomata. After about half a kilometre and on a left bend [N39°10'47" E023°54'28"] look out for a blue sign marked Lefto Ghialos on the right - take the path down and soon bear left on rough ground - there is a yellow number 9 marker here. The path goes through olive groves and then winds very very steeply down - quite slippery in places - to emerge on a concrete track near a large house. Continue on down to the main road and turn left to walk on down to the lovely beach at Lefto Ghialos.

This is a really nice (but hot) pebbly beach and has two tavernas - the taverna on the beach front is quite spacious and is packed with tubs of flowers etc. - really picturesque. This beach is on the water taxi route and also is a stopping off place for various boat trips. To continue the walk, go back up the road but this time simply stay on it as it winds and climbs up to eventually reach the main tarmac road - you get good views of the coast on the way as well as views of the beaches of Tzortzi Ghialos and Kokinokastro quite a long way below.

On reaching the main road turn right and follow it uphill for just under a kilometre - just after passing some olive trees take a track on the left  [N39°10'39" E023°53'37"] which switches back to go parallel to the way you have just come on the main road.  Continue on this very nice track for several kilometres - passing four tracks going off to the right - the track brings you to and through the area called Raches. When the track turns very sharply left you can cut the corner by going down through the woods and through the goat farm to rejoin the track at the bottom, turn right and then continue along the track which soon becomes tarmac. Carry on along the road, ignoring a road to the Academy of Homeopathy on the left, and keep going to finally reach the main road near Votsi. Turn right and follow the main road back into Patitiri.

 

Patitiri-several churches-Ghialia and Votsi beaches-Patitiri  With your back to the sea there are two main roads which go inland from Patitiri harbour - the road on the right is where the taxis and buses congregate and the one on the left (near the town beach) goes up passing the tavernas and shops - take the road on the left. The road climbs a little and passes a garage on the right and just after this look out for the start of the moni-path on the left - this is very clearly marked with a notice board and map - the path is marked 4. Follow the path as it starts climbing - stay on the main path ignoring side paths until you reach a concrete road and house directly in front of you, turn right in front of the house to continue along the moni-path - do not take any side paths and eventually you arrive on at dirt road.  Cross the dirt road and continue straight ahead on the moni path until you come to the main road.
Turn right and lookout for a small concrete road on the right - just before a fence take a path again on the right which takes you to the small church of Taxiarchis - the church is quite buried in foliage - there are good views of Chora from here too. Return back to the main road and turn right - continue along now with the aerial farm visible quite high up above you and the church of Aghios Fanourios on a small hillock also in front of you.
At the road junction take a small path opposite which goes over scrub up to the gates of the church. Note we found the gates locked when we visited - if this is still the case it might be worth walking clockwise round the outside wall to see if access can be gained round the far side... Back down to the road junction, turn right and follow this initially tarmac road - marked to OTE - and then after around 300 metres the road forks, go on the right hand (now dirt) road and follow this as it winds on up to the aerial farm. There are good views from up here (altitude 245 metres) of quite a lot of Alonissos as well as it's neighbouring islands as well as a nice large shady tree to cool down under.

The aerial farm is at GPS reading N39°09'45" E023°51'30". Return back down the track - when it starts to bend to the right take a small track on the left - this brings you firstly to the small church of Aghia Sotira which is hidden in amongst trees on the right and then to the springs at Vrisi Panaghias and then finally to the church of Panaghia sto Vouno - the area around the spring and this church is particularly nice.
Return back to the main road junction (where the OTE sign is marked) - now take the dirt road on the right marked to Ghialia (or Yialia), just as the dirt road starts divert to take a small track on your left which goes up to the small church of Profitis Ilias. Return back to the main dirt road and continue along it as it winds down hill.
On a sharp bend take a small track on the right - it does not go to anywhere particularly but is a really pleasant track to walk along - has a nice spring and the foliage is excellent. Walk this as far as you fancy and then return back to the main dirt road, turn right and continue on down towards the sea. Further down the dirt road splits, keep right and eventually reach the beach with it's restored windmill. This beach is nothing to get excited about really and when the tide/wind is in the "wrong" direction can be rather scruffy with debris etc. - we found this to be the case and only stayed a few minutes but a couple of walkers we met said when they visited earlier in the week the sea was lovely and clean/clear so it's perhaps pot-luck.
Return all the way back up to the main road (the OTE junction) ((but remember that spring mentioned earlier if you want a quick splash on the possibly very hot way back up)). At the road junction take the dirt road vitrually opposite then further along take the second track on the left - this is another really lovely track which is bordered with flowers, blackberry bushes, shrubs and perhaps surprisingly lush ferns. When the track splits by a water cistern stay left and ignore any further side tracks until you reach a tarmac road.

Turn right and then right again at the next small track - this will take you to the Megha Nero spring - watch out for the wasps - follow the path left passing the spring to rejoin the tarmac road. Go right and follow this to shortly reach the main road - go right here and then on the bend take the road into Votsi with it's small harbour, beach and several tavernas. Leave by taking the steps up through the tavernas to the tarmac road - go left and then shortly left again along a dirt road - as you reach a house on the left (maybe still being built/refurbished) go left to follow a path round the headland to reach some steps which take you into Rousoum Ghialos.

We liked this Alonissos beach - there are a few tavernas - however this beach seemed to be a great favorite with local islanders and gets quite busy in late afternoon -   in fact very busy. To return to Patitiri take the steps at the far end of the beach which go up past apartments and through houses to reach the road, turn left to soon reach a main road junction - a nice way to get to Patitiri harbour is to turn left and follow this road down to where it ends - walk down the steps on the right - there are so many pots filled with flowers etc. here it's quite amazing - the walkway is covered with them - this way brings you down to the road just outside the harbour which you soon reach by turning left.

 

Patitiri-Megha Nero-Aghi Anarghiri-Meghali Amos-Patitiri. With your back to the sea there are two main roads which go inland from Patitiri harbour - take the road on the right where the taxis and buses congregate - follow this uphill out of the town - stay left at the first main road junction and then go right at the next road junction. Shortly along this road splits - (the left fork goes to Chora) - take the right fork which is the main road heading to Steni Vala and the top of the island. Continue along the main road - passing a petrol station and then the Votsi turn - until you come to a tarmac road on the left. Follow this tarmac road - after a short distance take a track going off to the left which will bring you to the Megha Nero Springs. Watch out here because there are lots of flying bugs around including many wasps - we passed it quite quickly for that reason without even trying to get a photo.
From the springs the path bears right and rejoins the now gravelly tarmac road. Turn left and ignore the next small track on the left and then at a main track junction turn left (there is a small farm on the corner) on the track which goes to Tsoukalia. However about a third of a kilometre along the track splits - take the right hand fork and follow this down through pine forests - this is in fact Path 5 but there are not many markers. Stay on this main track - ignore a small cross track - then look out for a small track on the left which on the map shows as going to Aghios Andreas. There is not actually very much of this church left - in fact it is simply a pile of stones - but if you walk on through the trees a little way you do get good views of the coastline. Return back to the main track and turn left and continue along until the track ends at a house (but a few 100 metres before this have a look at a very old ruined dry spring buried in the undergrowth on the right).

Pass the house and the track now becomes a narrow path which follows the cliff edge - when the path splits take the left fork to walk down to the two churches of Aghi Anarghiri. Continue on the path as it goes in front of both churches and then back into woodlands - the path goes down to arrive by a house just above the beach at Tourkeneri. Go by the front of the house on a track - passing the small beach - and continue on up into the woods to eventually reach a T-junction.
Turn right and just by a concrete spring on the left lookout for a red marker which marks a narrow path going on up into the woods - take this path until it reaches a main dirt road. Turn left and follow this to the next junction, go left again and follow this for .7 of a kilometre; to arrive at a small track on a sharp bend which goes off to the left.
Take this really nice track as it winds down through the valley to eventually end just in front of a gate - just before the gate a footpath leads off on the right - crosses scrubland and some trees - passes a small beach on the left and then drops down by a wall. Keep straight on here going along the coast to arrive at Meghali Amos beach - a great beach with beautiful clear water but sometimes really busy - one time there were at least 2 other people on it.

Return to the track by the gate, turn left and after a few metres turn right up a footpath which winds through olive groves and then along the low cliffs to reach a dirt track (by a brocken fence). Turn right along the track and continue on this eventually passing the spring and then a little further on look out for a more open area in the pine trees and a footpath sign on the right pointing to Aghi Anarghiri.

Take this path which goes through pine trees and then olive groves - look out for a very small path on the left which takes you down to the house and track near the old ruined spring. Turn left and follow the original route back to Patitiri.

 

Beach, Track and Path Alonissos Walking Guides visiting Gheladhia, Meghalo Chorafi, Medghali Amos, Tourkovighla and Aghi Anarghiri.

Gheladhias-Meghalo Chorafi-Meghali Amos-Patitiri: 14kms     This long walk starts from the main road about three quarters up the island in the Gheladhias area - we took a taxi ride from Patitiri which at the time cost 12 Euros (started at 15 for some reason so always remember to negotiate and fix a rate before taking a taxi ride).
Also and maybe surprisingly our taxi driver was not too certain where we wanted to go to even though we showed him it on the Topo map - basically continue on the main road past the Steni Vala turn for 2.9kms - the drop off point is the second dirt road on the left on a very sharp bend.

Start off on this wide dirt road and follow it along across the island towards Psili Rachi - the area is quite rocky but has plenty of low foliage and you get the impression of being on the top of the island. You also are quite likely to come across some of the inhabitants up here - namely goats - one herd; which passed us must have numbered well over a hundred. The track drops down gently - ignore a track going off to the left - to finally reach a junction at about 2.6kms where you will find an old threshing circle. (The track on the right from here takes you the short distance along to the church at Aghios Konstantinos - well worth a diversion if you have not already walked path 13).

Take the marked path on the left (yellow 6) - this path stays high as it makes it's way down the island and is very well marked with yellow 6's and red dots. After about half a kilometre and by a farm building and fence the path goes slightly left to cross a small dirt track and then continues on down island. The path passes through a threshing circle as well as very open country which in places still had the appearance of old marked out fields - also from this high path you get views of distant Chora, Kalovoulos and distant Skopelos. The path eventually comes out on a dirt track - continue along this track now in the Meghalo Chorafi area - soon the track bends sharply and here take the second path on the right which is clearly marked path 8.

This path goes into woods and is quite rocky underfoot in places - also there are a lot of trees down from the winter storms and this makes it awkward to go through in places - however the aim is to stay in the same direction downwards always keeping in what becomes a dry river bed. There are red blob markers in places - in particular in one very overgrown area you need to keep to the right hand side and also further down the path splits - make sure you keep to the right i.e. straight on since the left path takes you out of the ravine.
There are loads of butterflies around here and also quite heavy but low undergrowth and in front of you appears a very high rock face - but don't panic - you do not need to climb over it. Instead and luckily the path bears right to go between the hills. Here the path is not terribly evident - there are lots of olive trees and small walls and you have to wind your way between them until you come to a gate. Go through the gate and the path changes underfoot to small stone scree which is quite difficult to walk on - this lasts for a few 100 metres until the path comes out on a dirt road.

Turn left and follow the dirt road until you reach a junction, go right and carry on to the next junction where you go right again - the dirt road climbs slightly and comes out by houses - then on the left is a signpost and path marker no 5. Take this path to go down sometimes quite steeply to reach the beach at Meghali Amos - this was our favourite beach to go to - no shade, no facilities, very hot, white pebbles and clear sea-water (and usually at most a couple of people on it - magic). Needless to say because of how isolated the beach is then having a nice relaxing nude swim and sunbathe was a must for us.

From behind the beach the path continues along the coast - marked with red dots - passing a tiny un-named beach and then reaches a small dirt road - turn left and then on the bend take a path on the right going up through olive groves - the path continues along and above the shoreline and comes out on another dirt road. Turn right and follow the dirt road steeply up and as it bends left take a path going straight on through the woods to later emerge back on the dirt road.
Ignore a track on the right and continue straight on soon passing a concrete spring (the water in it is total crap by the way) - the dirt road winds up and round - look out for a more open wooded area on the right with a signpost to Ag. Anarghiri - take this path through the trees and then olive groves - keep a lookout for a narrow path on the left which goes steeply down to a house (you can see the roof) (and you may see a snake here too if you are lucky). On reaching a dirt road go left and follow this until it eventually reaches a tarmac road. Go almost straight on uphill to a junction, turn right and follow this round to pick up the main road, turn right again and follow this back into Patitiri

 

Tourkovighla - Meghali Amos - Aghi Anarghiri - Patitiri   This walk starts from the main road by cross tracks in the area between Pefko and Pagiri - this is on the Steni Vala bus route and the driver will happily stop here providing you point it out on the map. It takes you up to one of the accessible high points on the island - Tourkovighla - and then to our favourite beach before enjoying the 90 minutes or so stroll back to Patitiri.
From the bus stop cross the road and take the dirt track opposite - this soon bends round and then heads up to a junction - turn right. Continue on this dirt road and when it splits take the track on the right and keep going on up until you reach another junction - take the rough track going sharply off on the right and follow it up until it ends in an area of walls and olive groves.
The path up to Tourkovighla is somewhat difficult to find since the area is very rocky and also has lots of goat paths - start off by the wall on the left and make your way up by criss crossing and selecting paths as you see them obviously always aiming upwards. The top is identified by some large rocks with a circular trig point - this is at 349 metres. Apart from trees, goats and lots of rocks there is nothing else up here except of course really good views of both coastlines. Return back down the same way (probably a faint hope of finding exactly the same way...) and on reaching the dirt road head back down again.

Ignore a track on the right (which is a dead end) by a sharp bend (except we did walk down this a little way and it is a nice pretty track to walk if you fancy it) and then take the next track on the right - this is a grassy track which goes down through olive groves and then becomes a very narrow path into the woods.

The path bottoms out in a gorge on a dry river bed - cross over this and then head left downwards through the gorge - there are loads of butterflies around here and also quite heavy but low undergrowth and soon in front of you appears a very high rock face - the onward path bears right to go between the hills. The path is not too clear in places - there are lots of olive trees and small walls and you have to wind your way between them until you come to a gate. Go through the gate and the path soon becomes quite slippery and difficult underfoot because of the small stones and rocks - this lasts for a few 100 metres until the path comes out on a dirt road.
Turn left and follow the dirt road to a junction, then turn right onto a smaller road and then left at the next junction - which is marked Meghali Amos. Follow the road until it ends near a house on your right - make your way round the left side and then behind the house. (red blob marks) (this part may well change by the house since it was still being built/renovated). The path continues down through shrubs and quite soon arrives at Meghali Amos beach. Just away from the beach and with the sea behind you take a marked path going off to the right heading along the coast - soon passing a tiny un-named beach and then reaches a small dirt road - turn left and then on the bend take a path on the right going up through olive groves now with views of Toukoneri Bay - the path continues along and above the shoreline and comes out on another dirt road.

Turn right and follow the dirt road steeply up and as it bends left take a path going straight on through the woods to later emerge back on the dirt road. Ignore a track on the right and continue straight on soon passing a concrete spring the dirt road winds up and round - look out for a more open wooded area on the right with a signpost to Ag. Anarghiri - take this path through the trees and then olive groves and then on into the woods. When you reach the cliff top turn right (but first go down to look at the two churches)and continue along the coastal path to emerge on a dirt road by a house. Follow this until it eventually reaches a tarmac road, go almost straight on uphill to a junction, turn right and follow this round to pick up the main road, turn right again and follow this back into Patitiri.

 

Alonissos Patitiri Hiking Guides including visits to Chora, Plakes and a stop off at a lighthouse which are circular walks and a Walk at Kastanarema Gorge.

Patitiri-Chora-Meghalos Mouritas-Vithisma-Plakes-Faro-Patitiri  With your back to the sea there are two main roads which go inland from the harbour  - the road on the right is where the taxis and buses congregate and the one on the left (near the town beach) goes up passing the tavernas and shops - take the road on the left. The road climbs a little and passes a garage on the right and just after this look out for the start of the moni-path on the left - this is very clearly marked with a notice board and map - the path is marked 4. Follow the path as it starts climbing - stay on the main path ignoring side paths until you reach a concrete road and house directly in front of you, turn right in front of the house to continue along the moni-path - do not take any side paths and eventually you arrive on a dirt road. Cross over the road and regain the moni-path - to arrive after a while on the main road - turn left and then after a short distance take a smaller road on the left. Continue down this road (there are paths which cut the corners on this road but they all were heavily overgrown with thorn and scrub and not worth the effort) to reach the beach at Meghalos Mouritas - there are tavernas on the beach here.

At the opposite end of the beach take the steps steeply up to climb out of the beach and quite soon join a track which starts here - continue on the track and keep a lookout for a small car-turning circle on the left. Just by this on the right a fairly wide path goes quite steeply down to Vithisma beach - follow the path down, then it levels off and then goes downwards again - just before a "double" tree on the right a very narrow path goes off on the right switching back sharply.
This path is very narrow, quite crumbly and nearer the beach has several parts where you need to be very careful to avoid falling/sliding onto the beach below.

The path comes out above a ruined small drinks kiosk - just here find and climb down a "ladder" to get onto the really nice, quiet naturist beach: there are no tavernas or beach umbrellas or anything much here - maybe just you and one or two other people. (The reason for not continuing on the main path to the beach is that its ends up still fairly high above the beach and the only way down the final 4 or 5 metres is on your bottom via near vertical scree - not a good idea - we did it once).

Return back up to the track, turn right and continue on this really lovely track through the pine forests. On reaching the tarmac road turn left (a right would take you to Cape Marpunta - a VERY organised and noisy beach area with people marching about/tannoys blaring etc... we stayed only long enough to take a quick photo and then ran for our lives/sanity). The tarmac road is also very pleasant to walk along as it heads back towards Patitiri and has quite good shade from trees during the later part of the afternoon which is quite welcome. After passing Rocks camp site on your right look out for a brown/red coloured gate by a fence - a narrow stony path leads from here down to Plakes beach - this beach is mostly flat rocks and has just a small shingle beach area too.

Return back to the road and turn right and keep going until you see the track on the right signposted Faro - follow this track down towards the coast to reach a crossing track. If you go left a small track leads to a hotel and to the left of the gates there is track down to the beach. If you however go across this cross-track you come to a gate - go through the gate and then continue on a narrow path to reach the rocks/headland.
Return back to the road and turn right to now follow this back towards Patitiri - when the road eventually turns sharp left continue straight on via a concrete road - this brings you down to the harbour.

 

Patitiri-Chora (Old Town)-Kalovoulos-Lighthouse-Mikros Mouritas-Patitiri  With your back to the sea there are two main roads which go inland from Patitiri harbour - the road on the right is where the taxis and buses congregate and the one on the left (near the town beach) goes up passing the tavernas and shops - take the road on the left. The road climbs a little and passes a garage on the right and just after this look out for the start of the moni-path on the left - this is very clearly marked with a notice board and map - the path is marked 4. Follow the path as it starts climbing - stay on the main path ignoring side paths until you reach a concrete road and house directly in front of you, turn right in front of the house to continue along the moni-path - do not take any side paths and eventually you arrive on a dirt road. Continue straight ahead on the moni path until you come to the main road, turn left and head up into Chora - on your way up lookout on the right for the threshing circles.
Stay on the main road and continue past the square in Chora then on reaching the cemetery take the track on the left, then when the track splits keep right - stay on this scenic track as it winds round the hill going past a track to the goat station below and eventually ends on a flat concrete structure - we think probably used once as military lookout or similar. Here you get great views of the coastline both ways, the small islets of Agii Georgii as well as of Skopelos in the background.

Return all the way back to the track junction but now turn right and lookout on the right for the paved start of the path going up to Kalovoulos - this is path 2 but only has yellow markers. This delightful but narrow path immediately starts climbing up through low shrubs but soon enters fir trees where it comes as a surprise to find a picnic bench - the path continues fairly flat through open ground and then climbs again to reach a fairly flat rocky area - turn right and pick your way up via very rocky and sometimes thorny goat paths to the actual top at Kalovoulos at 333 metres.

Retrace your steps down the path to the start of the moni-path on the dirt track - turn right and follow this track as it winds down through the hills - ignore a track on your right which goes to a house - eventually the dirt road comes to a dead end. A few metres before the end take a fairly hidden path on the left which goes down with several bends through the olive groves heading towards the sea - this is quite an overgrown path which sometimes almost disappears but does have the occasional red blob marker. When the path splits by a wall keep to the right and continue zig-zagging down towards the sea.

As you finally come out of the olive groves you will see a lone pine tree and lots of old stone walls - keep to the right of the tree on the walled area until you pick up the coastal path. Turn right and follow this wandering path as it more or less follows the coast (don't forget to close the gate some way along) to eventually arrive just above the lighthouse at Cape Kokino - note this path is heavily overgrown and rocky so making walking it quite difficult in places.

Return back along the coastal path but this time continue straight on at the original entry point - in fact just stay on this path until it arrives above and then goes down to the beach at Mikros Mouritas - again this is a very narrow and heavily overgrown path most of the time. The beach is not that special, has no facilities and also enjoys a large but wrecked concrete building which enhances it's beauty somewhat - also when going into the sea the seabed is quite muddy with silt - however once into the water the sea was as usual lovely and clear.
From here walk out of the beach to immediately pick up a narrow potholed path in front of you - this path zig zags up to reach a dirt track on the right of the valley. You can now turn left and follow the track back up into Chora but really don't do that - instead go across the track to pick up a really great path (yellow one) which takes you up the side of the hill

This is a path not to be missed but if you are walking mid-late afternoon bear in mind it can be very hot walking up it since it is fully exposed to the sun. The path comes out just beneath Chora - it goes along a quite grassy area and then via steps which take you up into the narrow streets. Make you way back to the main road by the square and turn right and follow the road down to the start of the moni-path to walk back into Patitiri

Gorge, Track and Path Walking on Alonissos Greece -Visiting Churches and Kastanarema Gorge.

Kastanarema Gorge The only realistic way to walk this gorge is to either take an organised walk or otherwise you need transport to get you to the start/finish. The walk is not complicated to follow, only involves one climb of any note, but it is very hard work walking through the gorge because of the boulders and rocks. You do really need something decent on your feet for this walk and also definitely need plenty of drinks - it gets very hot in that gorge. Also there are several more significant bends etc. on the path through the gorge itself than that indicated by the Topo map so the walk is a little longer than it looks.

Take the road from Steni Vala to Aghios Dhmitrios and just as the tarmac road ends park just ahead on the dirt track. Start walking along the track -- it bends left and then sharply right and just when it comes off the bend look for a very faint track going up the bank on the left - there is a yellow path-mark post a little way up (path 11). The path starts off quite overgrown in places and quite steep too (no vertigo problems) and then changes to a more stony surface as it winds and climbs up to the top of the hill.

At the top the path levels off and passes through olive trees and bee hives - to reach a track - cross over the track (another path marker here) and continue on the path as it now winds back down to eventually reach another dirt road. The onward track to go into the gorge is a few metres along on your right [N39°14'03" E023°56'22"] but first walk on over to the well on the left and maybe use the bucket to get at the nice cool water.
This area has lots of lizards and there are butterflies flying around everywhere - none of them wanted to pose for photos though... 
Below are a series of pictures of the fantastic rocks you can see from the gorge area - we took loads whilst walking through the gorge.

Having refreshed yourself at the well go across to the gorge track - it is not an obvious path to start with and is not way-marked - it basically follows the dry river bed - although it starts off going via a more grassy area into olive trees with the river bed on your left. At a fence go left and over the river bed and take a gate on the right - a narrow path lets you now walk back onto the river bed itself. This is now simply a question of following the river bed with it's very heavy rocks and quite difficult walking surface at times - until it eventually widens out as it gets closer to the sea at Strovili.
From the beach the path continues a little way above the sea shore but it is a little difficult to find - it is there though so just keep looking. The aim is to reach a path above a hut which is actually visible from the beach but not once you start walking towards it since the area is quite heavily overgrown. When you reach the top fence above the hut (there is a nice tree to sit under with some very welcome shade) go through the fence/gap and walk half right on a path now clearly going across the field - this then brings you onto a much more defined path which is far easier to walk on - and then this path turns into a dirt track. Follow this track back to the start point.

 

Melaghakia - Aghios Konstantinos - Aghios Georgios - Melaghakia  We had to use a car to do this circular walk since no public transport goes this way, although it should be possible to get a taxi to the start and arrange with the driver to pick you up again at a nominated time - the taxi drivers are happy to do this. The walk is not strenuous and only has one steep descent (to Aghios Konstantinos) and climb - is mostly on rocky paths and has open areas as well as lots of trees and foliage - and plenty of lizards etc.
Park at Meleghakia[N39°13'46" E023°55'11"] right on the hairpin - there is a large parking area here and a notice board and map (path yellow 13) clearly indicates the start of the path (and the path has frequent path markers all along it).

The path goes alongside a dry river bed and is actually more or a track than a path to start with - once the dry river bed ends the "track" changes into a proper path and makes its away down the island towards the church at Aghios Konstantinos. As you walk along you from time to time come into more open field areas (called Lakka) and glades - don't miss the old threshing circles just before Xouna.
From Xouna the path goes through more wooded areas and goes into and out of several deep cuts at the bottom of which are old river and stream beds - it really is very pleasant walking through here. The path comes out on top of the cliffs above Aghios Konstantinos - you then have to wind your way steeply down to the church - there is a fireman's seat/roof here which is a good spot for eating lunch or of course you can sit outside the church along with the lizards etc.   From the church continue along a dirt track to reach a track junction [N39°12'49" E023°53'33"] - turn left and after a few metres look out for the cobbled path on the left which is the start of path 12 to Aghios Georgios. The path starts off on a quite rocky surface - at a junction go right (path marked 12) via a more grassy area - keep on this grassy path and continue along soon going through woods and then more open areas.

When you eventually get to an open area with a building in front of you the path goes to the right - the path is lined with high foliage and is pleasure to walk along. The path comes out by a seat and parking area and down on the left is the church of Aghios Georgios. From the car park turn left on the main road and follow it back (fortunately downhill most of the way) to the original starting point. (look out on the right for a very large pond ? which had loads of birds on it).

 

Remata - Meghalo Chorafi - Aghalou Laka - Remata  You either need to have a car for this Alonissos Walk or you can get a taxi to drop you and pre-arrange a pick up time. Take the main road out of Patitiri heading up island and just before the junction to Steni Vala where the road bends a track goes off on the left to Meghalo Chorafi - there is a small parking area and also a path marker board - this area is called Remata and is where the walk starts.

Follow the tree-lined dirt road to reach a junction after around 0.6km, turn left and continue on the main track as it climbs up to eventually reach a 3 way track junction - here take the track to the right. Keep going until you get to an open area which is Meghalo Chorafi - there are quite a few tracks and paths marked here - it's sort of like a path-spaghetti junction. Take the furthest path away on the left marked Yellow 7 - take this stony path and follow it as it descends through Toufoto Pournari with views of the coast and the Islet of Stavros. Wind your way on down through the olive groves to reach a main dirt road - turn right here and follow this road as it winds round the coast.

As the track heads inland you can see Aghalou Laka beach down below you. Look out for a map board with path 14 marked on a bend - this will be your return route - but first continue on the track passing a house and immediately take a small track on the left which goes down through olive trees to reach the beach at Aghalou Laka. This small stony beach was really clean - the water crystal clear and ideal for snorkelling - there are no facilities here - little shade on the beach but plenty under the olive trees.
Return to the main track, turn right and go back to the previously noted path 14 board and take this path via a gate and olive trees to another gate. (This becomes quite a hard climb out from the beach - don't believe the 45 minutes mentioned on the path board - what with the sometimes very stony path surface coupled with the heat and then the sometimes very steep path this was quite a difficult climb out back to Meghalo Chorafi). The path is in fact a dry river bed and winds through olive groves and stone walls which you have to zig-zag to pass - when the path comes to the end of the stone walls continue in the same direction climbing out on the now quite narrow path on the left side of the gorge.

As the path nears the top it makes a sharp turn to the right - at last the path is marked again - and although still a very stony surface does start to level out a bit - eventually reaching a water cistern and a track, turn right and very soon you are back at spaghetti junction. Turn left and follow the original inbound track mostly downhill - ignore the two tracks on the right and at the next junction go right to return to the start point.

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