CHORIO – XAPLOVOUNI – MYLOI – PANTOKRATORAS – CHORIO
Placement on the map and presentation of the route
DESCRIPTION
It is a very interesting route, the difficulty of which is limited to the uphill part of the route. There are four options for climbing to Xaplovouni.
For two options the beginning is the “Kampos” area in the center of the Chorio, and in particular two alleys that start -the first from the Evangelistrias church – and the second one from Marigos Polyksenis street across the playground.
For the third option, Follow the main street of the Chorio from “Kampos” , heading towards the Ipapanti church, shortly after Giorgila square in about 30 meters, at the height of the Bakery, turn right for Xaplovouni.
The last option is by following the main street, continue after the Ipapanti church to the “Tsikalas” district where we turn right to a concrete road that leads us to Xaplovouni, just to the left of the mills than the other options and near water tanks.
In every option, on the way up we meet beautiful island neighborhoods that as if time never touched them. At the end of the road and at the top of the hill is a large plateau characterized by two things, the spectacular view of the Aegean and the remains of the windmills.
Even so windmills are a unique experience for the eyes and senses. High-tech from another era, they still steal the show. Having covered about half of the route we are moving southwest to meet the Pantokratoras chapel. The view from there is breathtaking as a multitude of Cyclades emerge in our visual field, a beauty bracelet in the endless blue.
The sunrise from Pantokratoras is unique and makes you feel like God says good morning. The stone grooves that once upon a time were harvested manually with animals help, complement the wonderful setting. The mills then made the chained wheat to flour and the basis for our bread.
We return back by taking the “ampati” (pathway) from Pantokratoras with a downward path this time by passing through slope fields fixed in other times with “xerolithies” (stone terraces). We meet the main road in the Myzithrou district near the agricultural cooperative.
