We’re not going hard today so we slept until we were done. We then got ready and stepped out. As we keep shutters closed all morning we were surprised by the overcast skies and the colder temperature, 25°C on the thermometer. We had already planned for a hiking day, it just means the sky on our pictures won’t be blue but gray. No big deal.
We went, as planned, to 📍Klimis Cafe for breakfast. They did coffee right and food mostly right. A solid B+, mostly carried on the coffee being much better than at Tiramisu, Sweet and Coffee from our arrival yesterday. We‘re likely stopping there for breakfast tomorrow before taking the boat back to Athens.
We went back home and headed out for our hike. Le me give you, dear reader, a little bit of context before I dive into that adventure. Yesterday we explored our options. AllTrails listed a 12.5km loop that brought us to the highest peak of the island. We also had a map of the hiking trails, wich described an extension we could do that would give us more of a 360° view on the island. Our history with hiking in Greece varies from super well marked trails to bushwhacking through torn bush to finding parts of the trail that requires a GPS and some luck to follow. Our assumption (that’s the word that usually marks the beginning of a bad idea) was that the trails should be fairly easy to follow if they’ve gone through the burden of making paper hiking maps… remember that. In this instance, it seems marketing got a bit ahead of product.
So we headed out. We followed the road for the first 700 meters of the ascent. From there, after looking for the right turns and the trail we continued on a narrow trail for another 150 meters that transformed into a dirt road for 50 meters before resuming being a trail. It’s around the 1.1km mark that we saw what we came to believe was our first blaze. A single, small, red dot painted on a rock soon followed by a second, and a third. They continued sporadically until we came to a chapel at the peak of the mountain - at roughly 250m in elevation, peak might be a strong word. In any case, we met our first of the documented emergency boxes. They are painted wood boxes with emergency kits in them. It would also be the first of at least four we’Il see on what would be an 11km hike
Thanks to the GPS in our phones and watches, we kept following the trail, not without making a couple of false turns or walking portions next to the trail until the 2.2km mark. That’s where we turned on a dirt road. We didn’t know it at the time but we had just left the last small trail we would follow for the next 5km. For the next 1.5km we enjoyed the views and the wide dirt road with nobody on it. The only people we saw on the trail all day came along just as we were coming close to our decision point: do we follow AllTrails’ route or do we go for the extension we found on the map? They went the AllTrails’ route we opted for the extension and the promise of scenic views. This is the description of the path we were taking to get to the coast:
A very interesting connection between the northern coast and Rigani peak. From there, all the rest of the paths network is accessible. Starting from Vrellos beach, we continue to Vaiza beach and up the the tarmac ring road. We follow the tarmac road to the right, for a 100m, until we find the path to our left, leading to the Frangias hilltop (alt. 105m). Following a well defined path, we reach Manolou and then Boufi hilltops. Via a firebreak, we reach the highest point of Rigani ridge, recognized by the mobile phone network antenna.
Other than being backwards (we started from the top), it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that only a small portion of the trail is through a firebreak; a 10 to 20 meters wide bulldozed area with no trees and barely anything living in it. What we thought would be short or solid ground turned out to be neither. The entire 3km trail is through the firebreak, from the peak to the sea. The soil is soft, a mix of rock and sand that gets in your shoes or under your feet if, like us, you’re wearing sandals. It’s like a scar running through the island. The upside? Well you don’t need a GPS to stay on the trail. If you manage to walk off a 10-meter wide clearing with bulldozer tracks everywhere, you need more than a GPS to not get lost.
The AllTrails version of the hike would have gotten us down a dirt road that has a large number of switchbacks. It’s clearly something that was destined to become a paved road someday. Our trail on the other hand we nicknamed “the scar”. It’s wide, slightly ugly and a damn straight line. Whoever made the decision to make the trail used the firebreak and didn't care about the 30° slope down in rocky sand. While it would be great for skiers (assuming there’s snow not rocks), for hikers… not so much. The switchback version was 5km. The scar was a little more than 2km to cover roughly the same distance north to south. Considering we saw the other hikers covering the distance faster than us, the straight line might not have been the quickest way. Which reminds me I have a bone to pick with my math and physics teacher who pretended otherwise.
The views on the scar, if you discounted the scar itself, were stunning. Worth the suffering I would say but mileage may vary, conditions applies and all that. If you plan on following our trail, know it won’t be all pleasant.
We finished our hike by following the shore. We had a little bit of a real trail without any markings of course, followed by a lot of road. We stopped at 📍Cielo Mar (sky to sea) for a glass of wine and some sparkling water. The name was fitting with our hike and it was on the list of potential coffee and breakfast place I’ve had. Only one of those two reasons really was why we decided to stop there. It wasn't the name. In any case the refreshments were fine but the terrace was in high winds and we got cold. Heading home we stopped by 📍Souvlucky for Gyros to refuel on the way.
We ended our day with dinner at 📍To Pachni. They specialize in meat on the grill and boy did they not disappoint. Their starters were nothing to sneeze at either but while we managed to remember to take pictures of the starter, we dug straight into the meat without documenting. That alone should tell you all you need to know about the food. We ended the meal with slices of watermelon, a cup of yogurt so thick it held the spoon straight and a side of prune jam to put on the yogurt. A fitting end to the meal. Also: bonus points for a family of cats dining with us, complete with rambunctious kittens 😻.
Tomorrow we’re heading back out to sea. We’re heading back to Athens for a night so we can catch our flight to Crete the day after.
Places
Klimis Cafe - Pastry Shop · Spetses
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Cielo Mar · Spetses
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To Pachni · Σπέτσες
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Exploring Spetses’ Trails
Check out my activity on AllTrails.
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Spetses - Vrellos Beach - Profitis Ilias Summit, Attica, Greece - 31 Reviews, Map | AllTrails
Spetses - Vrellos Beach - Profitis Ilias Summit (Σπέτσες - Παραλία Βρέλλος - Κορυφή Προφήτης Ηλίας) A long circular route in the northern part of the island, which starts from the town of Spetses and ascends to the green hill of Vigla, south of the town. The route continues west along the ridge of the hilly area following a dirt road, then descends towards the sea to the northwest and Vrellos beach. Following the main coastal road eastwards, it returns to the town of Spetses and the point of departure.
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Souvlucky · Σπέτσες
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