We walked down the waterfront looking for a breakfast spot, without success at first until we stopped in at Stella’s Rooms to see if their breakfast was open to the public. It is, and we enjoyed a nice omelet and coffee while we talked over the day. We’ve decided to take a walking tour of the town, followed by a short bike ride backtracking our ride into town, with a short walk into the base of the gorge we came down. If there’s time and if the weather is encouraging when we get back, we’ll walk across the street and hop in the bay before dinner.
A walking tour of Chora
Be forewarned, this is your basic photo dump, embellished with the occasional caption. And a pretty large photo dump at that, because there was so much to see. I think I’ve found a new favorite Greek town. I’ll make a special contribution to the website for storage space.
An impressive dovecote attached to the school, still in use. Note the occupants perched above.
Jen RahnLove how this photo captures the joyful curiosity of being on a bike tour! Reply to this comment 5 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnI do too. I really like it that Rachael has found her camera after all these years. This was such a special little place, and unexpected. We thought we were just walking over to visit the town, not a marine aquarium. Reply to this comment 5 years ago
The remains of the arched bridge leading to the Venetian castle presumably also date back to 1207. A braver sort than either of us might have scrambled over for a better view of the lighthouse.
I imagine this is the same nervy swan we had at the restaurant last night. Here I’m minding my own business admiring the swans in the bay, and he tries to take my toe off.
I saw a picture of the Tourlitis lighthouse on the ferry, and wondered where it was. I was delighted to see it out in the harbor when we biked in. It looks ancient, but it first began operation in 1897. It was the first automatic lighthouse in Greece.
We returned from our exploration of the town at about noon and settled down to lunch on the balcony of our hotel room, eating a delicious melon Rachael picked up at the supermarket this morning and cheese pies we picked up from the bakery.
Rachael picked up this fine looking melon at the market this morning, and brought along a kiwi to give a sense of scale.
After lunch we rested for about an hour and set off on a hike. We’re following hiking path #2, as it climbs steeply from the waterfront near our hotel. We learned of this walk from the Andros Routes website. We chose this instead of the one we were thinking of earlier because we didn’t feel like getting back on our bikes. Andros has a well developed network of age old walking paths that are being restored and promoted in an effort to develop Andros as a significant hiking destination.
The walk was strenuous but delightful, climbing steeply above the coast for a few miles before dropping down to the nearby village of Apikia and then continuing on. We contented ourselves with walking as far as the point where the path drops to the village and then turned back. This was far enough - it’s a rest day after all, and a 1200’ climb in a five mile walk was enough to fill the afternoon and give us a different feel for the Andros interior.
The countryside is really quite beautiful, with its schist formations, the ancient walls and the vegetation all blending together harmoniously. Surprisingly, one of the real highlights of the walk was the path itself, and the stone walls that border it. The stones are so colorful and varied, almost like works of art, and we found ourselves stopping constantly to admire them.
It was also a rewarding walk too for its biologic diversity. Plenty of interesting flowers, bugs, lizards and plants to hold you up if the knees need a break. Especially interesting was the gall infested Aleppo oak. I’ve seen oak galls before, but never spiky one’s like these. The linked reference is interesting, describing the medicinal uses these have been put to.
Beginning the walk to Apakia. The path begins just back from the beach below town.
So does anyone know what these soft looking plants are? They’re very colorful, the aged blue-grey deadwood contrasting with the new growth. We found this on the coast of Crete also.
On the way back we took the road, as a break for the knees. It was nearly as quiet, and gave us some amazing views. I’m not sure but I think this will be our route out of town in the morning.
I was excited to get such a good shot of this Erhard’s Wall lizard. We’ve seen lizards all day, but this was the first poser. (Credit: Bill Shaneyfelt)
