5th Maintenance Hiking on a circular route consisting of parts of routes 17, 17a, 1 and a connecting route to the Andros Routes office.

Text: Anna Kalatzi
Photos: Gerard Kramer, Anna Kalatzi, Georgia Kalemi, Despina Chatzoglou
Translation in English: Violanti Vratsanou

Following our promises, we held our Easter hike on Easter Monday…. with colours, flavours and touches of the Easter nature and customs of Andros!!!! Where else? In a circular route starting and ending at the office of ANDROS ROUTES.

The meeting of the group took place at 10:30 am at the Office of ANDROS ROUTES in Chora, near Agios Spyridon, where 37 participants gathered!!!! The necessary introductions were given and we started our hike following the orange signposting, which connects the Office to the network of footpaths both North and South , creating small and large hiking circles of varying degrees of difficulty.
The route chosen for Easter Monday, was of moderate difficulty (in order to satisfy the most demanding ones and burn the calories of the “lampriatis”), followed the orange signposting clockwise from the Office and proceeded left at the Kanakis bridge towards Mesa Chorio of Livadia and from there straight downhill to the River, where we walked along its riverbed in the direction where path 17 meets 17a.

The fragrances and colours of the orange and lemon trees in the plains of Livadia, were so impressive and intense that some people could not resist the temptation to taste the juicy fruits. Nature had awakened everywhere and everyone was taken aback by its beauty. Green, purple, lilac, yellow everywhere and of course the white lilies. At the beginning of 17a, we crossed the River and started climbing up the trail to the Monastery of Panachrandos.

Some people’s breaths started to become short, but the stops and the views back to Chora compensated for that. With the weather allied to the hikers, since the sky had only a light breeze, we headed uphill and about 2 km downhill from the Monastery, where the footpath of Livadia trail meets footpath no 1, we continued our route downhill, passing the (“haunted”) bridge of Stichiomeni, the plain of Mesaria, the lush green area of Menites and the impressive village of Lamyra. All around: lush nature; flowing, sparkling and clear waters; views to the peninsula of the noble Chora.

At the central square of Lamyra we left footpath no 1 to join the connecting route (marked with orange signposting) that led us through this impressive village (with its incredibly well-kept houses and gardens) back to the Office. There was a surprise awaiting us: a feast of flavours from the Easter gastronomy of Andros. Some of our volunteers (Anna Kalatzi, Despina Chatzoglou, Myrto Apostolopoulou, Gerard Kramer) had made sure that this idea was realized in order to familiarize the walkers with the special tastes of Easter; handmade “tsoureki”, local cheese, raki and sweets were offered. But the idea was launched with the kind and generous contribution of the Cultural Association of Livadia “Agios Konstantinos”. The ladies of the Association (Filitsa Stylianou, Eleni Lambriadou, Harikleia Daniolou) brought us not only stuffing from “Lambriatis”, local goat cheese, “tsoureki”, wine, Easter basket with red eggs and chocolate eggs, but also a lot of cheer wishes and a positive atmosphere.

It was a very pleasant surprise both for those of us who did the full circle of the hike and arrived at the Office around 15.30 h, as well for the rest of us who decided to stop somewhere in Mesaria and follow the asphalt road to the Office about an hour earlier. We are especially grateful to the members of the Board of the Cultural Association of Livadia, its President Filitsa Stylianou and and its General Secretary (and our volunteer) Anna Voulgari for this wonderful surprise and for their positive energy and their very friendly company around the Easter table that was set up in the office of ANDROS ROUTES.

Many thanks also to the people for their participation in our project to keep the paths of our network clean. Stay tuned to the next hike; do not forget that the Labor Day is coming soon !!!