Text: Valentini Deskoulidou
Photos: Valentini Deskoulidou,Gerard Kramer, Sofia Stalboutzi, Katerina Pantazi, Klio Meentiz, Despina Chatzoglou
Translation to English: Katerina Pantazi

On Saturday April 6th, the 8th maintenance hike for 2024 took place on the beautiful green route No. 8, 8a (Apoikia – Apatouria – Stenies – Gialia – Chora). Meeting point was Nimborio in Chora from where the bus with the hikers left for Apoikia. It was a sunny, almost a summer day and the joy was great. 31 people of different ages (from 1.5 to 86 years old) and nationalities (Greeks, Germans, French, Dutch and Australians) gathered to enjoy nature and take care of the route. The starting point of the hike was near the famous Sariza spring. We started hiking with first in line Argo, the dog of Nikos, a regular participant and friend of Andros routes. The blooming gardens of the village overwhelmed all our senses. Little cottonwood pruning was needed on our way through the green field, as thanks to Andros Routes and its sponsors, a lawnmower had already come through the previous days and done the heavy work.

In Apatouria we had organized a guided tour of the Agadaki tower of the Kairios Library. Apprentice Route Angel Panagiotis Loukadis took us on a tour of Tower and the plant collections of Elli Stamatiadou and the mushroom collections of mycologist Ilias Polemis. Ms. Hara Stamatiadou-Tseperkas and Mr. Mermygas, head of the Botanical Department of the Goulandris Museum of Natural History, spoke to us about the collection of the award-winning botanist. We were also informed about the rare finds of the flora of Andros that are threatened nowadays by many dangers of which the main ones are fires and uncontrolled overgrazing. We also visited the old olive mill near the tower and were guided through the gardens of the estate to the flora of Andros.

We continued our hike reaching the tower of Bistis-Mouvelas, the oldest surviving tower house of Andros and then we had the opportunity to stop under the coolness of the trees at the stone bridge of Lions in Stenies.

Then we reached Gialia, the beach with the turquoise waters where route No. 8 ends, and we went uphill from there taking path 8a to Agia Triada. The view of the Chora peninsula appeared as impressive as a painting and in a few minutes we had reached Nimborio again, full of the sights and smells of the day.

We were very happy to see happy faces around us with the desire to enjoy the beauty of the landscape, but also to help at the same time. Our work along the way, beyond small pruning, was collecting garbage which unfortunately, as in every maintenance hike, is one of the problems we have to deal with.

We sincerely thank everyone who participated in the maintenance hike for their help and positive attitude, the Kairios Library for the hospitality at the Botanical Garden – Agadakis Tower, Ms. Chara Stamatiadou-Tseperka and Mr. Mermygas for their speeches and Panagiotis Loukadis for the guided tour of the Botanical Garden.

❤️ We look forward to seeing you at the next 👣 maintenance hike on Sunday April 21st!