Chrysokellaria – Yamia walk

We had a surprisingly chilly start to our walk today (12th November), with the first cold winds of the winter whistling around the hilltops above Chrysokellaria.  The morning was cloudy, and yet surprisingly clear, so we enjoyed some great views from both sides.

The heat generated by our initial ascent through the village and hill beyond, kept us warm until we reached the brow of the hill….

We sheltered for a while by the small Church of Aghios Nikolaos, which has lovely views towards Schiza and Sapienza.

From here we headed on to the hilltop shrine, braving the wind, as we edged around the ledge to take our panoramic photos!

After quick visit to the little church here, which has some very interesting and old looking icons, we circled the hill at a high level and took an old, little used, dirt track down to Yamia.

Most of the walkers were desperate for a hot drink by the time we entered Yamia, only to find the door of the kafeneon firmly closed! Luckily, a helpful local offered to summon the owners from their nearby olive picking, and they very kindly rushed back to open up for us – so we enjoyed hot coffees all round!

After lunch, we took the main dirt road back to Chrysokellaria where several of us promptly went off to buy some gorgeous honey from the small kafeneon here (Many thank’s to Annette for the low down on the honey – it’s hidden in the shop section in the back of the kafeneon – so although I’d been in here several times before, I had no idea they sold it!)

Apologies for the shakey photo of the honey-pouring – must have been the excitement!

Although this was a relativelly short walk of 10.5 kilometres, we seemed to pack a lot of variety in, what with two churches, a shrine, a variety of views, a friendly kafeneon….not to mention the honey!  It was a very enjoyable morning, despite the very cold, windy start.  We walked fairly leisurely at 3.8kph – with 2.49 hours walking time, plus 1.42 hours stopping time, making the total walk 4.5 hours.