Our last day on Andros. As we did yesterday, we walk down the waterfront to Stella’s for an enjoyable breakfast on the beach. We’re trying to get a faster start today, because we have a mountain to cross, aspirations of a short climb at the top, and ferry to catch at the end of the day.
In the meantime, while we’re all waiting to see how the ride and hike turn out, here are a few shots from our walk up to the old town for dinner last night.
Main Street in the old city. Banning cars from the scene really changes everything.
As we prepare to leave, we have an interesting chat with the woman of the hotel, whom we’ve not met before. She asks where we’re from, and then tells us that Spiros, the host who greeted us on arrival, has traveled in the US; and in fact was born there, and has dual citizenship. No wonder his English is so good! As we’re leaving, the lady’s husband arrives and greets us warmly also. We express our newfound love for Andros, and he lights up. ‘Move to Andros! Open up a pizzeria!’, he exhorts us. I’ve heard worse plans.
We take our leave, and I start to pump up our tires a bit before the day’s big climb. It’s hot, and when a drop falls on my hand I think it’s perspiration. But then another and another fall, and we realize it’s suddenly raining! We grab our things and go back under cover for a bit and wait for the small cloud to move on.
Our plans for an early departure have an unexpected delay as we wait out a short spot of rain.
We have a short ride today, just 27 miles, but it begins with a 2,400’ climb. Our ferry for Rafina doesn’t leave until 6:30, so we have time for more. We plan to climb as far as Vourtaki, near the summit, grab a meal at a cafe or store there. And then take a ridge walk for a few hours before dropping to Gavrio.
The ride up is a lovely climb - never too steep, keeping a fairly constant 4-5% grade, it angles up a high ridge south of Chora, along the quiet road we walked down from our hike on yesterday. As we climb, the views just keep getting better and more expansive. For the first five or six miles we climb on the south side of the ridge and enjoy watching Chora recede below us, it’s castle and lighthouse shrinking to specks. We then round the nose of the ridge and keep climbing, admiring broad views across the rugged northern corner of the island.
We reach Vourkoti about noon, right on schedule. It’s quickly apparent though that there are no food services here, so our plan for lunch and a ridge hike are quickly scrapped. We bike on, rising a bit more before cresting the final summit.
Looking back at Chora as we climb away to the north
After a few days on Andros I think I understand the architecture a bit. I think these blockish, red tiled homes are Ottoman, dating back to the Turkish occupation.
At elevation about 1,500’, we get our last look at Chora and its string of peninsulas before rounding the end of the ridge we’ve been climbing for the last hour.
The road does a sharp U-turn and doubles back on the north side of the ridge, and continues climbing. The color of the vegetation is brilliant through here, as we ride through the corner of a large nature preserve.
Vourkoti, elevation 2,400’. Reputed to be the highest village in the Cyclades. Also believed to have a cafe, which proved to be untrue. Which, since we hadn’t brought any food with us, gave us something interesting to chat about as we rode on.
Over the top, we bike along on the level for about a mile and then begin a precipitous drop. In the next three miles we lose 1,500’, slaloming down a crazy road with about a -12% grade. Too steep, too twisted for a real descent - we ride the brakes the whole way, not traveling all that much faster than we were going when climbing.
Finally the grade levels off, we cross a few rollers, and arrive in Batsi, a small resort town on the coast. past time for lunch. It’s gotten quite hot and humid, and we’re ready to sit out of the sun for awhile. We find a bayside sandwich shop and pull in. Finding that it has good WiFi as well as food and drink, we hole up for about an hour and work on the journal and videos.
Northern Andros is wild, empty, largely unpopulated.
The northwest corner of the island is almost cut off by this large lateral trench. The wide angle on my camera is just sufficient - you can see both coasts at the extremes of the picture.
Batsi is only about five miles from Gavrio, but even that little distance is too much to take at one go. We decide to break again when we come to the small, empty beach resort we passed two days ago. It’s a bit busier today, with three or four parties on the beach, but the resort still hasn’t opened yet - the palapas are up, but there’s no charge. We leave our bikes at the edge of the sand, grab an unclaimed palapa, and enjoy some beach time.
In Kipri, at the small empty resort we passed on our first day here. Amazingly calm, warm, wonderfully refreshing.
After an hour of that, we’re refreshed and ready to take on the last two miles to Gavrio. The ferry departure is still an hour and a half away, so we stop in a diner for moussaka and a salad and hang out until it’s time to queue up for the ferry. A few hours later and we’re wheeling the bikes off at Rafina, and bike the short few blocks to the lodging we have reserved. Once again, we’re the only bikes on the boat.
