The best view of Yialos
Often, when I’m hanging out in the square, a passing visitor will ask where to find the best view of Yialos. These are usually day-trippers or yachties who have made it up to the village out of curiosity but who don’t have much time to go searching. Many of them are drawn up here to visit ‘the church’, and we always ask ‘which one’ as there are something like 13 parish churches in the village and many more chapels. There are three within the Castro grounds alone. Or is it four? Anyway… With little time, I often suggest they follow the lane towards Lemonitisa because a) it’s easy to find, b) it offers views of the harbour, and c) you can also see the church with the dome that more than likely enticed the visitors up to the village. It’s not open, by the way, not unless there’s a service taking place, but it does offer views of its own.
So, from the top of the Kali Strata, you go into the village square which, being higher than the path you’re on may not look like the village square… You go up the steps and double back into it, or walk alongside the long white wall and take the first steps on the left at the end… Or just ask someone. Whichever way, you then exit the square via the only road, making sure the badly cracked ruin on your left doesn’t fall on your head. Follow the path around the S bend and keep going. It’s a slope, but apart from the corner, not a bad one and the path itself gives you lovely views as it’s overhung with trees.
Pass the bins (not the best landmark but an unmissable one), say hello to the chickens, cats and goats, and keep going. After a little while, you’ll come to another bend where the road is fenced on one side. There’s your view. From there, you can see the back of the harbour, the new amphitheatre being built and the hills that surround Yialos. While on that path, you can also stop and look between the trees to see down to Yialos, and if you follow the sloping path towards the sea, you should find the church. If you keep going on the road, though, around that corner, you’ll get a good view of the back of the village, and if you keep going, past more bins, past another church, straight on into the stone-paved lane to the steps at the very end, and turn right… (phew), you can then walk back down the Kataractis. Whichever way you go, you’ll get a view.
