Serifos Hiking Adventure - The Road to Koutalas Bay

The ancient white tower ruin and the church at Aspros Pyrgos

West from the Petrias Trail and Pyrgos Trail crossroads, hikers may take the road to Koutalas Bay.

My journey was relaxing and filled with small entertainments.

One feature strongly noticable along the road was the presence of the Greek Orthodox Church.

When the Romans wanted to introduce the Christian faith, they selected Greek as the language to do it in. It has been my experience that friends and acquaintences with a Greek ethnicity or childhood ties to the church are very protective of the religion’s pride and traditions.

I enjoyed the “sugar cube” churches and prayer points along the way. One was on the south side of a livestock farm where a shepard was shouting to her flock in heavily accented English, “out, out!”

Another point along the roadside featured a handsome roadside box, containing an image of a Greek Orthodox leader along with incense and offerings which I assumed to be tributes for a deceased relative.

I crawled around a stone fortification just off the road constructed of gliting green shale. I spied an alternative route I might have traveled off the road through a property “for seize” the direct translation of the Greek word indicating a property is available.

If you are planning to trek off route in Greece, you should know how to recognize the Greek words indicating hazards or passing rights that can be found in many reputable travel manuals. I found “falling rock” and “no passing” signs to be fairly obvious in spite of the fact I do not speak the language with great depth.

The last portion of the trail included a brush by a sustainence farm replete with several birds curious at my presence and a barking dog.

I arrived at Aspros Pyrgos where I explored the relic of an white marble tower and an Greek Orthodox graveyard still in use. Some of the stones there indicated parishoners of the nearby chruch who had passed within the last ten years.

Koutalas Bay is a scenic inlet on the cusp of the Mirtoon and Aegean Seas with a cloverleaf shape.

The beaches the day I went were utterly uncrowded, though the only business in evidence was a boat rental shop, so it would be wise to bring sufficient food and water.