Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
paved road, you've a sharp drop to the beach. Ignore the cairns in the ravine bed; the
true path is up on the right bank.
The trail to the similar cove of
Thólos
, also an hour's walk away on the south coast,
begins by the cemetery and the chapel of
Áyios Pandelímon
, then curls under the
seemingly impregnable castle of
Agriosykiá
. From the saddle on the paved road
overlooking the descent to Thólos (25min; also red-marked), a cairned route leads
northwest to the citadel in twenty minutes. Head east a couple of curves along that
paved road to the trailhead for
Áyios Séryis
Bay
, Tílos's most pristine beach but also the
hardest to reach (30min from the road).
Mikró Horió
The ghost village of
Mikró Horió
, whose 1200 inhabitants left for Livádhia during
the 1950s, is less than an hour's walk west of the port, with some surviving path
sections short-cutting the road curves. Its only intact structures are churches (locked
to protect their frescoes) and an old house restored as a small-hours
music bar
(July-Aug).
Megálo Horió
Tílos's capital, the village of
MEGÁLO HORIÓ
, lies 7km west of Livádhia along the
main road. The only other significant settlement on the island, it enjoys sweeping
views over the vast agricultural plain that stretches down to Éristos, and is overlooked
in turn by a prominent
Knights' castle
. Reaching the castle requires a stiff thirty-
minute climb, which threads its way through a vast jumble of cisterns, house
foundations and derelict chapels.
A little
museum
in the town hall (summer only, daily 8.30am-2.30pm; free) displays
the bones of midget elephants, found in the
Harkadhió cave
not far east in 1971. Such
remains have been found on a number of Mediterranean islands, but Tílos's group may
have been the last to survive, until as recently as 4000 BC.
Long, pink-grey-sand
Éristos beach
, 3km south of Megálo Horió, ranks among
the island's finest, though swimmers have to cross a reef to reach open sea. The far
south end, where the reef recedes, is nudist, as are the two secluded all-naturist
coves at
Kókkino
beyond the headland (accessible by path from the obvious
military pillbox).
8
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
MEGÁLO HO
RI
Ó
Eden Villas
Megálo Horió
T
22460
44094,
W
eden
-villas.com.
Choice option run by Brits, this comfortable
three-bedroom villa, with pool and wi-fi, is nicely located
500m north of Megálo Horió in the valley that leads
toward
s Ská
i beach. Available for extended stays all year
round.
€200
Eristos Beach Hotel
Éristos
T
22460
44025.
Crisp
modern complex facing the large, barely developed beach
at Éristos on the southwest, with lots of outdoor space,
including a pleasant terrace. Hotel rooms with big
balconies, and sizeable apartments suitable for four.
€60
Kastro
Megálo Horió
T
22460
44232.
While the interior
of Megálo's only taverna can be a little gloomy, its patio has
lovely long-range views, and the food is good, with meat
and goat cheese from their own flock, and home-made
dolmádhes
.
Daily lunch & dinner.
Milios Apartments
Megálo
Horió
T
22460
44204.
Attractive rooms and apartments set in pleasant flowery
gardens in the heart of Me
gálo
Horió. All have balconies
offering (distant) sea views.
€50
The far northwest
The main road west of Megálo Horió hits the coast again at somewhat grim
ÁYIOS
ANDÓNIOS
, which has an exposed, truncated beach and two tavernas. There's better,
warm-water swimming at isolated, sandy
Pláka beach
, another 2km west, where people
camp rough despite a total lack of facilities.
