Profitis Ilias Archangelos, Tsambika, Snorkeling
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Profitis Ilias Archangelos | 516m | 341m | Rhodes, Greece |
| Tsambika | 320m | 245m | Rhodes, Crete |
Continued from day 6… Continue to day 8…
Profitis Ilias (Archangelos), 516m
According to the plan, this would be our last full day on Rhodes. It didn’t turn out that way, but more on that later on.
Today, we drove to the town Archangelos, a bit north of our village Lotharika. The destination was the Profitis Ilias top of Archangelos.
There is a road to the top, but we decided to walk it. After leaving road 95, we drove 0,7km along the mountain service road before we parked and headed upwards.
We stuck to the road, except in one hairpin curve where we took a short-cut. After 2,9km we reached the top – on another very hot day.
A Belgian couple was resting at the chapel. They had come up from the town and were to head down that way. We decided to do the same. A round trip hike is much better than taking the same route down.
We were able to follow the path until we reached the outskirts of town. Then things started to get tricky. We needed to get on the road that would take us back to the car, but that was easier said than done. In the end, we had to use unorthodox methods in order to get on the right track.
This was a really nice walk. The mountain is relatively high in Rhodos scale and offers splendid views up and down the coastline, as well as inland. I would definitely recommend this top if you only plan to hike a few tops on your visit.
Trip statistics: 6,8km, 350 vertical meters, 2h:15m.
Pictures from the hike:
Tsambika, 320m
From Archangelos, we continued north along 95 and took the Tsambika exit. There was a road running quite high on the mountain, but I wanted to hike it from the beginning of the road. Anne dropped me off and drove to the upper parking. Along the way, I saw the Belgian couple, having chosen a parking a bit lower down. They sent me the “you’re a crazy Norwegian, but we understand you” look.
After a while, I met up with Anne at the parking and we followed the trail (mostly steps) up to the chapel on top.
This is a popular top and there were people everywhere. Not a place you want to go to sit down and think about important things. Unless you go into the chapel. Chances are that you get to be alone there…
After spending a few minutes on top, we concluded that our hiking on this island had come to an end. My feet couldn’t take any more and besides, I felt I had seen my fair share of the island – from 17 mountain tops spread across the island. Now, we wanted to spend more time in the water.
Trip statistics: 1,9km, 225 vertical meters, 35 minutes.
Pictures from the hike:
Snorkeling near Pefki
On our way back to our hotel in Lotharika, we stopped in the bay before the peninsula where Pefki is. The water seemed much clearer than by the hotel. We parked by a large apartment complex, and had a strong feeling of trespassing. But we just wanted to go for a swim. How bad could it be?
Snorkeling at Lotharika
Back at the hotel, I wanted to do more snorkeling and explore a part of the beach that I just briefly visited the day before. And I was paid in full! Anne joined me for a little while. She said she saw a swordfish. I saw an eel that got into attack position and yet another fish that scared me away. In other words, good fun! And I could swim around with the fish without seemingly disturbing them.
This was the perfect way to end our week on Rhodes. The next day, we would fly home and have nothing but good memories. Or so, I thought…
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