The Apollona-Round

Crossroads Apollona / Mesi / Komiaki. The village at the coast is Apollonas.

"Come on, give it another go, this is the last big climb before we're back in town!", I said to my friend Borja. I wasn't lying either, at least not completely. But I hadn't been riding this route so often, so I conveniently forgot some of the further climbs that would come up. The definition of "big" could also be discussed.

Our goal was to do the "Apollona round". Some people call this route the "Tour of Naxos", but I dispute that title, as it encompasses only the northern half of the island mostly.

When I restarted cycling and planned about my first stay on Naxos with the bike, I poured over the map. I was trying to guess where it was nice to ride, and where I could actually manage to ride, with my current level of fitness. There seemed to be one obvious route. That big loop around the mountains in the North-East part of the island stuck out, passing by the seaside village of Apollonas.

Skado

True to the map view, this really is one of the well-loved tours on Naxos. Depending on your start point and some variations of your route, it will be somewhere between 85 and 97km. We've been "padding it out" a bit some times to reach the magical 100km figure. From my current lair near Halki, there is also an expedited route that is in the low 70km range. No matter which of those variations you choose, the climbing will stay in the same ballpark, giving you about 1500m - 1600m of altitude gain. I noted down this route as my goal for that first season of cycling again for me.

So then the day came that my cycling on Naxos passed from riding with fingers on maps to riding with my bike on the roads. I made my first tries out and already started to get to know some cyclists. One day I needed something for the bike and I went to town (Hora) to the bike shop. There I talked with Giannis and he invited me to a ride with some other guys to go to Apollona.

That ride took place 6 days after my first ride on Naxos. I managed to hang on. There were some tough moments, but I got there, enjoying the ride itself and the company. Even though I took on the offer to hitch a ride on someone's truck for the way back from town, I had reached my season's goal way early. In case you won't accept it, since I cut it short, I did all the route (and some extra) with another friend of mine 2 weeks later. I've been riding this route many times since.

Coast road between Eggares and Apollona

Back in October 2013 we were then on this route with my friend Borja. As with any circular routes, you can ride it clockwise (first along the coast, mountains later) or counter-clockwise (mountains first, coast road later). With Borja we went first through the mountains. We had most of the steep parts at the start of the day, where it was cooler. We stopped a lot, since Borja wasn't a very fit cyclist back then (he has since graduated to 300km rides). We stopped for drinks and snacks in Apeiranthos, Skado, Apollona. We had a lot of fun.

A climby piece of road between Eggares and Apollona - there are a number of these

Then we came to the coast road between Apollona, Eggares, Hora. The problem is there that, psychologically speaking we were on the "Apollona round". So when we reached Apollona, in our heads we checked that box, "we've done that". But we had a lot of road left. Another problem is that in most cyclists minds, a "coast road" gives at least a hint of something flat. This coast road snaked up and down for us, seemingly without end. At some point we rode up to about 270m altitude, just to go down again, we did not even see a village there.

Apollona from the coast road

So this might be your first takeaway when choosing which direction to go. Going up through the mountains (counter-clockwise) leaves you with the long tail of the coast road. You might want to try to avoid that, do the coast road in the morning, as we did withe Borja in a later visit here in April 2016. We found it very beautiful, riding with the sea in direct view. We took a lot of pictures with the road leading into a blue sky merging into the blue sea.

This time going "coast road first" (clockwise) left us with another difficult task: Now we had been at Apollona. We stopped for coffee (but you also might want to have a look at the ancient "Kouros" in his marble quarry outside of the Apollona village). But now we had to climb up and up (with small downhill sections) to about 720m of altitude. It's not as if that's any easier on a day where you happen to be dragging yourself around with tired legs! We managed on that day, with a couple of extra stops to catch our breath and enjoy the views. Each time we did this ride, my friend Borja achieved another milestone in his cycling career, it's always a memorable experience.

Church near Skado with mountain road

Where to get water:

Especially in summer it's very important to have enough water on this longer route. On a cool winter day you might get through with 2 bottles, but when it's hot, drink a lot!

• You can buy water at supermarkets and kiosks. The law in Greece puts a maximum price on it, so it's relatively cheap (e.g. 0.5l cost 0.50 Euro max).
• If you ask nicely, most cafes and tavernas in villages will fill up your bottles for free. Even more so if you stop to drink coffee or something.
• There are public taps with drinkable water in many places: Filoti, Apeiranthos (below the village, sometimes the tap is closed), Skado, Komiaki, Apollona come to mind. If there is an open tap in Eggares, I haven't found it.
• On the coast road between Eggares and Apollona you have a longish stretch without easy access to water.

Koronos, in the North-East mountains of Naxos

Some of the variations of this route you can take:

There are some variations in this route that you can take (apart from choosing which way around to go).

• Moni or Apeiranthos: Between Halki and Stavros Keramotis you can either go through Moni or Apeiranthos. Going through Moni will save you about 5km (10.4km vs. 15.3km).
• Mesi or Komiaki: Between about 5km above Apollona and Skado you can choose to go through Mesi (shorter, but much steeper road) and Komiaki (also known as Koronida, a few km more, but less steep).
• There are various routes between Hora and Halki, some shorter (Potamia), some longer (going through Agios Prokopios, Agia Anna, Vivlos, Sangri).
• Even choosing all the longest options, you won't get to 100km (for those of you who like to get round numbers). All I can offer is to do a bit of a "cool down" to get the missing 3km in!
• With a starting point at Halki (not Hora), I sometimes go up to Moni, then down through Kinidaros and Eggares (at which point I reach the coast road). Then I go to Apollona and take the shorter variations coming up through Mesi and down through Moni. This gives me about 72km with roughly 1500m of climbing. Faster, but harder. You cut kilometers from the route, but they are all the flatter kilometers.

Pirgos Agias, Agias tower between Eggares and Apollona. When you got here you are almost back at Naxos town or you have just started and reached the end of the first bigger climbing section on the coast road.

Route stats:

Route type:

Road, circular

Length:

Between 85km and 97km depending on route choices.

Altitude gain:

About 1500 - 1800m, also depending on route choices.

Suggested places for coffeestops:

Hora, Halki, Apeiranthos, Moni, Apollona

Where to start:

Wherever you are located. Often I meet people to start from Hora, other times we meet in Halki.

The road to Apeiranthos