Does anybody know if you can walk from Arillas to San Stefanos, and if so where do you start from - preferably along the coast rather than the boring road. (I have just read through some replies, I don't mean that the walk is boring by the road, just dont fancy walking along the main road with all the traffic rushing past). We dont mind road walks, just as long as the traffic is not too heavy because it can be a bit hairy sometimes especially with the big lorries!!. Has anybody else eaten in the Thalassa restaurant in Arillas run by Litsa and Yianni and their lovely dog Charlie the Golden Retriever. We went to Arillias last May (2006), and loved every minute of it and ended up eating most of our evening meals at the Thalassa. We are going back this year the 1st week of September (2007), and can't wait. Would love to hear from anybody.
You can get to San Stefanos in about an hour, I think.
Turn right at Arillas beach, up the hill and just follow the view. Via the road is turn right before the Armorada Taverna, to the top of the hill and follow the signs. A bit boring as you say and just as many "ups & downs"
You will ,I'm sure, get better directions fairly soon.
Regards
Negg
Yes the wife and i walked to San Stefanos over the hill there and back by the road fantastic views, my advice would be to start early before the heat of the day and take water
Def. agree with Steve. Take the coast road, do it early on before it gets too hot... and you can reward yourself with breakfast on the beach in San Stef which is what we did. Unfortunately, we had the long walk back in the middle of the day but we enjoyed it anyway. If you take the road behind the Galini (see map on this site) follow the road through the olive groves all the way until you get to a small VERY steep hill you will come to a small church, bear left and follow the road which joins up to the main road which leads to San Stef. When you come to a junction you can bear left to Arillas or carry on to San Stef. Not all that boring really as looking at the lovely houses and gardens is interesting too. All goes round in a circle really, albeit a very large one! We go in June/July this year and cant wait either!
We ate in the Thassalo only once which was lovely but you will see from this forum that everyone has their favourites!
Hillls are not that bad though,i am waiting for a replacement knee and Sally and I do the walk every year,we do the Afionis walk as well
I did the beachfront walk over to San Stefanos with my Mum over Christmas and I'm very sorry to say that the path just up from the end of Arillas Beach is collapsing very badly and may soon fall completely onto the beach and be unusable. The locals seem to be doing what they can but it likes like it's only a matter of time. We came back the longer route through the Olive vines and orange trees which were still as beautiful as ever.
I guess the trail will just get trampled back a bit further into the underbrush next year.
I should say its more like 40 minutes either way, unless you are really meandering.
We have done San George in an hour. Admittedly we got a water Taxi back after that. Phew!
Thats worth taking some water for and definitely leaving before the heat of the day gets up.
Arillas is a good location for a bit of walking.
Yes we really Like the Thallassa. Especially.....started drooling already.... Yiannis mums Prawn Saganaki.
It was really tempting to do the starter and main course on this!
Looking forward to more of that in May.
Yum.
The erosion is pretty severe and its toward the bottom of the path where the grass verge on the other side is pretty high, there is plenty of room to push the path inland but it will take some serious equipment to do it.
I can see the Tour operators having serious issues with the state of the path. Thanks to the wonderful age we live in if a holidaymaker falls down on that path and hurts themselves they may be able to claim against the tour operator as we brought them there. Utter madness and all it achieves it higher insurance and holiday prices for all the tourists and major disruption to the locals.
......mini rant over!
Oh no we dont want higher prices!! Maybe something will be done about it because they will obviously not want to risk anyone getting hurt and then people not returning??
Joe all the tour companys need to us put up a sign saying this path is dangerous and you use it at your own risk.
I would love to put a sign up saying:
"Path is obviously not like the footpaths back at home so if you do fall and hurt yourself please blame nobody but yourself"
Unfortunately holidaymakers have claimed for similar incidents and won, it's amazing, we almost have to wrap everybody in cotton wool these days. I'm not that old but when I was brought up I was taught to take responsibility for my own actions.
To cite another example my best friend is a chef and over Christmas someone threatened to sue over the fact they burnt their mouth on steak pie and weren't warned it was going to be hot, the upshot of this is in the future menu's at this chain may have to carry a warning about hot meals being hot please take care. I am 100% serious, when is common sense going to prevail.
You are joking??!! That is absolutely ridiculous, its getting beyond silly now, you normally complain if the food is not cooked properly and still cold, some people!!!
But as you say, if there was a sign saying that by the footpath and people saw it and still went ahead and then injured themselves, no doubt they would sue the tour company and they will probably still get a pay out, always a way with some people!
Joe have you filed a case with the alcohol company after your tumble ;-) !!
If I could sue myself for stupidity I would, and most likely win. Seriously who in their right mind would attempt that path on a cloudy wet night without a torch?
Me, thats who in a Mythos induced haze.
I'm getting the feeling Mythos has alot to answer for!!
I would blame the Mythos but then I get the feeling I may be the biggest hypocrite in the world :-)
Do you think they will repair the path if they have just spent money on the new lamposts that I think you mentioned before? Perhaps they wont have enough money to do it up or they might think it worth doing up having already forked out on the lights and encourage the tourists to walk to San Stef. Let's hope they can do something with the path.
There is another way very close by, you just don't get the same view as you climb.
We also walked behind the Galini, but it took you along the road so you only saw the sea through the "gaps" in the trees. So, where can you pick up this other route then?
When I go walking the dogs we set out from Villa Gabre and walk across the road down the side of the Mathraki Apartments, follow the round down and continue past the hotel (forget the name) the road then circles back round towards the beach we turn up the hill here, there is a very rough path through the fields which still gives you a good view just a little more inland or if you're feeling less adventurous you can go right through the olive groves.
Come to think of it the way is shown on the map (http://www.arillas.com/map.html) on arillas.com, the path runs parallel to the beach one and has a building marked Pluto near the top, just left of Kaloudis Village / Splish Splash, no idea what that is though!
I remember passing that little track we wondered where it went to. It was getting dark and we didnt want to get lost so carried on to the restaurant. Maybe we can do the walk that way in daylight!
Good idea, I wouldn't recommend it any night.
Sally and I have walked up this path as far as the Paradisso villa,but did not realise that you could walk upto San Stefanos that way
If the coast path is not walkable then possibly there will be more traffic along this route this year.
Thanks for all your comments regarding the Walk to San Stefanos. When we visited May 06, we were only out there for a week, so just ate, drank and slept. But this year we are going for 2 weeks, so want to explore a bit more. We will certainly try some of your suggestions. My husband said he would walk on the path, and he if it collapses he would land on the nudee beach - hopefully next to a nice young lady!! Just wondered if any of you know if buses run from Arillas to Corfu Town, and if so, is it just the 1 bus or do you have to change. Would a taxi cost too much. And also does anybody know if the toads would be about making lots of noise when we go in September, down by the stream.
You made me laugh about falling onto the nudee beach. You could always ask Joe which nationality they are before your husband lands... he seems to know from his latest reports - tee hee!
Re collapsing footpath......
Could be an opertunity for a thriving business..supplying crash-hats to the nude bathers......
ahmmm! but the NBU...( nude bathers union )...might have something to say........could be breaking union rules
(see resoloution 2342 ammendment 21...though shalt not were a stitch)
Maybe a response from a NBU MEMBER might clear this up.
Perhaps parachutes might be suitable for the walkers so they have a safe landing!
Never going to live my nude swimmer comment down am I?
Here is a picture of the path at present. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/95728180@N00/349156616/) Its a bit worse just off camera.
No Joe, you arent!
The path looks like its disappeared.. very worrying.
looks like its going to disappear before long. Need to talk to the wife about getting back to arillas sooner rather than later
Who needs a parachute!!! If there are some big busted ladies lying on the nudee beach, you would bounce straight back up again. Or can you just imagine what Lesley Philips would do - he would lay amongst them and say "h e l l o - d i n g d o n g!"
Speak to you all again soon - roll on Mythos time!!
Or.... they could have a line of trampolines at the bottom....
Or some bouncy castles, have some fun whilst they've fallen down there :-D !!
Looking at todays picture,it looks as if somemore of the cliff face has fallen down,you can even see undergrowth growing out of some of it
If they could get a bulldozer they could go up and down and make a new path. It would only take a morning, but we are talking Greeks!!! By the time they have their fags and a chat, then another fag then another chat, then a fag its time for dinner. More fags, more drink, more chat. Well it doesn't seem such a bad life does it!! I would swap it any time.
Crikey from what was being said I thought the path would be impassable. From your photo Joe its far from that.
In October there was a foot deep by 6 foot sliver set to go. The red warning pegs were there then. So its not unpredictably unstable.
You can see the underbrush on the left. I imagine its quite likely that that will just get trodden down if the path ever becomes too narrow.
Thats the second year in a row I've read that cliff has collapsed! Shows just how laid back Arillas is if this is major news!
I agree though it would be good if the bulldozers could widen the existing path or cut a new track a bit further back.
Maybe it will happen just before the next elections!
Unfortunately the problem is much worse further down which I forgot to take a picture of (doh!), where the path is only about 1-2 metres wide with a straight drop to the beach below, one of the poor dogs nearly fell in. At this point the grass verge on the other side is very high, above my head in fact, so it would need some pretty big equipment to flatten it. I just worry that when the bad weather comes in the next two months the path here may collapse completely.
Paul has got a new digital camera I will try and ask him to take a picture of it at its worse.
I'll drink to that lol
Hi everyone. Just got back from Arillas (16th June 2007). Walked the path from Arillas to the headland chapel and the ?abandoned? villa (didn't go down to St. Stephanos though). The track is only dodgy just before the bit that juts out before the nude beach wading area. It is clearly marked with red and white pegs.
Quite a lot of sunbathers were laying out beneath the cliff and not taking any notice of all the bits of fallen rock. On another day, when I stopped to prepare to wade to the nude beach, a kind German lady warned me not to tarry beneath the dangerous cliff.
I think that a good downpour of rain would lead to more of the cliff falling and the path would become very narrow.
It would be good for regular updates on the state of this path to be posted by Arilla Experts.
Regards
Pat
Now I'm a bit worried!!!
My wife and I are going to Arillas in the first week of September 2007, we were hoping to walk to San Stefanos.
Now it seems our desire may be eroded. My wife has a new knee joint, and I'll be having more surgery on my leg next week.
Perhaps the Water Taxi will have to be our way of getting there, does anyone have experience of this? What is the cost? What travel times? How long does it take?
Information will be most appreciated. :-)
There is still the option of walking to San Stefanos via the "main" road. The view's not the same as going over the cliffs but if you like walking it's worth a thought.
Steve
I think we were first told that it was getting worse in 2005 and were really worried about it but could still do it with ease in May. Viv
We did the walk in mid July this year and it was fine, we just had to tell the kids not to walk on the edge!! Lovely views all along the walk.
Neil, Elaine & kids.
We did the walk in July as well. It is much narrower but its fine. You couldnt get a car up there put it that way. The safety barrier consists of about half a dozen small 6" red posts sticking out of the ground which wouldnt stop you falling over but reminds you to keep away from the edge. Keep to the fence and you will be fine.
We came back the usual road way. We were told by the lady in San Stef travel there was a short cut, a little unmade track past the cafe on the right (cant remember the name now)... We took that hopeful that we would get back in the 15 mins she said it would take...I dont think she has done that walk for some time. LOL>> We ended up at the back of someones house where there wasnt a path at all having to go back down and carry on the main road. There just doesnt seem to be anyway of going through the undergrowth to the cliff top. Having done the walk before it was much quicker going back this time than before as we knew where it was going.
When we walked over we spotted the track along the side of a Taverna on the right as you are heading inland from the beach in San Stephanos and asked the bloke working there if it was a path over to Arillas, he said that we could get over the hill that way so we walked up. We eventually came to a clearing at the end of the track about 100 yards from the top of the hill that looks as thought someone is about to build a house up there. It was a dead end and surrounded by the local Gorse type bushes which resemble growing barbed wire! I wasn't prepared to fight my way through them in shorts and sandals! We ended up climbing the hill 3 times for a return journey, nice views though!
Beware the short cuts,
Neil & Family.
Hear, Hear!!! You start down what looks like a proper road and then it ends up in a track and goes nowhere, then you have to retrace your steps.. Not so good when its so hot and you dying to get back into the pool.
We took the walk at the back of the Galini towards the church, the road was being done up and it had these small white stones which were all wet so we gingerly tried not to walk in them, not realising that a huge steam roller was making its way down the hill. We had walked on a "new road" and hoped that we wouldnt be up to our neck in concrete! We didnt end up walking to San Stef that way along the main road but just made our way back down to Arillas again. There is a road there on the left before the Arillas turn off....be warned it doesnt go anywhere as we found out.