Walking the Aegean Islands

Author: Dieter Graf
Publisher: Graf Editions
ISBN 3-9803130-5-0
Availability: On sale in bookshops on major Cycladian Islands.
Price: 4300 GDR.

This well produced guide originally appeared in German as 'Wandern auf den Kykladen'. It contains 48 hikes taking in 21 islands of the Cyclades. The text is well supported by high quality maps and plenty of photos (taken at strategic points on the walks). Most of the walks take around 4 hours.

Islands Covered:

 

Marengo Walking Guides

Author: Lance Chilton
Publisher: Marengo Publications
Availability: Very hard to find in the Greek Islands, so buy before you go to Greece. Online sales at http://www.marengo.supanet.com/
Prices: around £5-7

A home-produced series of A5 guidelets written by a UK based author. Most are around 30-40 pages and supplemented by a large, good quality, colour map. The slowly growing series covers islands outside the Cyclades. Aimed more at serious walkers than tourists with legs, their main weakness is a lack of illustrations or photos.

Islands Covered:

 

ROAD Editions Maps

Publisher: ROAD Editions
Availability: All on sale in Athens. On the islands a more limited range of titles. Most islands covered have their own map on sale.
Price: 1800 GDR.

The definitive island map series in Greece, these high detail maps have most walking paths marked. Only problem is that the series has yet to be completed, so not all islands are covered. Another half dozen should be appearing during this year.

Islands Covered:

 

Some islands attract walkers in sufficient numbers that dedicated local guides have appeared. These are usually only on sale on the island in question. The examples below are currently on sale; titles covering other islands have existed in the past, but are no longer in print.

 

Alonissos

Title: Alonnisos on Foot
Authors: Bente Keller & Elias Tsoukanas
Availability: On sale in island bookshops.
Price: 2800 GDR.

A 95 page book with some 25 walks around the island. Journey time ranges from 1 to 7 hours, so all types of walker are catered for. Walk descriptions are fairly basic, and the number of maps limited (you will need a good island map when using this guide). The text is augmented by a series of water-colour paintings (in colour) that are more picture postcard than useful reference points.

 

Crete

Title: The Samaria Gorge
Publisher: Toubi's
Availability: On sale in Athens and island bookshops.
Price: 2500 GDR.

Crete is so well endowed with walking possibilities that there exist a number of dedicated walking guides to the island. These, however, are not on sale locally. The only local guides on sale are directed at the tourists heading for the Samaria Gorge. If you want more detail than that provided in Greek Island Hopping then this guide has a good description of the route, augmented with plenty of photographs.

 

Kastelorizo / Megisti

Title: Capture Kastellorizo
Author: Marina Pitsonis
Availability: On sale in island shops.
Price: 2500 GDR.

The nearest thing that remote Kastelorizo has to a guidebook, this volume explores the island via eight walks (this is quite a clever idea as there isn't actually much else you can do on Kastelorizo). The 76 page guide has a number of B&W photos and some attractive, but rather primitive, hand drawn route maps.

 

Naxos

Title: Walking Tours on Naxos
Author: Christian Ucke
Availability: German and English editions are sale in island bookshops.
Price: 4000 GDR.

After Crete, Naxos is seemingly the most walked over Greek island. This is partly a matter of size of course, but the island is very well endowed with scenic pathways. This guide has the definitive collection of 16 walks. Good hand drawn maps and B&W illustrations augment a text that is wide-ranging, and covers everything from snakes to satellite views of Naxos.

 

Skopelos

Title: Sotos Walking Guide to Local Beauty Spots and Historical Places of Interest
Author: Heather Parsons
Availability: On sale in island bookshops.
Price: 2500 GDR.

An attractive 88 page volume with 21 walks on Skopelos. Fortunately the text isn't as wordy as the book's title, and is augmented with plenty of hand drawn illustrations of key points on the routes described. Walks range from 1-2 hours to 6 hours, so all categories of walkers are catered for. The only weak point are the maps; these are sufficiently poor to justify taking along a good map of the island in addition to the guide.