1st Andros on Foot Festival – a first review!
1 year of preparation
8 member organising team
38 villages of Andros, 19 monuments
18 Cultural Associations, 45 volunteers
44 sponsors & 35 suppliers of materials & services
1000 pairs of feet, 23 days & 300km of hiking,
Our kind friend, the weather,
A lot of work, patience & perseverance and above all …
Lots of love !
On 28th October the walking caravan of the Andros on Foot Festival completed its 23-day journey, crossing the island twice from north to south.
Over 500 people registered for the Festival and across the 23 days of hiking there were over 1000 participants in hikes.
The Festival evolved from the first ideas and concept in the final days of 2017 with an organising team of 8 Andros Routes project volunteers taking it through to implementation in October 2018. To deliver the festival the organising team worked in cooperation with…..
18 Cultural Associations of Andros
23 volunteers of the project Andros Routes,
22 young volunteers of the Festival,
44 sponsors
35 suppliers of materials & services
Travel & People …
1040 pairs of legs walked the waymarked network of Andros paths, passing through most of the villages and towns of the island:
in north-northwest the festival visited Amolochos, Frousei, Varidi, Gavrio, Agios Petros, Batsi, Ano & Kato Aprovato and Paleopoli;
in central and eastern Andros, Katakilos, Arni, Menites, Mesaria, Lamira, Mesathouri, Ypsilou, Aladinou, Koureli, Pitrofos, Chora, Livadia, Apoikia, Katakalei;
in central and southern Andros: Sasa, Alladou, Kapparia, Piso Meria, Aidonia, Amonakliou, Mousionas, Korthi, Ormos Korthi, Rogo, Lardia, Gianiseo, Exo & Mesa Vouni , Kochilou, and Sineti.
Visits and tours were made to the most important monuments and sights of Andros along the hiking network, namely:
the Frousei and Dipotamata watermills, the Agios Petros tower, the Agia Monastery, the Archaeological Museum of Palaeopoli, the Olive Museum, Aladinos cave, the archaeological site of Zagora, the springs of the Menites and Aidonia, the Pytharas waterfalls and Paleopoli, the Agios Irini Monastery, the Agios Nikolaos Monastery, the Panachrantos Monastery, Epano Kastro, the Chora Archaeological Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Sineti Folklore Museum.
Visits were also made to sites producing local products such as the Varidi oil mill, the Liokitra estate, the Raptaki estate and in the Livadia area, the Androp distillery.
A total of 300km was walked in the 23 days of the festival.
The key co-organisers of this vibrant celebration of the island were the people of the Cultural Associations that hosted the festival caravan as it passed through their area, who were given the opportunity to present their community and share their local customs and flavours with the hikers. Thus, at the end of a hike, a rich snack or meal, cooked by local residents, awaited the walkers at the schools or halls where the Associations are based. In more isolated areas, meals were also held in cafes or restaurants. In many cases, the meals provided by the Associations were combined with small bazaars of local produce, local dishes (pasteli and kydonopasta), traditional music, dances and local customs such as the the ancient bowling game of “Chouvia’ in Pera Choria.
Gratitude & many thanks…
Our gratitude and thanks to everyone involved in the hard work in the months before the festival and during October to implement this multi-day event. These were the permanent Andros Routes volunteer group, the new volunteers who helped run the Festival, our co-organisers at the Cultural Associations, our sponsors as well as the South Aegean Region and the Municipality of Andros, all of whom are listed below:
Associations & Providers of Meals in order of Area (North to South)
Cultural Association & Community of Makrotantalos
Varidi Olive Press
O Kossis restaurant
Cultural Association and residents of Agios Petros
Aegean Balcony Restaurant
Cultural Association of Paleopoli
Residents Katakilos & Thomas Taverna
Arni Cultural Association
Vourkoti Cultural Association
Menites Cultural Association
Aladinou Cultural Association
Pera Choria Cultural Association
Zozef’s Café
Zaganiaris Cultural Association
Livadia Cultural Association
Apoikia Cultural Association
Pigi Sariza Hotel
Agios Irini Monastery
Chora Women’s Association – dance group “Chorevandros”
Kochilou Cultural Association
Korthi Women’s Association
Sineti Cultural Association
Association of Friends of the Sineti Folklore Museum
Vrisi Café Sineti
Kapparia Cultural Association & Kapparia Cafe
Parents & Guardians Association of Piso Meria
Co-organizers & Sponsors (in alphabetical order)
Andros Association, Piraeus – ANDROS – Vassiliki Linou
Apostolopoulou Dido
GAVRIO Progress Group
Eleni Kourtesi – SOAP BY ELENI
Municipality of Andros
Region of the South Aegean
Spyros Polemis – POLEMBROS SHIPPING
Rosemary Magill Verstrynge
Sponsors of hospitality, dining & tours
Aigli Hotel
Vasilis & Elise Goulandris Foundation – Museum of Contemporary Art (visit to the permanent exhibition wing)
Micra Anglia Hotel
Agia Monastery
Agia Irini Monastery
Agios Nikolaos Monastery
Panachrantos Monastery
Androp Distillery
Archaeologist Lydia Paleokrassa -archaeologist of Paleopolis (guided tour at the Archaeological Museum of Paleopolis)
Pension Stella
The Apikia Association (meal)
Cultural Association of Livadia (lunch)
The Lixouri-Mesathouri Cultural Association – Maroulitsa Daniolou & Yannis Xanthos (2 times a day & tour)
Maria Fotouchos – archaeologist of the excavation group – Mrs. Doris – visit to the Epano Castle
Vasiliki studio
Travel & security sponsors
GOLDEN STAR FERRIES (guest tickets & journalists)
FAST FERRIES (guest tickets & journalists)
The municipality of Andros (trips of Dutch volunteers)
EKAB (Andros Routes volunteer training)
Andros Fire Brigade (on stand-by in case of rescue)
Association of Volunteer Firefighters of Andros (on stand-by in case of rescue)
Media Sponsors
Andros newspaper – Marianna Fotopoulou
ASTERAS 92-Mihalis Astras
ERT TV
Vangelis Lukisas
Novato Marmaras (festival promo video)
The circle of the Andros Film Club (blog)
Sponsors of spaces, materials & equipment
Marika & Elias Victoratos – INSURANCE BROKERS VICTORATOU (insurance)
GUTENBERG editions, Yannis Mamaiis & Giorgos Dardanos (printing)
Calzurous pastry shop (sweets)
Hotel Karanasos (space allocation for the Batsi Festival Info Point)
Andros Cinema Club (projection of the film “Little England”)
Eleni Kourteis -SOAP BY ELENI
KOUROS – Giannis & Hara Tseperka (banner mechanisms)
Laskari confectionery (sweets & space allocation for the Festival Info Point of the Country)
Lithodomi restaurant (space allocation for the Korthi Festival Info Point)
Liokitra farm – Athena Kortata & Sakis Antonopoulos (visit and guided tour of the estate 2 times)
Logari Bookstore (providing space for the Gavrio Festival Info Point)
MIKRA ANGLIA SA (production company of the homonymous film – projection)
Hotel Sariza (use of an area for the event)
Bakel’s patisserie (sweets)
Podimatas Audiovisual Podimatas (audio-visual equipment)
Raptaki farm – Efi Raptaki (2 times visit & tour & 1 meal)
Andros Routes Volunteers
Myrto Apostolopoulou (trekking & buying of catering materials)
Alexandros Vrachnos (organisational group & walks)
Giorgos Vrettos (hikes)
Olga Karayianni (general coordination)
Achilleas Kleisoura (graphic design & sketches)
Ioanna Kriezi Le Bloc (financial management)
Alexandros Kostis (walks & initial organisation of volunteers)
Alexandros Mavis (farm tour & simultaneous interpretation at the 2nd Panhellenic Meeting of Paths)
Dimitris Bothos (hiking & Festival Info Point Batsi)
Iosif Papadopoulos (organising team-hikes & responsible Festival info point Korthi)
Nikos Paraskevopoulos (organisational group-treks & coordinator of Associations)
Leandros Petrakis (hiking & info point support Gavrio & Batsi)
Vassilis Petropoulos (Hikes)
Kostantinos Svyriadis (Social Media)
Yiannis Tridimas (hikes)
Athina Hala (hikes)
Jola Gillespie (organising team & support Info Point Gavrion)
Richard Gillespie (organising team & support Info Point Gavrion)
Gerard Kleijne (website support, viewing in the Netherlands & website statistics)
Gerard Kramer (hiking etc.)
Ulli Sthalman (organising team, hikes & responsible Festival Info point Gavrion)
Peter Straatjes (Materials & Festival Management & Hiking)
Marianne Tuit (Festival organising team & responsible Info Point Batsi)
Festival Volunterrs
Kostas Vogias (staffing of Korthi Info Point & hiking)
Christos Geraris (coordination of 2nd Panhellenic Path Meeting)
Myron Drakopoulos (Info Point support)
Litsa Katsiki (Info point Gavrio)
Philippos Katsikis (Info point Gavrio)
Maria-Frazetska Koulia-Bonni (Info Point Chora)
Vassilis Kouris (Info point Batsi & hiking)
Maria Lambropoulou (Info Point Gavrio)
Yiannis Mindrinos (Press Service of Greek Media).
Vassilis Papadopoulos (observation of the 2nd Panhellenic Trails Meeting)
Attica Piagou (Info Point Chora)
Ioanna Follina (Info Point Batsi)
Mina Follina (Info Point Batsi)
Maria Alexaki (Info Point Gavrio)
Maria Lampropoulou (Info point Gavrio & Batsi)
Violetta Markou (Info Point Batsi)
Stamatis Pantazes (Info Center Korthi)
Sherri Pantazes (Info Point Korthi)
Jane Roberts (Info Point Gavrio & Batsi)
Irini Stamou (Info Point Chora & Hikes)
Andreas Tridimas (Info Point Gavrio & Hikes)
Laura Wark (Info Point Gavrio & Hikes)
Andros Routes Partners
George Avgeris (Software Partner)
Epaminondas Marmaras (Video Coverage Festival)
Eleni Dalaris (financial management)
Georgia Stefani (registration management)
Over the next few weeks we will publish detailed analytical data about the festival that will include, the impressions of the participants in the Festival and the impact of the 1st Andros on Foot Festival on the media of Greece and abroad.
