82 Orino – Chrysopigi – Dafni

A small village that means “mountainous” in Greece, Orino is located in the western end of Lasithi prefecture. At an altitude of 640 m the village offers magnificent views of the surrounding area, and during the spring, there are small waterfalls and refreshing streams all around.

The route from Orino to Dafni (through Chrysopigi)

From the Orino village square (1), we follow the asphalt road eastwards for 1 km, to a saddle. Once there, we turn left into a dirt road (2), which we follow for approximately 1.200 m, and then come upon a left side road (3). At this point, right (east) of the main dirt road, we distinguish an old, vague footpath, which we follow.

After a few metres on the path, having passed through a small flat area, we come upon an electricity pole. Approximately 20 minutes down the path, we reach a scree area which we cross through. Remnants of an old boundary fence can be seen on our right. We walk parallel (north) to the boundary for about 10 minutes and then come to a dirt road where we turn right.

At the first crossroads, we continue downhill on our right for approximately 700m, until we reach the main dirt road, at a point with another crossroads (4); there, we take the north-eastern downhill branch. After 1.500 m, we descend to the eastern side of the valley of Chrysopigi, cross a small stream (5) and continue for another 800 m, to the centre of the settlement of Chrysopigi (6).

We follow the asphalt road from the eastern exit of Chrysopigi and, having reached a left bend, after 1 km, we come to a dirt road (7) which we take. We pass a characteristic pine tree as the road leads us to the slope. We continue walking eastwards, ignoring any turn-offs, and after 1.800m, we reach a main unsurfaced road (8), where we turn left (north-eastwards).

The valley of Chrysopigi and the Orino massif is behind us, in the distance.

A little further on, we ignore a right-hand uphill turn-off; we continue straight on until we reach the northern side of the hill, along which we walk, having the asphalt road down below to our left and the Koprokefàla massif to the north. After 2km, we arrive at Dafni (9).