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Three kilometres west of Emborio lies the old pirate-safe village of HORIO , abandoned in the 1950s but still crowned by the Knights' castle. Except during the major August 14-15 festival, the church here is kept securely locked to protect its frescoes. Across the valley, the little monastery of Stavros is the venue for the other big island bash on September 14. There's little else to see or do inland, though you can spend three hours walking across the island on the 1998-vintage dirt track, the extension of the cement "Tarpon Springs Boulevard" donated by the expatriate community in Florida. At the end of the road (best arrange a ride out, and walk back) you'll come to the monastery of Ayiou Ioannou Prodhromou ; the caretaker there can put you up in a cell (except around August 29, the other big festival date), but you'll need to bring supplies. The terrain en route is monotonous, but compensated by views over half the Dodecanese and Turkey. Longish but narrow Pondamos , fifteen-minutes' walk west of Emborio, is the only sandy beach on Halki, and even this has had to be artificially supplemented. The sole facility is the somewhat pricey Nick's Pondamos Taverna , serving lunch daily, plus supper four evenings weekly. Small and pebbly Yiali , west of and considerably below Horio via a jeep track, lies an hour's hike away from Pondamos. A thirty-minute walk north of Emborio lies Kania , with a rocky foreshore and a rather industrial ambience from both power lines and the island's only petrol pump to one side. Since these three coves are no great shakes, it's worth signing on at Emborio quay for boat excursions to more remote beaches. More or less at the centre of Halki's southern shore, directly below Horio's castle, Trahia consists of two coves to either side of an isthmus; you can (just) reach this overland by rough path from Yiali, and this trail is scheduled to be bulldozed into a track soon. North-coast beaches figuring as excursion-boat destinations include the pretty fjord of Areta, Ayios Yeoryios just beyond, and the remote double bay of Dhyo Yiali . Of these, Areta is the most attractive, and the only one accessible overland (in ninety minutes one-way) by experienced hillwalkers equipped with the Chalki, Island of Peace and Friendship map based on the old Italian topographical survey products.
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