Three Summers: Ahhhh....Amorgos

We didn't knowingly save the best until last, it was really just how the ferry schedule ran. In the planning of this trip we plotted our route between islands based on the most efficient routes of the ferries. That's the secret to planning a Greek Island-hopping adventure. When the summer ferry schedules are released early each year check the routes, and the stops on each route, because not all islands are connected by a direct ferry, and doing some research about the routes can avoid time wasting, back-tracking and delays.

Amorgos was a definite on our list to visit this year and as there is a direct ferry from Kos to Amorgos, it became our final island of the trip, and what a spectacular way to end. Four nights on this idyllic island could not have been a better finale to our Greek summer.

Amorgos is beautifully picturesque, a wild beauty surrounded by the bluest of blue seas. It has characteristic Cycladic white houses, blue shutters, all adorned with clouds of pink bougainvillea and hibiscus. It's quiet and calm, no crowds, there's no tourist office on Amorgos, and even the ferry ticket office looks like a 1950s movie set. Speaking of movie sets, the crystal clear sea around Amorgos provided the setting for some of Luc Besson's 1988 movie, The Big Blue. Amorgos also has probably one of the most impressive sites in all the Greek Islands, the white monastery of Panagia Hozoviotissa. It clings to the side of a sheer rock face 300 meters above that stunning blue sea, and is only reached by a strenuous hike up hundreds of rock steps. It is quite a marvel.

Coincidentally, it was my birthday while we were staying in the charming white cube studio, complete with terrace overlooking the sea, and my only birthday wish was to hike to the Byzantine monastery clinging to that sheer cliff and to swim in the turquoise Aegean waters far below it.

We hired a car to explore this narrow, elongated island. First we headed up the hill to the white pyramid-shaped pile that is Chora with its crowning mini castle built on a protruding rock at the very top of the village. There are domed churches and chapels, a row of windmills and the view back down to the port of Katapola is spectacular.

I'll never forget that hike up to the monastery, it was hot and it was necessary to stop after climbing every 20 or 30 steps to catch my breath, not so much from the incline as from the expansive views of the seemingly never-ending blue Aegean. Arriving in a pool of sweat at the foot of the white monastery is really just the beginning, there is a steeper staircase to climb to enter into the low marble doorway of the monastery itself. As I stepped inside that doorway, puffing and panting and wiping my melting brow, the serene voice of a welcoming monk urged me to 'please...come....sit....welcome' and at once that strenuous climb was worthwhile. That is not the end of the steps though! The monastery, literally carved into the cliff, is a series of steep, narrow stone staircases leading to landings and tiny rooms that eventually rise to the entrance of the tiny church at the very top. At one of the mid levels I was again greeted by a friendly monk offering the most welcomed glasses of cold water (and glasses of spiced raki for anyone needing something a little stronger) and a place to sit in front of the open windows that both catch the breeze and frame the breathtaking views.

Next was a swim far below at picturesque Agia Anna and that was equally unforgettable and oh so refreshing. We declared it probably the most beautiful of all swimming locations, and as tomorrow we leave the islands and begin to head back to Athens, we thought that this was probably our final Aegean swim in this perfect Greek summer.

Idyllic Amorgos

The view from Amorgos Chora back down to
the port village of Katapola, where we stayed

A glimpse of the monastery of
Panagia Hozoviotissa

It's quite spectacular and the hike up the
winding switchback stone path had me
puffing on this hot late summer's day

Far below the monastery is the tiny bay
of Agia Anna - a most sublime swimming
spot and a location used in The Big Blue

So wild and barren, but that water so
blue and inviting

A tiny ekklesaki above the bay

Where ever there is a swimming spot below
a church there are signs for no nude swimming
or sun bathing

It was well worth the walk down the rocks
to swim at Agia Anna

The best beaches are often not the ones
with sunbeds and facilities. Because
at Agia Anna there is a church, for
modesty a change hut has been built -
Cycladic white and blue of course.

Kalotaritissa beach on the southern
tip of Amorgos

At Kafenion o Makis on an unnamed road
in the tiny village of Arkesini.

A shady rest at Kafenion o Makis for
coffee, frappe and local cheese pie

We stopped for a coffee,
and cheese pie made by Sophia who now
runs Kafenion o Makis - her grandparents ran
it for 50 years. We'd finished our drinks and
thought our cheese pie order must have
been forgotten, and when we went inside
to pay our cheese pie was just come out
of the old oven - made from scratch!
It was delicious!