Wednesday 07 of May The Amorgos Surprise

After we arrived in on Monday in Katapola on Amorgos island after a very enjoyable sail, the wind came back with a 40 kts vengeance, for the first time from the North since the start of our trip. And it decided it was going to stay for the week, so here we are still on Amorgos, on Friday.

We hired a car in Wednesday, again for pre-season price of Euro 20, including full insurance, to have a look around the island. The first port of call was Amorgos' chora (main town). It turned out to be a very nice little town with a refreshingly small tourist industry and a very relaxed atmosphere. We put some photos in the Amorgos photo gallery. The plan was to visit the Panagia Hozoviotissa monastery next, but we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on the other side of the island. When going over the mountain passes it became clear how strong the wind was outside our nicely sheltered harbour. There were a lot of foaming 'sheep on the sea' and we were very happy we were not on a charter boat that needed to be returned at a certain date. The island itself has not as much vegetation as for instance Naxos, but still an interesting variety of wild flowers. We had a look at the well sheltered and peaceful bay, formed by Nikouria island which was surrounded by the foaming Aegean. What a relief it would be for sailors to find such place in a raging storm, before GPS and the Greek Waters pilot.

Time to find the Hozoviotissa monastery, one of the highlights of the island. The monastery is partly cut out of the sheer cliffs 300m above sea level on the East side of the island, and has a massive stone wall front. The monastery was built around the 11th century as a tribute to the Grace of Panagia (the Virgin Mary). Even though Amorgos was part of the Ottoman empire between 1566-1829, the monastery was never touched by the Turks 'out of respect' according to one of the monks we got chatting to. The monastery can be seen as a backdrop in one of the scenes in Luc Besson's movie 'Le Grande Blue', which was partly made on the island (and has been a cinematic favorite for many years).

It is a fair climb from the parking to the monastery and cleared the cobwebs from our heart-lung systems. Once up, the towering monastery before you and the 300 m sheer drop to the seas makes you feel small and insignificant. You're only allowed into the monastery in appropriate clothing, no shorts for the blokes and skirts (no minis!) only for the females of the species (and some top-gear obviously). We found some very used stuff to gird our loins with and entered the public part of the monastery via very steep steps, hewn from the rock. After looking at a couple of chapel-like rooms we had a nice chat with one of the four remaining monks (there used to be around 150 a couple of centuries ago). He has wife and children in Athens who come and visit him at times. The Greek Orthodox monks and priests have families, contrary to their Roman colleagues. We were invited into a smallish room with many photos on the wall of the monastery's inhabitants and freedom fighters that liberated Amorgos from the Turks. We were offered water and a small glass of self-made, low-alcohol liqueur and some Turkish Delights (probably frowned upon by the liberators on the wall). There was no hint of anybody expecting a contribution, and when we thanked the monk, he thanked us back 'for visiting his house'. The way down was a bit easier, possibly helped by the low-alcohol and cinnamon drink. A great experience and well worth the effort.

The last 'must see' bit on the island was the wreck of the Olympia on the western-most tip of the island. The wreck is also a prop in The Big Blue. As it turned out, it is not easy to get close to and we needed two goes before we found a way to approach it through rocky terrain with very prickly vegetation. It turned out more of a hassle than it was worth, but you need to do it to know it, we guess. Back to Clio and a nice meal cooked by Chris.