An almost mythical island. We begin today an atmospheric journey.

It is the island of Amorgos with its infinite blue, Amorgos with its energy fields, its brilliant light and its poetic beauty.

The island of Amorgos, cradle of poetry and the poet Nikos Gatsos.

Located at the southern tip of the Cyclades but in the heart of the Aegean archipelagos. A day tour in one of the special islands of Greece.

7:00 am.

As the day’s first day boat leaves Aegiali, it heads west towards the Cyclades and Piraeus. We guess in the faces of the passengers the possible end of their vacations, and that sweet tiredness that a nice trip leaves you when it comes to an end. However, our one day tour in Amorgos has just started.

8:40 a.m., SE Cyclades

Amorgos, it is said that it took its name from the “Amorgis” plant as a kind of linen with which Amorgos’ tunics were made. It is located in the extreme north of the Cyclades, after Naxos and the Small Cyclades. With two natural ports, Katapola and Aegiali, and an incredibly beautiful “hour”, one of the most beautiful in the Cyclades, Amorgos seems to intersect with the Aegean Sea and its immensity.

9:35 a.m., the Amorgian Cake

We start our day with a sweet treat, the traditional Amorgian pasteli and, of course, a Greek coffee.

Amorgos is famous for some traditional and favorite products like pasteli, rose-sugar, raki, raki…

Rose Sugar is a unique product made from wild rose petals that bloom in May that are kneaded with sugar and lemon. Cake is made with honey and sesame seeds. It is the sweet that is offered on lemon balm, in the case of baptisms and celebrations, always accompanied by raki.

10:42, the “Captain Morgan” of the Cyclades

The French love Amorgos and Amorgos the French. In this lasting relationship of love and mutual respect, the story of Bertrand stands out. Bertrand de Amorgos made a long journey to almost the whole world to return with his ship to Amorgos. Today he organizes cruises with a traditional boat in the Aegean, which he considers the best place for this type of trip.

12:15 pm, a little closer to God.

Visit to the monastery of Ag. Georgios de Valsamitis.

A point where antiquity, orthodoxy, a famous water mill, the god Apollo, Saint George, the water that predicts what will happen in the future and the constant search for the truth coexist. In the 8th century, an icon was found at that point and a monastery was built. Today it is a place of spiritual elevation, tranquility, serenity and inner search.

1:30 p.m. A long ride on the “chora“

The capital of the island, “chora” of Amorgos, presents the classic beauty of the Cyclades with narrow cobbled streets, whitewashed two-story houses, arches and countless churches. The picture is completed by immaculate white, an almost crystal blue sky and the strong and warm colors of the bougainvillea.

All of these are known and loved in our Cycladic color palette.

Another feature is the typical hill with windmills, which overlook the Aegean Sea.

A great contradiction if the years of pirate raids are taken into account. These narrow and winding streets, this labyrinth of the “chora” then served to escape the inhabitants, who ran and got lost here to escape the pirates.

14:45 Meeting with history

Visit to the folkloric museum, where the historical archives of the island are located. This archive has been collected over many decades and has been digitized in recent years. The archive has documents from 300 years ago.

The documents reflect the lifestyle of the island’s inhabitants and the changes that took place over the centuries. Important historical facts and figures about the oldest image of Amorgós are also found on these archive pages. You can even find registered natural phenomena and disasters that affect the landscape but also the economy – society of the island.

15:45, Saint Anne and the Virgin Mary of Hozoviotissa

Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, and the Virgin Mary symbolically meets here on the east side of the island.

We are talking about the famous little chapel of St. Anne and the famous beach, with fantastic aquamarine colors of the water that formed the natural backdrop for the Luc Mpesson film “Big Blue”. Ag. Anna seems to be here in an ongoing conversation with the Monastery of the Virgin Mary of Hozoviotissa, which stands for nine centuries perched there on the steep hillside.

Amorgos is famous for its hiking trails. The most famous route is the climb to the Hozoviotissa Monastery, 300 steps and many scales to enjoy this sensational view that will take your breath away. Stand here and admire the vastness of the world on one of the biggest and best balconies.

4:20 p.m. Facing the Aegean Sea, in search of God

Built defying the landscape, and at the same time extolling the greatness of the world, hooked on steep rocks, the Hozoviotissa Monastery seems miraculously prepared.

It seems to be balanced on a thin rope that separates the material world from the spiritual hymn to human will and faith. Almost against natural laws, a meteor in the Aegean. Meteor like the thousands of unanswered questions of humanity. The monastery was built in 1088 and the occasion of its inauguration was to find the icon of the Virgin Mary that came here from Hozhova in Palestine, a place close to the Holy Land and Jericho.

An island, an immense blue embrace and a miraculous place that moves people’s souls

18:30 Vespers and Castle

We return to the “chora” and it is time for Vespers.

Then visit the many churches in the “chora” and we head towards the Castle that dominates on the rock in the middle of the town.

It has been there since the 13th century. It is a Venetian building. At the top of the cliff, a steep staircase built on the north side will take you, while to exit the Castle you first pass through the chapel of Ag. George. From the Castle the view is now panoramic and reaches as far as Naxos, the small Cyclades and IOS. From this point, the inhabitants could control the sea of ​​Naxos and Astypalaia.

9:45 p.m., “Amorgiano gentle perasm»

Stop at the cafeteria with traditional music played by young musicians. Amorgos is famous for organized revelry at every opportunity…

Amorgos by N.Gatsos

to a green star

The bad witnesses for men are eyes and ears if they have barbaric souls. HERACLITO

With his country tied to the sails his oars suspended in the wind

the castaways slept meekly like dead beasts on sheets of sponges

but the eyes of the seaweed turn towards the sea

ballast the south wind take them back with freshly tinted sails

and a lost elephant is always worth a little more than the two breasts of a

shaky girl.

that the roofs of the ruined mountain chapels light up with the desire of the

evening star

let the birds come in waves to the masts of the lemon trees

with the loud white panting of new footsteps

and then the winds will come the bodies of the swans that remain tender without staining

still

in the steamrollers of the stores in the cyclones of the cabbage patches

when the eyes of women were darkened and the hearts of chestnuts

sellers broke

when the harvest stopped and the hopes of the crickets began.