Advertisement
Published: August 29th 2023
Today I’ll be joining the Rembrandts for a bus ride twenty or so kilometres south to the town of Chora. It seems that Chora just means "town" in Greek, and if you use Google Maps to try to find out where it is, well let’s just say that you’ll need to be prepared to spend quite a while sorting through a multitude of options until you find “your” Chora. But it could be worse. Fortunately not every town in Greece is called Chora, which must be a relief to Greek postmen; the name’s usually reserved just for the main town on each island. As we learned a couple of days ago there’s only six odd thousand of those. I guess a few of them might be uninhabited, so that might narrow down the list a bit….
The road is steep, narrow and windy, and the views are spectacular. First stop is the jaw-droppingly spectacular Holy Monastery of the Virgin Mary Chozoviotissa. It quite literally hangs off the side of a near vertical cliff 300 metres above the sea, which is stunning shades of blue. Why haven’t we heard of this place before? There’s nothing this good in Santorini or Mykonos.
It was built in 1018 which apparently makes it the country’s second oldest monastery. It’s a steep climb up a narrow winding path from the car park to the entrance.
And what’s this hanging off a fence next to the steps up to the monastery door, well that would be a rag tag collection of pants and shawls that look like they were dumped here after they were rejected by the local homeless shelter. But no. It seems that men wearing shorts are strictly forbidden from entering. So if I want to get past the man at the gate it seems I‘m going to need to don a pair of dilapidated black track suit pants. I’m sure these have only been worn by the odd several thousand pilgrims before me. I wonder if they’ve ever been deloused. Hmmm.
I‘m not allowed to take photos inside the monastery which is a bit disappointing. I’ve never been able to understand the reason for this, and why it only applies to some European churches and museums, with no discernible pattern. Flash photography I can understand; that can damage paintings and frescoes, but just ordinary photos? Anyway, the interior rooms are all
quite small, but I suspect there’s probably a labyrinth of other chambers here that aren’t open to the public. The small main church area is extremely dark and mysterious, and the icons all look suitably ancient. We’re told that it’s still an active monastery, and two monks live here full time.
We’re told that a lot of the 1988 cult classic “The Big Blue” was filmed along the coast here. I remember seeing this movie soon after it was released and being mesmerised by the scenery - soaring cliffs towering above impossibly blue water - and there it is sitting just below us.
We head back up the cliff again into nearby Chora, which is on top of a hill above the cliff. It‘s ridiculously cute, with all the usual Greek village (town?) characteristic features - narrow winding alleyways between whitewashed buildings with mostly blue but sometimes other bright coloured trimmings.
The standout feature is however the windmills. I read that there were eighteen of them here at one stage during the nineteenth century, and the remnants of about half remain. They‘re spread out on a ridge overlooking the village, sorry, town. Any doubts about whether they’re
in the right place are quickly dispelled. It’s ridiculously windy up here, like forget about wearing a hat or sunglasses, or going within twenty metres or so off the top of the cliff. They’re all in various states of disrepair. One of them’s still got the frame that used to hold its sails, and a few others have also still got their internal mechanisms. I wonder what they used for sails, and how they tied them to the frames. Whatever it was it must have been ridiculously strong. Did I happen to mention that it’s a tad on the windy side up here? Some of them have still got their internal stairs and I climb up to the upper level of a couple of them. It looks like they might be planning to renovate some of them if the long chunky newish looking pieces of timber sitting inside are anything to go by. If that’s the plan I hope they’ve got lots of titanium steel on hand to hold the sails in place. The danger here comes when you go to go outside again - from dead calm inside to what feels like Hurricane Katrina times two in the space
of a footstep. Ooops, there goes my precious hat sailing towards the top of the cliff. The first instinct is to chase after it … and follow it over the edge, which probably wouldn’t do a lot to improve my day. Fortunately it snags on a thorn bush just before tumbling over the precipice.
Next up is the so-called Castle of Amorgos, which looks from the distance like a very large lump of rock towering above the village (which must actually be a town, otherwise it wouldn’t be called Chora?). I follow a long steep narrow winding staircase up the side of the rock face to … well that would be a locked door. The door looks like it leads to a church, but apparently it’s a fake church that’s really the entrance to the Castle. Did the locals perhaps think invaders would be less likely to ransack a castle if they thought they had to go through a church to get to it?
Meanwhile Issy and the rest of the Rembrandts have been toiling away at their masterpieces in squares scattered through the village - sorry, town … surely it’s not big enough to be called a town
- its population was 397 last time they did a census. Based on what we heard earlier, to be called Chora, ie town, it just needs to be the biggest settlement on the island, which in the case of some islands might be the only settlement. I read a couple of days ago that there’s no standard size for something to be called an island, so maybe it’s the same with towns and villages. But a town … with only 397 people?
Back in Lagada and we dine in the village square with Marija and Anna. It’s dark, but we can still see clouds forming continuously as the wind swirls around the clifftops. The moon’s rising behind them and the effects of it lighting up the swirling clouds are totally mesmerising. We adjourn to another restaurant a bit further along where live Greek music’s playing to a packed audience.
Today’s been a real highlight. The show stopper was the ridiculously spectacular Chozoviotissa Monastery, followed closely by the Chora windmills. Stunning! It’s surely only a matter of time until this little gem of an island’s secrets get out.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.064s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 14; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0267s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
lexispence10
Alexis M Spencer
Memories
My friend recommended Amorgos for me a couple years ago and I did a brief solo trip, staying in a cave house in Chora. I agree with the monastery and windmills (at sunset for me) were the highlights, as well as a couple of hikes I did. I absolutely loved it there and would love to go back. It is definitely a hidden gem! Loving your humour in these posts, was drawn in by the 'mafia' issues on the next island.