Category: Top Amorgos posts

Amorgos island: Where time is always well spent

March 3, 2018 / / 0 Comments
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In Amorgos, There is Time is a 2.5-minute video from BKC Film 

 

Timely island: An engaging short film I discovered this week has rekindled some sweet memories from our our only and only visit (so far) to Amorgos nearly 10 years ago.

In Amorgos, There is Time was published on Vimeo just two days ago (March 1 2018), and I found a link to it in the newsfeed for my blog page on Facebook. 

The two and a half-minute film features aerial and ground-level photography that spotlights an impressive panoply of sights and scenery from the ruggedly beautiful island in the eastern Cyclades. 

The video begins with a distant, aerial view of the magnificent Chozoviotissa Monastery, which is built into the face of a sheer cliff that soars hundreds of meters above the sea on the eastern coast of Amorgos — a stunning sight I think is a must-see attraction for anyone visiting the island.

The film then presents a sequence of alluring images of island attractions and sights, including stone-paved streets, traditional tavernas and whitewashed buildings in seaside and mountain villages; windmills; sheep and donkeys; a tortoise, a seal and other sea life; a shipwreck; and views of splendid sunsets, beaches, mountains and coastlines. These are interspersed with scenes of island residents going about their daily lives and participating in local culture and activities.  (There also are numerous views of the Aegialis Hotel & Spa, the only 5-star hotel on Amorgos.)

We spent four full days and nights on Amorgos back in May 2009, and wished we had been able to stay a week or longer. We have been meaning to get back, but its off-the-beaten-path location has kept us from fitting it into our more recent island-hopping itineraries.  Looks like it’s time to find a way to pay Amorgos a return visit.

Mule tidings: donkey tales from the islands

April 12, 2013 / / 2 Comments
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a donkey on a hillside overlooking the Skala, the port town on Patmos

This donkey enjoys a spectacular view of Skala, the port town on Patmos, from his hilltop vantage point on the edge of Chora

 

 

Donkey tales: Mules and donkeys can be a common sight on many of the Greek Islands including — not surprisingly — two of the country’s most popular tourist destinations: Santorini and Rhodes. If you visit Santorini’s capital town Fira, especially during a cruise, you’ll see scores of the animals working as taxis to transport tourists up and down hundreds of steps linking the small port to the town 220 meters above sea level (see my Don’t ride the donkeys! post above for more about that controversial practice). On Rhodes, dozens of donkeys are similarly pressed into service to lug lazy sightseers up the path to the Acropolis above Lindos.

On smaller isles that don’t draw huge hordes of tourists and cruise ship visitors, you’re more likely to see donkeys grazing in fields and yards while you hike or drive around. Sometimes you might not be able to see them, but you’ll clearly hear them — their boisterous braying can carry across a long distance. And at other times, you can wind up having a close encounter with one or more of the animals just when you least expect it.

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Step up to superb food & sublime sunsets at Kamara Café on Amorgos island

March 29, 2013 / / 0 Comments
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Kamara Cafe

The open-air terrace at Kamara Café in Upper Potamos is a great spot to view the amazing scenery while enjoying some of the café’s delicious Greek cuisine

 

 Kamara Cafe

The café also has lounge areas on its terrace, for those who just want to sit back and relax with a glass of wine while watching a spectacular sunset

 

Kamara Cafe

This was one of the sunsets we watched from the Kamara Café. Here, the sun looks like an enormous white orb as it slowly descends behind Naxos island.

 

Potamos village

You’re guaranteed to work up a hearty appetite and thirst on your way to the restaurant — It’s a half-hour walk from Egali, up hundreds of steps like these.

 

Steps, stews and sunsets: When I was planning our trip to Amorgos in 2009, I asked an acquaintance in Athens for restaurant recommendations. We absolutely had to go to Kamara Café in Ano Potamos village, she said, and order the patatato — a goat and potato stew that is one of the island’s signature local dishes. Her other tip: allow plenty of time to walk up the mountain to the taverna, so we wouldn’t miss seeing the sunset if we got lost or delayed en route. “You won’t believe the view! The sunset — fabulous! And make sure you try the goat!” she gushed.

I put Kamara Café on my “must try” list, thinking that would nicely take care of dinner plans for one of the four nights we would spend on Amorgos. That list was in my luggage, in our room at the Yperia Hotel in Egali, while we were out exploring during our first day on the island. We spent the entire afternoon in and around Egali, wandering around the town, the beach, and some of the hiking trails in the area, as well as scoping out places where we might like to have dinner that night. Several spots near the beach and in the center of the town caught our eye, but since I didn’t have my restaurant list with me, I couldn’t remember if any were among the specific places that friends had highly recommended. Nevertheless, since we would probably be “walked out” by the end of the day,  we were happy to see we would be spoiled for choice within a short stroll of our hotel. 

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The valley above Aegiali

October 6, 2012 / / 0 Comments
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Aegiali valley on Amorgos

Looking toward the whitewashed houses of Langada village from the opposite side of the vast valley above Aegiali Bay on Amorgos. Click on the photo to view a larger-size image.

 

Ahhh-morgos! A friend planning a short trip to Amorgos contacted me last week, asking for some travel advice and links to my photos so she could take a sneak peak at the scenery she and her travel companion would soon be enjoying first-hand.

While I was scouring my computer for information and photos from our visit to Amorgos in 2009, I discovered a series of panoramic pictures I haven’t posted either here on the blog, or in any of my online albums, because the images are simply too large. When re-sized to fit in the narrow column on the blog, the photos would be almost too small to view. Some would be so tiny, I thought it would be a waste of time to publish them. But then another friend familiar with the technical workings of WordPress blogs showed me a handy-dandy trick for displaying larger images.

 

Photos from our half-day hike around Aegiali valley

I decided to give it a try, so below is a series of photos that we shot during a half-day hike around the valley above Aegiali Bay. (Amorgos is a hiker’s paradise, and the valley walk is just one of many incredibly scenic routes on the island.)

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Amazing Amorgos and the bedazzling Big Blue

September 26, 2011 / / 0 Comments
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vivid blue Aegean Sea

“The Big Blue” is a nickname that befits the breathtaking colours of the Aegean Sea off the east coast of Amorgos, below the Chozoviotissa Monastery …

 

Kalotyri Bay Amorgos

… but there are striking, vivid tones of turquoise and blue all around Amorgos, including Kalotyri Bay on the north coast off Nikouria Island (top) …

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Nikouria Island across Egali Bay on Amorgos

… and Egali Bay, seen here looking southwest toward Nikouria Island

 

Breathtaking blues: I’m always surprised when I read online travel forums and see how many people seem to believe that Santorini is the only island in the Cyclades with spectacular scenery. Santorini is incredibly beautiful, there’s no doubt about that. And while it may be incomparable, it doesn’t hold a monopoly on drop-dead gorgeous landscapes and seascapes. I’ve been impressed by the scenery on Milos and Folegandros, too, and I’ve been absolutely awestruck by Amorgos. Or, as I sometimes like to call it, Ahhhh!morgos.

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