Aussie road trip (Amorgos)
Woke to home made banana pancakes. They’re a recent addition to our diet, but have rapidly become a firm favourite - topped with honey: yum!
We’re anchored off the town key at Katapola on the island of Amorgos.
Amorgos is an island frequented by a large proportion of French tourists. The reason for this island being such a Gallic magnet was that a film (‘Le Grande Bleu’ or ‘The big blue’) was filmed here. I’ve seen the film, it’s about deep ‘free’ diving, I can’t recommend it, but the scenery is great.
Joining us in this anchorage are our Agios Nikolaos antipodean neighbours; Debbie and Lachie.
With them, we are today hiring a small car for a very reasonable €20 to tour the island and take in the sights.
We pick up the car without issue, and head off to our first destination; a monastery and beach set against an imposing cliff face.
The beach is as lovely as any other, made slightly more so by the addition of some kittens hanging around where we’d parked the car. A forward thinking Debbie had some dried cat food in her bag which they happily munched on.
The monastery was set into the rock a good distance up from where we were able to leave the car. After walking up what my phone calculates to be about 20 flights of stairs, with glowing cheeks we reach the entrance. On guard duty is a smiling man who’s job is to ensure that people are appropriately dressed. I pass muster having been pre-warned that Sunday best would be required. With the addition of a couple of sarongs, and a spare pair of trousers for Lachlan we are soon deemed to be suitably attired. Entering the monastery up a narrow stone staircase carved into the rock, we make our way through a warren of rooms, either whitewashed, or wooden paneled with the traditional stylised depictions of Christ and local Saints on wooden friezes hung on the walls. Reaching the top most room, we are offered honeyed raki and a glass of water, which we sit and enjoy in a room not dissimilar to a grandparents dining room, with photos and paintings of all the previous Abbots looking down on us.
After leaving the monastery, we head to the Chora - a wonderfully pretty hilltop hamlet perched atop the islands highest peaks. We park and stroll the close to empty narrow lanes, grapevines providing shade between the many small cafes (mainly shut).
Make our way to the now disused windmills that crown the town, and spend a short while taking in the sweeping views of the islands dotted around the crystal clear coast.
Feeling slightly peckish, we stop at one of the open shaded cafe bars for a nice lunch - all four of us enjoying our meals.
I took over the driving from Lachlan after lunch, having previously tossed to see who would do it.. and having won, Lach had opted for a beer with his lunch.
Having hydrated with just water, I took us back down the hairpins to town, and then back to the boat.
Both tired, we were ready for siesta, but opted instead to get the little bit of shopping we need out of the way first. Rowed back to town, and realised I’d left my shoes on board (a surprisingly regular occurrence, as on board we are both usually barefoot). This left Chez to do shopping duty alone while I dumped our rubbish and recycling. Walking back to the tender, I saw a message from Lou saying she had mum over for lunch if I’d like to FaceTime - As I’m right outside a restaurant where we’d previously eaten (‘The corner cafe’), I had wifi and gave her a try - no luck though, and low on battery, so chats and videos will have to wait.
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