A Visit to Chora

You climb the road up from Katapola and, somewhere around 400 metres of altitude, an image appears before you that you’ve already seen a thousand times without knowing it: a cluster of whitewashed houses clinging to the hillside, windmills along the ridge, and, high above, the medieval Kastro cutting into the sky. This is the Chora of Amorgos — one of the most beautiful in the Cyclades, and certainly one of the most authentic.

Lost in the alleyways

Leave the car at the entrance to the settlement — it doesn’t go in from here. This small restriction is Chora’s great secret: free of cars, Cycladic architecture has remained untouched, exactly as centuries of fear of pirates and the need for protection designed it.

Walk beneath the stone archways, where the light narrows and then suddenly opens again. Turn at random. You’ll find yourself in a tiny square with bougainvillea spilling down the walls, at a vaulted little chapel with a freshly whitewashed threshold, on a step climbing toward nowhere. In Chora, getting lost isn’t a mistake — it’s the way to understand it.

Up at the Kastro

At the top of the settlement stands the Kastro, the rock on which medieval Chora was built in the 13th century, during the era of Venetian rule. The path leading up is short but steep — every step is worth it.

From above, the whole island unfolds at your feet: the slopes running down to the sea, the neighbouring islets in the distance, the deep blue that made Amorgos famous. You understand at once why the inhabitants chose exactly this spot: from here you could see the enemy coming long before he arrived.

The life of the village

Chora is not a museum — it’s a living village. In the morning you hear doors opening, voices in the coffee houses, coffee being served unhurried. Traditional kafeneia with marble tabletops, small shops with local products, and taverns with home-style recipes give it its pulse.

But it’s in the afternoon that Chora truly wakes up. As the heat fades, the squares fill, the tables come outside, and by night the settlement transforms into an illuminated stage where time flows at an island rhythm. Try local flavours — from rakomelo to xerotigano and the fresh produce of Amorgos’s soil.

Sunset over the windmills

Just before the sun sets, climb up to the windmills at the summit. Once they ground the island’s wheat; today they stand as silent guardians above Chora.

Sit on a stone, turn your face west, and let the light change. The white houses turn pink, then gold, then deep blue. It’s the moment Amorgos shows you why the journey was worth it.

You don’t come to Chora of Amorgos to see something specific — you come to remember what the Cyclades were like before they were in a hurry.Travel diary

Chora doesn’t try to impress you. It doesn’t need to. It keeps its architecture, its rhythm, its soul intact — and offers you, freely, a piece of the authentic Cyclades that has almost vanished elsewhere.