Question 1

Where does my host deliver the car in Amorgos?

Accepted Answer

Most Sync hosts deliver to Katapola port (to meet you off the ferry), to Aegiali port if you're arriving there, or to your accommodation anywhere on the island. Amorgos has no airport. If arriving by overnight ferry, agree on a meeting point at the port before you book: specify which port (Katapola or Aegiali) since the island has two. Your host will confirm before arrival.

Question 2

What is the Chozoviotissa monastery and how do I visit it?

Accepted Answer

Chozoviotissa is an 11th-century monastery built into a vertical cliff face on the east coast of Amorgos, about 4km south of Chora. It is one of the most dramatic pieces of architecture in Greece: a gleaming white building plastered against 300 meters of sheer rock above the sea, visible from far out at sea and from several points on the island road. The monastery was founded in 1088 under the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, though an earlier tradition places a smaller sanctuary on the site in the 9th century. The name comes from the Hozeva monastery in Palestine, from which an icon of the Virgin is said to have floated to Amorgos miraculously during the Byzantine iconoclasm period (8th-9th centuries) when religious images were being destroyed across the empire.

Access: drive or walk to the small car park at the base of the cliff. From there, 300 stone steps cut into the rock lead up to the monastery entrance, about a 15-minute climb. The steps are uneven and there is no handrail for much of the way. The views from the steps and from the monastery terraces are exceptional.

Inside, the monastery is small: a few rooms cut into the rock, a main church with the miraculous icon of the Virgin, and a terrace. The brotherhood is tiny, often just 2-4 monks, and they personally show visitors around. The visit takes about 30-45 minutes. At the end, by tradition, the monks offer visitors loukoumades (small fried dough balls with honey) and a small glass of raki.

Dress code is strict: long trousers for men, skirts below the knee for women, covered shoulders. Wraps are sometimes available at the entrance but don't rely on it. The monastery is closed between roughly 1pm and 5pm. Morning or late afternoon are the best times. Check current opening hours locally as they vary by season.

Question 3

How did the film "The Big Blue" connect Amorgos to international audiences?

Accepted Answer

Luc Besson's "The Big Blue" (Le Grand Bleu) was released in 1988 and became one of the most culturally influential French films of its era. It tells a fictionalized story of competitive free diving, loosely based on the rivalry between real-life divers Jacques Mayol and Enzo Maiorca. The film was shot in several locations, with Amorgos, Santorini, and Sicily all featuring prominently. The Amorgos scenes, particularly the sequences in the harbor of Katapola and in the sea around the island's east coast, gave the island an extended presence that audiences remembered.

The film was polarizing on release: it was a huge popular success in France (breaking box office records) while receiving mixed reviews from critics who found it slow and aesthetically overwrought. In retrospect it has aged better than those reviews suggested: the underwater cinematography was genuinely groundbreaking for the time, and the film helped popularize free diving as a sport and a spiritual practice in the European imagination.

The cultural effect on Amorgos was direct and lasting. Through the 1990s and into the 2000s, a particular type of French, Italian, and later broader European traveller made the pilgrimage specifically because of the film: independent-minded, interested in diving, in search of an "unspoiled" Greece. Many of them came back every year, and some built houses or permanent connections to the island. This demographic shaped Amorgos's tourism profile in a way that has persisted: the island still attracts visitors who have self-consciously rejected the Mykonos circuit, and there is a small diving culture centered on the east coast, particularly around Aegiali and the sea caves of the northeast.

The film is worth watching before you go, not because it's a documentary about Amorgos, but because the images of the sea around the island are still accurate to what you'll find.

Question 4

What is Chora like, and is Aegiali or Katapola a better base?

Accepted Answer

Chora (also called Amorgos Town) is the hilltop capital, 4km above Katapola at about 400 meters. It is consistently ranked among the most beautiful Cycladic villages in Greece: compact, almost entirely intact whitewashed architecture, lanes too narrow for any vehicle, windmills on the ridge above the village, and a small Venetian castle at the top. It is genuinely unspoiled in the sense that it has not been heavily commercialized: there are cafes, tavernas, and a few small shops, but the village is not primarily organized around tourists. Walking through it in the morning before the day-trippers arrive from Katapola is as close to an authentic Cycladic experience as most visitors will find.

Katapola versus Aegiali as a base is a real choice that affects your entire stay. The two ends of the island are 25km and about 40 minutes apart, so staying at one end and wanting to spend a full day at the other requires committing to a long drive each way.

Katapola (west) is the main port and the more developed end: more accommodation options, more restaurants, easy access to Chora (15-minute drive or 45-minute walk up a mule path), and proximity to the Chozoviotissa monastery and the south coast beaches. It is the more convenient base for most visitors.

Aegiali (northeast) is smaller, quieter, and has its own beautiful bay with a sandy beach that Katapola lacks. The surrounding inland villages of Tholaria and Langada are reached by steep but rewarding walks. Aegiali attracts visitors who want total quiet, hikers doing the island trail, and the small free-diving community. If you are staying three or more nights and want to experience both ends properly, consider splitting your stay: two nights at one end, two at the other, and drive between.

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Frequently asked questions about car rental in Amorgos

Where does my host deliver the car in Amorgos?

What is the Chozoviotissa monastery and how do I visit it?

How did the film "The Big Blue" connect Amorgos to international audiences?

What is Chora like, and is Aegiali or Katapola a better base?

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