Amorgos

Amorgos is the easternmost island of the Cyclades, a long and narrow ridge of mountains rising steeply from an intensely blue sea. It has two ports, Katapola in the centre and Aegiali to the north, reached by ferry from Naxos, often threading through the tiny Small Cyclades, as well as by longer services from Piraeus. There is no airport, and the island's remoteness has helped preserve its character.

The island is defined by the monastery of Panagia Hozoviotissa, one of the most extraordinary sights in Greece. Founded in the eleventh century and rebuilt around 1088 under the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, the dazzling white monastery is set into a sheer cliff some 300 metres above the sea, eight storeys tall yet barely five metres deep. A steep footpath climbs to it from the road below, and visitors who observe the modest dress code are welcomed with a traditional offering of loukoumi and raki.

Amorgos found wider fame as the setting for much of Luc Besson's 1988 film The Big Blue, whose free-diving scenes were shot around the island. The sheltered bay of Agia Anna, below the monastery, and the wreck of the Olympia off Liveros beach are lasting reminders of that era. The whitewashed Chora, spread along a high saddle inland from Katapola, is one of the prettiest island capitals in the Cyclades, a maze of arches, windmills and a small Venetian castle rock.

Walkers are drawn by an excellent network of old stone paths, including a long route linking Chora, the monastery and the Aegiali villages, with wide views at every turn. Beaches tend to be small and pebbly rather than sweeping, but the swimming is superb. Amorgos suits travellers who want drama, hiking and a strong sense of place rather than nightlife, and it repays a stay of several unhurried days.