Amorgos Botanical Park

We spent our last morning in Amorgos in the botanical park. It's a small, vibrant botanical garden dedicated to showcasing the unique flora of Amorgos and the Cyclades. Furthermore,  lots of events are organised here: yoga classes, music concerts, theatrical performances, workshops, exhibitions and screenings of films. The bulletin board was full of upcoming events, plus a film we really wanted to see, but by the time it was showing we would have been back in Athens.

Through this gate

and we were in.

There are lots of trees around, but on top of it, awnings provide more shade

and lots of seating all around the park.

This is a place that is so clearly for people to sit and relax and this is exactly what we did.

Fragrant bushes everywhere

It's obviously stuff that has been donated, or makeshift constructions, but it's all so cosy and welcoming

and inviting user co-operation in the maintenance of the place.

We saw quite a few people working on their laptops - what a wonderful facility this is for working!

There was a large group who were obviously celebrating something, and had taken up a lot of the surrounding tables, as well as the people sitting here in this photo

A small grassed area is for the children to play

The outdoor cafe serves herbal drinks and breakfast made with organic local products 

Curious to see what was up the steps I went to have a look

and found a pool

I then saw some kids going behind some bushes, so I went to investigate and found this huge turtle - must be ancient - who was trying to hide from us

There was a lot going on and yet, it was so peaceful. The perfect way to spend our last morning.

As we were leaving we stopped at the herbal lab 

lots of herbs drying on racks

and goods that are made from the herbs being sold.

Katapola in Amorgos - the upper town

Set in narrow lanes to protect from the summer sun, six things define Cycladic architecture:  Cubes stacked without symmetry; flat or barrel-vaulted roofs and terraces; walls a metre thick, rendered and lime-washed white; tiny windows and thick door frames; outside stairs running up the face of the building. And no straight lines anywyere, because  everything was built by hand against a slope.

Away from the seafront, Katapola is a maze of narrow lanes

vaulted entrances of the houses that are also tiny seating areas

churches

and no asphalt in sight.

Interesting details

Lots of balconies for people to sit, a lot of them shelted from the sun

The Cycladic architectural feature of whitewashed walls (limewash reflects 75-85% of light, thus limiting the absorption of heat in the summer months) and leaving parts of the the dark locally quarried stone, visible.

We saw quite a few of these tiny doors on ground floors, entrances to cellars, I presume

We enjoyed walking around. 

No matter where you are in Katapola, the mountains loom behind

 

We enjoyed looking at some of the shops

This narrow lane is right next to where our hotel was

The room we were given in our hotel was awful, so during our first day we started looking around for somewhere else to stay. Most of the places available were pensions or rooms, a lot of them built around wonderful gardens like this one

but, in the end we did not move, as we complained and we were given an excellent room which we enjoyed for the rest of our stay.

This is another pension

This is Arleta, near the sea front and near our hotel

where they sold the most wonderful cakes and pastries.

Most of the time we would walk the lanes near the sea front

but occasionally we would venture further uphill towards the upper part of town

which always involved steps

a tunnel

that leads to the highest part of the town

a series of modern apartments, I presume for tourists

built sensitively in line with the local architecture.

We had reached the top of the town.