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.

Autumn

I have been posting about our time in Amorgos in Greece in early September, and meanwhile, here in the UK, we're having a glorious autumn.This was taken in Jephson Gardens, Leamington.

The Fisherman's Party - Amorgos

We were told about this party, feast, celebration, when we booked into our hotel as they were all quite excited about it. It's a feast to celebrate and acknowledge the contribution fishermen make to the island. It usually happens in July, but it was delayed this year because a local and much beloved fisherman died and as they wanted to honour his memory, they delayed the party intil September.

This was also in his honour.

We walked there after our pre-dinner drinks, and even though the party had not officially started, it was packed.  Tables and chairs were set up near the sea, the bay area opposite our hotel. Food and drink were free and everyone was welcome.

The band were setting up.

All the food was donated by fishermen and prepated on their boats:

soup, fish and drinks.

We went for our evening meal in a nearby taverna and from there we could see the fireworks going up.

After our meal we went back - so many people

Lots of people were dancing Greek traditional dances

and they had an audience

On the edges of the feast, small groups set up their own dance

A great evening.