At six thirty in the morning I gaze at the Aegean Sea with its islets from the roof of my room, sip my first morning coffee and watch the sunbeams above my head playing with the clouds. The late-night gambler doesn’t give up, insisting on the start of the day.
At the back of Chora, an old windmill rises and, a little further north, the small village cemetery, which with its all-white chapels and fence creates a very peaceful picture.

When you get on the road to Anafi,
-whether you wish it or not.
it’s a long road…
This could be the beginning of the story of the journey to Anafi, paraphrasing the original lines of Kavafis’ famous poem. A journey from Piraeus, after the approaches to half of the Cycladic islands, takes 16-17 hours! If we include the 7 hours from Thessaloniki to Piraeus, then we are separated from Anafi for 24 hours! Even at the remote point of the hydrographic basin we would arrive faster. So to save time, we decided to follow in the footsteps of Savvopoulos and travel “with planes and barges”. When we finally set foot on the pier of Anafi at 21:30, I find that exactly 14 hours have passed since we left home!
– We have gained a full 10 hours, Anna says excitedly, and I am supposed to share her enthusiasm.
You will, of course, reasonably ask yourself why we chose this little island in the south-easternmost tip of the Cyclades as our destination and not another with more acceptable access conditions. The reasons were important: firstly, the rave comments of our friend and colleague Kyriakos Papageorgiou about the Monastery of Kalamiotissa, “the most shocking outpost of the Aegean”, the wonderful sandy beaches and the hiking trails. Then, the praises of his friend and colleague Michalis Zeevgoulas for the Anafiotic cuisine and the hospitality of the inhabitants.
There was of course already an excellent informative background, the “Kathimerini” tribute for Anafi in the insert “Seven Days” of July 21, 2002.
A more immediately motivating reason was perhaps the warmth with which the President of the Anafi Community invited us to his place. If we add to all this and our almost permanent… “perversion” to be attracted by the less prominent and known places of Greece, then it is understandable, why the time and the inconvenience of the journey to Anafi were of secondary importance for us.
Airport “MAKEDONIA” (short delay), airport “EL. VENIZELOS” (long wait), port of Santorini (long delay) and at 21:30 we landed in Anafi, no more than 70 passengers, the vast majority of them French and German, some Americans and the rest of the locals. The only non-local Greeks are probably us. It is Saturday 29 May, the first day of the three-day Holy Spirit holiday, which for the Greeks is not enough time for … “distant” Anafi (only 1 hour and 45 minutes by boat from Santorini). However, on the same day that 70 people have disembarked in Anafi, thousands of visitors from all over the world have arrived on the island of Santorini. The huge, motley crowd is constantly being pushed from the port inland. Taxi and bus drivers, shopkeepers – perhaps more than any other point in the Mediterranean – are in a frenzy, the streets of Fira are suffocating, two “Capuccino with a view” cost 9 euros.
And we, romantic travellers to the island of peace, watch in amazement what is happening around us. You will tell me, of course, that Santorini is sort of the “navel of the earth”, one of the most famous, popular and photographed places on the planet. I don’t disagree. But it seems to me absurdly excessive to have so many thousands of people moving through a place in a single day, while a few miles away a few dozen or – at peak times – a few hundred harried visitors arrive in the space of a week. Is it so practically impossible to run a local transport service from Santorini to Anafi – even of limited capacity – so that some lovers of peace and tranquillity can have daily access to the island?
Smiling and exuberant, the President of Anafi, Iakovos Roussos, welcomes us to his island. Some visitors stay in the rooms to let in the small settlement of the harbour. The rest are forwarded to Kleisidi – the second small settlement – or, like us, to Chora, where we arrive in a few minutes on the Anafi community bus. The President’s wife and daughter settle us in one of the family’s rooms and wish us “good rest”. We need it, as well as a good dinner. About thirty metres from our room is the main (pedestrian-only) walkway that runs from east to west through the Chora of Anafi. We climb for a couple of minutes and find ourselves in front of the restaurant – café “Anafi”, which has been operating since 1989 under the care of Alexandra Rinakis and her husband Neophytos.
The spot has an unobstructed view of the lower part of Chora and the Aegean Sea, where the bulk of some islands can be vaguely seen. It is, however, exposed to a strong gust of wind that forces us to retreat inland.
Local roast goat, braised goat, excellent saganaki with Anafi cheese and tomato salad with a rich contribution of spicy capers are a first contact with Anafi delicacies.
Later, our room is quiet. Only the moaning of the wind can be heard, a sound so authentic and pleasant.
FIRST PICTURES OF THE COUNTRY AND THE ISLAND
At six thirty in the morning I look out from the roof of my room at the Aegean Sea with its – as yet unknown – islands, sip my first morning coffee and watch the sunbeams above my head playing with the clouds. The late-night gambler doesn’t give up, insisting on the start of the day.
At the back of Chora, very close to us and, a little further north, the small village cemetery, which with its all-white chapels and fence creates a very peaceful picture. As we walk over the windmill we hear a rhythmic sound. It is Uncle Labros Hallaris, who at this Sunday morning hour is making new frames for his candleholders.
– We are proud of the quality of our honey, says Uncle-Lambros, both the anthomelo honey and the thyme honey, which comes out a little later. After all, they say, the island has over 300 herbs.
His workshop is small and full of the typical mill machinery.
– Yes, this used to be an old olive press, which made very good oil in a traditional way. There were other oil mills and in a good year the island produced 25-30 tons of oil. Today there are none left and those who are still producing oil are running to oil mills on other islands.
A little later at the tavern of Alexandra we have for breakfast omelette with anafiotic eggs and of course the wonderful saganaki, something that, with a few variations, will be established for all other mornings. With the daylight we have the opportunity to appreciate the top view of the Aegean Sea and to determine the position and volume of the islands. Opposite us, in the SE, two neighbouring islets protrude just 30m above the sea surface. Their name is “Ftena”, perhaps because of their small height and volume. They are the closest to Anafi and are 4 km from the waterfront of Agios Nikolaos. Behind in the same straight line, and at a distance of 8.5 km from the port, rises, much more massive and conical in shape, the “Pachia or Anafopoulos”, with a maximum height of 212 m. Further east, with a height of 125 m. and at a distance of 12 km. from Anafi, the “Makrya” rises, which with its characteristic elongated shape, fully justifies its name.
– Once in the years of the Occupation lived tsobanos in Pachia, says Kyriakos Antoniadis next to us. Today, only a few wild goats live in Makria and Pachia.
Thale and thriving in his 90s, Uncle Kyriakos once served as President of Anafi and for 55 years as the owner of the café, which today houses the tavern of Alexandra. Descended from a Cypriot father but born in Anafi, he has much to tell us about the recent history of the island with its 5500 sheep and 150 cattle, the abundant figs and oil, wine and vines, honey, wheat, barley and fava beans.
– Thanks to its rich waters and the ambition of its inhabitants, it is a true “Promised Land” or Anafi, an island of beekeeping, agriculture and livestock farming par excellence that has never gone hungry. The island has also had very good craftsmen for centuries. Besides, you are certainly familiar with the “Anafiotika”, under the Acropolis.
A little later, the old man clouds over, reminiscing about the dark years of the interwar years, when Anafi, because of its location, was a place of exile for political prisoners and a place of imprisonment for convicts under common criminal law. In her article in Kathimerini, M.E. Kenna (1) ” Anafi was located on the outskirts of the Greek state, a visit to the island required a 24-hour journey on the barren line… Such a place was considered particularly suitable for exile. The place of exile essentially functioned as an “ideological purgatory”, so that the ideas, behaviour and lifestyle of the “public risks” would not contaminate the public”. Kenna concludes, “Tourists who visit the island today, enjoying its beaches and scenery, cannot imagine the experience of exile for months or years, with winter storms and raging winds, in a place then described as a ‘place far from God’.
The bell of the church of the patron saint St. Nicholas can be heard. Following the same main street, we reach the homonymous square in two minutes. The distances are so short and getting from point to point so simple in Chora of Anafi. On our short route we pass a picturesque little café “Glaros”, whose few tables are scattered on tiny private balconies with an absolute view of the sea.
In the centre of the very beautiful paved square there is a simple Monument to fallen Anafiots, while at one end there is a café, a beautiful building with rooms to let and a small car park. At the western end of the square stands a ruined old windmill, next to it a low stone house with a dome and in contact with it, the chapel of St. Athanasios. From this point the view of Santorini is unobstructed, its long outline is faintly outlined in the morning mist.
The service ends, the Anafiotes and Anafiotis come out of the church wearing their best, exchanging hearty greetings. A picturesque picture of a small society, taken from the past.
Behind the church of Agios Nikolaos, at the highest point of the country, the volume of the brownish yellow rock with the remains of the castle dominates. We start to climb up the narrow alleys, winding between low houses and courtyards. Shortly before we reach the castle, we meet the unique Athena of Anafi, Mrs. Athena Hallari, in front of her oven. Next to it is the chapel of Ag. Theodora, then steps and at the top the chapel of Ai-Giorgis, donated by Maria Kalogiros in 1971.
The traces of the fortification that survive today are very poor and give only a faint picture of the original form of the castle. According to the archaeologist Angeliki Mitsaki (2), ‘the building activity of the first period of Venetian suzerainty in Anafi, during the Foscolo era (1207-1269), seems to have been responsible for the original fortification and habitation of the hill on which the settlement of Chora lies today’.
From the altitude of 250 metres and the top of the castle the view is unique to every point of the horizon and of course there is excellent visual contact to the east with the towering rock of Kalamos, on top of which another castle was built at the beginning of the 15th century.
The whole country stretches beneath our feet like a huge puzzle with alternating domed and horizontal levels that are the roofs of the houses. Interspersed between them like little blue accents are the characteristic blue orange windows, which is the only colour used apart from white. We cannot fail to notice the abundant presence of capers in the little soil that exists in the castle grounds. We descend in fascination following another alleyway to the east.
Outside his little house an old man greets us.
– The castle here was built by the old people to protect themselves from the curators. And do you know what kind of weapon they invented to shoot them in the head? Clay jars full of bees!
We go down steps, down alley after alley, it’s a fascinating little maze. There are times when we think we’ve reached a dead end, but there’s always a narrow and unlikely passage that leads to another alley. Rarely have I encountered such narrow passages, in some of them I have the impression that my body cannot fit. And everywhere little houses with the necessary columbarium in their yards, the size of which varies according to the number of members and the needs of the family. Some houses are domed and others are flat-roofed, a constant charming alternation between strict straight lines and sweet curves. Regardless of their construction, however, all are picturesque and in the vast majority of them – at least the old ones – of modest dimensions, adapted to the limited space available on the site and to the absolutely necessary functional needs of their occupants.
A sympathetic little lady is basking in her courtyard, next to her baking oven.
– When do you burn the oven? I ask her.
– Now they only light the ovens on Labor Day. Every now and then a merchant will turn it on, to eat delicious food, says Mrs. Maria. In my days, they used to light the fournias all the time, and we had enough bread for the family.
– Let me take a picture of you with your oven, says Anna.
– How can you take a picture of me, my daughter, in the clothes I’m wearing?
A little further down we pass in front of the church of Agios Charalambos with its beautiful bell tower. Next to it is the Anafi Community and half a minute later the Primary School, the main street of Chora, the bakery, the grocery store, the small grill, the bar, our room and, a few dozen meters further down, two little taverns appear. All within walking distance, with the sole and healthy means of transportation being people’s feet. Only “civilization” is far from Anafi, since the state wanted it that way with its unjustified indifference.
A BRIEF HISTORICAL REVIEW
The name of Anafi, which has remained unchanged from antiquity to the present day, is linked to a charming legend (3). According to this legend, when the Argonauts were returning from Colchis in the Aegean, they encountered a night of fierce bad weather. Then Jason invoked the help of Apollo and he, with his golden bow, shot a bright arrow. From the glow of his arrow (the “glamour”) an island “appeared” in the stormy sea. There the Argonauts were able to rest and out of gratitude to God they founded an altar. For the saving “glamour” (glow) the god was worshipped from then on in the place as “Aeglitis Apollo” and the island that “appeared” from the sea was given the name Anafi.
Above the SE coast of the island, at an altitude of 1,000 m above sea level. 327m. is the impressive hill “Kastelli”, with its characteristic diagonal peak. There the ancient city of Anafi was founded, which was probably colonized by Dorians in the 8th century BC, as well as the Gethonian Thera. Although a Doric colony, however, Anafi was a member of the Athenian alliance. During the Hellenistic period (after 300 BC) the island minted its own coinage with the head of Apollo Aiglitis on one side and a crater with a bee on the other, symbolizing the great beekeeping tradition that has been preserved to this day.
For the hiking visit to Kastelli there is a sign with a path on the asphalt road network of the southern part of the island. The signpost is 5,1 km from Chora and the ascent to the top of the hill, where ruins of buildings and a wall are preserved, takes 30-40 minutes. During the route and on the SE slope of the hill we find the cemetery of the town, where large underground chambers with an entrance and a stone staircase leading to the interior have been found. Burial monuments decorated with marble statues or busts of men and women have also been found, which were transported with great difficulty from this site to Chora, where they are exhibited in a small area provided by the Community of Anafi.
The massive sarcophagus made of white marble, still standing next to the nave of the ‘Virgin Mary in Dokari’, is also impressive. On its four sides it is decorated with relief representations of Gryphons, Herotides, Siren, Velerephon and Pegasus, while the gable-shaped cover bears a scaly ornament in relief. Another similar sarcophagus from Anafi, decorated with relief heralds, is in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. The monumental character of the tombs and the extent of the cemetery, as well as the number of funerary sculptures, show that the city was in great prosperity in Roman times.
South of Kastelli, in the bay of ‘Katalymatssa’, is the port of the ancient city. Here there was a small quarter, the ruins of which are visible over a large area, while marble architectural elements and other building material made of local stone are scattered around.
To complete our historical reference to Anafi, we must add that the island belonged to Byzantium until the 12th century. Then it was renamed Namphio and its possession passed successively through various Venetian or Byzantine rulers, until 1537 when it was captured by the infamous Turkish pirate Hayreddin Barbarossa, who took all the men of the island as prisoners. From then until the 19th century, the information that exists about Anafi is based on the texts of foreign travellers. In the 1840s, many Anafiote craftsmen emigrated to Athens and took the lead in the construction of the capital and the restoration of the Acropolis, while in the 1860s they created the famous picturesque district of Plaka, ‘Anafiotika’.
IN THE SHADOW OF KALAMOS, THE SANCTUARY OF APOLLO, AND THE MONASTERY OF THE ZOODOCHOS SOURCE
Even at night the bulk of Kalamos is visible, its vague outline looming hostile and eerie over the dark sea horizon. By daylight, this formidable cape-rock is revealed in all its wild beauty and splendour. As it rises vertically, ruthlessly one would think, 461 metres above the surface of the sea, it is a geological paradox, a shocking outcrop of land, violently altering the otherwise triangular shape of Anafi to the east. This rock, which, according to the French traveller Tournefort, who visited Anafi in 1702 (4), is ‘one of the most formidable rocks in the world’, is one of our immediate priorities. The time of the day is, of course, late and it is not advisable to climb to its top and to the famous Monastery of Ano Panagia Kalamiotissa. We therefore limit ourselves for the moment to our visit to Kato Kalamiotissa or Monastery of the Zoodochos Pigi, which is built on the ruins of the temple of Apollo the Aegletian. It is a total route of 9 asphalt kilometres from Chora to the Monastery, which we will discuss in more detail below. It is actually the south-eastern part of the island’s coastline, which is the mildest and forms wonderful sandy bays and coves, extremely popular with summer holidaymakers, Greeks and – mostly – foreigners.
The surviving ruins of the temple of Apollo and – by extension – the buildings of the monastery are located on a neck about 60 metres above sea level. This is the narrowest point of the isthmus, which connects the main body of the island of Anafi with the cape of Kalamos.
The ancient ‘Sacred Oros’, which started from the eastern slope of the town at Kastelli and had altars and monuments along it, ended at this location, while parts of the cobblestone pavement are still visible today. The sanctuary of Apollo (5) was defined by an impressive enclosure made isodically from local stone (ironstone), which is preserved at a great height and today forms the enclosure of the monastery.
The ancient building material, well-crafted bricks of marble or local stone, were used in the construction of many of the modern facilities of the monastery, where several inscriptions were also built in. The altar of the monastery, to the right of the entrance, is for the most part part part of an ancient building, probably the temple of Apollo itself. In the courtyard of the monastery and all around it, there are scattered architectural elements: column vertebrae, cyanostones and triglyphs. Also in the area around the courtyard there are numerous ruins, apparently of various installations of the ancient temple. Because the buildings have been damaged, mainly by earthquakes, the Archaeological Service has shored up some of the dangerous parts and is planning to fix and maintain them.
As regards the monastery of Kalamiotissa, the church is built on the foundations of the ancient church (6). The church itself is a one-room trulaeos church with a newer polygonal bell tower on the western façade.
Inside, a fine 19th century painted and carved wooden iconostasis survives. Most of the icons are works by Nikolaos Karavia from the second half of the 19th century, among which the clearly earlier icon of Kalamiotissa with its silver-gilt paneling.
Due to the numerous repairs of the church, it is difficult to determine the time of its construction. What is certain is that the monastery of Kalamiotissa acquired crusading privileges during the patriarchal rule of Sophronius (1774-1780), which were renewed in 1798 by Patriarch Gregory.
Next to the monastery, in a humble little house, lives the shepherd Barba-Mattheos with his wife Kalliopi. His is the hard goat’s cheese, which is the basis for the so delicious saganaki. We bid them farewell for now with the promise that on the last day of our stay on the island we will stop by to pick up a supply of honey and cheese.
ON THE KEY AND ON THE OTHER BEACHES
Every morning we wake up at dawn, between five and six. I don’t know exactly why. Maybe we get tired of sleeping since, even though the room has a TV, we never turn it on. Maybe it’s because, again, our biological clock that works on instinct. tells us not to miss a minute of Anafi.
Before the sun even comes out, the sky, the country and the sea are dominated by grey.
and white. Then, as the dawn turns pink, the colours sweeten, the islands across the way wake up, the first shadows play between the all-white surfaces, giving volume to houses and alleys. At some such beginnings of the day we run to climb up opposite hills, to catch the waking of the Chora. At other times we descend towards the harbour, raise our eyes and see Chora hanging above us, like a white irregular line against a blue background.
Between the bay of Ai-Nikolas and Chora is perched Kleisidi, a small settlement with a few small houses and guesthouses. It is one of the places on the island that Michalis Zeevoulas had enthusiastically told us about. It is not by chance. Although the place is next to the port, it seems cut off from the rest of the island, since the road stops there. It is a special destination for returnees and initiates, who want nothing around them but the green of the hillside, the fairytale sandy beach of Kleisidi and the blue horizon of the open sea.
But Kleisidi also has something else, something very important: the delicious creations of Margarita Kalogeropoulou, which the magazine’s culinary expert, Michalis Zeevoulas, told us so much about. We meet her on a sunny afternoon, as she prepares to fire her oven. Unlike the vast majority of ovens in Anafi, which now only rarely justify their existence, Margarita’s oven is constantly burning, sometimes to host for hours in its warm embrace the local goat with cheese and olive oil oregano and sometimes to bake the delicious bread. This bread is either fermented with sourdough and the use of white and yellow flour or it is called ‘zaforito’, which is called that because it contains ‘zaphor’, the saffron that is native to the slopes of Anafi.
Margarita does not hide her pleasure at meeting us, after all, she has long been a subscriber to the magazine. She remembers that, when she started her business 20 years ago with the restaurant and the rooms to let, the infrastructure that existed before was minimal, such as the rooms and the restaurant “Artemis” in Kleisidi and the café and tavern of Mrs. Popi in the port. Those were the years when the first visitors, Greeks and foreigners, discovered Anafi as a tourist destination.
Even earlier, in 1966, the anthropologist Margaret Kenna had encountered in Anafi conditions that today seem primitive. As she reports. Three telephones only worked on the island, one at the gendarmerie station, one at the harbour and one at the post office. There was no proper jetty, forcing the liner to anchor off the harbour and passengers and goods had to be transferred to barges to reach the shore. If the winds had been strong, the ship would have given way and continued on its course, there would have been no mail and supplies for that week.
The construction of the electric generator and the end of the dictatorship marked a profound change in Anafi. Immigrants began to return, residents began to renovate buildings or build rooms to rent to tourists. A few years later, the completion of port improvements allowed passengers and cargo to disembark at the pier. More and more tourists, both Greek and foreign, were arriving on the island. The name of Anafi began to appear in tourist guides, which described it as a “virgin island”, with amazing beaches on its southern side and wild landscapes.
The road was built in the 1980s and shortly afterwards the port was connected to the village and the beach by bus.
Thousands of tourists now visited Anafi every year from May to September, with some preferring to camp on the beaches rather than rent a room, creating litter and hygiene problems.”
Kenna concludes, “The island, which I thought in the 1960s would be abandoned by its inhabitants, is now a lively and prosperous place, with some of its rooms appearing on the INTERNET.”
The first scents of Margarita’s bread are already emerging from the bakery and filling the atmosphere, something that does not go unnoticed by her customers, who are currently all foreigners.
– Many of them have become permanent visitors, says the hostess. They come here every summer, many of them for 10-15 years. For example, that lonely man at the edge table, he’s been coming for almost 15 years now and stays all summer. He is Christian, a nice-looking German who, among his other qualities, is a painter. He always sits there at the same table. We have named it “Christian’s table” and we keep it for him.
With a beer in front of him, what else could the German be drinking; he has a sun-reddish complexion, untangled beard and hair. A colourful “poncho”, draped around his head, covers the upper part of his skinny body like a small celery and makes him look like a figure out of a western movie. Every now and then he lights a cigarette, takes a sip of beer and gazes out over the sea with half-closed eyes. At one point he finishes his beer, puts on a cardboard flat cap that gives him a Mexican look, greets the group with a faint smile and calmly walks away, holding his inseparable cane in his hand. Anyone can now sit at his little table.
– He lives in a sleeping bag, on the small adjacent coast “Katsuni”¨, explains Margarita. In August, when the world becomes too much for him, he asks a fisherman to take him for a couple of weeks across to the Ftena, where he lives like a hermit.
Meanwhile, in the space of the last two hours, the morning garbanzo has grown stronger. It started early as a cool breeze and already must be approaching 6 Beaufort. Successive foaming waves end up with momentum on the shallow sandy beach of Klisidi, creating a wonderful picture of perpetual motion, which, of course, in keeping with the proportions, strongly brings to mind exotic images of Pacific islands. But it is not only the sight that is happy with this sight, it is also the wonderful sound of the waves that is constantly “pleasant to our ears”. Add to all this the satisfaction of taste with Margarita’s six-tiered delicacies – chickpea, pumpkin, zucchini, fava beans and cuttlefish with fennel and cut spaghetti – and I wonder what more we could wish for.
The harbour cove and the adjacent Kleisidi mark the beginning of the gentle S and SE coast of Anafi, which established it as a “swimmers paradise”. This coast, almost all along its length from the port to the beginning of the cape of Kalamos, ends with gentle slopes into the sea, in contrast to the rest of the island’s coastline, which is either rocky or completely steep. A series of fascinating bays and coves are thus created in this part of Anafi, the majority of which are barely visible from the asphalt road network. However, if one starts from Kleisidi with patience and a willingness to explore, one will very soon discover why the beaches of Anafi have been so well known and popular for the last 30 years, mainly among foreigners but also among the initiated Greeks. So, starting this trek, we quickly discover behind Kleisidi, the small sandy beach “Katsouni”, Christian’s favourite place, with its shallow clear waters and tamarisks. Immediately after is “Flamuru”, small and small, which has the peculiarity of appearing rocky in some years and sandy in others.
– This depends on the intensity of the winds, Margarita explains to me. A strong gust of wind blows the sandy beach away, while the north wind brings it back.
Next to Flamourous begin the well-known beaches of “Roukouna”, “Exo”, “Little” and “Big Roukouna”. These beaches became famous because, until a few years ago, they attracted huge numbers of – mainly foreign – free campers and nudists. However, at one time the local community and health reasons prompted the ban on free camping.
From the asphalt, the beach of Rukouna looks like a small beach, not more than a few dozen metres long. After a 5-minute walk alongside a beautiful gully with oleanders, prickly pears, reeds and olive trees, we find that it is an extensive beach with an opening of about half a kilometre. It is an attractive sandy beach that has the Ftena and Pachia opposite it and is wide open to the south and to all the secondary winds, from the Sorokolevante to the gale. Above the wide strip of sand an unbroken line of hundreds of tamarisk trees casts a protective shade, making Rukuna beach ideal for bathers.
On the road to the coast, the tavern of the same name, now closed, operates during the summer season.
After Roukouna is the small coast of Katalymatsas, known from the remains of the ancient epineum and immediately afterwards the “Megas Potamos” with white pebbles and the small sandy beach of Aghios Anargyroi, with the picturesque chapel just above the coast. Anyone who swims here freely gets married, according to local tradition. The coastline ends with the deep and crystal clear waters of the bay of Prassies, below the monastery of Kalamiotissa.
This is the most spectacular point of the southern coast, since the majestic cape of Kalamos rises directly above it.
But it is not only the coastline that is of interest. The entire 9 km asphalt route from Chora to the monastery offers us wonderful images of authentic Anafiotic landscape with all-white chapels and tiny and larger gullies where the presence of water gives food to bitter reeds and olive trees. Dominant with their presence are the island’s farmhouses, the famous “residences”, all equipped with their small or large oven or both.
One such ‘cottage’ – which is of course a modern holiday home – is reached one morning by taking a private dirt road off the tarmac, which leads over a narrow and rocky cove. It’s a peaceful spot, with a small overgrown gully, manicured grounds and a picturesque chapel.
At a late afternoon hour we are at the site of “Megas Potamos”, five and a half km from Chora.
It is one of the most spectacular and largest gorges of the island, which develops like a verdant dividing line between the bare mountains of Kastellio and Chalepa, to end up in the sea on the homonymous coast. The very good dirt road is blocked with an iron barrier, so we leave the car and in six minutes we arrive at the most organized rural country house of Anafi, with a large concentration of olive trees, fig and other fruit trees, a vineyard, ovens, a water cistern and small houses in excellent condition. But what makes the area unique is the most breathtaking view of Kalamos we have seen so far. In front of us stretches with amazing immediacy the wide bay of Prassia.
The chapel of Ag.Anargyroi, the Monastery of Zoodochos Pigi at the neck and further north a solid mountainous mass with rocks of impressive formations. To the east, above the bay rises, an insurmountable barrier, the most famous point of Anafi, the formidable rock of Kalamos. As the sun sets behind us, we watch the gradual change in colour of the huge surface of the rock, which turns redder and redder until it is surrounded by a faint violet.
To the south, towards the side of the pelagic, the four deserts, in an almost imaginary straight line, still have the last rays of sunlight on them for a little while longer. Then they too become mere outlines, slowly losing the details of their volume.
One day before the moon becomes all-glowing, it appears high in the sky east of the summit of Kalamos. It’s time to return to Chora.
– Tomorrow morning I want to climb Kalamiotissa, Anna says, as we gaze at the rock’s extravaganza for the last time.
A delicious fish soup with a platter of freshly made scorpions awaits us a little later on the balcony of Alexandra. A little before midnight, the dark masses of the micro-islands are distinctly outlined in the silvery seaway formed by the moon.
IN THE WINDSWEPT HEIGHTS OF THE CALAMITY
The moment I open my eyes it is still night, or at least it seems to be. But my watch has a different opinion since, according to its hands, it is already dawn. The mystery doesn’t last long. A grey-black sky is the culprit of the darkness. In fact, the clouds are so low that they look like a fog, a fog that is constantly shifting due to the loud gust of wind. I wonder if, at the beginning of June, I am in Anafi or in the famous “cauldrons” of Olympus, which produce fog almost all year round.
– I’m sorry, I say a little later at the morning coffee meeting at Anna’s. Kalamiotissa for today is postponed.
– No way, she replies stubbornly. After all, the weather will open up soon.
I think, too late of course, that if I had been the advocate of the climb from the start, Anna might have refused.
– Fine then, if we can locate the rock, I agree to climb.
It’s not an exaggeration. All the way from the mainland to the monastery, we just suspect the existence of the peak. It is permanently covered by clouds.
– Good morning, Mrs. Calliope. What’s the weather like today? I ask the shepherd’s wife.
– Adara, my child, it’s winter again.
But where are you off to first thing in the morning?
– We think we’ll fly to the top.
– What about the baby?
– And the baby.
It’s a cross to bear for Mrs. Calliope. She’s trying to stop us. She talks about the fog, about the danger of losing the trail early, about the wild wind high on the edge of the cliff.
– Leave it for tomorrow, she says at the end, exhausting her arguments.
– Don’t worry, Mrs. Calliope, we’ll make it.
We’re starting out with determination. One-year-old Athena bounces happily on my shoulders.
For so many days she has been perfectly comfortable in the extremely practical backpack, which, three weeks ago in Methana, my friends from Cyprus brought me. It is heavily overcast and windy. Ideal weather for climbing.
– But not for photography, says Anna. It will look like we’ve climbed Kalamos in winter.
The path is rocky but passable. In its early stages it is a little unclear, but with some experience it is impossible to miss it. A little further up the boundaries are clear, it is now a well-formed path.
At the same time, however, the gradient becomes more pronounced, the successive bends begin, bends known as “bends”. Meanwhile, despite my initial ominous predictions, the weather is turning out to be exciting, almost ideal. The wind is always blowing hard, of course, but this has the effect of moving the fog and clouds, of constantly revealing unpredictable images that last for a few seconds or minutes and then change or disappear. Sometimes the sea is revealed in the north-eastern part of the peninsula, sometimes parts of the steep and extremely complex terrain with successive chaotic gorges and cliffs, and sometimes, above the waves of fog, a pale sun and bits of blue sky are released. In the early stages, of course, the march is quite painful for me since, in addition to my own kilos, I carry almost 10 kilos of Athena’s. This lady after the first twenty minutes, the way she sways with my slow pace, has probably lost all interest in the beautiful route. So she tilts her little head on my left shoulder and falls asleep, but seriously disturbing the centre of gravity on my back, which creates a stability problem for me.
Almost fifty minutes from our departure we reach the first “pass” or “staircase”, at an altitude of 350 meters. It is a neck, with an incomprehensible cliff below it to the NE. The path is carved into the rim, but it is nevertheless safe and is further supported by iron railings. At this point, seated and with a strong wind, we stop for two minutes, giving ourselves a few breaths and some impressive images of the rough geological process of nature in the rocky mass of Kalamos.
– Courage, I say to Anna, but more for me to hear. We’re almost there!
We are now moving to the northern foothills of the peak on an exclusively rocky path.
Obstructed by the mountain, the gargoyle is completely silent, everything is suddenly quiet. In a decade we reach the second staircase with the same spectacular scenery all around us. The monastery, however, still remains unseen. Straightening up for a while, again cagellas, steps carved into the rock, the last effort. At exactly 9:50, 1 hour and 10 minutes after our departure, we face the massif of Kalamiotissa, a white meteor on the edge of the rough limestone cliff. At the same moment, now free of obstacles, the garbos strikes us in the faces, stronger than ever. We rush to find a sheltered spot and change our soaked shirts.
(8) “The catholic of the monastery is a one-roomed trulaios church with high proportions, an octagonal outer dome drum, a wide semicircular sanctuary arch and a two-arched neoclassical bell tower.”(8) “The catholic is a one-roomed trulaios church with high proportions, an octagonal outer dome drum, a wide semicircular sanctuary arch and a two-arched neoclassical bell tower. The katholikon retains an 18th-century wood-carved iconostasis internally but the icons have been moved to the lower cloister. Opposite the katholikon, a marble slab embedded in the front of the cell, bears an engraved inscription on which the date 1715, April 15, is inscribed and the humble Meletios Hieromonachos is mentioned as the founder.
A water tank and four cells, some of which are closed, complete the monastery’s buildings. Some of them are open and traces of a makeshift visitor installation can be seen inside. It is known that several nature lovers every year make a habit of spending the night at Kalamiotissa, in order to have the greatest happiness at dawn to gaze at the sun rising from the Aegean waters. But the full moon from the top of Kalamiotissa must be an unforgettable experience.
An iron railing, perhaps not as solid as it should be, provides protection for the exterior south side of the church from the cliff. But the rooftop terrace next to a twin dome cell is clear on all sides. There I prefer to sit for a few minutes. The view is dizzying, the spread of the Aegean surface to the edge of the horizon, inconceivable. It would probably be too difficult to attempt to describe in any words and phrases the image and feelings at the sight of this blue vastness.
I am calling my friend Kyriakos Papageorgiou, the first person in years who spoke to me and warmly encouraged me to climb Kalamiotissa.
– I call out to him, orienting the phone against the wind. I’m on your favorite Aegean balcony.
Yet down low, from the surface of the sea, a huge white cloud so solid that it obscures any visual contact with the western horizon is constantly rising. Several times it reaches the top like a dense fog and then it gets darker transiently, the sun almost disappears. We wait patiently for this perpetual production of water vapor to cease one day. At last at some point the upper part of the cloud dissipates, while the rest remains low. And then the Chora of Anafi is revealed for the first time in front of us, a small, all-white speck on its hilltop.
The return is a pleasant walk, completed in 50 minutes. We again meet Lady-Calliope and this time she greets us, happy and relieved.
A GRAND TOUR INSIDE
– After the heights of Kalamos, I think we deserve to relax with an ouzo on the seashore, I say to Anna.
We walk down the almost three kilometres that separate us from Chora and go to sit down at the tavern “Akroγιάali” of Mrs. Popi, the President’s mother.
– At this time the best thing I can recommend is fried gopits, cooked in the morning, says Mrs. Popi’s daughter, Nektaria. But if it were evening, I would recommend my mother’s traditional Greek cuisine.
35 years Mrs. Popi has been running the shop. 35 years of uninterrupted service and even in times when the existence of the shop depended on the few visitors of the island at that time.
– Except for the winters when everything calmed down, I didn’t sleep a single noon all these years, she says bitterly. And I still don’t know what the seawater is like in summer either.
The butts are delicious, and so is the salad with Anafi worms. Next to us, two pairs of Americans and Germans are enjoying the same things. We are the only people at this hour in the port of Anafi. Us and the waiter who won’t stop. In the early afternoon we begin our tour, which will continue uninterrupted until the last day of our stay on the island. Our invaluable assistant in this venture is the community 4×4, kindly placed at our disposal by the President.
We never needed the increased road capabilities of this car, of course, as the roads of Anafi are well maintained and on the whole almost car-friendly.
There are five main roads starting in Chora and leading to various parts of the island. The first one, which is the shortest, ends after 2.8 unpaved kilometres at the bay of Agios Nikolaos with its pier. The old path is also maintained in excellent condition, a nice hiking trail that descends from the southern part of the country to the port in about a quarter of an hour.
The second road, also unpaved, connects Chora with the easternmost point of the island, with a 9 km route, ending at the Monastery of Zoodochos Pigi Kato Kalamiotissa, below Kalamos. It is the most comfortable and most popular road for visitors, since it passes close to the top sandy beaches and also offers an impressive view of the stunning rock of the cape of Kalamos.
The third road is directed W-NW of Chora towards the sites of ‘Kammeni Lagada’, ‘Vagia’ and ‘Lakkous’. The main network is asphalted with a length of about five and a half kilometres and with many interesting earthen terminals in successive bays and coasts. The first location we encounter is Kammeni Lagada with orchards, olive trees and many spring waters.
Here is also the cove “Kyparissi”, an extensive beach where the pebbles alternate with pebbles and is used by many holidaymakers who prefer this type of coastline.
Then, and after Cape “Lytra”, which is the westernmost of Anafi, we find Vagia with its homonymous cove, which has almost the same morphological characteristics as the previous one.
Next comes the bay of Prassa, a rocky cove that is not particularly hospitable, which becomes hostile and inaccessible with a strong mainsail.
The tour of the northwestern part of the island ends with the site of Lakkous and the cove “Kalagathi”, a beach that combines pebbles and sand.
All this W and NW part of Anafi presents a significant morphological difference compared to the rest of the island, which as a whole consists of rocky and bare mountain ranges. This difference is reflected in the scientific study by N.G. (8) ‘The mountainous and almost monotonous morphology of Anafi is abruptly changed in its western sectors, where the mountainous character disappears almost completely, and the dominant forms are much smoother and can be described as hilly with a general slope towards the sea. The observed evenness, always compared to the rest of the island, which characterises the areas of Vagia, as this area is called, is the result of its geological construction. This consists of a system of rocks that are much younger than the rocks that make up the rest of the island. These rocks are of a completely different nature – most fragile – and of different tectonic positioning’.
In conclusion, it is an extremely mild landscape, combining small and large valleys with terraces and crops, lowlands, some of which are perfectly flat, many rural houses and a large number of picturesque chapels scattered throughout.
The fourth route is much shorter than the previous one, moving inland and is quite spectacular and interesting. From Chora we start heading east towards Kalamos and at about 400 meters we leave the asphalt road and go sharply uphill to the left on the asphalt road, which is also paved. We leave on our right a downhill dirt road that passes over quarries and we take the direction to “Vrysi” and “Agios Mamma” as the sign says. After a few hundred metres we turn right onto a dirt road (in the straight ahead the paved road ends further up at “Elikodromo”).
Very quickly we come across a sign in front of us, which informs us that we are at the location “Psathi”. From here we have a nice view of the northern part of Chora and, in the foreground, the beautiful building of the Gymnasium and Lyceum of Anafi. All around us, white silhouettes of chapels seem to spring up from the ground, while the wider area is dotted with houses, small olive groves, vineyards and terraces.
Continuing northwards, you will always find some secondary dirt roads, which end after short drives in residential areas or dead ends with spectacular views towards the north-western part of the island. From one such point we overlook a deep and large ravine with olive trees, terraces and a path, which, even from the long distance we observe it, can be clearly seen crossing the lower part of the ravine in a NW direction towards the coast.
Bypassing the secondary dirt roads and continuing straight on, we come across the chapel of the Cross, which, according to the sign, is of the 15th century, 3.7 km from Chora. The chapel is built at the foot of the southern and steepest slope of Vigla, which, with an altitude of 579 metres, is the highest point of the island.
The fifth and last main road of Anafi is long, complex but also extremely interesting, as it leads to some of the most fascinating parts of the island. It is an interconnected network of main and secondary dirt roads, generally taking us across the north-western part of the island. Here the main features of the Anafiotic landscape appear realistically before our eyes, the mountain ranges succeeding each other bare, rocky and sun-baked. The limestone terrain is rough and inhospitable, strewn with uneven stones and hostile thorny bushes.
In the winter months, however, the landscape changes, the repulsive nakedness of the mountains is covered with a thin mantle of green grass, which a little later in spring is decorated by nature with colourful wild flowers.
Between the mountain ranges, the ancient erosive action of the waters has created charming folds, ravines, valleys, small and large gullies. The succession of seasons leaves these micro-areas unaffected, even in the hottest summer periods they resemble oases.
One will always find here the green soil of olive tree branches, prickly pear trees with their thick leaves, small vineyards on slopes or terraces, reeds, fig trees, orchards with crops, the vivid colour of oleander. It is these blessed places where the spring waters are ever-present, a phenomenon inexplicable for a Cycladic island with such a southern latitude and such low mountains.
One such place, where water flows inexhaustibly, is the well-known location “Vrisi”, near the northwestern tip of the island. To get there, we start from Chora in the direction of Kalamos and, just like on the fourth route, we go uphill at 400 meters, steeply to the left. Immediately afterwards we go down the first dirt road on the right, which passes over the quarry. At 3.8 km we meet an uphill fork to the left, but we continue straight on, and we keep going downhill down a road that is passable but quite annoying, which after 2.2 km (6 in total from Chora) leads us to Vrisi. Along the way we have left several side roads, some leading us to the chapel of St. Mamma, others to the edge of the spectacular peak of Castellio and others to the northern foothills of Vigla at the location “Vuves” and the beautiful chapel of Panagia Vuves. But it would probably be too tedious, within the limits of this article, to describe in detail all these labyrinthine routes.
So after our dirt path under the merciless rays of the sun, we feel in Vrisi as if we were in an oasis. At first we are impressed by the plane tree, the only tree of this kind in Anafi. It certainly does not have the imposing dimensions of the plane trees that impress us in Pelion, Epirus and other places in Greece, but it is a lovely tree about 10 metres high whose branches form a perfect umbrella of at least 15 metres in diameter.
Under the wonderful shade there is a bench, a cool breeze, dense abacinias and oleanders and, above all, gurgling water, which constantly gushes up from the earth. We bend down and quench our thirst from the land of Anafi.
The water of the Fountain flows into the bed of a narrow valley, in whose permanent dew a dense reed bed has grown. After the Fountain, the road continues along the valley and, in less than two kilometres, reaches the cove of Agios Georgios with the homonymous chapel, and the remains of two stone-built houses, a few metres from the wave. The opening of the bay does not exceed 80 metres and the coast is covered with large pebbles that make access difficult.
In addition to the multi-track dirt paths, there are several paths in this part of Anafi, old and tedious arteries connecting Chora with distant houses, pastures and crops. Some of these paths are easy and friendly, truly a joy to walk. Others are rough and indistinguishable, some have even disappeared completely into the grass and thorns from years of disuse.
We would be very happy to be able to walk on the old Anafiotes’ strata and uncover some of them, such as the difficult path to the sandy cove “Lithoskopo”, which resembles Roukouna, or to “Faneromeni”, Cape “North” and the cove “Symiako”, at the northernmost end of the island. We were finally comforted by the fact that, before leaving the beautiful island, we had the great satisfaction of drenching two of these paths with plenty of sweat, which led us to two of the most famous chapels of Anafi, St. Anthony and St. John the Theologian.
MISSION,
AGIOS IOANNIS THEOLOGIAN
“Remote”, “lonely and unseen until the last moment”, “you have to be shown how to go”, “it takes effort to get there”, were some of the descriptions and comments we heard from the very first days about St. Anthony. If we add to these the great monumental value of the church, since it is the only Byzantine church in Anafi and even with preserved frescoes of the early 14th century – then our lively interest in this chapel was completely justified. Not a day passed without mentioning Agios Antonios and the time of his visit…
Three Anafi High School teachers, young in age and enthusiastic hikers, expressed a desire to join us. So we start with two cars from Chora and follow the general route of the fifth route (towards Vrisi).
At the fork of 3.8 km. we continue straight on and at 5.5 km. we meet a sign directing us to Ag. Antonio, while on the right the road forks towards the edge of the summit of Kastellio. Already after a while we can see the sea in the northeastern part of the island. Although it is not even 9, the sun is burning hard and there is a lack of wind, conditions not at all ideal for hiking.
At 6.1 km, the road finally ends in front of the residence of Uncle Giannis Kolydas and his wife Anezini. We have already met on our previous visit the elderly couple who live here permanently, one of the last people on the island who still live in houses. For them, time stopped some decades ago. Nothing in their lifestyle and habits seems to have changed. Nor, of course, in the harvesting of barley with the traditional sickle and hand. Besides, the picture of Mrs. Anesini and her son is very eloquent. We spot them by chance a few hundred meters lower down in some fields created – who knows with how much toil – on terraces, so tiny and humble that if the farmers of the vast plains of Thessaly and Evros saw them, they would not believe their eyes, they would think that their “colleagues” of Anafi are crazy.
Hunched over the dry land, mother and son with sickles in their hands silently follow their fate, the fate of a land that in recent years has become unbearable and changed.
Another dwelling, this one more modern, stands next to Uncle John’s residence. It belongs to his nephew, the beekeeper George Kolydas, who, before the march, buys us coffee. From the terrace of his courtyard, we gaze at the vastness of the Aegean Sea.
– Do you see that lonely rock with three noses above the coast? Behind it is the chapel, built over the cliff. And on the opposite hill another one is white. It’s that of St. Demetrius, the only one on this holy of the 90 chapels on the island.
The path’s course is outlined low like a thin line, sometimes distinct and sometimes lost beneath grass and thorns.
We take the downhill past the residence of Uncle John. The place smells of thyme and sage. A little further on, in a nice gully with vineyards and olive trees, we come across a cistern with water and a carved hollow stone, perhaps for hand washing clothes, as in the old days.
A few minutes later the path passes the site of a house. With its many small houses, two large ovens, outbuildings and an excellent threshing floor it gives the impression of a small settlement. A microsociety with almost total self-sufficiency and self-sufficiency in this wilderness, who knows how many hours’ walk from the Chora. On the slopes of the opposite hills, overrun by grass and thorns, you can still see the stone-built terraces, built with hard work over centuries. It was once the place where the family’s crops and wine were produced. Now this house, one of the most beautiful in Anafi, is deserted and abandoned.
We keep going downhill, now facing the characteristic rock, our sign. The path continues rough and indistinct, among stones and thorny bushes of all kinds. It seems that very few people now reach St. Anthony. A small gully with water, reeds and oleanders, we ascend the last part. The path runs alongside the cliff, the pelagic horizon dazzles us with its sheen. Ahead of us is a one-room stone house and just below it the three crosses and the gabled domed roof of St. Anthony’s, a white wavy touch against a blue background. Below, a cliff, rough and impassable, drops vertically from a height of 40 metres to the inhospitable shore. Cliffs all around, on slopes and headlands.
A harsh, hostile landscape. Only at one point did nature take a day and be kind to the place. Where the chapel is clinging, a flat little balcony so small, it’s no more than 100 square meters. I am in awe, wonder and admiration for those old Anafiots, who seven centuries ago, found the strength, the will, the inspiration, the faith, to erect here the all-white chapel, an everlasting symbol of piety and peace in this wild place.
We are calm. After the 50-minute walk, the view of the cliffs and the sea rewards us. With the key given to us by the police after the intervention of the President – in the past there has been a dragging of old icons – we enter the interior. “The church (a), which is a part of the monastery of Choloviotissa Amorgos, consists of two vaulted rooms with semicircular arches communicating with a large arched opening and some ancient architectural elements built in. In the north aisle, which was once a registry, the representation of the Annunciation, above it the lower part of the Nativity, and to their left part of the representation of the Ascension, are still preserved in vivid colours. These frescoes, a work of unusually good quality for the modern Cyclades, are the only surviving example of monumental painting on the island and are dated to the early 14th century.
In the midday heat, the one-hour climb is quite painful and the Athenoula on my back particularly heavy. Who’s thinking about it though! Now I know with my own eyes – and not only from stories – that behind the reddish rock with three noses, perched against the granite of Anafi, is the chapel of St. Anthony. And that’s enough for me…
– I’m so glad we made it to one of the most inaccessible churches on the island, I tell Dimitri in the afternoon.
– But there is also Agios Ioannis the Theologian, which, according to my information, is even more remote, he replies. Unfortunately, I’ve never been there.
Here once again is the challenge syndrome before me. After a nice meal, logically I should redeem the morning’s effort with a good rest. It seems, however, that Dimitri suffers from the same syndrome. We’ll decide in a minute. Shortly after three o’clock, with a merciless sun, the two of us set out to discover Theologos in the area of Drapano.
Some local friends we meet in Chora try to fill us in. They are not clear to the end, but at least we understand the starting point and direction.
– After a while you will come across the residence of Uncle Nikoli, they conclude. He will guide you.
So we retrace part of the morning route again: Chora (arrow) 0.4 km left (arrow) 07 right (above the quarry) (arrow) 3.8 sharp left (chapel of Panagia Aksina) (arrow) 4.2 left (right the road to Vrisi). At 4.8 km there is a church on the right of the road. We are already moving to the NE foothills of Vigla, low to the E is the area of Vrisi with its beaches. At 5,2 km a new chapel under the road and on the left on the terraces a vineyard. At 6,4 exactly turn left (west) and stop (Anyway, after about 300 meters the road ends). We are in front of the beautiful little church of “Panagia Vuves” with its ………..
“Behind the chapel you will meet the path, which will take you to Papa Nikoli”, we have been told.
We find it immediately and 5 minutes before 4 o’clock we start in N direction. The peak of Vigla rises directly opposite us to the south. The path is well-formed and passable, a real highway after the rough road of Ag. In five minutes it turns W-SW, the opposite slope is green with vineyards, the ravine full of fig trees. In ten minutes you come to a roadside house with abundant prickly pear trees all around and a top view of the coast.
– I think we’re going on a nice excursion, I say to Dimitri. I could walk like this for hours.
Always nice the trail continues west, but loud and insistent barking can be heard. In three minutes we face the cause. It’s a brown and ugly dog that we dislike in an instant. Beside him on the ground sits his master, apparently Uncle Nicholas. At the sight of the backpacks and camera he opens his eyes wide.
– What are you doing up here?
– St. John the Theologian. They told us from Chora that you will tell us how to get there, Dimitris replies and says the name of the man from Chora.
Uncle Nikolis looks at us with a skeptical eye. He says something but it’s impossible to hear. The dog next door doesn’t stop for a moment to relieve us.
– I asked you where you were from, he repeats louder.
– How can we listen, Uncle Niko? Tell the dog to be quiet.
He makes a vague gesture in the air with his stick, which the dog ostentatiously ignores. His desire to hit him is fierce, I’ve rarely felt this way about a living person. At some point I manage to let him know that I am from Thessaloniki. It’s as if he’s starting to soften and I suspect he’s mentioning some old memories from there.
– From Thessaloniki, eh? he says and says again.
For a ten minute “exchange of views” with loud voices and even louder barking, unfortunately about anything but what we are most interested in, the road to St. John’s. Ultimately the man is focused on the question.
– Path? There is no path from here. There was one on the other side of the Virgin Mary but it was closed.
– And now, what do we do, Papa Niko?
– Either turn back or go straight across the ridge.
We look where he’s pointing with his hand, somewhere high and far to the northwest. The perspective looks terrible. Then we observe the ground in front of us. Even worse. Every square inch is covered with thorns. All the thorny bushes of Anafi have made their rendezvous on this ridge. And unfortunately, we’re part of this meeting.
We greet Uncle Niko, avoid greeting the dog, put our heads down and set off. It’s a real ordeal. In the space of two minutes I’ve revised all my views on rough, rough or hostile trails. In essence, we study every step we take, looking for the bush with the fewest thorns. My lightweight mountaineering shoes are constantly filling up, the thorns hurt uncomfortably, every so often I stop to take them off.
– I’ll go off at an angle, Dimitri says, to see which way St. John’s falls.
I continue vertically uphill, expecting then to descend the ridge. Some bushes with hard thorns are filled with yellow flowers. Bees are sucking nectar on them. As I pass by they get annoyed, they start buzzing angrily around me. I instinctively think of running, but I immediately regret it. Where to run and where to go? So I calmly walk away and escape their anger.
I accidentally turn my head to the right. Down low, far away, I can see the northernmost tip of Anafi, Cape North. And next to it, the bay of Symniakos, with a strange, triangular islet, like an extension of the cape.
– How could I not have noticed this masterpiece earlier? I say to myself.
I press somewhere steady, adjust the telephoto lens on the camera and take the sweetest picture of this whole wilderness.
Meanwhile, Dimitri has reached the top of the opposite ridge. He points to me with his hand and shouts loudly: “St. John is down here!”
With an unstinting morale I continue the battle with my own summit, which I reach, panting, a decade later. I turn my eyes to the north. A few hundred meters lower, on the smooth slope of a hill, the chapel of St. John the Theologian shines in the afternoon light. At exactly 17:05, 1 hour and 10 minutes after our departure, I am standing in front of it.
The chapel is beautiful, cruciform in shape without a dome and significantly larger than most I have seen so far. This spaciousness – because of the shape – is also evident inside, where we enter by descending two tall stone steps. I estimate the interior dimensions at about 6 x 7 metres. The structure is solid with thick stone walls and the windows are completely absent, except for a small opening in the niche of the sanctuary, at some point of which a section of ancient carved marble is embedded.
The iconostasis is wooden and simple and bears two large handmade icons: on the left, the Virgin Mary of Brfokratousa, dated 1912 on the back, and on the right, St. John the Theologian.
The walls are whitewashed. Only two traces of frescoes survive, on the left and on the right in the dome of the sanctuary, but they are very worn by time.
We are both extremely excited to be here but at the same time very thirsty since, in our haste to get started, we missed the most important resource, water. There is of course a cistern by the door of the temple and inside there is a bucket with several meters of rope. With cautious optimism we open the iron lid, take a look and, 5-6 meters below, we see the bottom covered with water. But is it drinkable?
In half a minute the bucket is in front of us. The water seems clear. We taste a little and then immediately drink voraciously. It is cool and delicious, the saint rewards us for our efforts.
Grateful for the Sterna that the old Anafiots once built, we rest for some time on the adjacent hillock, where a stone wall has been resisting the north and west winds for who knows how many years now.
From an altitude of 400 metres we gaze to the W at the long outline of Santorini, grey and hazy in the afternoon sunlight. Lower down in the southwest extends the area of “Lakkous”, which together with “Vagia” is the most flat land of Anafi. The place from above is spectacular, dotted with many houses, terraced terraces, sections of perfectly flat ground resembling small fields and, as always, clusters of olive trees.
At the sight of these olive groves, small in size but numerous throughout the island, I am now inclined to be convinced that the number of 12-15,000 olive trees that I have heard from many people that are in Anafi is not exaggerated.
We quench our thirst one last time with the cool water and take the road back. We follow a rocky gidostraja on the ridge heading SE, totally oriented towards the top of Vigla. We take one last look at St. John’s and then the hostile slope that has given us so much trouble. We’ve almost forgiven her, as well as Uncle Nick’s obnoxious dog. In fifteen minutes we reach a hill with a G.Y.S. bollard, at an altitude of 400 metres. We descend, traverse a rough slope with a steep incline and unstable rocks and finally, in 40 minutes, we are at the neck below the NW slopes of Vigla, 300m from the chapel of Panagia where we started. A farmer with a car, an acquaintance of Dimitri’s, asks us in surprise where we came from.
– From St. John the Theologian. Unfortunately, we didn’t know the path and we were in trouble.
– But is there a path anymore? It disappeared years ago in the thorns. Even I, who know it, too often lose it.
GENERAL JUDGMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS
In the end, the 6 days in Anafi proved to be too short. The island is not small. Its area is close to 40 square kilometers, the maximum length from E to W is 12, while the maximum width from N to S is about 7 kilometers.
The place is ideal for those who want a peaceful and quality holiday. Anafiots are particularly hospitable and humane, the beaches are stunning, the overall landscape is diverse and spectacular, with Kalamos being the highlight. The car is extremely useful, but the island is also very attractive for nature lovers and hikers. Unfortunately, while the road network is good, most paths are neither marked nor well-maintained. It would also be important if there were uniform signs with the names of the ex-churches and their respective locations.
The gastronomic choices are many, varied and of the highest quality and include traditional Greek cuisine with Anafiotic characteristics, wonderful local goat and goat enlarged in various ways and of course fresh and very well priced fish from the seas of Anafi. Apart from the already mentioned tavernas of Mrs. Popi, Margarita and Alexandra – who last lunch offered us an excellent lobster pasta – there are several other tasty proposals of great value.
So there is the tavern “Astrakhan”, on the road to the square, with a stunning view and with the specialties of Mrs. Agapia (goat fricassee, meatballs, fava and wonderful “sea crimes” with vinegar). There is the tavern “Steki”, in the center of the village, with a wide horizon and a variety of appetizers, meat and cooked dishes. Next to it is the café “Argo”, which also functions as a bar and grill. Finally, a few tens of meters further down, there is the tavern “Armenaki” of Markos, with an extremely well-kept interior and exterior, wonderful and varied flavors and friendly service.
We ask for the understanding of the Anafiots, if there is something we don’t have time to visit.
OPTIONS
True to our promise, we stop by on our last afternoon at Uncle-Mathios and Mrs. Kalliopi’s to pick up some honey and two heads of that famous hard cheese we so appreciated. But already Antonis Kolidas, the secretary, has given us a tin of honey of his own production and the total weight in our luggage is increasing dangerously.
As the dusk falls and the heat dims, the President burns his oven with sea urchin and olive branches. An hour later, when the flame subsides, two baking pans take their place in the oven. In the evening, the whole family of our President opens its home for the last – absolutely traditional – meal in Anafi, with the wood-fired oven proving its superiority over any other way of cooking.
The next morning we wake up at the crack of dawn, according to the itinerary, ROMILDA arrives at 6. She finally sails at 7. Last coffee at Mrs. Popi’s, people coming and going, departures of the “old”, arrivals of the new. Christian the German is showing off, with his poncho and his everlasting rod. He curls his slender body against a stone of the quayside and watches the people coming in and out of the boat. For him, the summer in Anafi is not over yet. We say goodbye.
– I’ll see you again next year, I tell him.
He just smiles.