Holy Monastery of Hozoviotissa

Clinging to the steep south coast of Amorgos some 300 metres above the sea, the Holy Monastery of Hozoviotissa is a Byzantine foundation dating to 1088. Reaching it means climbing 271 steps, and the reward is a building of startling proportions: about 40 metres long yet only 5 metres at its widest, stacked across eight levels linked by staircases built or carved into the rock itself. Its name recalls Hozeva, the Palestinian home of the monastery of Saint George, a memory carried across the sea to this narrow ledge.