What you don't know about Amorgos
If you’ve heard of Amorgos, it is from Luc Besson's movie "The Big Blue." Amorgos is a tiny island in the Aegean Sea close to Naxos. Apart from the apparent facts that Amorgos matches the Cycladic element of white houses with blue doors, here are some interesting facts about our beautiful island.
1.The island has no airport. Boat access is the only way.
2. There’s only one road on the island with no traffic lights.
3.A lot of goats roam freely all around the island.
4.The villages have no roads, so you have to park outside of the village and walk in.
5.The inhabitants still use donkeys to carry heavy things inside the villages as the paths are full of steps, and apart from manual labor, there’s no other way.
6. The walking paths of Amorgos are well-maintained, attracting hikers and trail events from all over the world.
7.Jeff Bezos and Hollywood celebrities like Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie have visited this tiny Greek island.
8.Digital nomads stay and work from Amorgos.
9.Its unique wild beauty has inspired many Greek poems, songs, and books.
10.People in the villages can still sleep with their keys in their door as it’s very safe.
11. Even though Amorgos attracts tourists from all over the world it remains an unspoiled unique traditional destination.
12.Amorgos has become a destination for couples who want to experience a traditional Greek wedding.
Some Historical Facts
1The island has been inhabited since the end of 4,000 B.C.E. and was a center of the Cycladic civilization.
2 Nikouria used to be an ancient mint.
3Pirates used to raid the island. That's why, at that time, the villages were in the mountains and not near the sea. Then the Amorgians became pirates themselves.
4 On the other side of the island, there used to be a bauxite mine that was abandoned in the 1940s. People can still visit its remains after a long hike on the mountain.
5 Amorgos used to be a place of exile from ancient times.
6 In 1956, one of Greece's biggest earthquakes happened with a magnitude of 7.7 and a maximum perceived intensity of IX on the Mercalli intensity scale. The tsunami had a maximum run-up of 30m (98ft) tall.
