The island that wore its clouds as a hat

With apologies to Oliver Sacks, whose client mistook his wife for a hat, I misappropriated his catchy title to describe how these Northern Sporades islands collect a little cap of cloud that they tend to wear all day. Here's the rather fetching 'hat' of Samothraki, our latest destination.

The island that wore its clouds as a hat

We're right up the top of the Aegean Sea, and the weather patterns are a little different here than in the more southerly latitudes. Its very mountainous, and that influences the strength of the orographic winds (winds based on heating and cooling of the land). However, the meltemi, the bane of our existence last year, is much abated up here.

You can just see Mt Athos in the distance. It too has a hat.

Life under the hat.

We've docked in the charming fishing harbour of Kamariotissa, the only port in Samothraki. Samothraki is a large lump of marble plopped into the northern Sporades. Its pretty far off the tourist routes and has a total population of 2000 souls.

A little ray of sunshine?

The islands only ferry

Pavlov at the dock, our new home.

No dock queens or cruising palaces here!

This is the kind of island that we love, unaffected by tourism and a place of natural beauty.

The port is home to one large ferry...

and lots of small fishing caiques...

and one poor dead turtle. Probably caught in a fishing net.

Our first exploration was by bike, and we headed off around the coast to an ancient site, the 'Sanctuary of the Greater Gods'. Samothraki was the home of one of the more influential mystery cults dating back to pre-Hellenic times. The mystery schools were independent of the city state on the island, and trained chosen initiates in their particular school of esoteric thought. In contrast to the civic religions, where all the populace were expected to participate in their public rituals, participation as an initiate in these schools was optional in the Greco-Roman polytheism. The mystery schools existed to preserve ancient religious ritual.

The small chapel standing guard over the 'Greater Gods'

Map of the site

Entry path

Of course, the site was closed when we first tried to enter. So we then decided to push our bikes (it was way too steep to climb) 5km up the mountain to the Chora hidden high above the port. The climb was quite an effort, but the panoramic views repaid us for the sweat equity.

The long climb up to the Chora

Megan, hardly breaking a sweat

Magnificent peaks

The Chora, nestled in the peak of the mountain

So, the 21/2 hour climb up to the Chora, gave us a thrilling 10 minute ride back down to the harbour. The next day, we decided that bikes might be a bit limited in this mountainous terrain, so we hired a small scooter to take us around the island. First stop was to revisit the Sanctuary of the Greater Gods, which was now open.

Ancient stones, I wonder what they've witnessed.

Ancient teaching circle

What strange rites and mysteries were practiced here?

Perhaps because we had the site to ourselves and there was a rarified and especial atmosphere to this place, but this was one of the most evocative and powerful of the ancient sites that I've visited. Wandering around the ancient stones, it was easy to create imaginary scenarios of the initiates practicing their rites and celebrations to mysterious deities such as Cybele. The cult on Samothraki worshipped the Kabeiroi gods, translated as the 'Greater Gods', centred around the chthonic figure of the Mother Goddess, variously called Cybele, Demeter or Hecate.

Dorian columns 

Main temple complex

Looking down into the amphitheatre, across the site

Peaceful serene site surrounded by majestic natural beauty, just the place for religious mysteries.

A circle for mystery rites?

Wildflowers growing from the ancient marble

We continued around the island, visiting some of the gorgeous creeks, waterfalls and cascades on Samothraki.

Creek at Loutra, also called Therma

Beautiful stream on the north side of the island

Natural cascades

Waterfall and pool, crystal clear water

Forest setting for a taverna in Loutra

Iridescent lizard in the forest

Greek trail directions?

We journeyed by bike right around the northern edge of the island, literally to the end of the road. The scenery here was wild and beautiful, and absolutely uninhabited, except by the ubiquitous goats.

An old tower by a deserted pebble beach

The tower dates back to Genoese times

We were the only inhabitants of the whole north coast...

... except for these two fisher people at the end of the road.

Only the goats call this home

The end of the road.

From the end of the road, we turned around and headed back to the Chora, the town nestled into the mountain behind the port. This is a common pattern in Greek islands. The main town was hidden high above the port for protection from invaders.

Interpretation of the Winged Victory of Samothrace

Samothrace was the location of a famous sculpture, which was originally housed in the Sanctuary of the Greater Gods. This is the Winged Victory of Samothrace, which is now housed in the Louvre. It was also appropriated by Rolls Royce as its famous emblem.

The Chora with view to Byzantine castle

Small kafeteria

Another view of the Chora

Cute village houses.

We explored the coast on the other side of Kamarotissa, enjoying tzatsiki in this taverna with a stunning view over the Mediterranean.

View from the taverna stretched out forever.

At the end of all circumnavigations, we have to head home, so it was back to port, with its small church and beautiful clouds. Great day, Great island!

Church in Kamarotissa

Glorious clouds, who needs a hat!