The Monastery of Panagia Hozoviotissa is the most famous sight on the island. It is eight storeys tall and built into a vertical cliff, three hundred metres above the sea. The building is only a few metres deep, and its white walls stand out against the grey rock.

The monastery was founded in 1088, under the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. According to local tradition, the holy icon it was built to hold arrived by sea at the bay below.

To reach it, you climb about three hundred steps from the road. The monks welcome visitors with psimeni raki and loukoumi. You must dress modestly to enter.

Ancient Amorgos

In ancient times the island was divided between three city-states: Minoa, on the hill above Katapola; Arkesini, in the southwest; and Aegiali, in the north. Each had its own government and its own coins.

The name Minoa does not mean the city was Minoan. That connection comes from an old legend, not from archaeology.

Finds from all three cities are displayed in Chora, inside a 16th-century Venetian tower.

Chora is built inland, where it cannot be seen from the sea. This protected it from pirates. It is one of the best-preserved capitals in the Cyclades: low white houses, dozens of small chapels, a line of windmills along the ridge, and a Venetian castle on a rock above the roofs. The best way to see it is to walk through it slowly.

Around Aegiali

The bay in the north has four separate settlements. Ormos is the port. Above it, Langada is where most local people live; it has a kafenion and dry-stone terraces. Tholaria sits on the opposite slope, facing Langada across the bay. Potamos receives very few visitors.

Two villages that emptied

Stroumbos is twenty minutes on foot above Langada, and there is no road to it. It is known as the village of twelve houses and thirteen ovens. People left after the war. A few houses have been rebuilt since then, but there is still no road, no mains water and no electricity.

Asfontilitis stands on a plateau, on the old path between Chora and Aegiali. Its houses are built of dry stone, without mortar. On the rocks around the village there are about two hundred carved figures — mostly dancers, musicians and women. One disabled resident cut them between 1897 and 1943.

Roads only reached most of Amorgos in the 1990s. Before that, people walked, and the old mule paths between the villages are still there.

Eight of these paths have been mapped and marked as numbered routes. There are wooden signboards at the start of each one, and red-and-white metal markers along the way. Some markers have faded, so carry a map or an offline app.

The main routes

Route 1 is called the Palia Strata, the old road. It starts in Chora, passes the monastery and Asfontilitis, and ends in Aegiali. It is about twenty kilometres long and takes five to six hours.

Route 5 climbs from Langada, past a Byzantine monastery, to Krikelos, the highest point on the island.

Route 3 crosses Kato Meria and connects the sites of the two ancient cities.

Spring and autumn are much better than midsummer for walking. There is almost no shade on any of these routes.

Amorgos has no long resort beaches. The coast is steep, and most beaches are small bays with no facilities. You reach them on foot, by boat, or down a rough path. Bring water and something for shade.

Agia Anna is the most famous. It lies directly below the monastery and is a very small bay of flat dark pebbles. The water turns deep blue almost immediately. There are no facilities, and it fills up quickly in August.

Mouros, in the southwest, has pebbles and sea caves at one end that you can swim into.

Kalotaritissa, at the southern tip, is sheltered. You can still swim there when the north wind makes other beaches difficult. Boats leave from here for the sandy beach on the islet of Gramvousa.

The Aegiali side is easier. There is a long sandy beach at the port, and Levrossos and Psili Ammos are a short walk or boat ride further on. From Agios Pavlos, small boats cross to the uninhabited islet of Nikouria. Maltezi, near Katapola, is reached by boat or on foot.

The sea around Amorgos becomes deep very close to the shore. This is why Besson filmed here, and it is also why the island has a serious diving centre. The centre has operated in Aegiali since 2007, has a second office at the other port, and teaches both scuba diving and freediving.

Most dives follow underwater walls and rock pinnacles near the islets of Nikouria and Gramvousa, at depths of around thirty metres. There is also an underwater cave covered in sponges, off Agios Pavlos.

The Olympia wreck

After the monastery, the most photographed thing on Amorgos is a rusting cargo ship in Liveros Bay, near Kalotaritissa. The Olympia ran aground in 1980 and is still stuck in the rocks, with most of the hull above the water. Besson used it in the rescue scene at the start of the film.

The wreck is a ten to fifteen minute walk down from the road. You do not need any equipment to see it.

Amorgos is a mountain island, and the food reflects this. Goat and lamb are more common than fish, and the vegetables are grown on terraces.

The main local dish is patatato: goat cooked slowly with potatoes and herbs. It is festival food rather than everyday cooking.

Local cheeses are used everywhere. A soft, sour mizithra replaces feta in the island's version of Greek salad.

The local drink is psimeni raki — raki heated with honey, cinnamon, cloves and citrus. Every household makes it a little differently.

Eating at a panigiri

The best of this food is served at village festivals, not in restaurants.

The festival of Agia Paraskevi in Kato Meria, on 25 and 26 July, is one of the largest in the Cyclades. Thousands of people come. The patatato is cooked together the night before, and preparations begin more than a week ahead.

On the same dates, Katapola holds a festival for psimeni raki, and the drink is made in the open square.

A festival for pasteli takes place in Chora in late August.