Hozoviotissa Monastery

Eight storeys of whitewashed monastery wedged into a vertical cliff three hundred metres above the sea, white against grey rock, and almost nowhere more than one room deep. It was built early in the second millennium to shelter an icon of the Virgin dated to 812, which is still on display inside. You leave the car on the road above and climb a few hundred steps; the monks greet arrivals with psimeni raki and loukoumi. Opening hours are short and split across the day, and there is a strict dress code — long trousers for men, a skirt or wrap for women, shoulders covered for both. Check the hours before the climb.