Panagia Makrini

One of the most striking spots on Samos: a chapel barely 4 by 2 metres, built inside a fifteen-metre-high cave on the wild western flank of Mount Kerkis, above 800 m. It dates to the mid-9th century and keeps 14th-century wall paintings - the Divine Liturgy, hierarchs and archangels; the vault carries the date 1764 from a later repair. On the cave floor, troughs and clay jars catch the water dripping from the stalactites. From Kallithea it is five kilometres of dirt road to the little church of Agia Ekaterini, then about 500 m on foot uphill with 234 m of ascent, waymarked with white crosses (route 7). There is a spring at Agia Paraskevi along the way, and the older chapel of Agia Triada stands a little higher up. The view opens out to Ikaria and Fourni. The same spot is the start of route 8, the hardest ascent to Vigla, along a ridge with a 300 m cliff on one side - not for beginners or windy days. The chapel was listed as a protected monument in 1999, and the feast day is 15 August.