For it is here that the miracle-working icon of Our Venerable Lady Virgin Mary was unearthed, on 10 September 1825.The early inhabitants of the island first migrated to the mainland sometime in the 11th century, fearful of pirates who were plundering the area, and the island remained deserted until the 19th century when a monk named Damianos Koslis set up home in a cell down by the old port Nothing much had changed in the intervening centuries. The olive trees were pretty much the same trees, and though paths had been lost and the church of the Virgin Mary had fallen into ruin, pirates still menaced the area. It was fear of them that made Damianos Koslis build a shack as a hiding place beside the tumbledown church. And here, one dark night, the Virgin Mary appeared to him in a dream.The Virgin ordered Damianos to dig in the ruins where, beneath a wild olive, he would find her lost icon.

She appeared to Damianos three times before anyone took the monk seriously, and when, with help from the mainland, he finally dug up her icon, it glowed and let off an endless fragrance. A great celebration was held, and over the next three years a new church dedicated to the Virgin was built beside the ruins of the old.The monastery of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary stands today in all its splendour, a mere 10-minute walk from the village. In normal times it has few visitors and seems almost too grand a building for so small an island. I was only staying on Old Trikeri for three days and did not hear about its icon until I was due to leave.

I was curious to learn more about it, and it was suggested I talk to the local priest,.The monastery was up a steep rubble-strewn path rutted by the previous winter’s rains. A long, thin building, on the day of my visit it was besieged by 10 or more local women frantically tugging up weeds from between stones; others were watering flowers and polishing candlesticks, crosses, steps, cups, and anything else that could be polished. The monastery was undergoing a spring-clean in preparation for the pilgrims due to arrive that weekend.The priest was an anxious little man dressed in grubby robes. He was supervising the women, and although he’d agreed to spare a few minutes, it was obvious he wouldn’t have time to answer more than a couple of questions. What I wanted to know most of all was what miracles had actually been performed.