
Church of Panagia Krimniotissa
The church of Panagia Krimniotissa is a small white washed chapel that sits on an isolated rock high above Samothraki's only sandy beach, Pachia Ammos. Due to its location offers magnificent views to the beach of Pachia Ammos, to the endless blue of the Aegean Sea and to the former Greek island of Imvros.
According to tradition the icon of the Virgin was thrown into the sea by the inhabitants of Minor Asia in order to be saved from the iconoclasts. It was found in the bay of Pachia Ammos and was taken into a cave. Next day the icon was gone, to be found by local shepherds on the cliff where it now stands the chapel. It was taken back to cave but it disappeared once again. This happened over and over. As a result, people of Samothrace understood the wish of the Virgin, and built a church on the place where they used to find the icon.
According to another legend it was found by the captain of a boat, that was about to sink near the shores of the island. The captain ordered the crew to upload the icon to the ship. As soon as the icon went up the storm stopped and the ship was saved. The same night the Virgin showed up in his dreams and told him to take it to Samothrace. He gave it to a local priest who placed it in a church but every night the icon would disappear from there to reappear on top of the cliff.
To get there, one has to take a dirt road branching off the paved road from Kamariotissa to Pachia Ammos for about 2-3 km. The road is narrow and just about feasible for a regular car. The parking space is very limited which is a bit of a problem, if several cars have been going up at the same time.