The Kali Strata to Chorio

The Kali Strata — the good street — is the original link between the port and Chorio, the older village along the ridge. It is a wide stairway of grey stone, roughly five hundred steps, walled on both sides by houses: some restored with bougainvillea and painted shutters, some open to the sky since the twentieth century emptied the island.

Photographically it is a corridor with a new frame every twenty metres. The steps give natural height difference, the walls give clean side light, and the view back down catches the harbour between the buildings — that shot, taken from about two thirds of the way up, is the picture most people come for. Near the top the stairway opens into small squares and a church, and the ridge gives the wide view of both bays.

It is a real climb: ten to fifteen unhurried minutes up, uneven treads, no handrail for long stretches, and hot until the sun is off it. Flat shoes with grip, water, and a dress that will not fight the steps. Doing it downhill from Chorio is easier on the legs and puts the harbour in front of you the whole way.