The balance of white and blue is cut of by the red shade of geraniums which blossom in the pots of the narrow, stone-cobbled lanes. In the old neighborhoods of Chora, there are no great-open spaces, no squares.

The Astypalaian traditional houses are similar to those of the Cyclades.A row of windmills on the pass of the hill provides an additional picturesque note.One enters the castle from the southwest side of the hill. Inside it are two churches, dedicated to St. George and to the Annunciation (Evangelismos).
The former contains a noteworthy carved iconostasis. Below the castle stands the 18th century church of Portaitissa, one of the most beautiful in the Dodecanese. It too has an impressive iconostasis, covered with gold leaf.
Livadia, Analipsi and Vathi are charming fishing hamlets on the south and north coast of the island, while among its many beaches, Tria Marmara, Schinontas and Vathi stand out.

Convent of Livia. On the northwest of Chora the road leads to the convent, built on the slope of a mountain, overlooking the sea and having a small guesthouse. Further the main road leads to Analipsis or Maltezana.
A picturesque settlement with its white houses and its flowery fields and gardens, the vast beach and taverns. One can admire the well-preserved mosaics of a Roman swimming pool and the monument of the French philhellene captain Bigon, who died in 1827, by setting fire to his corvette to avoid being captured by pirates.
Grottos of the island. Two of them are the most important: the Grotto of the Dragon or "Dracospilia", near Vathy, ornamented with stalactites and stalagmites amidst a fairy-like scenery and the Negro's Grotto near the locality Vatses, formerly a pirates' den, with a strait mouth and adorned with stalactites and stalagmites.
Ancient coins of Astypalea minted during the 3rd-1st centuries represented the head of Perseus or a gorgon-head. Later they represented the effigy of Dionysos or of Athena or of Asklepios.