Karpathos
Windswept Island Of The Southern Aegean: The Mountain Village Of Olympos Where Old Dress And Dialect Survive, Apella And Kyra Panagia Beaches, And Some Of Europe'S Steadiest Kitesurfing Wind · Pigadia, South Aegean
Karpathos is a long, high, windswept island between Rhodes and Crete, and it is the least packaged of the big Dodecanese. A spine of bare mountains runs the length of it, the roads are slow, and the wind blows almost every summer day. Its great draw is Olympos in the far north, a village built high and hidden from sea raiders, where older women still wear traditional dress every day, the local speech is said to keep archaic forms, and windmills and communal bread ovens are still used. It is a living village and not a museum, and visitors are guests. The east coast holds Apella and Kyra Panagia, two of the most photographed beaches in Greece, reached by hairpin roads or by boat; the south coast at Afiartis has some of Europe's steadiest summer wind and a serious kitesurfing and windsurfing scene. Karpathos suits drivers, walkers, wind sports and people who like empty places. It is honestly not for everyone: distances are long, buses are few, the wind that makes the sport ruins some beaches, and outside summer much of the island closes.
Karpathos, Dodecanese, between Rhodes and Crete; Pigadia port and airport in the south-east, Olympos village in the far north, Lefkos on the west coast, Pigadia, South Aegean, Greece
Karpathos is an island rather than a ticketed site, so the villages, the beaches and the coast roads are open and free at all hours. Shops and tavernas in Pigadia generally open mid-morning, shut through the hottest hours and reopen in the evening; village tavernas in Olympos, Aperi and Menetes keep shorter and less predictable hours, and in Olympos several only open when visitors are expected. Small museums and churches open in the morning and sometimes need a keeper to be found - ask in the village. The Diafani to Pigadia boat runs most days in season, weather allowing, and boats to Saria and the east-coast beaches leave in the morning and return in the afternoon - confirm the day before. Book summer charter flights, ferries and hire cars well ahead; in winter much of the island closes.