This post is about one of my favourite summer destinations in Greece, Astypalaia island.
Location
Astypalaia or Astropalia, as the locals call their island in their own dialect, is the westerner of the Dodecanese Islands (aegean sea). You can reach the island by ferry from Athens. There is a regular ferry connection between Astypalaia and Piraeus port. The trip lasts from 10 to 12 hours.
Architecture
Althought the island belongs to the Dodecanese island group, it has a Cycladic architecture as is exactly where the Cyclades meet the Dodecanese. The most prominent characteristic of this architectural style, are the white washed cube houses with flat roofs, cubic shapes built next to and on top of one another.Flowered gardens, blue churches, and the paved paths create a fantastic walk around.
Dictator Ioannis Metaxas passed a decree in 1936 by which all houses in the Cyclades should be painted white and blue, to symbolize the white waves of the Aegean Sea and the blue of the Greek sky. Another reason for Metaxas ordering all the island’s houses to be painted was to protect themselves from the cholera that plagued Greece at the time.The white color of the walls also reduce the sun absorption during summer months.
Chora
Astypalaia has a lot of windmills all over the island. In the main square of Chora,there are eight of them.The people of Astypalaia used to bring here the crops of the grains that grew on the island for milling.
Little further from the windmills, there is the traditional coffee house, where we used to spend our nights by drinking beers and singing tranditional songs with locals and the owner of the coffee house, who used to play buzuki late at night.
On top of the hill, there is the imposing Venetian castle, surrounded by small whitewashed houses with blue doors and windows.Inside the castle there is a churche, Panagia Evagelistria. When we visited the isand there was a panigiri (traditional and cultural festival).It takes place on August 15, the biggest feast day for Greece. Plentiful wine, traditional local food, and even more dancing. The panigiri lasts for three nights.
Beaches
As you can understand, every morning we used to wake up with hangover.
However, as Astypalaia is a small island we visited the most of the beaches of the island.
By driving in Astypalaia you can admire the beautiful barren landscape with few plants and no trees,with isolated chapels.
Hope to be there again soon!!!
