Karpathos - Pigadia

We had read about the island of Karpathos and had a vision in our minds of a remote island where people wear traditional clothing and donkeys are everyday transport. Largely undiscovered, it would be a perfect way to connect with locals and enjoy traditional Greek life. 

We were so wrong.............at first.

En-route to Kasos, the previous island we visited, the ferry pulled in to the main port of Karpathos, called Pigadia. We were horrified to see the port lined with high-rise (for Greek islands) hotels and apartment buildings. Restaurants filled every space on the waterfront and most of the people wandering around were clearly tourists. This was not what we expected. We're glad we saw it at that time though as it changed our minds about what to expect when we returned here a week later. We were still partly right in our expectations - there is a village in the north of this island where people wear traditional clothes but the south was far more developed than we thought. We would be spending one week in Pigadia, the main port town in the south, and one week in Olympos, the traditional village in the north. Pigadia wasn't our scene at all but we just had to make the most of it. 

Our lovely apartment was one of those ones that lined the port so we had gorgeous views over the town and the bay. Every morning we would get up before sunrise so we could walk and ride before it got too hot. The morning sky from our apartment was beautiful.

Gotta love a skyline dotted with Greek churches!

We were very close to heaps of great restaurants and we made an effort to not eat Greek food for dinner for the entire week. We love Greek food but we will be going to other villages later where Greek food will be all we can get. We found a fantastic Asian restaurant and ate satays as often as we could! We also went to a restaurant with fun waiters who made us feel very welcome.

Our only compromise with the Greek food was that we ate lunch one day at a restaurant that was owned by Greek Aussies. We heard about them from a couple of other people. The wife was born in Mt Gambier and had tears in her eyes when we talked about it. She desperately wanted to go back but her husband returned there about seven years ago and said everything had changed and he wanted to stay in Karpathos. This isn't the first time that we've met people who were born elsewhere and want to go back but their husband or father says no. Older Greek women tend to be traditional and do what their families say. It's very difficult.

I think our Greek Aussie lady would be shocked by how many rules we have in Australia now compared to Greece (at least rules that are policed!) but sometimes I wonder if there should be a few more here ....

Strangely, Pigadia was full of Scandinavians, Dutch and Italians. We haven't seen many Scandinavians anywhere else so it's puzzling why they all come here. 

I love how we can just be just walking along in a Greek town and suddenly there's a random ancient ruin. This one was very close to a large hotel.

We rented a car and explored the island. It's a stunningly beautiful, yet impossibly wild, place. Some of the roads were crazy. They ran along cliff-tops and zig-zagged up and down sawtooth ridges and valleys. It was real "woohoo!" stuff!

Roads and tracks branched off the main roads and led to the most beautiful coves and beaches you would see anywhere. That stunning turquoise water lapped against rocky or sandy beaches while rugged rocks usually bookended the scene. Tourist boats would run regularly from Pigadia to some of the beaches so there were plenty of people enjoying the sunshine and water.

One thing that amazed us was how well-entrenched the beach umbrella and sunbed scene is on this island. It's such a European thing and so foreign to us Aussies who are used to just bringing a towel and finding a patch of beach. Then again, we have comfy sand and most of these beaches have stones so a sunbed is probably more desirable here! Every popular beach had the sunbed/umbrella setup which you have to rent. At first it annoyed us to have these gorgeous beaches lined with umbrellas but we have got a bit more used to it.

One of our favourite beaches was Finiki. The bay was very protected from the winds and we liked the fact that the village was small. There were only half a dozen restaurants and a similar number of small hotels. I would swim (John had some sinus issues) then we'd eat lunch at one of the restaurants overlooking the water. It was gorgeous.

Many of the best beaches are only accessible by boat or by long, twisting roads that descend down the steep hills from the main road. Apella Beach is touted as being the best in the Dodecanese so we checked it out. It was stunning from the road above.

In a rare occurrence, the tourist boats that brought people to a handful of beaches from Pigadia seemed to add to the charm. 

It was hard to get a park as there were so many cars but the walk to the beach was delightful.

I went for a snorkel and saw a lionfish. Sometimes it's the little fish that are the most appealing though.

On one of my walks I walked above Amoopi Beach and saw these umbrellas tucked into little coves. I'm not an umbrella fan but I can see the appeal of these private little nooks.

I talked about coincidences in my last post. We had another big one on Karpathos. Also in my last post I mentioned Jennifer Barclay, the author of a series of books about these islands. We met her last year. One of the books she wrote was set at a particular taverna on a remote beach so we had to visit. Much to our surprise, Jen was also visiting!

The drive to the taverna was somewhat challenging. We had to hire a 4WD to be allowed to drive it. The dirt road twisted and bucked its way along exposed ridges. In places it was so narrow that we subconsciously breathed in. The views were spectacular but we were both watching the road.

We went in on one road and out on an easier one. Both were spectacular.

I bet you can't guess what the greener plants are in this photo of the road to the taverna. They're pine trees! The wind is so unrelenting here that the trees are flattened against the sides of the hills.

We were amazed when we finally arrived at the taverna to find olive groves. People drive down roads like these all the time to tend to their farms.

It's funny how we get an idea of what something looks like when we read about it in a book and then we see it and it's quite different to what we thought. I thought the taverna was on the beach but it was set well back in the olive grove.

The guy who owns the taverna, Minas, was a real character. He told us how he wrote a song about Jen and he showed us some recordings of him singing it. He often sings for customers and it only took a couple of beers to get him going, even though it was the middle of the day and we were the only customers at the time. Getting ready was quite a performance. First he had to change shirts. Then out came the sunglasses and finally a hat. Now that he was in rock star mode, he was ready to sing!

Jen wrote in her book that he'd always sing "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and this is what he sang for us. His unique version was great even though he must have sung that song a thousand times. 

I had a swim at the beach here and the crystal clear water was stunning. We were a bit surprised to see umbrellas on a remote beach like this but these seem to be a necessary part of Greek beach life.

We had a great afternoon with Jen and Minas. It was good to meet Minas and wonderful to see Jen again.

To return to Pigadia, we had to drive along a section of the main road that is particularly precipitous. The first time we drove it we were in awe. This has to be be of the world's great coastal drives. The road clung to the side of the steep hills. 

Every tight turn brought more spectacular views. The cliffs chiselled their way down to the sea and there were endless views of that stunning turquoise water. It was so windy though that the waves were blowing away from the coast!

We ended up driving along this road a number of times and we barely noticed the twists and drop-offs after a while.

Around the island we saw many examples of trees being deformed by the incredible winds.

Pretty villages were scattered around the island, although many of the houses weren't that old, strangely. Some had dates on them and the oldest I saw was somewhere in the 1950's. 

We explored the village of Menetes.

Menetes was a lovely place with pastel-coloured houses and lanes of painted steps.

We ate lunch at this gorgeous cafe on a terrace tucked in among the houses. The owner was a bright and happy lady, despite it being late in the season. Many tourism operators tend to get very jaded by now.

Something got a bit lost in translation with the menu though. We have no idea what the second line is supposed to mean!

John rode his bike to Menetes one day. I don't know how he gets up those hills!

One day, John dropped me off at one village in the car and we arranged that he would pick me up at the next village. I followed an online walking app that I had just discovered but it took me along goat tracks. It got really hot and I was stuck on the side of a steep hill with no trail to follow. I wanted to go back but I couldn't communicate with John as he had no wifi. In the end I pushed on and made it ok but it was a very unpleasant walk. Ironically, once I reached the top of the hill there was a church (of course!) with one of the prettiest tracks I've seen in Greece leading down the other side to the village I was aiming for. It was like something out of the Mamma Mia movie! 

I wanted to show John so we later walked it together.

Sadly, on one drive we found ourselves driving towards the local rubbish tip. Incredibly, the tip was located in a valley where the howling wind whipped through, tearing plastic bags open and blowing rubbish all down the valley. It was an awful mess of plastic and filth.

Another drive took us along a gorge of sorts. The landscape is so arid yet so striking.

I think we made the most of our time here. We enjoyed the good things Pigadia had to offer (food!) then escaped the town as much as we could. We got to explore the island which was really interesting and we saw some stunningly beautiful places. After our apprehension when we first arrived in Pigadia, we left one week later feeling very happy with the island. 

Now it's time to have a somewhat different experience at a very traditional village in the mountains!

Heather and John