Kastellorizo - the island of our dreams

How to start? Maybe with where we are? I do. We are on Kastellorizo, 118 kilometres east of Rhodes, 2.5 kilometres from Turkey. You can't get any further east than this in Europe. There is an island - Strongyli - that is a little further east, but it is uninhabited so it doesn't count. At least we don't count it.

We have been trying to get to Kastellorizo for many years without success. Bad boat connections and/or bad weather have prevented us. Now we are here. It feels fantastic. A dream has come true. When you - like us - have talked and longed for so long, there is a big risk that you will be disappointed when you finally reach your goal.

Finally on our way to the island of our dreams.

This morning we strolled through the old town of Rhodes. Completely empty of people. We went to the port where the Dodekanissos Express was waiting to depart. There were strong winds when we left the port. Sickness bags were handed out. Already after five minutes, people started running to the toilets. We managed just fine. Camilla slept (she's good at it) and I listened to Blond on Blonde by Bob Dylan. Who could feel bad then?

We are approaching Kastellorizo - the island of our dreams.

We stood out on the deck as we approached Kastellorizo. The landscape was not very inviting, quite ugly in fact. But when we rounded the cape and saw the mountains and the village ahead of us, all expectations were fulfilled. It was just as nice as we had expected. Actually, even nicer. We were some of the few foreign tourists who got off. Two room owners competed for our favour. A woman named Alexandra won.

View from the balcony at Alexandras in Megisti on Kastellorizo. View rating: 2.

We stay in a 200-year-old house just behind the waterfront. The house is being renovated and is not completely finished yet. It shows. Some details: The door has no threshold, a 10 cm gap is open towards the stairs. Poor sound insulation. The door can only be locked from the outside because the key is "designed" that way. There is no AC (it's hot, I promise), two fans blow away the worst of the heat, one of them sounds kz%#ip"¤5!% every time it goes round.

Breakfast with a fan that makes a kz%#ip"¤5!% sound every time it goes round.

The shower is fun. The water sprays like from a sprinkler, no water comes from the middle, all the water comes from the sides. When you stand under the shower you don't even get wet. As everyone understands, the floor is pretty wet. Of course there is no shower curtain, but it wasn't needed either because there was hardly any water.

Our shower had no pressure in the tap so no shower curtain was needed.

The toilet is not as fun as the shower. It can't be flushed. We've told the owner, of course. When the owner came to check what was wrong, the water ran out so he went home again. Nothing to do. But it wasn't just our water that ran out, the whole island ran out of water. Strange.

We've experienced power outages on an entire island many times, most recently on Hydra a few weeks ago, but we've never experienced water completely disappearing. A tanker was on its way from Rhodes, they said. In a few hours we would have water again. (Which was true. When we had dinner later that evening, everyone was talking about the missing water.)

Back to the toilet that cannot be flushed. You have to flush, right? We have three choices: not flushing at all, using a toilet in another room that no one stays in, or flushing manually. We've chosen the latter. It works so-so. We use a blue rubbish bin that we "fill" with water.

"Flushing" with a rubbish bin full of holes is not recommended.

The problem is that there are holes in half the rubbish bin and you have to be really nimble (and fast, otherwise the flushing effect disappears) with your hands when pouring the water into the toilet seat. If you hesitate for just a second, the water runs out onto the floor instead. And there it doesn't do any good. Not that it matters much, it's already wet there. Remember the shower.

After we settled into the strange room, we walked around the village. When we bought a book about the history of Kastellorizo, we had to remove the price tag from the book and give it to the shopkeeper, because he only had a price tag that said €12. He needed the price tag for another book that cost €12. This wonderful country!

Faros Cafe and Bar in Megisti.

There was a rumor that there was wireless internet at a bar called Faros. I went there and asked how much it cost and if it was okay if I used my own laptop. He looked like I came from another planet. Cost? Wireless? I don't know what's going on, he said, people come here with laptops and surf the internet, I don't know how it works, it just happens. As I said, this wonderful country!

Today's lunch we had at Little Paris, which was the cheapest taverna we had eaten at so far during the trip: two Greek salads, two Amstels, a large bottle of water and bread cost €12. After lunch we walked along the waterfront and enjoyed every second. The waterfront in Megisti is one of the most beautiful and cozy waterfronts we have seen in Greece. It is also the narrowest harbour promenade we have ever seen. How all the shops, cafes, tavernas and restaurants squeeze in is a mystery.

The harbour promenade is extremely narrow, which does not stop Greeks from driving there.

Statue of two dolphins on the waterfront in Megisti.

In the evening we had dinner at Athena which is located along the enchanting harbour promenade. Very good food, but more expensive than we are used to. It was so atmospheric that we stayed seated for a long time. We had this beautiful view during dinner.

Restaurant Athena in Megisti.

A magical evening on Kastellorizo.

Next day »

Read more about Kastellorizo here »