The small village of Finiki

Oh, what a day it has been! After a restful sleep last night we had a relaxing breakfast this morning before getting into the car to drive around the island. We made our way north for a bit, and then turned west to cross the island. What a gorgeous, enchanting, and generally remote place Karpathos is turning out to be! And there is land for sale, too!

Land for sale–with olive trees included!

We came to a small town, Pyles (population 150), as we crossed from east to west and saw a sign for the ‘Agricultural Museum’ so stopped to take a look. The woman who runs this small center

Goat with one heck of an underbite

(replete with goats, a windmill and a restored traditional Karpathian home) gave us a tour of the grounds, sharing lots of interesting facts about Karpathos. We were interested to learn that electricity did not come to Karpathos Island until the mid 1960s. We also learned that the population of many towns on Karpathos drops by more than 50% outside of the summer months.

Goats sure are cool, right?

Our guide showed us many indigenous plants, pulling samples of various shrubs and herbs for us to smell and taste. She carefully explained many of the old ways of living on Karpathos, from making bread and cheese, to plowing the land and harvesting crops. We left the museum thinking, “Maybe we should move here and be goat cheese makers.”

Our idyllic beach–water never felt so good!

Upon reaching the east side of Karpathos, we saw a small, desolate beach from the road that initially looked too difficult to get to…it was down a steep slope that did not look at all accessible to me. However, Thomas convinced me to try going down, as it was quite a beautiful area. Down, down, down we went, with me feeling quite unsure it was safe to get to the beach. But then we got there, and the destination was clearly worth it the effort. Oh, to be on such a gorgeous beach! And alone! We had brought our bathing suits, so we swam for quite some time, the water cool and refreshing and clearer than any ocean water I had before experienced. It was the highlight of the day (so far). And I am now VERY eager to find similar places to swim, or return there again (and again, and again…). Simply fabulous :)

Roadside shrine–they are everywhere, and all so lovely!

After our swim we climbed (carefully) back up the slope to the car and drove back to Pigadia, stopping several times on the way to take pictures of various sights.

Another cemetery that caught our interest

We got back to the flat, had a late lunch and then rested. It is now a bit after 9:00pm.  We just returned from dinner on the waterfront at a lovely restaurant called Taverna Posidon, where I ate the best calamari in my life.  Seriously good stuff.  Total perfection. We may never leave…

With fond regards and wishing you all were here,
Erika