newerasmus | 23:05, 21 August 2009
Do you agree that for some, still unclear to me, reason there is a certain excitement to enjoy when visiting places that are at ‘the land’s end’? One such place is Kastellorizo, a tiny Greek island 5 hours by boat from Rhodes. That’s pretty far away for Greek standards, considering that it’s only 20 minutes away from Turkey. (Some go even as far as to claim that Kastellorizo, until the EU accession of Cyprus, was the most eastern part of Europe. Contested topic, I know).
There is much one can say about this place, notwithstanding its miniscule size (12 sq. km). First, about its name: It’s official name today is Megiste , Greek meaning the ‘largest’. You may think the name reflects a certain kind of Greek irony, but the most probable explanation, according to some ancient sources (sorry, no reference here), behind this name is that Megiste is the largest of an archipelago of small islands in the area.
The root of the island’s commonly used name (Kastellorizo) is not so clear as it seems at first sight. It’s usually thought that Kastellorizo comes from the Italian Castello+Rosso (red castle). However, despite the presence of ruins of several castles in the island, none of them is, or looks, red. Having said that, the rock under which the port-village is built has a shade of red which could justify its popular name. However, another explanation seems more likely. It is thought that the Byzantines took inspiration from the castle (castello) being at the ριζά (=roots) of the rock. Later occupying forces of the island, though, (Venetians, Johannite Knights, Turks, French, Italians) whose knowledge of Greek, it is reasonable to assume, was limited failed to discern the Greek etymology of the island’s name. Whichever explanation you find more credible Kastellorizo is a still largely unspoiled island worth visiting.
The second thing I have to say about modern Kastellorizo is that were it not for the welfare state and tourism in the summer life for the locals would be next to unbearable. The island has no potable water of its own and its residents have to rely on Rhodes and Pireaus (Athen’s port city) for much of their provisions. I say much and not all, because the locals do most of their day-to-day shopping from the neighbouring Turkish city of Kas (the ancient Antiphellos). It is fair to say that nearly everything a tourist eats in a taverna in Kastellorizo comes from Turkey, sometimes even the fish. That’s strange bearing in mind that fishing, alongside with tourism, is the only thing that grows on this rocky island. In the past (before tourism became a much more profitable venture) the island would produce olive oil, wine and some dairy products.
Unlike other places in Greece, much larger than Kastellorizo, the island has an airport and there are flights to Rhodes almost every day in the summer and about 3 times a week in the winter. The price is only 25 euros one way. That’s because the price is subsidised by the state. Travelling by boat is free of charge for the locals -a measure that is supposed to fight their isolation from the rest of Greece. Other measures aimed at facilitating the life of the locals include building a new water tank, providing wireless internet, keeping two small museums open (also free, to lure the tourists), a post office, a customs office and so on.
The third and perhaps most impressive feature of Kastellorizo is that at the beginning of the 20th century there were as many as 15,000 permanent residents. Today this number is down to 300. It is hard to imagine so many people living in such a small island, but I saw old pictures where the harbour is really packed with houses. The majority of them was destroyed during the two world wars. The island was bombed first by the Axis and later by the Allies at which point all of its residents had been transfered to Palestine, Egypt and elsewhere. After the second war the islanders were given the option of migrating to Australia and the majority of them decided it was a good idea. Unsurprisingly, none of them returned, although the links between down under and Kastellorizo remain alive (an Australian-Greek brought his future wife all the way from Oz to Kastellorizo to meet his mother. The wedding, I eavesdropped them on the ferry, will take place in Melbourne).
Like much of Greece Kastellorizo has a side that the official narrative often likes to underplay. Kastellorizo was under Ottoman rule for almost four centuries. The sole witnesses of that era is the now restored mosque (today a museum) figuring prominently at the harbour (see picture) and an edifice hidden in the hinterland of the village which must have served as a water tank. Such edificies, of which unfortunately I have no pictures to show, can be found in numbers not only in Turkey but in Rhodes too. This brings me inevitably to the close cultural links between Greece and Turkey, but I will try to say more about this in my next post describing the second step of my journey: Kas.
