Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
views. Try to get here late afternoon or early morning - when the day-trippers have gone
- as locals take to their violins.
Sleeping & Eating
€35)
has four elegant, white-walled, tile floored rooms and the best sea views in the vil-
lage. Meanwhile,
Mike's
( 22450 51304; r €25-30)
, at the southern edge of town, has
four fresh rooms with bathrooms and kitchenettes and a kindly Cerberus in the form of
elderly owner, Sofia. The colourful
kafeneio
below does traditional dishes like
stifadho
and dolmadhes (mains €7).
Traditional
Hotel Olymbos
( 22450 51009; r €25-35)
has terrific views from
rooms with raised beds, thick blankets and a great restaurant upstairs featuring meatballs,
stewed goat and
makarounes
. Ask to see their Romany caravan-style shop selling dolls
and painted crockery.
Irene's House
(
6944636327; per night €60, per week €300)
is a
newly renovated house and sleeps four.
Head for the
Parthenon Restaurant
(mains €4-8)
in the square for walls decked in in-
struments, a wood ceiling, antique photos and a traditional menu featuring
soutzoukakia
(meatballs in wine and tomato sauce) and souvlakia.
And finally,
Eden Garden
(mains €4-8)
, south of the church, is a simple taverna with
mountain views, check-cloth tables and a menu of homemade sausage, local goat
sti-
fadho,
pizzas and salads.
KASOS ΚΑΣΟΣ
POP 980
Battered by severe winds and imprisoned by huge turquoise waves, isolated Kasos looks
like the Greece that time forgot. Most of its visitors are rare seabirds; 90% of the human
returnees are Kasiots on fleeting visits, having left in droves years ago to seek employ-
ment. But get here and you'll discover a tumbledown charm to the Dodecanese' south-
ernmost island.
In 1820, the Turkish-ruled island had 11,000 inhabitants and a large mercantile fleet.
Tragically, Mohammad Ali, the Turkish governor of Egypt, regarded this fleet as an im-
pediment to his plan to establish a base in Crete and on 7 June 1824 his men landed on
Kasos and killed around 7000 inhabitants. This massacre is commemorated annually and
Kasiots return from around the world to participate.
