Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
starvation soon after mating. When stationary, the moths are a well-camouflaged black
and yellow, but they flash cherry-red overwings in flight.
Eptá Piyés to Profítis Ilías
Eptá Piyés
(“Seven Springs”), 4km inland from Kolýmbia junction on the main
east-coast highway, is an oasis with a tiny irrigation dam created by the Italians. A trail
and a rather claustrophobic Italian aqueduct-tunnel both lead from the vicinity of the
springs to the reservoir. Continuing on the same road, you reach
ELEOÚSSA
after
another 9km, in the shade of dense forest. Built as the planned agricultural colony of
Campochiaro in the mid-1930s, it's now a bizarre
ghost town
, with a central square
lined by eerily derelict Italian structures that visitors can wander through at will. From
the vast, yellow-trimmed Art Deco fountain-cum-pool just west of the village, stocked
with endangered
gizáni
fish, keep straight 3km further to the gorgeous little late-
Byzantine church of
Áyios Nikólaos Foundouklí
(“St Nicholas of the Hazelnuts”).
Émbona
All tracks and roads west across Profítis Ilías converge on the road from Kalavárdha
bound for
ÉMBONA
, a large but unremarkable village backed up against the north slope
of 1215m
Mount Atávyros
. Émbona lies at the heart of the island's most important
wine-producing districts. The small, family-run
Emery winery
(daily 9.30am-3.30pm;
W
emery.gr) is highly regarded.
Thárri monastery
Accessible from Apóllona and Laerma to the north, or via a rough but passable road from
Asklipió 11km south, the Byzantine monastery of
Thárri
is the oldest religious foundation
on Rhodes, re-established as a vital community in 1990 by charismatic abbot Amfilohios.
In the striking
katholikón
(daily, all day), successive cleanings have restored damp-smudged
frescoes dated 1300-1450 to a pale approximation of their original glory.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
8
INLAND RHODES
Ì
Elafos Hotel
Profítis Ilías
T
22460 22402,
W
hotel
-elafos.gr
. Rather splendid, restored Italian, 1929-vintage
chalet-hotel, in a village west of Áyios Nikólaos church,
where the high-ceilinged rooms ooze retro charm, and the
arcaded gro
und-
loor common areas include a restaurant
and a sauna.
€95
Ì
Piyi Fasouli
Psínthos
T
22410 50071.
Excellent
taverna, at the edge of Psínthos
village, 6km
southeast of Butterfly Valley (see p.529), serving
excellent grills and appetizers as well as a few tasty
mayireftá
at tables overlooking the namesake spring.
Daily lunch & dinner.
Kastellórizo
Although
KASTELLÓRIZO
's official name of Meyísti means “Biggest”, it's actually
among the very smallest Dodecanese islands; it's just the biggest of a local archipelago
of islets. It's also extremely remote, located more than 100km east of Rhodes and
barely more than a nautical mile off mainland Asia. At night its lights are
outnumbered by those of the Turkish town of Kaş opposite, with which Kastellórizo
has excellent relations.
The island's population has dwindled from around ten thousand a century ago to
perhaps three hundred now. Having been an Ottoman possession since 1552, it was
occupied by the French from 1915 until 1921, and then by the Italians. When Italy
capitulated to the Allies in 1943, 1500 Commonwealth commandos occupied
Kastellórizo. Most departed that November, after the Germans captured the other
Dodecanese, which left the island vulnerable to looters, both Greek and British. By the
time a fuel fire in 1944 triggered the explosion of an adjacent arsenal, demolishing half
the houses on Kastellórizo, most islanders had already left. Those who remain are
