Karpathos Island Adventures
Karpathos is located between Crete and Rhodes and is the second largest of the Dodecanese islands. We didn’t know anything about Karpathos even though we had visited Greece many times before, but after reading up on this island we decided to go and explore this wild, remote and unique place. Karpathos can be reached by airplane since it has its own airport or by ferry from other greek islands such as Rhodes or Crete. The population of Karpathos is around 6500 permanent inhabitants. In the warmer season the number more than doubles as many Karpathian expats return for vacation with their family. (As of this post, during COVID-19 times we see tourists returning also from Scandinavia, Holland, Germany and a whole lot of Italians.) We spoke to an Italian lady who had just made a long, sweaty walk up the hill from the beach of Apella who told us “There are too many Italians here!” 😂
Apella beach on Karpathos, Greece
The area of Karpathos island is just about 330 km2 and the landscape mostly exists of mountains, except in the southern part that is more flat. The capital of the island is called Pigadia which is the largest town of the island. In Pigadia you have the port where many people come in with the ferry as well as many tavernas, coffee bars, souvenir stores, supermarkets and other important services such as car and scooter rentals, banks, police station and a hospital.
Karpathos has shown us some very unique remote mountain villages, picturesque narrow streets and buildings, beautiful beaches, wild winds and serpentine roads between high rocks and lush pine valleys. We also experienced amazing food, kind people and fun animals that made us laugh. We spent three full weeks exploring every corner of this island with the help of a 125cc scooter and are happy to share our experiences (and some personal opinions) with you.
Enjoy, Seen by Veen.
