Spending the holidays in quiet and peaceful Makrigalos is the equivalent of a nice holiday; a charming little village on the beach with great places to eat and drink, and relaxed and nice people. We’ve been here 3 times over the last year and we love it.
A change of scenery and seeing something new is never a bad thing.
We knew about the close proximity of the small of Island of Karpathos to Makrigialos, and talking to some locals confirmed our idea of going there to be a good one.
We thought the best way of travelling to Karpathos would be by boat, but discovered that the fastest and best way to go was by plane from Sitia airport.
That was the start of our trip to Karpathos.
We left for Sitia airport early on a Friday morning and had a fantastic flight, although it was very windy. Going in a small propeller airplane only a few hundred meters over the sea we could see the corals, the waves and the life of the ocean.
The first leg of the flight was 15 minutes to Kassos, a tiny little island very close to Karpathos.
Landing in Karpathos airport we found a taxi that took us to Pigadia, or Karpathos town. We drove through an interesting landscape with a green, rugged coastline and blue ocean. Arriving in Pigadia we found a beautiful little harbour with restaurants, bars, boats, people and white houses on the hills surrounding the harbour.
A bit of a Greek pearl we thought!
We walked around the town and saw that the area east of the town, by the beach, was one of many new hotels and apartments and the home of the much-criticized new Apollo hotel on the Island. At first glance this seemed to be the least authentic part of the town, the harbour being the genuine Karpathian part, but this turned out to be wrong. We discovered that the harbour – although pretty beyond comparison – was a tiring place at night, with employees in the restaurants and bars greeting us in English and Swedish, following us as we walked by and being rather annoying. In the more touristy part of the town, by the big hotels, we found it much more peaceful and the mood much more relaxed.
Finding a place to stay was no problem (middle of June) and the prices were ok as we paid between 35 and 40 euros a night for a double room with air conditioning.
We were advised to rent a car or a scooter to see the island and its many lovely beaches. We decided to rent a scooter for one day to go to one of the most idyllic beaches of the island, Kyra Panagia, but the most important place to go and see, for us and for most other visitors to Karpathos: Olympos.
Olympos is an old, small village built in the mountainside away from the coast with an interesting and very special architecture. We got on a boat and left Pigadia at 9 am, spent 90 minutes on the boat and arrived in Diafani, a small coastal town in the north of the island.
The sight of the village was stunning and became even more beautiful as we walked around the narrow paths and steps of the village.
It is a place living with tourism and although the village was so different from others the 4 hours spent there were enjoyed.
The trip back down to the harbour was somewhat scary on the narrow and steep roads but we did get down in one piece. We spent an hour in the village of Diafani, a disappointment due to all the people promoting their restaurants by running after us as we walked past. We then got on the boat to head back to Pigadia.
On the following day we got our rental scooter and drove off to spend the day in Kyra Panagia. The trip there was about 14 kilometres, the roads were good and the view as we got on the top to go down to the beach was amazing.
And so was the beach!
A small, white sandy beach with the clearest water ever! Bluish-green-aqua in colour with white stones on the bottom. Absolutely lovely!
The place and the day proved itself even better as we decided not to stop at the taverna by the beach but rather walk 150 metres up the road, to have lunch in a quiet and nice blue taverna. we were met by a very nice young girl, who served us the best Moussaka ever as well as a great salad, nice bread and ice-cold beer. Perfect.
We left Pigadia and Karpathos the next day and were again thrilled about the flight, this time back to Sitia and Makrigialos.
Apart from the rather pushy people in the restaurants in Pigadia and Diafani we loved the flight, the island and Kyra Panagia in particular.
We are already thinking about going again; we would then do Kassos (the tiny island before Karpathos) and Lefkos, a small village on the north (?) coast of Karpathos.
Thanks for telling us about the island and the flights there!
Best regards,
Morten & Maria
Blue flag