Megisti Island Greece

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Kastellorizo or Megisti as the island is officially known since ancient times, is situated on the southern easternmost part of Greece. Its total surface is 9,2 sq. kms. and it lies 72 miles east of the island of Rhodes and only 2 kms from the Turkish coastline. It is a mountainous island and it belongs to the Dodecanese islands complex.

The island's capital, Kastellorizo, where most of the islands inhabitants reside, consists of the Pigadia and Chorafia districts as well as the little picturesque port of Mandraki. Kastellorizo is amphitheatrically built at the feet of a mountain and spreads on all three sides of the gulf.

The picturesqueness of the scenery upon arrival on the island, cannot be easily described. The painted in impressive colours two and three storey renovated mansions with their wooden staircases and balconies, make it unrivalled in beauty amongst other islands. The whole island has been proclaimed preservable by archeology and it offers the visitor the beauty of an idyllic landscape and the nostalgia of a past glory.

In past times the capital, which is also the port of the island, was the most important geophysical gift of Kastellorizo, since due to tis geophysical position it was a trade crossroad between Europe, the Middle East and Egypt. It ws only natural that it generated an important amount of economic and nautical trade which explains the noble air about the island that reflect its past glory and prosperity (also reflected on the rich embroideries and materials used for the traditional local island customs).

Kastellorizo island has a population of 275 inhabitants. This is the number that remained from teh 15,000 that it numbered in the turn of the twentieth century. The local's main occupations are tourism and fishing.