Cyclades
Islands
: Amorgos, Andros,
Folegandros, Ios,
Kea, Kythnos,
Milos, Mykonos,
Naxos, Paros
and Antiparos, Santorini,
Sifnos, Serifos,
Sikinos, Syros,
Tinos
Northern
Aegean Islands:
Chios, Ikaria,
Limnos, Lesvos,
Samos, Samothraki,
Thassos
Ionian
Islands:
Corfu (Kerkyra), Ithaki,
Kefalonia, Kythera,
Lefkada, Paxos,
Zakynthos
Saronic
Islands:
Aegina, Angistri,
Poros, Hydra,
Salamina, Spetsis
Sporades
Islands:
Alonissos, Skiathos,
Skopelos, Skyros
Dodecanese
Islands:
Astypalia, Halki,
Kalymnos, Karpathos,
Kassos, Kastellorizo,
Kos, Leros,
Nisyros, Patmos,
Rhodes, Symi,
Tilos
Other
Islands:
Crete, Evia,
Cyprus
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Dodecanese Islands - Karpathos
Karpathos is much wealthier than many
of the Greek isles, and for good reason; their main
export, as a mayor once bragged, was children. Often their
children would move to the United States, save their money,
and then come home to retire. Before retiring, they sent
money home, income from their good jobs that was worth
much more in the barren economies of the Greek isles.
Americans are welcomed here, and English is very much
a second language. The principal town is Pigadhia in the
south behind Pigadhia Bay. It was closely tied
to Rhodes in antiquity and in the MiddleAges, but
passed to Venetian rule until the Turks took over most
of the Mediterranean. In 1912, Italy ruled it until World
War II; at that point, Karpathos became part of Greece.
In Karpathos, you can expect to hear English spoken regularly.
Though they do have good crops and fishing locally, much
of the income even today is in American remittances. The
island is treeless except in the south, which leads to
heavy soil erosion in the winter which the terraced landscape
cannot completely eradicate.
Olimbos is a mountain village in which the inhabitants
still live in a similar fashion to classical times. Women
wear embroidered costumes and harvest crops by hand. Shepherds
tend herds on the mountainsides.
Though English is spoken by many, Greek is still the
primary language; the dialect of Karpathos includes ancient
Doric and some modern Italian words, and is quite similar
to the dialects of Rhodes and Cyprus.
Karpathos is not one of the major
islands in the Dodecanese, but it has benefited from
the tourism that has sprung up as a major industry in
the local area. Tourists who
visit Karpathos can expect to find a fine welcome; those
who are American can expect to be engaged in conversation
by American expatriates and native Karpathians who spent
years in America before returning home.
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