| Wednesday, July 11, we traveled onboard a small Turkish gulet from Kas over to the Greek island of Kastellorizo in order to obtain our new visas. This Greek island was only a few miles from Kas and the Turkish coast but 72 miles away from Rhodes, its nearest Greek neighbor. Kastellorizo had such a wonderful laid-back atmosphere; it was the perfect Greek island for us. It now had about 200 permanent residents, but in the 19th century Kastellorizo was a thriving island with about 15,000 people. In 1920 when the Italians took possession of the island, much of the population immigrated to Australia, and during World War II the island was heavily bombed. Now Australian-Greeks were slowly returning, and many buildings were starting to be rebuilt. During the summer the Australian-Greeks were the island�s main visitors. It was easy to observe that everyone was having a good time. We enjoyed the island so much that after our visa run we returned the following day with our own boat, and then again a month later on our return to Marmaris from Finike. |
