Kastellorizo or officially Megisti is the island that Greeks have a special connection to it, because it is their most remote island from the mainland plus at the same time so close to the Turkish coastline. Despite its size, has nothing to envy of the others more famous Aegean sea islands. As by itself includes natural beauty, its morals plus customs, hospitable people plus a long history. Below, in our article, we list 11 not so well known knowledge plus facts about Kastelorizo island.
Facts About Kastellorizo Island
It is the easternmost inhabited Greek island. It is located (in a straight line) 567 km or 352 miles from Piraeus plus 126 km or 78 miles from Rhodes where the nearest port is.
Kastellorizo has around 13 neighboring islands plus islets. They are: Agios Georgios, Agrielea or Agrelia, Voutsakia, Megalo Mavropini, Mikro Mavropini, Polifados One, Polifados Two, Ro, Savoura, Stroggili, Tragonera or Dragonera, Psomi, Psoradia
The highest point is the Mount of Vigla (273 meters).
Blue Cave or Galazio Spileo is include in many travel guides around the world, as one of the rarest geological phenomena, concerning underwater caves.
inside the blue cave in kastellorizo island
Between 1900 plus 1920, the population was over-exceeded the 12.000 people. Nowadays, the island population is just 492 people (according to the 2011 census)!
According to the greek-australian researcher Allan Cresswell, about 30.000 ”kassies” in origin live in Australia. The majority of them are descendants of natives who immigrated during the Italian occupation plus the Asia Minor catastrophe.
Due to its geo-strategical position, Kastellorizo island was burned to the ground by bombing more than once during WW2.
The Oscar-winning film ‘’Mediterraneo’’ scenes were shot here. The movie highlighted the island in the worldwide tourism map.
On 2006, the British guitarist plus singer David Gilmour released his 3rd album which its first track called ”Castellorizon”! After David Gilmour spent a night on the island, he was so excited that based his song on this. The song received two nominations for the Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the next Grammy Awards (49th plus 51st).