International Turtleclub Sights and Culture of Karpathos.

Sights and Culture

On Karpathos you will find a lot of ruins and remainings of old villages and buildings. Some of them are very old. To visit them you have to leave the main roads. A lot of these old villages have been destroyed by pirates and the people from Karpathos used the old materials to rebuild new villages. Near Lefkos you will find the remaining of on old village. Here you can see a few cave houses and an very old temple that was build underground. To come here you have to follow the road that leads to Lefkos. At a certain point there is a sign that leads to Hotel Lefkos. Follow this road and look out sharp for a sign at the left hand side that will direct you to ancient ruins.

Near the village of Agios Nicolaos you will find the remainings of an old village called Marathos. The road to Agios Nicolaos is not easy. There are a few old churches to visit where you can see some beautiful fresco's. For example Agios Mamas and the cave church nearby Apela.

The inhabitants of Karpathos are friendly and kind and they will help you whenever they can. They do like the old traditions which you can find in the religious festivals, the music and the dances.

The music from Karpathos is different from most of the Greek music. It is played with the lyra and it is mostly very old. When people come together to make music they make their own text and rhyme to the music. One of the singers starts to sing, he decides what the subject of the song is about. After a while an other singer takes over, he also has to make his own text and rhyme. To show respect to the first singer he has to stay with the subject the first singer did start with.

The place where you can see the old Karpathian culture is in the village of OLYMPOS. The woman are still dressed in traditional cloths. You can go on an excursion to Olympos. Boats are leaving from Pigadia and will bring you to the small harbor of Diafani. From here a bus or a walk will take you to Olympos where you can walk around and visit the old church and the shops. Here you can buy yourself handmade textile.

An other nice excursion is the Village Tour. This tour will take you to the villages of Aperi, Volada, Othos, Piles, Finiki, Arkasa and Menetes. A guide will tell you the history of the island, the villages and will show you the sights of each village. This is a very nice way to learn about Karpathos and it’s inhabitants.

Olympos, a village with a lot of tradition and folklore.

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