Astypalea sailing vacations
Astypalea is a harsh island with high cliffs, small bays and and clear waters.
It is considered a traditional Greek island, a good alternative for those who want to escape the more touristy islands but still want a bit of civilization.
The people of Astypalea live off fishing, agriculture and stockbreeding, but since it is quite a popular island amongst Greek holidaymakers,
the locals have been able to earn more out of tourism.
Because Astypalea has some terrific settings and views, this has become an increasingly popular island amongst artists.
The coasts of Astypalea are rocky with many small pebble-strewn beaches.
A small band of land of roughly 10 kilometres almost separates the island in two sections.
The capital and the previous main harbour of the island is Astypalea or Hora, as it is called by the locals.
A new harbour has been buildt in Agios Andreas on the mid island from where now the connections are west and east with Piraeus and the other islands of the Dodecanese.
Flight connections with Athens from the airport are close to Maltezana.
In Greek mythology, Astypalaia was a woman abducted by Poseidon in the form of a winged fish-tailed leopard.
The island was colonized by Megara and its constitution and buildings are known from many inscriptions.
The Roman emperors recognized it as a free state.
During the Middle Ages it belonged to the Byzantines until 1207, when in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade it became a fee of the Querini,
a noble Venetian family, until 1522.
The Querini built a castle that is still in place and added the name of the island to their family name, that became Querini Stampalia.
Astypalea became Turkish in 1522, and the Ottomans kept it until 1912, with only two interruptions: from 1648 until 1668, during the War of Crete,
it was occupied by Venice and from 1821 to 1828 it joined the insurgents during the Greek War of Independence.
Occupied again by the Ottomans in 1828, on April 12, 1912, during the War of Libya, a detachment of the Regia Marina landed on Astypalaia,
which thus became the first island of the Dodecanese to be occupied by Italy.
From there the Italians, on the night between the 3rd and 4 May, landed on Rhodes.
The island remained under Italian governance until the sercond wordl war.
In 1947, together with the whole Dodecanese, Astypalea joined Greece.
Find out more about this Greek sailing vacation here: www.astypalaia.com