Every word I say,
I count with the compass.
to get my words right
like I'm singing in Kasos.
Kasos in the sea
she travels alone
like a drowning shipwrecked person
and seeks to be saved.
Where four seas meet, the Cretan, the Carpathian, the Libyan and the Egyptian - the Levantine Sea -, at that very point in the sea, the stony, gray and steep landscape of Kasos emerges. No matter how one approaches it, by air or by sea, it seems wild and inhospitable. But as you get closer, the steep mountains slowly open their embrace and reveal the first whitewashed houses. And then the whole of Kasos becomes a warm, hospitable nest, ready to embrace its foreign children and its welcome visitors. The people of Kasos have never forgotten their birthplace, neither those who live abroad, nor those who travel the seas of the world. They hold their place firmly in their minds and hearts, because they know well that "a tree without roots quickly dries up." And roots are the love for your place, the belief in its customs and traditions, which the people of Kassio have steadfastly observed for centuries, in all aspects of life, in joy and sorrow, in feasts and religious events.
Kasos, this mountainous, rocky island, with few plateaus and minimal flat areas -mainly in its northern part-, is adorned with peaks that are high for its size, such as Prionas (583 m), Sysfi, Ai-Mamas, Troussoulas, Profitis Elias, Korakas and Periolas. A characteristic feature of the island is its steep coasts and the absence of a natural harbor. The name of the island, according to one version, is related to the Phoenician word ikas (foam), from the foamy waves that hit its rocks, while according to another version it comes from Kasos, the father of Cleochus or Cleomachus. However, many modern researchers believe that the origin of the name is pre-Hellenic. Other names for Kasos are also Amfi, because from the north it appears as if divided into two, Astravi (samarium) and Achni (steamed, foamy).
Kasos, with an area of 64 sq. km. and approximately 1.000 permanent residents, has a very ancient history, as evidenced by the findings in the Hellinokamara cave. According to Homer, it took part in the Trojan War with its own ships, but under the leadership of Kos. The settlement of Achaeans and Dorians is indicated by the toponym Argos in one of the most fertile parts of the island. In the 8th century BC, it belonged to Rhodes, while in classical times it was a member of the Athenian Alliance. Throughout antiquity, the Kassians were known for their naval and commercial activity, a fact that brought them wealth and glory. The Kassians, moreover, never saw the sea as a limiting boundary, but as the only means to make their land spread to the ends of the world. Despite the devastation and desolation that the island experienced during the Ottoman occupation, its inhabitants continued their occupation with shipping and trade. Moreover, the entire history of the island is condensed into its naval history.
The participation of the entire Kassian fleet in the Revolution of '21, with famous captains such as Katartzis, Malliarakis, Bourekas, etc. caused the Holocaust of the island on June 7, 1824. On May 14, 1824, the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet appeared for the first time in Kassos, only to leave three days later. On May 27, it returned reinforced. Kassos, helpless by the central government, was captured on June 7, after a two-day bombardment. The male population was massacred and two thousand women and children were enslaved. Few managed to escape by taking refuge in the mountains of the island. The Holocaust of Kassos is a landmark event not only for the history of the island, but more generally for the Greek Revolution. The island then followed the fate of the rest of the Dodecanese and was incorporated into Greece in 1948. In the meantime, of course, Kasos had recovered and had begun to rebuild its fleet. In 1858, the opening of the Suez Canal constituted a "field of bright glory" for the Kassians and most of them moved to Egypt, where they created a thriving community on the coast of Port Said, Porto or Cape Poulio, as they themselves called it. Initially, conditions were difficult. However, after strikes, the canal company increased wages and granted plots of land to the people of Kassio, who created the settlements of "Chorafa" and "Nea Chorafa", building houses, churches and schools. In 1917, the "Greek Brotherhood of the Kassians in Egypt" was also founded. Despite all their economic and cultural progress, the people of Kassio did not cease to be bitter about the population drain of their island. This is irrefutably borne out by the words of the song:
Long live De Lesseps,
May I judge him?
who made the desert home
and devastated Kasos.
The five villages of Kasos are nestled tightly together in the middle of the northern side of the island. Fry, the capital and only port of Kasos, spreads around the bay of
Boukas, which is shaped like an eyebrow, from which the town was named. The small harbor of Boukas, next to the modern harbor, is a rare example of an old pirate refuge, which today hosts fishing boats and caiques. The fishermen here sell their fish and drink their coffee in the traditional cafe, saying goodbye to those who are leaving and welcoming those who have just got off the ship of the barren line. The French traveler Savary, who visited the island in 1779, writes about the picturesque harbor: "The entrance is twelve feet wide, being very inaccessible. One must pass through the middle very precisely, because if the boat touches the edges, consisting of angular rocks, it risks being shattered. This passage is the only one through which they can leave the island."
Fry was founded in 1840 mainly by residents of Agia Marina. Most of the houses are two-story mansions, with impressive architecture, which betrays the wealth that the island experienced. Many of these stone-built captain's houses are true masterpieces, but despite all this, their exterior does not in any way testify to the luxury of the interior. Furniture, utensils, mirrors and lamps arrived here from the ends of the earth, to decorate the "soufa" and the shelves of the Kassiot house, along with the handicrafts, which the worthy Kassiotissa constructed with art and imagination. For more information, you can watch an informative video on our Youtube channel.
Near Fry is Emporios, the old port of the island, which experienced great glory in antiquity. Today it is a resort on the island and a landing stage for fishing boats coming from the surrounding islands. The church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary here was built in 1856, on the site of an early Christian basilica, architectural members of which were used in the construction of the church in question. On the marble steps, which probably belonged to the earlier church, carvings can be seen, indicating their previous use. The church has a pebbled floor, a carved wooden iconostasis and colored plaster decoration. Behind the church, there is another chapel, where the icon was found, while the baptistery is located on privately owned land. The archaeological investigations carried out by Ross and Hiller von Gaettringen in the Emporio area brought to light the remains of burial chambers, columns of smooth granite, floors with colored stones, pieces of marble stele with Christian inscriptions, as well as a marble slab dedicated to Asclepius.
Just 1 km west of Fry is Agia Marina, the mansion village of Kasos, built on a hill and spread over a large area. The neighborhoods of Agia Marina, Akri to the north and Kasteli to the south, are adorned with many mansions and captain's houses, as well as newer houses, all white and well-kept with their balconies and courtyards full of flowers in "alitanas" and pots.
Very close to Agia Marina, just a 15-minute walk to the south, is the Ellinokamara cave, which served as a refuge for locals during periods of pirate raids. The ceramics from various periods that have been found here testify that it was a place of worship from the Mycenaean period to the Hellenistic period. The entrance to the cave - 30 m. wide and 10 m. high - has been closed since antiquity with an isodomic wall, which ends in two openings. The surrounding area is beautiful - as its name, "Paradise" testifies - and is overgrown with olive trees and fields that reach the sea. The landscape is completed by a series of small islands, the Kasonisia, which close the horizon like a stone necklace, in which the islet of Armathia stands out due to its size.
Arvanitohori is built on the edge of a fertile valley and is the only one that escapes a little from the tight cluster of settlements on the island. Here too you will see many mansions, some restored and others unfortunately half-ruined, among which are picturesque, domed churches. The church of Agios Dimitrios is special with the pebbled floor both inside and in its courtyard. Its three characteristic arches, internally form arches on the roof, while its bell tower is very tall, according to the wish of the shipowner who built the church, so that he could see it well when he passed by with his ship outside the island.
To the northeast of Fry are the villages of Panagia and Poli. Panagia is a holiday resort with few permanent residents and balconies decorated with elaborate concrete railings, many in the shape of roses. Poli was the ancient capital of the island, with a port at Emporio. Built on a 222 m high hill, it has an unobstructed view of Fry, Agia Marina and Panagia. In 1912 it was destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt. The area is rocky and its inhabitants, who are mainly farmers, divide their properties with "dry stone walls", the traditional island walls, where the stones are placed one on top of the other without any binding material. The sights of the village include the church of Agia Triada with its blue walls and orange domes, as well as the ruins of a wall, at the top of the Castle, a location referred to by Strabo as an ancient Poli. Here, carved tombs in the rock (4th – 3rd century BC), black-figure vases, lekythos, tombstones and Hellenistic inscriptions were found. Also the monastery of Agios Mamatos (4 km. SE) with a pebbled floor and a carved wooden iconostasis. Next to the church there is a guesthouse and a well. The area is idyllic with views that reach as far as the Libyan Sea. After the airport is the area of Vrissi, where the chapel of Agios Giorgis of Vrissi is located. From here springs the only running water on the island, which is supplied by boreholes or rainwater collected in the cisterns of the houses. In the same area there was an ancient sanctuary, as the carvings on the rocks attest.
The neighboring island of Armathia
This island is famous among Kasos lovers thanks to its exotic beach, Marmara, one of the most beautiful in the Mediterranean. The unimaginably beautiful colors of the water are due to the existence of gypsum at the bottom of the sea. The deserted area of Armathia today, the largest of the Kasos Islands, was once teeming with life, as gypsum mines operated here, which was transported by Kasosian ships to the Black Sea. The island had seven cafes at that time in order to serve the needs of the mine workers, the sailors and the sponge fishermen who moored their ships and caiques there, as well as the farmers who cultivated the Armathia land. Today, the chapel of Ypapanti faces only the traces of the mines, as well as the other two, also beautiful, beaches of the island, Popantoula - a diminutive of Ypapanti - and Karavostasis. The islet has been included in the European network "Natura 2000" thanks to its natural beauties and biodiversity. It should be noted that in addition to Armathia, Kasonisia also includes Makra - the pasture of Kasos - Plati, Strongyli, Pontikonisiia, Koufonisi, etc. In Makra there is also a small chapel dedicated to Saint Nicholas. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the wider maritime area of Kasos-Karpathos-Kasonisi is considered an important habitat of the Mediterranean monk seal monachus-monachus.
Sightseeing
- The Archaeological Museum is housed in a specially designed area of the old Town Hall, in Fry and includes exhibits from various areas of the island, as well as from the period of the Revolution. Among other things, inscriptions, architectural elements, vases, shells and inscribed Hellenistic stone slabs in the shape of a dragon from the acropolis of Poli are exhibited.
2.The Maritime Museum of Kasos hosts exhibits from the collection of Antonis Hadjipetros, including small everyday objects from old sailing ships, steamships of the era and diesel ships, sextants, compasses, and other nautical instruments, models and watercolors of old and new ships, as well as traditional shipbuilding tools. Also exhibited are rare documents, diaries, books, maps, charter parties, ship sales, wills and sea loans of sailors, diplomas of Kasos captains and certificates of nautical competence and pension, many photographs, small parts and engines of boats.
3. The picturesque harbor of Bouka is the most emblematic landmark of Kasos, with a rich history and indescribable beauty from any angle you look at it.
4. The church of Saint Spyridon, patron saint of Kasos, built in the early 20th century, with a remarkable wood-carved iconostasis and an ornate bell tower with a clock.
5. The Town Hall building in Fry and the square with the monument to the Heroes of 1821, in the Town Hall square. A work by Anatoly Lazaridis, surrounded by 4 small cannons-spoils.
6.The impressive stone-built Minakoulis mansion, where the Kasos Rural Health Station is housed and interesting exhibitions are often hosted.
7.The elegant Municipal Library building with the characteristic columns.
8. The church of Panagia in the homonymous village with a pebbled floor and a wood-carved iconostasis. In its enclosure there is a shrine of Saint Kassiani, probably ancient. The church was completed in 1902 and its large real estate holdings, as well as the numerous gold offerings and gifts, rank it among the richest in Kasos. In the background the panoramic view of Fry.
9. Six small churches - a phenomenon unique throughout the Aegean - built one next to the other and dedicated to six different Saints - Agios Charalambos, Agios Antonios, Agios Nikolaos, Agios Giannis, Agia Varvara and Agia Kara -, which were built, according to tradition, to drive away from the village of Panagia, six fairies who came out every night and danced in the area. The people of Kasos are distinguished by their deep religious feeling and this is also evident from the multitude of churches and monasteries that one encounters throughout the island. The land of Kasos hosts a total of 102 churches, monasteries and chapels, some of them in places with magnificent views.
10. The Monastery of Saint George of Hadies is located at the southern tip of Kasos and can be reached via a wonderful route that crosses the Argos valley and the rugged mountains of the island. The entire area is of exceptional natural beauty, while the route ends two kilometers south of the monastery, at the beautiful beach of Chelatro, the southernmost point of Kasos. The monastery is adorned with remarkable hagiographies and a wooden carved iconostasis. Both the church and the surrounding buildings, which during the festival function as guesthouses, are excellently maintained by the locals and the expatriate Kasosians, who have a special reverence for the Saint.
My dear George of Hadies, help me return,
Kneeling in your grace, I come to worship.
11. The monastery of Panagia Eleros, on the southeastern tip of the island. On September 7th and 8th, a large two-day festival is held here.
