“The island of Patmos and the nearby islands of Narki and Lipsos were given to me by means of a chrysobull” wrote in his will in the 11th century the founder of the Holy Monastery of Theologos in Patmos, Hosios Christodoulos.
I had had isolated experiences of Micronesia before, mainly with day trips from Patmos or some scattered three-day August trips to my beloved Arkoi and my good friend Manolis aka Trypa. My ten-day stay in June in the tiny island complexes that Alexios Komnenos donated to Hosios, the on-site research into their history and environment, the arduous hikes and the exciting floating tours from island to island created special feelings of joy and well-being for me. Feelings that were reinforced by the actions and programmes of the environmental organisation Archipelagos, the establishment of a Permanent Wildlife Refuge in the Archipelago of Arkoi and the expected declaration of the 44 Islands Marine Park (including Imia) of the Northern Dodecanese.

“The island of Patmos and the nearby islands of Narkoi and Lipso were given to me by means of a golden light” wrote in his will in the 11th century the founder of the Holy Monastery of Theologos in Patmos, Hosios Christodoulos.
I had had isolated experiences of Micronesia before, mainly with day trips from Patmos or some scattered three-day August trips to my beloved Arkoioi and my good friend Manolis aka Trypa. My ten-day stay in June in the tiny island complexes that Alexios Komnenos donated to Hosios, the on-site research into their history and environment, the arduous hikes and the exciting floating tours from island to island created special feelings of joy and well-being for me. Feelings that were reinforced by the actions and programmes of the environmental organisation Archipelagos, the establishment of a Permanent Wildlife Refuge in the Archipelago of Arkoi and the expected declaration of the 44 Islands Marine Park (including Imia) of the Northern Dodecanese.
THE ARCHIPELAGO OF ARKOI
The “Island of Kalymnos” departs from Patmos at 10.30 a.m. for the megalithic island of Arkoi. Passing the northeasternmost cape of Geranos, only 6 nm separate us from the safe bay of Porto Augusta, a labyrinthine harbour whose location is a guarantee for all weather conditions. So apart from the small settlement that developed and the fishermen who occasionally came to visit, Porto Augusta was also used as a refuge for pirates. The privileges of the Holy Monastery of Patmos, the protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the excommunications of the Pope were not always sufficient to deter them.
The ship by a touch and go procedure catches the outside pier and hastily disembarked the rare but select species of passengers whose itinerary included the Arkoians.
Two graduate students of marine research and a travel photographer stayed on the pier after the hasty departure of the “Kalymnos Island”, Agathonisi. A rough dirt road leads from the port to the photovoltaic installation, the helipad and the settlement. The stones from the road opening offer the most beautiful and compatible with the natural environment building material for the island’s buildings. Yet some people still prefer concrete containers for their main or holiday home. I agree that the priority in these ethnically sensitive cases is first and foremost to keep some people on the island. But that does not absolve some others from the responsibility of turning modest settlements with low stone-built houses and traditional building principles into sets of impersonal concrete boxes.
After 2 years I see Hole and Auntie Pantelia again. The news about the island is shocking. A Permanent Wildlife Sanctuary has been created on the 14 island complex of the Archipelago, which will form the core of the under-established Northern Dodecanese Islands National Park. The Municipality of Patmos has granted the old Royal Gendarmerie building to the Aegean Marine Research Institute which, based in Ikaria, and with research centres in Arkoii, Marathi and Fourni, is carrying out a commendable and systematic effort of research, education and protection actions in the Aegean environment. The image of ten young scientists on an island of forty inhabitants is more than catalytic.
We study the tablecloth map (the GIS maps are marked) of the wonderful taverna of Trypa (operating in his parents’ old café) and I note routes and places I have not seen, or want to see again, on previous visits to the polyisland. I must see Vathi Limnari, the Italian outpost in the north of the island, the Hellenistic Castle, the classic Tiganakia, the old village with the church of Pantanassa, the twin bays of Steno and Glipapa in Megalonissos and Agios Nikolaos, the Byzantine cistern and the Pirate in Marathi.
Trypas promised me for the evening, the Archipelago cuttlefish with spinach. I immediately take the uphill to Limnari. I pass through successive pasture control gates – at least the island’s goats have far exceeded its grazing capacity – and reach the largest paddock and from there, going downhill, I find myself in 15 minutes on the east coast and sheltered from the north wind Limnari.
A small pebbly shore, two tamarisk trees for shade and turquoise waters make up a remote heavenly setting. Three researchers from the Institute of Marine Research descending the trail interrupt the eerie silence of the landscape. They put on their uniforms and begin another day of surveying the biodiversity of zooplankton and coastal meiofauna. I take the road back to see the sunset from the old Arkoi village built on a hilltop for fear of pirates and abandoned in the last years of the 1950s. Here, on the island’s citadel where the old church of Pantanassa dominates and the horizon approaches 300 degrees, the sight of Micronesia in the colours of the west is unforgettable.
The road to the Italian Outpost in the north of the island (1 hour) holds pleasant surprises. Climbing up the ridge of the island and heading north, you are led accompanied by flying goats, jumping wild rabbits, and free-range donkeys (they work in the threshing floor for 1 week a year) to the outpost outpost that the Italians maintained until 1947 when they ceded the Dodecanese. From up there they controlled all the sea routes to Samos, Leros and the Asia Minor Coast. The outpost with Italian tile motifs and exquisite patinas on the walls is manned today by the few goats of Trypa, exiled from the village. Returning from the north coast, I am impressed by the large cedars opposite the island of Koumaro and the large estate of the descendants of Manolas Melianos at Kapsaliasmeno, which is maintained without electricity and water supply.
The polyisland of Arkoias has not been systematically explored from an archaeological point of view. In the past, British and later Greek archaeologists of the Dodecanese archaeological service carried out surface surveys and found sporadic finds of prehistoric shells and obsidian shards in the wider area of the settlement, which prove that the island has been inhabited since ancient times. The findings that really surprise are the surviving ruins of a fort founded by Miletus and a robust rectangular tower of the Hellenistic era on the left side of Porto Augusta. The tower has dimensions of 8.65m on the NE side, 6.85m on the NW, 8.30m on the SW and 6.80m on the SE, while the dimensions of the stone blocks (1.60X1.70, 1.03X2.02) and the elaborate adaptation joints are impressive.
In more recent times, the foundation in 1088 by Saint Christodoulos of the Holy Monastery of John the Theologian in Patmos, to whom both Patmos and the neighbouring islands of Lipsoi and Arkoi were donated by the then Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, played a decisive role in the settlement of the island. Being thus an appendage of Patmos, Arkoioi joined and remained for centuries in the organization and management of its monastic state with monk pastors taking care of the grazing and the development of their herds. The establishment of lay land tenants dates from the mid-19th century. In 1947 Arkoi had 93 inhabitants, in 1961 97 inhabitants and nowadays 50 inhabitants including a small student of the exemplary in organization and equipment Primary School.
In the afternoon I set off for Tiganakia at the southernmost tip of the island. I take the small concrete lane, pass the twin bays of Steno and Glipapa and watch the bulls sunbathing on the small beach. The concrete road soon stops and the dirt path passing by a fragrant birch grove ends at Tiganakia. Here you realize how little you knew about the shades of blue. The shallows, the strong currents and the amazing quality of the waters create a blue world of unsurpassed beauty. A series of islets and islets (Avatisto, Makronissi, Kalovolo, Psathonissi, Tsuka, Tsoukaki) in the south are characterized by a great diversity of local flora and are a breeding ground for many protected species of birds both permanently (Spitzaetos, Eagle Heron, Peregrine Falcon, Cormorant, Aegean Gull) and migratory birds (Black-winged Petrel, Kiskinese, Snake Eagle). They are also an important stopover on the migratory route of other species (Thalassaeetus, Fish Eagle, Porfyrotsiknias, Kalamokan). In the absolute tranquillity of the moment and in the exotic – but absolutely Greek – image of the blue degradation, I remember that newly rich cretin who last August insisted on passing through the narrow straits formed by the rocky islets with his jet ski…
I crossed the Arkoians from Koumaros to Almyrida (north-south 5.5km) and walked most of its fragmented coastline (25.3km) before deciding to cross to the second inhabited island of the Arkoians’ polynesian peninsula.
I head up the avenue des Champs Elysses and visit Hole’s beautiful stone house before taking his speedboat to the idyllic Marathi in just 3 minutes.
This 355-acre island, named after the homonymous myrrh plant, is home to the Crab family (once the children used to row to the school of the Arquia).
The islet, which is divided into three controlled grazing areas, has a coastline of nearly 4 km. A pirate flag flies on the left dock. Michael Kavouras (Pirate) and his sister Poppy will prepare Marathi goat. In order not to waste time, I take the Agios Nikolaos Avenue which leads to the most beautiful and oldest church of the polyisland. The blue dome of Agios blends harmoniously with the view of Agrelousa, the second largest island in the complex, and the neighbouring one in Marathi, Strongylis. In Agrelousa, named after the wild olives that grow on its land, a predator habitat has developed since it is the place where the live, unproductive goats and sheep are retired. The most impressive building in Marathi is the Tholos, located at the neck of the island, very close to Agios Nikolaos. It is an early Byzantine rainwater tank of excellent construction, which is preserved almost intact, while the remains of a settlement of the late Roman and early Byzantine periods are evident all along the sloping hillside down to the sea. An orange ray of the afternoon sun penetrates the darkness of the dome and illuminates the unparalleled wedge-shaped technique of its construction…
THE POLYNESIAN REMAINS
One day on Patmos was enough for reconstruction. I take the morning dolphin and in 20 minutes I am in Lipsoi, the idyllic island of Kalypso (the title is also claimed by the island of Gotzo in Malta) which, according to the paths of popular imagination, held Odysseus “captive” for 7 years.
Fertile valleys with olive trees and trophic cows, vineyards producing the wonderful black Fokiano wine, peaceful beaches, 36 km of lacy coastline and 24 rocky islets of astonishing natural beauty and geological peculiarity significantly enhance the version of Lipsoi…
Lipsoi today has about 700 inhabitants (around 130 children attend all levels of secondary education) and it is obvious that tourism is not their only income. A fishing fleet, thousands of olive trees and productive vineyards keep the very hard-working Lipsoians busy all year round.
The church, the icon and the feast of Panagia tou Charos characterize the island. The church, built by monks of Patmos, is surrounded by vineyards and took its present form in the 13th-14th century. It has a unique architectural style. A little Byzantine, a little island, very cheerful and unpretentious. The original 14th century icon of the Virgin Mary holding in her arms instead of the divine infant Jesus Crucified is kept for security reasons in the parish church of St. John the Theologian. Since April 1943, when the people of Lipsoi placed lilies on the icon, which bloomed again on the ninth day of the Virgin Mary on August 23, until today, the faithful from Lipsoi and the surrounding islands live the miracle and venerate with reverence the miraculous icon, which – accompanied by a band and a military procession – is transported to the church of the same name.
The festival that follows in the two squares is one of the most famous in the Dodecanese for the music and the delicious local delicacies of the famous Lipsoiotiki cuisine (sun-dried tomatoes, tulumotiri, revithokeftedes, pancakes, kouloures).
Most of the beaches of Lipsoi are easily accessible on foot. Lientou at the edge of the village, Kambos, Katsadia, Papandria, Chochlakoura, and Xirokambos, and even the more distant Platys Gialos – which is 3.5km away – are ideal for walking and relaxing swimming in the shade of the trees. The most beautiful beach picture I see is at the atmospheric Monodentri, just after sunrise, when the lone tree that took root on the rock and named the beach, offers me its shade and at the same time the right lighting conditions to photograph the idyllic Aspronissia.
The most beautiful walk in Lipsoi connects two small monasteries-reservatories. The Kato Komimisi (the hermit Philip died a few years ago, full of days), is connected by a 1 km long uphill stone path to the Pano Komimisi. The whole route, the smell of the skink, but more importantly, the view of the Lipizzanian peninsula from the courtyard of the small hermitage whets the appetite for local delicacies and new adventures.
…Rena, a beautiful boat, starts the Five Islands Cruise from the cluster of islands outside the port of Lipsoi. The geological formations and their idols in the crystal clear waters, the rocky arches and sea galleries, the playful flights of the white-tailed egrets in Makronissi, Piato, Kaparonissi and Pilavi fascinate the eye and celebrate the unbridled imagination of nature. The “Rena”, while also sailing around the island, heads south, passing openly through Papandria, Katsadia, Chochlakura, Monodentri and anchors in northern Aspronissia. All-white slabs and pebbles descend and fade their shine in the waters that I really find it hard to describe their hue and clarity.
The strangers, distracted by their resulting paradise, dive into the cool waters and, absolutely ecstatic, lie down on the comfortable pebbles.
We raise the anchor in the direction of the Arkansas Wells. Turquoise waters, , colorful memories, same euphoria. Even if I had chartered the Rena, it wouldn’t have given me such a touching farewell round. In Marathi I find the Pirate again, I climb again to Agios Nikolaos and discover the magical beach of Elliniko, while during my half-hour stay in Arkoios I managed to promise Trypa and Aunt Pantelia that in the summer I will bring them the “Greek Panorama” myself.
* Many thanks to Manolis Melianos (Trypa) for his kind hospitality and his valuable suggestions.
THE AEGEAN ARCHIPELAGO & THE INSTITUTE OF MARINE RESEARCH (ITEA)
The Aegean Archipelago is a non-profit, non-governmental environmental organisation that has been active since 1998 in various areas of the Greek seas (Ionian, Sporades, Central Aegean, Eastern Aegean, Libyan Sea).
From 2000 to the present day, its scope of action has been focused on the East Aegean region, with its headquarters in Ikaria and a secondary research base on the island of Arkoias. The overall action of the organisation aims to combine scientific research and study of the special natural environment of the Aegean, as well as the factors that threaten it, with information, awareness-raising and the participation of local communities in actions for its protection and promotion.
The activities of Archipelagos (which implements a research programme in collaboration with the Department of Biological Research at the University of Essex) are self-funded and based on the genuinely voluntary work of all members of the research team.
The Aegean Archipelago created in 2003 the IHU, which implements educational research actions. IHEA implements applied training in the study of the marine and terrestrial environment, aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students and graduates in environmental, marine or other relevant sciences.
FOOD-DISTRIBUTION
Arkoi
Trypas 22470 32230 (cuttlefish with spinach, pumpkin patties, octopus patties, lemon pie, biscuit cake, many wine labels, deep knowledge of music)
MARATHI
Michalis Kavouras 22470 31580 (marathi goat speciality)
Pantelis 22470 32609
LIPSEES
FAGITO
John, Calypso 2247041242, Fotis
ACCOMMODATION
Studio Sofia 22470 41316, Philoxenia 22470 41339, Panorama 22470 41235