Retreat in Greece: Road to Karkinagri Pano

One day, as I was browsing online, I found a one acre property for sale near the village of Karkinagri on Ikaria island. It had a small house on it. I fell in love with it, contacted the broker, Eleni Mazari and a week later flew from Rhodes to Ikaria with a one day layover in Athens because my connecting flight was cancelled due to force 11 winds over Ikaria. Flight and ferry cancellations due to weather seem to be the normal and accepted conditions of life in Greece.

Landing on Ikaria

Yiorgos

Yiorgos, a handsome man with a beard and smiling eyes, who was referred to me by Matina Tsamoudaki, the owner of the Karkinagri Studios where I would be staying, met me at the airport and drove me to Agios Kirikos where I had already stayed for a month in March of 2017.


Agios Kirikos harbour

From there, I boarded the small, coastal ferry that luckily was running and two hours later we arrived in a small harbour of Karkinagri.


Arriving in Karkinagri. The harbour is to the left side of the centre of the photo.

The harbour of Karkinagri is quite small with a concrete ferry quay that also acts as an additional breakwater protecting it from the west and an inner harbour for small fishing boats.

Karkinagri inner harbour.

I checked the depth and it looks like Eidos at 10 m. LOA and 2.5 m. draft could fit in without much problem. A few days later, there was a force 9 wind from the south with large breaking waves over the rock breakwater, but the next day the fishing boats were still there undamaged. The harbour is also safe during north winds. It is quite small though and I wouldn't recommend it for big yachts.

Karkinagri harbour during a southerly gale.

Karkinagri hard standing.

Just outside of the harbour, there is a small hard standing for fishing boats which are hauled out on logs. However, it doesn't look suitable for yachts.

Eleni, the manager of Karkinagri Studios and Apartments got me settled in and then I went to the only restaurant that is open in winter for some fried smelts with greens and a glass of wine. It had been a busy day.
We had rain on Saturday but on Sunday, Eleni, the manager told me that Nikos, the owner of the property that I was interested in, could show it to me. I was entranced by the beauty of the land and the surrounding area and didn't want to leave. I tried to play it cool, but when we returned to town, immediately emailed Eleni with my offer.
On Wednesday, she took me back to see it again and to answer my many questions before finally agreeing to call Nikos with my offer.

***

The land is located near the mountain hamlet above Karkinagri. It is where people used to live to avoid pirate attacks - their houses made of stone and sometimes even built under a big stone, to blend into the rocky background.

Road from Karkinagri to property.

Road from Karkinagri to Trapalo. Turn left in front of the motorcycle to go to Karkinagri Pano.

From Karkinagri we take the road that heads east in the direction of Trapalo and after crossing a culvert over a rushing creek, turn left and head uphill following the creek.

Road to abandoned hamlet.

It is a rough road, best navigated with a 4WD vehicle, on a donkey or by walking. Eleni's car manages quite well for most of the way, but due to the recent rain, the road developed ruts from flowing water and in one place on a corner, we encounter a huge boulder that recently crashed from the mountain above. Eleni however is a skillful driver and manages to drive around it and is able to make it almost to the end of the road at which point she turns it around to point downhill.
"The battery is old, I need to get the car going on a hill," she says.

Eleni's car gets stuck in a rut. Good thing it's on a slope.

However, before she can move the car to the side of the road, it gets stuck in a deep rut and so we leave it where it is.
Within shouting distance, there are a dozen or so other stone houses, the last one marking the end of the road with rusted road equipment parked on the side of the road.