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We’re not altogether sure why we chose Ikaria in the first place, we probably read about it years earlier when we “collected” greek isles that had something special. So when we decided to make a new kind of journey – a longer stay in one place – the idea of Ikaria resurfaced. And the more we read about Ikaria the more sure we were. That’s where we’ll go!
The name Ikaria comes from the Icarus myth. He who flew too close to the sun, his wings melted and he crashed in the sea. And the island where he crashed is Ikaria according to the local mythology.
Most people have probably never heard of Ikaria, but it’s famous for being a so called “Blue Zone”, where locals live extremely long lives. But also because the food is particularly delicious and that it’s an “unknown gem” in the Aegean Sea. And that’s exactly what we want to investigate.
Ikaria has been a remote place for hundreds of years, a forgotten backwater island even for the politicians in Athens. And even though ferries have travelled here from Piraeus for a long time, it wasn’t until 1995 that Ikaria had an airport. It was built on the only part of the island that is reasonably flat, but it still needed a lot of landfill in the ocean to extend the strip enough for small propeller planes to land.
But elsewhere there’s nothing flat on Ikaria. An elongated island about 40 km x 9 km with a mountain ridge that with peaks over one thousand meters over sea level span from east to west. So most of the ground leans. Everywhere. All roads bend in endless serpentines. There is no such thing as a straight road.
To be able to farm the land the Ikarians have since many hundreds of years built terraces all over the island. Many of them are still in use, especially for olive trees and vines.
Ikarians have always been a poor lot. Not just due to the meager earth, but for long periods they were also plagued by pirates and foreign soldiers. Persians, Genoans, Ottomans and privateers have all been here and terrorized the islanders. Who were forced to flee up in the mountains, dwelling in caves or buildings called “hidden houses”. They were built under projecting boulders so they couldn’t be seen from passing ships. This was such a successful strategy that for long periods Ikaria was considered uninhabited. But it never was.
The house we rent through Air B’n’B in Maganitis was quite modern, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining room and kitchen. But you don’t spend much time indoors here due to the heat. One really irritating factor was the abundance of wasps, always attacking us on the porch. They were probably unusually aggressive due to the late summer heat that made all the flowers wither. But the Ikarians have a special wasp detergent – they pour greek coffee powder on a plate and set fire to it. And it actually works!
5 good-to-know-things about Ikaria:
1. Antigua
10. Caye Caulker, Karibien
9. Tikal, mayas megastad
8. Nuevo Horizonte
7. Flores, en stad och en ö
6. Semuc Champey
5. Cobán, hos Joan Stanley
4. Xetinamit, indianbyn
3. Chichicastenango
2. Lago de Atitlán
11. San Pedro, Karibien 2.0
12. Isla Mujeres, Mexiko
13. ENGLISH VERSION