A crazy day in paradise on Kastellorizo

What we have experienced today cannot be recounted. It must be experienced. We have asked ourselves: have we experienced anything like it? The answer is no. What we have experienced is unique. And fun. And crazy. And absolutely wonderful. Probably - we have not thought about it too carefully - this day is one of the most fun and memorable days of our lives. I will try to tell you about this fantastic day.

The water party is over, and so are we, and one of the most fun days of our lives is over.

This last day on Kastellorizo started with a trip to the Blue Cave. A cave that is said to be the largest, bluest and most awesome in all of Greece, some say in the entire Mediterranean. Sceptical, we sat waiting for Georgios inside Taverna Little Paris early in the morning. We have been to many caves, why should this one be different from the others, we thought.

Me, Camilla and a lobster are waiting for Georgios at Taverna Little Paris.

We were the only ones at Taverna Little Paris, sitting inside in the dark, freshly caught fish all over the floor. Everyone who passed by greeted us cheerfully with Kalimera as they assumed it was the owners of the taverna sitting inside. We replied just as cheerfully with fake voices. We didn't want to confuse them. At nine o'clock Georgios came and asked us to get into the rubber boat. It was a bit luxurious to go to the cave alone.

On the way to the Blue Cave with Georgios from Taverna Little Paris.

The cave opening is only 1 meter high (the cave cannot be visited when there are waves), we had to lie on the floor to avoid getting scalped. We were not disappointed, this turned out to be the biggest, bluest and coolest cave we have been inside. Unfortunately very difficult to photograph.

The cave entrance is visible under the white rectangle (which I have drawn).

Here it is important to lie low, otherwise you will be scalped.

When the engine is switched off, it becomes completely silent and everything becomes so beautiful!

The cave opening seen from the inside.

Read more the Blue Cave here »

When we got back to the village, the "throw-everyone-into-the-water-party" had just begun. Old and young walked around the village with buckets full of water. Some were thrown into the water. The water games accelerated during the day. We hid in the alleys. We sneaked like Indians. Of course, we became hot targets.

After lunch, people started walking around with buckets that they filled with water and emptied on everyone.

More and more people appeared with buckets of water that they emptied over everyone who passed by.

When the water in the buckets ran out, they were filled with new water. All the time.

In the meantime, we hid at the waiter's house above Restaurant Sydney.

There was food, drink and dancing. A really crazy day. Everyone went in the water, even dogs, a black miniature poodle was thrown into the water several times for some reason. Not even the priest made it. To be honest, and I will, the priest was the one who threw the most people into the water.

Here are more pictures from this crazy day

At one of the squares, food and drinks were offered.

Many danced while others tried to catch people to throw into the sea.

Some jumped in on their own to avoid being trapped.

Almost no one survived the trip into the water...

...or have a bucket of water dumped over them.

The audience applauded at really cool water splashes.

And the dancing and water throwing continued.

Everyone was dancing and partying, old and young.

An old Greek woman and I tried to hide as best we could.

Did we never go into the water? Yes. We went home with cameras and mobile phones that we were afraid of. When we came back we took each other's hands, and took a load of just hell, and threw ourselves into the sea, with clothes and shoes on. After us came the priest and some other old men. Also hand in hand. The next time we danced happily hand in hand into the water.

This day is one of the five most fun and memorable days of our lives.

There was a lot of good food and drinks on offer and everything was free.

So it went on for four hours. We have lots of pictures and a lot of film to show at another time. We're going back next year. Such an insane event is simply not to be missed. We have some pretty fun pictures of us that were taken after the party, we can't show them because the censorship (Camilla) doesn't allow it. :-D

Later in the day, Megisti returned to its usual calm.

This is how happy we were after today's fantastic water party.

This crazy day is celebrated on July 19th every year. When the islanders returned from their exile in Australia, and saw the devastation (the village was heavily bombed during World War II), they couldn't wait for the boats to come into the harbor, they jumped off the boats and swam in. That's why this day is celebrated.

When the party was over, we went home and rested and packed. We left Kastellorizo hat same evening. Something that most people did. Few got off the ferry when it arrived. The island was emptied. It felt sad to leave. During these days, we had developed very strong feelings for Kastellorizo. I hope more people go there. It would be good for the island, and the islanders, to do so.

When we boarded the ferry to Rhodes, the island was almost empty of people.

Goodbye Kastellorizo. See you again!

We were treated to this beautiful sunset when the ferry left Kastellorizo.

The evening and night were warm, so we were able to sit outside and sleep during the trip to Rhodes.

Read more about Kastellorizo here »