Chalki island
Chalki is located to the west of Rhodes. It can be approached from the port of Rhodes or from Kameiros Skala. Prepare your selves for a very long trip, if you choose to get there by boat from Piraeus.
Chalki is long and narrow, ten kilometers long, from east to west and three kilometers wide, from north to south. With mountains and imposing rocks that are perfectly combined with sandy and pebble beaches
The village, Imboreios, has a traditional style and is the only one still inhabited. It’s built amphitheatrically and is full of stone houses and renovated mansions. There are pebble mosaics on many balconies and courtyards. The streets are paved with stone.
The landscape is enchanting, beautiful mansions are built around the picturesque harbour, fishboats are decorating the pier and the windmills on the top of the hillside are dominant.
Summer nights in Chalki throb with life, but not with noise. There are but a few cars, after all they’re not needed. Many taverns, a few coffee-shops, a confectionary and a bar compose the landscape of the "piatsa" and the only ways of entertainment besides strolling in the stone paths or swimming in the islands beautiful beaches.
Chalki greets you with its most striking image, the village and port of Imboreios, a band of colors between the ash-grey mountains and the deep-blue sea.
High up on the mountainside lays "Chorio", a village that was abandoned in the mid 20
At the top of the mountain lays the castle, built by the knights of St. John between the fourteenth and fifteenth century. Up there the gaze is lost in the infinite blue of the Karpathian sea. You feel like you’re flying and seeing Rhodes and Karpathos from up high. If you continue your tour of the island, you will discover the monastery of "Ai-Yannis Alargas" (St. John) and over 300 scattered chapels.
Chalki is the "island of peace and friendship among peoples" and for many years now is hosting the annual meetings of youth. There are plenty of speculations on the origin of the islands name. Some say that the island took its name after the copper "Chalko" mines that existed in the ancient years. Others say that the name originates from "karki", which is the Phoenician word for a shell.
Winter in Chalki is very difficult. The permanent residents are few, around 200, and the island is often cut off due to bad weather. Those who live on the island are many times almost like prisoners. But they don’t think so! How can you consider your self a prisoner when you live in the place that you love the most? "In your own small paradise".
This is what Chalki is to a lot of people... A small paradise!
