Gavdos

Gavdos lies about forty kilometres south of Crete and is the southernmost inhabited point of Europe, a low island of some thirty square kilometres with a permanent population in the dozens. Its beaches are the draw: Sarakiniko and Agios Ioannis, backed by junipers and cedars with campers under the trees, Potamos, and Tripiti in the south, where a rock arch and a large wooden chair mark the southern tip, with nothing but sea between there and Africa. Facilities are minimal, a handful of tavernas and rooms, intermittent electricity in places, and no bank; many visitors camp free under the trees, a tradition tolerated for decades. In myth this is Ogygia, where Calypso kept Odysseus for seven years.

History

Gavdos has had a permanent population since Neolithic times and the Bronze Age, and it has been proposed as the mythical Ogygia, where Calypso held Odysseus; in Roman times the island's vegetation was overexploited, starting an erosion that continues today. As Cauda it appears in the Acts of the Apostles, when the ship carrying Paul to Rome sheltered in its lee in a storm before being wrecked on Malta. By 900 AD it had about 8,000 inhabitants, but under Ottoman rule, from 1665 until 1895, when it was called Gondzo, the population fell to only 500 by 1882, and the beach of Sarakiniko recalls the Saracens (Wikipedia, Gavdos).

The landscape

• Tripiti - the rock arch and marker at Europe's southernmost point.
• Sarakiniko and Agios Ioannis - cedar-backed beaches with free camping.
• The junipers - old trees growing on the dunes behind the sand.
• The emptiness - an island with dozens of residents and almost no roads.

When to go

May, June and September; July and August bring a camping crowd and the ferries fill. Boats are cancelled in wind with little notice, so build in slack days at both ends.

Good to know

Getting stuck for a day or two is normal, so bring cash, medication and patience. Tracks are rough and a 4x4 or scooter is needed to move around. Water is scarce and facilities basic; this is closer to camping than to a holiday island.

Nearby

Paleochora and Chora Sfakion on Crete are the ferry ports; Africa is the next landfall south.

Key facts