General Information
Astypalaia
is the westernmost island of the Dodecanese located 117NM away from Piraeus, 96NM
away from Rhodes and 23NM
away from Kos.
The island is actually divided in two
parts, the eastern one (called Mesa Nisi) and the western
one (called Exo Nisi) that are connected by a narrow strip
of land called Steno.
The islets of Agia Kyriaki, Hondro,
Ligno, Kounoupi and Koutsomytis lie to its southeast, while the islets
of Ofisoussa, Htenia and Pontikoussa lie to its west.
The island extends over an area of 96.4 km2 and
the summit of Vardia (at 482 m) is its
highest peak.
Its coastline with a total length of 124 km
consists of many small and mostly steep beaches that are
scattered all around the island.
Astropalia is the capital of the island located at the
southern coast of Exo Nisi.
There are three other villages, Livadi, Maltezana (or
Analipsi) and Vathi.
Astypalaia’s terrain ranges from hilly to mountainous.
Garrigue and shrubs
extending over large areas are the most common types of vegetation on
the island. Intermittently flowing torrents
form valleys where
fruit trees, especially citrus and
olive trees, grow.
Important colonies of seabirds, seals (monachus monachus) and endemic chasmophytes exist on Astypalaia
and its surrounding islets. The region’s avifauna includes the species of Rufinus, Artemis, Eleonora’s Falcon and Phalacrocorax Aristotelis.
The Posidonia meadows, the habitats of the continental
shelf’s bedrock and of the shallow
bays of Astypalaia are the most representative of the Aegean Sea and possibly
of the whole southeastern Mediterranean region.
The eastern side of the island, along
with the surrounding islets and
the sea area around them, are protected by the European network NATURA 2000. The entire island is very important for
the Greek avifauna.
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