The rocky and uninhabited islets of Strongyli and Ro, two of the small islands of the complex of Megisti, is the easternmost part of Greece are finally getting a road and a port.
The work on Strongyli is still underway and is scheduled to be completed by the end of November, providing Strongyli with a 3-meter wide road that will connect the pier to the hilltop.
Engineers say it is an extremely difficult project due to the morphology of the island and its rocky terrain.
Strongyli at the edge of Greece gets first road
Strongyli, a stone’s throw away from the Turkish coast, has no tree vegetation and is covered by bushes and brambles. According to the 2011 census, there are no permanent residents on the island except for a small detachment of the Greek Army.
The island belongs administratively to the municipality of Megisti, which is made up of 14 islets, the three largest being Megisti (Kastellorizo), Ro, and Strongyli.
On the south side of Strogyli there is a lighthouse for sailors, as well as the church of Agios Nikolaos which was built in 2014, following the initiative of the Metropolitan of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki Nikolaos.
The lighthouse operated for the first time in 1910, during the Italian occupation, and has a focal height of 85 meters and a height of 6.6 meters. A commercial cable car built in 2015 and currently used by the Army connects the eastern side of Strogyli (dock) to the lighthouse.
Strogyli Megistis is the closest of all Greek islands to Cyprus as it is only 141 nautical miles away. The island was the easternmost border of the European Union, until the entry of Cyprus into it.
Island of Ro gets port
The road construction on Strongyli runs in parallel with a project for the construction of a port on the islet Ro. The small island became famous due to Despina Achladioti.
The Greek woman dubbed “The Lady of Ro” lived alone on the remote island, a stone’s throw away from the Turkish coast. She became a symbol of patriotism and Greek defiance by raising and lowering the Greek flag every day for decades.
The region of the Southern Aegean, honoring these small but very important islands for Greece is keeping its promise to endow them with infrastructure for the first time.
Kastellorizo is the center of the island group
The biggest island in this group is Megisti or Kastellorizo as is more widely known. It is the largest island of the Kastellorizo archipelago comprising the islands and islets of Agios Georgios, Agrielaia, Voutsakia, Megalo Mavro Poini, Mikro Mavro Poini, Polifados Ena, Polifados Dio, Ro, Savoura, Stroggili, Tragonera, Psomi and Psoradia.
The proximity with Turkey – about 2 km (1 mlle) from the Anatolian coastal town of Kas – is what makes Greece’s eastern neighbor believe it belongs to them.
The island’s official name, Megisti (Μεγίστη), which means “biggest” or “greatest”, is a misnomer as Kastellorizo is only six kilometers (3.7 miles) long and three kilometers (1.9 miles) wide, with a surface of 9.2 square kilometers (3.6 sq ml).
