Click on the
photo and you will be treated to a series
of great photos taken by Cinematographer
Andy Watt.
We sent him all the way to Castellorizon,
about as far as you can get in the Aegean,
which involved a flight to Athens arriving
in the early hours of the morning, a transfer
to a flight to Rhodes, and finally a small
plane to Castellorizon.
Upon arrival, Andy had to
film the footage of the island that was used
in the promo video clip for the On An Island
single, although he also kindly shot some stills
for us to use here.
Castellorizon, as spelt on the On An Island
album, can also be spelt 'Kastellorizon', and
'Kastellorizo'. The name was adopted during
the Crusades and was due to the red rocks upon
which the island's castle was built. The castle
was thus named Kastel Roso (Red Castle), which
became Kastellorizo, or Castellorizon.
The current population is around 500, although
a century ago it was 9,000. It is the smallest
of the Greek Dodecanese islands (the name means
'12 islands'), and lies only 3 miles (6 km)
off the Turkish coast, 500 miles from mainland
Greece. The long Turkish administration of the
Dodecanese began in the 16th century and lasted
until May 1912 when, during the Italo-Turkish
War, Italian forces seized the islands, except
Ikaria and Castellorizon (which remained Turkish).
However, in 1919 Castellorizon was included
when an agreement was reached for Italy to cede
the Dodecanese (minus Rhodes) to Greece. Subsequent
Italian governments then denounced the accord
and in fact confirmed Italy's sovereignty over
the islands with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
Italian became the official language, and in
1925 the Dodecanesians were obliged to take
Italian citizenship. As a result, considerable
migration from the islands to the United States
occurred. After World War II, the conference
of foreign ministers in Paris agreed that the
islands should pass to Greece, and they were
formally ceded in 1947.
Castellorizon is a very tranquil place: one
hotel and some pensions see few visitors. Locals
say there were many Italian visitors after the
release of the film 'Mediterraneo', (shot on
Castellorizon) but they are apparently now rare.
Ruins on the island indicate that its history
stretches back as far as Neolithic times. The
ruined cyclopean walls are evidence of the settlement
there of the Pelasgoi, the Aegean people, while
both the Minoans and later the Mycenaeans visited
the island. Settlements followed by the Dorieis
and the Lycians, from the opposite coast of
the then Asia Minor.
Castellorizon's sights include the castle at
the harbour's mouth which was built under Byzantine
rule, strengthened by the Knights of Saint John
of Jerusalem, and rebuilt circa 1450 by Alfonso
I, King of Naples. Next to the castle are the
ruins of a Turkish hamam and a restored water
mill. Another castle, atop Mount Vigla behind
the port, dates from the ninth century B.C.,
while the Lycian Tomb, a church-like grave,
was built at the end of the 5th century B.C.
The church of St. Konstantine and Eleni was
raised in 1835, using single-piece columns of
granite brought over from the temple of Apollo
in Lycia, in Asia Minor.
The island's Blue Cave has been described as
'larger and more splendid than that at Capri',
and contains fantastic stalactites and stalagmites.
Castellorizon is also home to a great variety
of flora and fauna, including the monk (monachous-monachous)
seal.
