Kinaros Islet

Photo: © SouthEvianGulfTeam

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Kinaros Islet

Kinaros is a small paradise of 4,5 square kilometers, located west of Kalymnos and Leros, and east of Amorgos. It is the second westernmost point of the Dodecanese after Astypalea and officially belongs to the Dodecanese region. A remote and lonely place like hundreds of others in the Aegean, away from tourism and modern life. The island is named after the artichoke produced on the island, and has a unique bird fauna.

Even it is so small, this tiny island has a story to tell. According to 2011 census, Kinaros had only 2 inhabitants, Irini Kotsatourchi - popularly known as Kyra Rinio - and her husband Mikes, who both returned from Australia and decided to live there permanently to fulfill the woman’s' father’s last wish: to return to Kinaros, and renovate the family home. In 2013 Irino’s husband died and since then she is the only resident of the islet. After all, she was born there at a time when the island was still inhabited, before its small population deserted it.

Apart the subsidized boat that reaches the island once a week to bring her supplies, her only companions are the goats and the birds that find shelter on the rocks. When the sea is rough, no boat can approach the tiny island but Kyra Rinio is equipped with a solar power generator and has enough supplies to survive. Kinaros became part of Greece along with the rest of the Dodecanese on 9 December 1948. The island is also part of the Natura 2000 Network, as it is breeding place for the Aegean Gull and the Black Peregrine Falcon. On February 11, 2016, a Greek Navy Agusta Bell helicopter crashed on the island during a night training mission, killing the three officers aboard.