TAXIDI: Ikaria, Island of Longevity

Wedded to the mantra that money is better spent on experiences than on the latest roll-out from Apple, we visited Ikaria, the deliciously isolated and funky island in the Aegean Sea. It so happened that all four of my grandparents were born on this hardscrabble terrain between 1890 and 1895, before landing at Ellis Island. From the time I was small, for my amusement and enjoyment, they indulged my fantasies about this dusty gem, a 35-minute flight from the capital city of Athens, but within sight of the coast of Turkey. (Funny thing: Ikaria is not even labeled on the map in the seat pocket on our Olympic Airlines flight.) My grandparents waxed poetic with tales of English pirates, abject poverty and deadly diseases. While Ikarians are proud of their stubborn, independent streak ? the 8,000 residents are unabashedly Ikarians first, Greeks second ?- nature has smiled on its dry, unforgiving terra firma.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com