Othonοi Island - Diapontia Islands

Othonoi is the most northwestern part of Greece with coordinates in the capital

‘Ammos’ 39o 50΄32.59΄΄geographical width and 19o 24΄ 15.52΄΄ geographical length.

It belongs to the Municipality of Central Corfu and the Diapontian Islands. It is 12 nautical miles from the coast of northern Corfu (port of Agios Stefanos Avlioton), 36.7 n.m. from the city of Corfu, 7.2 n.m. from the island of Mathraki and 9.7 n.m from the island of Ereikousa. It is 47.5 n.m. from the Italian Cape Santa Maria di Leuca and 20.1n.m. from the Chimara of northern Epirus

In the Polynesian of Othonoi belong 44 island lands with names such as Petalides (5 islands), Kartsinia (3 islands), Garbino, Kastrino, Partheno, Ostrako, Othonoi ...and more.

Othonoi is the largest with an area of 10.45 square kilometres, length of about 5.6 km, maximum width of about 3.6 km and coastline of 30 km. but it is also the most historic.

In ‘Ammos’, the capital of the island, there is a pier that allows the approach of yachts and boats and during the summer dozens of them dock there. However, when stormy southerly winds blow and the approach of boats to 'Ammos' is problematic, all boats then find mooring mainly in the port 'Avlakia' or on the north side of the island at 'Fiki', where there is a pier which leads to the main road network, a distance of about 5 km from the capital 'Ammos'.

On the island there is the possibility of transfer to the inaccessible beaches ‘Aspri Ammos’ and ‘Xy-losyrmoi’, or a full sea tour around the island, with a speedboat of excellent construction and buoy-ancy and a very experienced captain.

Also, it is possible to get acquainted with the whole island (of the 13 settlements, the lighthouse, the Venetian castle, the 4 churches, the windmill, etc.) by means of transport provided by the in-habitants for this purpose.

For those who want to combine their individual exercise with the acquaintance of the wonderful fauna and flora of the island, there is a network of old paths that cross the island from one end to the other and has been only knocked down in some places to make way for the modern road net-work.

MYTHOLOGY

- Isichios mentions that Elephinor, king of the Avantes in Evia, took refuge in the uninhabited (in the ancient times) Othonoi after the fall of Troy, to atone, because he had killed his grandfather without meaning to but was then chased off the island by a dragon.

- The toponyms of the island (cave of Calypso), the traditions but also the fact that many locals have always had Homeric names such as Odysseus, Calypso, Telemachus etc., identify Othonoi with the Homeric Ogygia in which, another veteran of the Trojan War, Odysseus, remained for a period of 7 years ‘imprisoned’ by Calypso in her cave.

HISTORY

We come across the name Othronos for the first time in Isichios in the 3rd century BC, the name Othonoi in Prokopios in the 6th century AD, but it was also written as Thoronos by Pliny in the 10th century AD.

There are claims that Othonoi were one of the points chosen in the chain that started from Rome and reached the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, and by lighting fires they quickly trans-mitted urgent messages.

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