Qualla: Astypalaia https://qualla.com/astypalaia en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:07 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/b/astypalaia-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Astypalaia https://qualla.com/astypalaia Astypalaia: Introduction https://qualla.com/astypalaia/ Photo credit Fotis A., CC BY-SA 4.0. From the air, Astypalaia looks like a butterfly mid-flight: two broad wings of rock cinched together at the center by a sliver of land barely 126 meters wide. At the narrowest point, called Stenó, you could almost throw a stone from one sea to the other. The island sits at the western edge of the Dodecanese, far enough from its neighbors that scholars still argue whether it truly belongs to that group at all, or whether its whitewashed houses and its light make it a stray cousin of the Cyclades. The 1,376 people who live here probably don't lose sleep over the classification. They live on an island that wears its layers openly.

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Image: Fotis A. | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/b/astypalaia-wp/swdb-astypalaia-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Astypalaia: The Castle on the Hill https://qualla.com/astypalaia/ Photo credit selbst fotografiert am 26.8.2001 von Hans-Heinrich Hoffmann, Public domain. Climb to the top of Chora and you reach the reason the whole town exists. The Querini castle crowns the highest hill, a Venetian fortress of pale stone that has watched over the harbor for centuries. The Venetian nobleman Giovanni Querini purchased the island, declared himself it...

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Image: selbst fotografiert am 26.8.2001 von Hans-Heinrich Hoffmann | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/b/astypalaia-wp/swdb-astypalaia-the-castle-on-the-hill.mp3 0:06 2 full Astypalaia: A Cemetery of Small Lives https://qualla.com/astypalaia/ Photo credit Andreas Routsias, CC BY-SA 4.0. On the western flank of the castle hill, at a place called Kylindra, archaeologists uncovered something that asks to be approached gently. Between roughly 750 BC and Roman times, the people of Astypalaia buried at least 2,700 newborns and infants here, each one placed inside a ce...

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Image: Andreas Routsias | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/b/astypalaia-wp/swdb-astypalaia-a-cemetery-of-small-lives.mp3 0:06 3 full Astypalaia: An Equal of Rome https://qualla.com/astypalaia/ Photo credit KF at English Wikipedia, Public domain. In 105 BC, this small island and the vast Roman Republic signed a treaty as equals. The text survives, carved into stone found on the island. By its terms, Astypalaia would not aid Rome's enemies, and Rome would not aid Astypalaia's; if either was attacked, the other would come t...

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Image: KF at English Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/b/astypalaia-wp/swdb-astypalaia-an-equal-of-rome.mp3 0:06 4 full Astypalaia: The Electric Island https://qualla.com/astypalaia/ Photo credit IMFJ at Dutch Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Astypalaia's newest chapter looks forward rather than back. In 2023, the Greek government and the Volkswagen Group announced a plan to turn the island into a laboratory for climate-neutral mobility, a model of how a small place might move without burning fossil fuel. Grants are r...

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Image: IMFJ at Dutch Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/b/astypalaia-wp/swdb-astypalaia-the-electric-island.mp3 0:06 5 full