The Lady of Ro: Tracing the Path of a Heroic Greek Granny
This is the unique story of the Lady of Ro: A Greek granny who lived all alone on a small island and became an unlikely national hero.
One of the things I love about travel is to learn more about the local culture and history.
On a trip to the stunning island of Kastellorizo, I learned more about the remarkable life of Despina Achladiotou, an elderly hermit woman better known as the Lady of Ro, who emerged as an unlikely national hero of Greece.
The story of the Lady of Ro
If the small island of Kastellorizo – the easternmost island of Greece, home to only 584 inhabitants – can be considered remote, then the nearby island of Ro is even more secluded.
Measuring only 1.6 square kilometres, the island of Ro – part of the Dodecanese – has no permanent residents.
However, the island of Ro wasn’t always uninhabited.
If it weren’t for the life story of Despina Achladiotou, the last person to inhabit Ro, this otherwise unremarkable island would have remained highly obscure.
Life as a hermit
Despina Achladiotou, born in 1890 on Kastellorizo, sailed in 1927 together with her husband and her mother to the uninhabited island of Ro, where they sustained themselves with their livestock, a few chickens, a modest vegetable garden, and whatever they managed to catch from the sea.
When her husband died in 1940, she remained on the island with her ageing mother.
Following her mother’s passing some years later, Despina Achladiotou rowed her remains to Kastellorizo for burial, but opted to return to Ro to live out the rest of her life as a hermit.
Despina Achladiotou’s claim to fame is however not just connected to her life as a hermit, but mostly to her significant contributions to Greek patriotism and a sense of nationhood.
A dive into history
From the moment Despina Achladiotou set foot on Ro, she would raise the Greek flag over the island each and every morning.
Even in stormy weather or when she wasn’t feeling physically up to the task, Despina Achladiotou would proudly hoist the Greek flag over Ro.
Raising the Greek flag over the island might seem insignificant, but in the first half of the 20th century it was a bold move as Ro didn’t belong to Greece at the time.
Just like the other islands in the Dodecanese such as Kastellorizo and Rhodes, Ro was awarded to Italy according to the provisions of the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920.
During those years, even when Nazi Germany occupied nearby Kastellorizo, Despina would defiantly rise every morning to hoist the Greek flag.
After a brief period of British occupation following the Second World War, Ro and the other Dodecanese islands were ultimately integrated into Greece.
Death
Even after Ro became a part of Greece, Despina Achladiotou continued her tradition of raising the Greek flag over the island every morning.
She continued to raise the flag each and every day until she passed away at the venerable age of 92 in 1982.
By then, Despina Achladiotou had already become a national sensation in Greece and earned herself the honorary nickname “The Lady of Ro.”
The Lady of Ro was laid to rest with full military honours, an extremely rare honour for a civilian, on her own island.
Military tradition
Although no one has permanently lived on Ro since Despina Achladiotou’s passing, the Greek Army has established a small military outpost on the island to maintain security in the area.
Each morning, one of the soldiers who are temporarily stationed on the island continues the tradition of the Lady of Ro by raising the Greek flag.
The presence of Greek soldiers is necessitated by a conflict with Turkey over the precise demarcation of territorial waters and even Greek sovereignty over islands like Ro and Kastellorizo.
Although Kastellorizo is popular among Turkish visitors who often make day trips from the nearby city of Kaş, located just eight kilometres away across the sea (at its closest point, Kastellorizo is only three kilometres from Turkey), political tensions persist in the area, despite friendly relations between the people on both sides of the maritime border.
Statue
To pay tribute to the Lady of Ro, you can visit a statue of her located on the main square in Kastellorizo.
Since there is no public transport to Ro, you’ll need to charter a boat or join a tour in Kastellorizo to sail over to Ro.
On the island, you can visit the white marble grave of the Lady of Ro, which overlooks the sea.
Adjacent to the grave stands a flagpole, proudly flying the Greek flag.
Getting to Kastellorizo
To reach Kastellorizo, you can fly to the island’s small airport, which is served by the Greek flag carrier Aegean Airlines through its subsidiary Olympic Air.
As Kastellorizo Airport is only served by flights from Rhodes, most foreign visitors will need to make at least two connections (both in Athens and Rhodes) to reach the island.
I’ve taken the flight from Kastellorizo to Rhodes with Olympic Air, and you can find out about my experience by reading my review.
It’s also possible to reach Kastellorizo by ferry, as the island is connected to both Rhodes and Piraeus (the port city of Athens).
Blue Star Ferries operates the route from Piraeus to Kastellorizo, making stops along the way at islands such as Astypalea, Kalymnos, and Rhodes.
SAOS Ferries operates just the Rhodes-Kastellorizo route.
To reach the island, I took the overnight ferry from Astypalea to Kastellorizo, a wonderful experience and the best way imaginable to arrive in Kastellorizo, which surely must be one of the world’s prettiest ports to arrive in.
An advantage of taking the ferry to Kastellorizo is that you’ll sail past the island of Ro.
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