If you go to Afiartis and don't know how to kitesurf, you'll feel slightly out of place. The beach is dominated by colourful sails rising and falling over the water, people in wetsuits, sports bags everywhere. The tavern tables are full of tanned people speaking German, Dutch, English. Then you look at the sea and understand: the water is perfect, the wind is steady, the scenery is postcard-worthy.
Afiartis lies in the bay of Afiarti, on the southern part of Karpathos, facing west. The Meltemi — the northerly wind that dominates summer in the Dodecanese — wedges into this bay with extraordinary force and regularity. Between July and September the gusts often exceed 25-30 knots. For windsurfers or kitesurfers, it's a certified paradise.
The wind at Afiartis isn't a weather variable. It's the reason you're there.
You don't need to know how to windsurf to go to Afiartis. Just sit on a rock and watch. The moves of those who are truly skilled — and at Afiartis there are professionals in training — are a free and continuous show. And in the evening, when the wind drops, the taverns fill with stories of waves and wind, in ten different languages.