The village of Plátani is situated just half the way between Kos and Asklepieion. There are many Turkish inhabitants, and for that, there are a couple of good Turko-Greek restaurants.
In this place were settled the convicts of Keramos in Asia Minor, and the villages used to be called Kermetes. The name was changed to Platani, after Turkey occupied northen Cyprus in 1964. The name Platani derived from a big plane tree in the central square of the village.
This is the mosque of Platani. We saw some muslim women with their hair covered.
Kos used to have about 3,000 Turkish inhabitants, but now they are reduced to less than a thousand.
This is a wind-mill I saw in Platani. Near here is a military base, and it was prohibited to take picture of it.
In the evening, we returnt to the restaurant Arap (of the first photo). There are both Greek and Turkish food, but most clients order Turkish dishes. The cooks in the kitchen were speaking in Turkish.
The dish in front is Yaourtlou (fried vegetables with yoghurt and garlic sauce), behind it, right is zucchini flowers stuffed with rice, left is butter pilaf with pasta.
This is Iskender Kebab; grilled meat with tomato sauce and yogourt sauce, accompanied with fried potatoes and pita bread. We paid about €25.
This is address and phone number.
Restaurant "Arap"
Platani, Kos
Tel. 02420-28442
We visited there by car, but it is easily reacheabe by bicycle and by bus. It is definitely worth a visit, if you are staying in Kos.
When I go toward about 300m. toward Kos from Platani, we found this Jewish cemetery.
During the second world war, the Jews of Kos were persecuted, especially after the Nazis took the island over from the Italians. In 1944, the Nazis moved the Koan Jews to Rhodos, and then to Auschwitz.
This is a grave stone written in Hebrew. Evidently there is no one take care of this cemetery.
Only one of the Koan Jews survived the war, but this person sold his property in the island and left.
Reference
- Robin Barber, Greece (Blue Guide), London- N.Y. 2001 (Revised reprint of the 6th edition of 1995), p. 143.
- Marc Dubin, The Rough Guide to the Donecanese, London: Rough Guides, 2002, p. 233.
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