61. Kalymnos - Our last Greek Island

The last island on our tour of the Dodecanese in the South Aegean was Kalymnos.  

Kalymnos is pronounced Kalim-nos with the emphasis on the -nos. Many, many Kalymnians emigrated to Australia after WWII and there is a regular stream of visitors of Kalymnian heritage from Australia.  

Of all the Dodecanese islands that we visited, Kalymnos was the most disappointing and the most concerning.  It reflected many of the practices of the northern mainland cities and few of the forward-looking ideas of the other islands.

And while there were some untouched areas of great, rugged beauty, much of the island was run-down and less than cared for.

We stayed for a week in Myrties on the north-west of the island, right on the water and directly opposite the small island of Telendos.  The advertising for this hotel said that if you fell off the verandah you'd be in the water - and it was true. And that is Telendos, just a boat ride away.  The boats in question are lined up at the little wharf on the right of the picture.  Two euros per person each way and a boats leaves every thirty minutes. This was the view from our tiny balcony.  Unfortunately, one had to stand up to see the view, if you sat down you were looking at a wall.  The hotel next to ours was an example of how run down many of the hotels and restaurants are. Looking back at Myrties and our white, waterfront hotel (centre) from the boat. This is the signage used throughout the Dodecanese island group to display their heritage.  No mater how significant the site might be, there is only one sign, just like this - nothing else, not even for a church or monastery. So I can't tell you anything about this early Christian basilica. We had swims and sun and found cool drinks in one of the many tavernas that line the shore and operate from Spring to Autumn.  The residents of of Telendos move to the bigger island for the winter. It was very pleasant on the little island - Myrties and our hotel faced west and baked in the afternnon sun, wheras Telendos was partly shaded during the hottest part of the day.  Looking back at Kalymnos you can see that it is extremely mountainous and rocky and that the villages hug the lower and greener parts of the costal strip. This lucky lad got to drive the boat home! We only visited the islands main city of Kalymnos and the port once.  This is the new marina. A very strange design. Rubbish bins at the new marina. And on it goes.  I could show you so much more but it is too demoralising. In the background are the daily tour boats that leave the old marina area every day to tour the bays and beaches around the island.  They look like pirate boats - at least that's what I've been telling Jack and Henry. These are the bays and coves that are often full of boats.  Turkey is in the background. Down in the valley is a processing plant for the fish farms sprinkled around various bays.  You can see 4 or 5 circular 'ponds' in the water.  The country is rugged and quite beautiful.  Not a tree in sight but the stone is punctuated by a lot of small herbs, mostly thyme but also oregano and rosemary.  And there are beehives (boxes) everywhere to collect the honey. We finally found a gorgeous little village with a tiny port, out of the wind in the southern part of the island, and this became our preferred spot for the last three days of our week on Kalymnos.  No beach but this shady and pleasant concreted area at the side of the port and next to a restaurant/taverna. The yatchties obviously know about this village, called Vathi because most berths were taken. The swimming was fabulous as the water was extremely deep, and the locals and visitors alike, scrambled up the cliffs on the right to jump into the water.  Some of the local 10 year olds were quite accomplished divers. And then all of a sudden we were invaded by pirates!  Two boats arrived at once.  The concrete beach was full of sunbathers.  The water was full of swimmers and divers. Noise and action everywhere. Ninety minutes later a horn toots, and then another.  before we know it, one boat has left, then the other ........... ... and peace reigns again!  The local kids go back to jumping off the rock and we all heaved a sigh of relief.  On subsequent visits we delayed our arrival until after the pirates had departed. Because the tour boat operators supply food and drinks on board, the visitors spend very little money in the port's shops or tavernas, but the village needs to supply toilets, water, garbage collection, etc.  One would hope there is some compensation for the village from the tour operators somwhere along the line. This smaller 'pirate' boat looks very authentic against the rocky cliffs. Our overnight ferry crossing from Kalymnos to Pireaus was uneventful but we got a bit lost in Athens and it took an extra 10kms to get out of the main city and on to the road to Patras.  The Greeks are worse drivers than the Italians.  The suburbs of Athens are crumbling under the sheer weight of humanity and its waste. From the new ferry port at Patras (200 km from Athens) another overnight ferry took us to Bari on the east coast of Italy, from which we puttered our way to Naples - Ercole to be exact - right at the foot of Mt Vesuvius. Next - the ancient ruins of Herculaneum.