Round the island
Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Wed 26 Aug 2009 19:33
We hired a car today to explore this island a little more and took David and
Jill along with us for the ride.
Collected the car from the Avis shop which was no mean feat in itself as the
streets here are very narrow, unsigned and something of a warren. The
receptionist was unable to give us any directions at all as to which way to
go outside the shop to head out of town as she does not drive. Mr Iannis
would direct us she helpfully offered. Mr Iannis had no English but pointed
out that we might go down the narrow street we were currently in and turn
right at the end.
So off we went and eventually the backseat team got us heading out of town
where we soon came to signs pointing to the abandoned hilltop village of
Pera Kastro. The only way up to this fortress site is by walking up steps
carved into the hillside all the way up to the overhanging walls of the
village. Not a trip for the faint hearted or the unfit. Once there you find
the remains of the original village that was built up there to protect them
from the bands of pirates that roamed these seas. From within the walls,
David and Sarah continued further up, mountain goat style without the
expensive EU funded paths whilst Jill and I congratulated ourselves on being
brave enough to have got as far as we did. Brilliant views including that of
the airport cut out of the side of the mountain opposite and overall quite
an experience, but eventually we had to head back down and my vertigo made
this a very long and nerve wracking trip.
Once back in the car we headed north west and found a lovely cove at
Kandouni and got out to admire the real surf crashing along the beach. David
at this point produced a thermos flask from their basket which strangely was
filled with G & T, complete with ice cubes and lemon!
We then pressed on to Emborios which is a pretty bay near the north west end
of the island. The holding here is poor for anchoring but the tavernas have
put out their own buoys to encourage yachts to stay. The catch is that there
is a constant swell that rolls around the bay and we watched the boats there
wallow very uncomfortably. However not our problem today and we went to a
taverna (Artistico) that had been recommended by some friends and had a
really excellent lunch and were entertained by the owner who was certainly a
very lively character. Would be worth coming by boat if there had been a
settled period of fine weather to reduce the long swell.
Pressed on from here eventually and made our way over to the eastern side of
the island to visit the wonderful fertile fjord at Vathi, where they grow
citrus fruit - quite a contrast with the rest of the island which is totally
barren. Sadly too small really for Serafina to be safe and by all accounts
prone also to a big swell from passing high speed ferries. But again nice to
visit by car and there is a photo or two on the main website. One of the
interesting features of signposts in Greece generally is that they rarely
agree on the name of a place. Most towns have several names which is partly
a result of poor translations and partly history. The main town that we are
in is sometimes known as Kalimnos town and sometimes Pothia. So a road sign
can tell you to go right for Pothia and then at the next junction there
might be a sign pointing to Kalimnos. Not too hard if you have all the
options written down, but can get exciting when they also add in the odd
sign just in Greek which bears no resemblance to either of the earlier two
options!
This island again was occupied like all the rest of the Dodecanese by the
Italians from 1912 until the 1940s and it is the reason so much of the
island's houses and roofs are still painted blue which was to upset and
remind the occupying forces that they were really still Greek.
Easter is a spectacular time anywhere in Greece usually, with liberal use of
fireworks etc. but Kalimnos traditionally celebrates with sticks of dynamite
and it gets very exciting or so we are told!
Made our way home finally where we were inveigled on board Souris Rose and
treated to some incredibly tender Spanish-style octopus.