The island of Kalymnos, with its horrible main port (dead cat alley anyone?) and nothing much to see until you hit the other side of the island, with the one good hotel - and rumoured to be the world's best place for rock climbers. Now noted for its dying sponge industry and its legends of record breaking divers.
Kalymnos strikes you as a tawdry place where the crash of the Greek economy is painfully evident the minute you get past the slew of cafes and restaurants (packed with locals) facing the port, but a place with a huge amount of potential, if ever they did up the town.
Sponge divers who couldnt afford a tourist shop just laid out their wares by the town hall, then stood in the shade all day to watch. There are hardly any tourists in Kalymnos.
The best hotel in the town was a faded gem of art deco (the kind where the residents lounge around getting pissed all day with the hotelier family, who leave the place to utter ruin) at disconcertingly cheap rates, however crawling with local wildlife for it - found two huge silverfish under my pillow, and a bedbug. Slept in my clothes.
Had to clean the pool myself of the varied, voluminous amounts of fly soup, but it was one of the best pools ever. The 'gym' was a large underground vault beneath, caked in a good cm of construction dust and featuring a dead running machine, a table tennis table (no bats) and a bench press which I momentarily imprinted my arse into.
The hotel was originally built by a wealthy emigre British family who shipped over all the furniture from Yorkshire
The local museum, small but holding treasures millennia old that would be national icons in other countries, typical of Greece. This statue is over 3,000 years old.
Dawn walk to catch the first boat
Hero, record breaking diver who sank hundreds of feet down to rescue an ANCHOR, then swam up again with it. Other harbours hold statues of young boys - tragic fates of those lost at sea.
Another outpost of the local museum took the form of two restored traditional fishing boats
Much of the island is the European desert
Other areas not so much
This was the other side of the island, with an entirely different feel
The rock climbing is legendary, huge caves, cliffs and natural arches riddle the hills for every level of expertise. It became a game to spot the tiny climbers hidden in the landscape.
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Spotted this semi-abandoned citadel from the bus - no idea what it is, completely off any visitor route.
The only good hotel on the island
This damn shape is still in my dreams, like Strange Encounters
20 people live on this other island across the way
And finally a day in Rhodes, the airport island and its medieval, walled citadel/ Old Town - absolutely overrun with tourists, moi included. These are the shots after clearing the streets with FIRE
The ruins of the medieval Knights Templar churches dot the Old Town, who protected the island during the Crusades
The classical ruins, millennia old are bare of visitors due to having to walk a good mile in searing heat to reach them
