6/22/08

05.18.08: Kalymnos, Greece

First stop: Kalymnos, Greece

The island of Kalymnos is most famous for their sea sponges. We abandoned ship for breakfast on the island—a croquet monsieur at Yianni’s Ciao Café; and picked up provisions at Charlie’s, a shop two doors down. The owner a charming Greek-American from Bay Ridge sold us towels, sun hats (a straw cowboy with butterfly motif) and beer cozies.

After getting directions from Aphrodite (really!) at the tourism office we hailed a cab and Skevos took us to Masouri, a popular tourist beach near Telendos. We spent the day relaxing under umbrellas, swimming in the Aegean Bay with bar service from nearby Stavedos, a pirate cove bar. The water was clear and crisp, the sun and climate perfect. A sunset view of Telendos while we dined at Zorbas (v. common name here in Greece) Seafood made the evening complete.

The day more than made up for the problems at check-in back at the boat; Stelios stood nearby during the mayhem, seemingly indifferent.


Later that night we returned to Pothia for a late night stroll. We stopped for gelato and then pizza at Pizza Imia. Our server, a Greek-American from Boston introduced us to the owner/ chef who learned pizza making in Sicily. They told us how until easyCruise, Kalmynos had been untouched by tourism—mostly visited by local Greeks from neighboring islands and Athens.

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