Another fantastic evening on Kalymnos: once again, a huge group of `foreigners´ having a big party (again somehow the Brasilians took the lead outnumbering other nations). Presenting: Eric, a Dutch guy who fell in love with the island on his repeated holidays here and decided to come live here opening his own business, a bike-rental. He is very entrepreneurial and besides renting scooters he offers information on about every topic you can fathom. He is our liaison person here, as almost everyone else we met up to now we met thorough him. Jay, Eric´s Russian friend and two crazy Brasilians who live on Kalymnos, two Belgians travelling around the world on their bicycles, Pablo & Daiana plus another Brasilian climber visiting the island. We had dinner at a fancy restaurant normally only locals go to, as it is only open on week-ends and you need weeks in advance to reserve a table (please notice how we established the essential connections in shortest time). The atmosphere was great, with beautiful live Greek music with Bouzoukia throughout the whole evening. The food was so delicious that not only we now understand why most of the Greeks we saw here are fat, but from now on we can also relate to them. The food is so good you don’t wanna stop eating!
The FOOD was so tasty I want to tell you all about it:
For starters we got a delicious mixed salad with traditional Kalymnian crouton bread (they bake it for 14 hours in a special oven) all covered with a seasoned crushed feta dressing ; other appetizers included tzatziki and earth pots containing small pieces of lamb meat in a delicious sauce. The main course (by this time most of us were full since long) came on huge plateaus presenting 5 different types of meat, all delicious!! Then again the small pots with lamb meat, this time in another, even more delicious, vegetable sauce. When serving the small pieces of meat out of these little pots you get the sensation you are eating gems.
So it’s not only the climbing experience here in Kalymnos that is so interesting, but also the culinary and cultural one.
One of our big pleasures here is eating out. The distinctive quality of the food here is that it is FRESH, be it fish, seafood, meat or produce. Also, all the tavernas we ate at so far are family-run places and you can get an insight into local family life, as they generously display it there. Some seemed to be more of a living-room of the extended family including grandparents, uncles playing chess, aunts chatting, babies and friends rather than a place for receiving foreign tourists (especially now out-of-season I guess). Generally, the mother is the cook, the children do the waitressing (they are more likely to speak some English) and the father oversees everything.
I am impressed by the Greek hospitality & spontaneity. They love talking and offering gifts, even if they are strangers. These kind gestures, Filoxenia (= hospitality) are integral to the Greek experience.
A FEW FACTS ABOUT KALYMNOS
Kalymnos (16 441 inhabitants) belongs to the Dodecanese and is located 14nm away from the coast of Asia Minor, in the vicinity of Bodrum. The arid, rocky island’s coastline is 96 km long with only a small number of pebbled and sandy beaches. Infertility of the soil on the island forced Kalymnians to make a living from the sea trades, mainly diving for sponges, which is why Kalymnos is still known today as “the sponge diver’s island”. This centuries-old profession however came to an end due to the invention of the artificial sponge in 1950 and the Mediterranean sponge epidemic in 1986. Since then, the island is making an effort to reinvent itself as a holiday destination, now branding itself as “a climbing paradise in the Mediterranean”.
A tour of the island also reveals traditional island life outside the tourist resorts. There people who seem to live in a time-warp dedicate themselves to fishing, agriculture and keeping goats.
Life on the west coast of Kalymnos is completely seasonal. From April to October climbers and other tourists outnumber the local population, while in winter almost all business is closed. This time of the year there is a population shift from the climbing & beach resorts to the larger capital & port Pothia (15 km. away) which has schools, infrastructure and an abundant social life.
Besides climbing, the island holds touristic potential for diving with its wealthy marine ecosystem as well as archaeological underwater sites.
The majority of the islanders are self-employed or run family businesses which revolve around the tourism industry. Shops close for the siesta and then reopen until 11pm, which is when locals generally head out to dinner!
Greeks are inherently social animals and love getting together on any occasion, be it for coffee, dinner, family reunions, etc. Regrettably though, reunions can get quite smoky, as Greeks are the biggest smokers in the EU: 42% of the population over 14 are heavy smokers. Another disappointing fact is that Kalymnians do not seem to care too much about the environment or something is fundamentally wrong here regarding garbage disposal. The slopes descending from the road to the sea are littered with all the junk one can imagine, from old washing machines to crashed cars.
THE CLIMBING
Any climber returning from a holiday to Kalymnos will tell you excitedly it´s one of the climbing spots they liked most so far, that it’s fantastic, etc. ... But what is it that makes the climbing experience here so exceptional?
First of all it´s the amazing setting: anywhere you’d go you’ll have a beautiful view over the Aegean Sea, scattered islands, the sun’s rays playing on the water, open sky, yellow-orange-grey rock walls abundant with tufas and stalactites in crazy shapes as never-before, sparse yet lovely vegetation and goats saluting you with serenity.
The sectors and routes have resonant names drawing on Greek history & mythology: Spartan Wall, Iliad, Odyssey, Olympic Wall, etc.
Then it is the climbing itself which is indeed fantastic. Be it slab, vertical or overhangs, on crimps, pockets, tufas, slopers, you name it! There is plenty of quality limestone and the routes are well-bolted, partly by famous route-setters such as Claude and Yves Remy, Boris Girardin, legendary Chamonix-bolter Michel Piola, etc. The sheer amount of rock on the island allows for hundreds of routes for every taste and style.
For those who don’t fear falling off tufas & stalactites and who have the creativity to find knee-bars and no-hand rests, climbing on these formations is a unique experience. Other climbers might be intimidated by this 3-D style of climbing. The good news however is that even routes as easy as 6a can take you on the tufa-journey of your life! They come in all shapes, sizes and - what is the most uncommon and the best - on any wall inclination (except slabs obviously)! You may find for example slightly overhanging 6c-s with meter-long horizontally protruding stalactites... or should they I call them tufas in this case? J Sectors Grande Grotta and Sykati Cave represent the epitome of tufa and stalactite-mazes on huge steep overhangs.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen