The Shifting Sands

Sponges drying in the sun at Pothia Kate and I rarely return to the same location as there are so many interesting places to visit in the world.  So, as a testimony to how much we enjoyed our time in Kalymnos last year, we booked the same house for two weeks this year.  We were planning to meet our Australian friends, John and Nors, from last year’s trip so all the ingredients were in place.  I had even organized for my Mum to visit for the first week Despite the familiarity,  there was some trepidation, would we enjoy it a second time around?  How much will it have changed? Will we have changed? John leading out I can safely report that, apart from drop in standards at the Aegean Restaurant, everything was better than  we had hoped.  This year our eldest daughter, Lucy, didn't join us as she was holidaying with he best friend in the U.S.A.  So it was just Kate, Ada and I. ...

After Rovinj,  I returned to Mumbai to try to earn some money to fund the girl's travel.  Kate, Lucy and Ada continues onto Italy, which is detailed in other posts.  Our plan was to meet again on the Greek Island of Kalymnos for a week of beach and rock climbing. Arriving in Porthia the main town in Kalymnos We picked Kalymnos because of the world class rock climbing, great beaches, good weather, great available accommodation and wonderful Greek food and hospitality. Prior to meeting the girls in Kalymnos, I had a work conference in Dublin and then traveled via Bodrum, in Turkey, to Kos, neighbouring Greek Island where we all met before traveling on to Kalymnos. Dublin and Bodrum/Kos are covered in separate posts. We met in Mastichari, the site of the ferry to Kos and enjoys a sunny but slightly bumpy crossing to Kalymnos.  We disembarked at the main town, Porthia, which was quaint but left Lucy asking why we had not gone to Santorini ...