I’ve wanted to climb in Kalymnos in the Dodecanese for many years and finally made it… only to break my foot shortly after arriving.


A bit of a torment, as the rock is wonderful, if you’re into that sort of thing.

But there are other things to do on the island: buy sponges

This is Antonis Kampourakis, the oldest sponge diver on the island. He is in his eighties now. They even erected a statue to him in the port.

This diver was less fortunate: paralysed after coming up too fast from 70m down.

Another man suffering terrible misfortune: Yannis, showing his tattoo with the names of his children and Jesus. One of his daughters has been in a coma for 16 months after a medical error.


The sea is clean.
The food is good.


Every taverna has a cat or six.
We’ll be back next year.