Day 10, September 22, 2024, Going Home

Our taxi driver was a Greek woman with a strong Aussie accent. She had moved to Australia with her parents in the sixties. She asked me what part of Sydney I was from and I said Potts Point. As coincidence would have it, she also lived in Potts Point where her parents owned two houses before moving back to Kalymnos. Some of her relatives moved to Darwin, NT to work in the uranium mines and to help rebuild Darwin after it was heavily bombed by the Japanese during the war. Darwin is the sister city of Kalymnos, the original name of Pothia. The people of Kalymnos were the friendliest of all the people we have met throughout our many visits to Greece and it also felt the safest.

We got to the airport far too early. It is situated high up between the mountains. It took 25 years to flatten a mountain to create the airport. Our prop plane took us to Athens where we had a four hour layover. We headed to a lounge for drinks and food thanks to our Scotiabank credit card - the lounge was fabulous. Our next flight was on Lufthansa to Frankfurt with a tight connection to Toronto. By the time we hiked to the Air Canada gate, which was quite far, everyone had already boarded. We made it in the nick of time. We travelled with just carryon bags so our exit after breezing through customs in less than ten minutes was a joy. Red Car took us home. 

It was a lovely holiday, although a sad one with Roy on our minds. We were grateful for the comfort we got from the cats, Muchka and Mishka. It was nice to be home. 

Day 9, September 21, 2024, Pothia, Kalymnos, Greece

When we opened our patio doors, there was Muchka asleep on the chair. I fed her the last of the white bait. Our taxi arrived to take us to the port town of Pothia for one night before our flights home. After saying goodbye to our lovely Muchka, we were off. Crazy how sad I was leaving our pregnant Muchka behind.

We arrived to a bustling port town and checked into an Airbnb. We had an early flight to Athens then on to Frankfurt with Lufthansa before heading home on Air Canada.

We found an out of the way restaurant to have lunch and were seated at a table with a strong cooling breeze as the temperature rose to 25 degrees. I had my last meal of calamari. It was very good. We shared a cucumber and tomato salad while Jill had a deconstructed gyro. We found a bakery that had baklava type pastries with pistachios and we bought a couple to have with coffee back at our place.

We were still somewhat full from lunch, but decided to have a light snack at the restaurant just steps from our place in the alley. We ordered a beer to split while deciding what to eat. To our surprise we were brought three plates called meze which came with the price of the beer - pasta salad with ham, beans and peas, pickled beets with a mayo dressing and pickled tiny onions in a sauce. We ordered cheese saganaki to share and one pork souvlaki to share which came with fried pita and tzatziki. Probably the best souvlaki we have ever had. We got the only table which wasn’t reserved on Saturday night. This must have been a very popular restaurant as throngs of people kept arriving hoping for a table, all being told, sorry, all tables are reserved. The voices from the restaurant continued well into the night as they echoed throughout the alley. Luckily our place was somewhat insulated, which allowed us to get to sleep despite the chatter and laughter.

Day 8, September 20, 2024, Kalymnos, Greece

Today started off partially cloudy. It was a bit chilly at 23 degrees but warmed up to 25 with a cooling breeze. Muchka and Mishka we’re waiting for me on the patio. We headed out for a walk and on the way back we stopped at Stallis restaurant where we split a Mythos beer and then decided to stay for lunch. Jill had meatballs which were juicy and delicious. I had a whole grilled Dorada, a type of sea bream, both came with fried potatoes. The fish was large as was the plate of meatballs. We both couldn’t finish our meals so Jill packed up the leftovers for dinner tonight. Muchka was waiting for us on my chair. I gave her the rest of my fish. Muchka is pregnant and seems to be getting bigger by the day. Her meowing told me she knew it was going to be for her as I broke it up in the kitchen on a small plate. She licked the plate clean. Then it was snooze time.

This is our last night in Kalymnos. I said good bye to the nice mini market man and the owner of the restaurant on our beach. I asked him what they used to deep fry their French fries. I wanted to know because they were so tasty. Sunflower oil, low in saturated fat and has vitamin E. I think when we pan fry anything with breading, I will give it a go instead of extra virgin olive oil which has become expensive. 

After our leftover dinner of smoked salmon pasta, fried potatoes and meatballs, we headed down to our beach restaurant for a Greek coffee, Mataxa, and wine. A final goodbye to the family which runs it. 

We just received sad news, although not unexpected, my brother-in-law Roy Cordell has passed away peacefully with his family by his side. We have cancelled the rest of our trip and are heading home tomorrow to be with family. 

 

Day 7, September 19, 2024, Kalymnos, Greece

Another beautiful day, 25 degrees. After renting our beach loungers, we did another power walk as far as we could go. It’s about 5 km in total. We got back after 12 and decided to have lunch before our swim. We loved the Caesar salad so had it again with a plate of fries. I will have to find out what oil they use, they are the best ever. Jill must be down at least one cheese saganaki. Saganaki is a small pan which is mainly used to fry cheese, but also for shrimp and mussels. Our stay in Kalymnos is winding down, but I still got some great pictures on our walk.

Kalymnos is known as the sponge diving island. At first divers didn’t have any equipment other than a rope with a heavy stone to lower them into deep water where sponges were found. Once they developed suits with air hoses it allowed them to dive deeper. Sadly, decompression illnesses claimed the lives of 10,000 divers and paralyzed 20,000. Google has lots of info on the history of sponge diving. Tarpon Springs in Florida was settled by sponge divers from Kalymnos and is now a vibrant Greek community. Tarpon Springs is where Jill’s parents had a place for many years.

Since we had lunch out, we decided to have dinner in. I made smoked salmon spaghetti. We bought ingredients on the way back from our walk along with a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate our time in Kalymnos. Quite the challenge with one hot plate but with Jill’s help, we pulled off a delicious meal.

While sitting on our patio a small cat showed up. Muchka was not impressed. It resulted in a cat fight with fur flying. The little one would not take no for an answer. I picked her up and took he down the road but she came back, again and again. Got into our place, under the bed, three times. She still came back. Jumped on my lap and purred.. Muchka didn’t care anymore. No more fighting. I feel like a cat magnet. This little one is so sweet. Here I am writing my blog and she is on my lap rubbing and purring. Rubbing on my beard. Ignorant of the fact I am a dog person. We’ve named her Mishka. It will be hard to leave Muchka and Mishka behind. I’m in love.