Issy seems to be improving by the day, and I think cabin fever may well now have overtaken COVID as the biggest threat to her sanity, if not her health. The Rembrandts will apparently be spending the day “painting from a taverna on a stunning fjord” at Vathy on the other side of the island. We’re probably still too contagious to risk sitting in a bus with them, but I’m sure they‘ll produce some suitably realistic artwork to show us where they’ve been. It’s quite nice sitting up here on our balcony, or it would be if it wasn’t for the smell. It seems that the sewer at the hotel next door’s blocked, and a truck’s turned up to try to clear it out. Sewer problems are apparently almost a way of life in Greece. We ... read more

Issy wasn’t at all well for most of yesterday and she’s woken up feeling just as bad if not worse, which sucks for her. A cold‘s been circulating through the group, and it looks like it’s made its way through to my beloved. Her face and throat hurt, so she thinks she‘s also got sinusitis or tonsillitis. We’d heard that you could get antibiotics over the counter in Greece, but the hotel receptionist tells us that they shut off that little loophole a few years back. So it looks like we’re off to the island’s hospital. We saw this in the dark on the way here the other night, and were told that the Italians built it when they occupied Kalymnos during the Second World War. I hope someone‘s got around to updating it at some ... read more

We’re on the move again today, this time to the island of Kalymnos, which is about a five hour ferry ride north-east of Astypalea. It feels like we’re on a real Greek ferry. It’s small, some might say cosy, and makes the Blue Star monsters we’ve been on to date look like cruise ships by comparison. Issy and boats have sometimes not been a good mix. But it’s OK, there’s a small cafe on board. My beloved’s led me to understand that ginger is a good remedy for seasickness, so no great surprise that she asks me if I could buy her some ginger beer. The man behind the counter doesn’t speak a lot of English, but enough to respond that he doesn’t have any of that, but lots of Heineken and Mythos. I’m not entirely ... read more

Today we’re catching a bus to the small seaside village of Maltezana which is about ten kilometres east of Livadi just past the so-called Narrows of Astypalea. Our fearless leader Diana tells us that the name comes from a Maltese connection, and Issy suddenly gets very excited. This subsides quite quickly however when it’s revealed that the connection is that Maltese pirates used to use the bay as a hideout as they went about looting and pillaging the island. We heard similar stories in Naxos last year, and I remember thinking at the time that Issy’s Maltese relatives had been strangely silent on that particular aspect of their island’s history. It’s a bit windy here, but there are a couple of respectable looking beaches with sunlounges and beach umbrellas. It looks like it’s a serious fishing ... read more

Today we’ll be heading out on the water with a boat trip to some nearby islands. But first we have to run the gauntlet of the local transport mafia. Our fearless leader Diana’s been chartering a bus to get us around, but it seems all is not well with that arrangement. The bus driver is rude, creepy and a terrible driver, and it seems he’s also doing his best to rip us off. Diana wants to ditch him, but that’s easier said than done. We need him to take us and our several tons of luggage back to the port when we finally come to leave, so just telling him to go forth and multiply would not seem to be a particularly good strategy. Anyway, today we’re travelling to the port in taxis, five of them, ... read more