Blogs from Astypalea, South Aegean, Greece, Europe

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

We’re on the move again today; this time it’s a two or so hour ferry ride south-east to the island of Astypalea. But first it’s “show and tell” time for the Rembrandts and their small band of supporters. I could feel the tension building at dinner last night. The main question on everyone’s lips seemed to be how their masterpieces were going to be judged. No one seemed overly impressed with my idea that we hold up cards with scores out of ten, and the bottom ranked two then have a paint-off to see who gets kicked off the tour. Issy was so nervous about the prospect of the ordeal that she tossed and turned all night, slept through the alarm and missed the whole thing. It all turned out to be quite tame. The Rembrandts ... read more