Got to Read the Fine Print

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We awake to see our surroundings in daylight for the first time. The spectacular soaring rocky peak of the small island of Telendos is only a few hundred metres offshore. I opt for a lazy morning while Issy joins the rest of the Rembrandts for an art session at a bar a few hundred metres down the road. … well I thought that’s what she said, but I was half asleep when she left. An art session in a bar? Hmmm.

Issy and I have been allocated the hotel’s penthouse. It’s about twice the size of all the other rooms, and it’s got a massive balcony, and a jacuzzi. Our fearless leader Diana booked the whole hotel out about a year ago. She told us she had to put someone in the penthouse and we just happened to be the ones who scored the jackpot. I didn’t mention it in yesterday’s post because she told us not to tell anyone, which was proving to be a bit difficult last night. The entrance is via an opening at one end of the roof terrace where most of the group was having drinks and dinner. The only other place you can get to through the opening is the toilets. I suppose we could have tried to disguise where we were going when we left by pretending we were both off to the toilet, but I’m not sure quite how we were going to explain how it was that we never came back. And what if people came looking for us, couldn’t find us and assumed we’d fallen over the railings, or been kidnapped by aliens. Anyway, all good this morning. Issy’s decided the only way out of all the subterfuge is to just tell everyone. So now we’re getting comments like “I hear the after party’s at your place tonight”. All very embarrassing…

As we were driving here in the bus last night Diana told us that Kalymnos has got a very strong connection with our Aussie homeland. It was pretty obvious when we got to the hotel. There’s a boxing kangaroo flag on the wall just outside our room, and the receptionist who checked us in lived in Sydney for many years. People from Kalymnos have always been renowned for their free diving skills, and we’re told that a lot of the early pearl divers in Broome came from the island. I’m still not quite sure why, but after Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin back in 1974, whole teams of people from here went there to help with the reconstruction. Diana says that if we catch a taxi here we’ll find that nine out of ten cab drivers have family and friends back in Oz. It almost feels like home, only with more reliable weather.

I go for a wander down some steep steps down the hillside onto Massouri Beach. This has got to be the best beach I’ve seen yet on the art tour - golden sand among the pebbles, turquoise water, the whole deal. And what always comes with that in Europe - well that would be sunlounges and beach umbrellas. There are signs everywhere saying they’re free. Yeah right. We’ve heard that one before. The sun beds are free, but you have to buy a drink, and they start at a hundred dollars a sip. I’m dying to sit down, but not before I’ve read every word of the fine print, and I’ve left my glasses back at the penthouse. I hope they can‘t get me just for standing on the sand.

I catch a tiny ferry in the late afternoon for the ten minute ride across to Telendos. I read that if I’d come here before the sixth century earthquakes I could have walked. Most of the Rembrandts went over there earlier (a few hours earlier, not earlier than the sixth century) for yet another art session. There are no cars on Telendos, and according to the 2001 census its population is a whole 54. I’m now really curious about exactly when they do these censuses. It’s just got to be in the middle of winter. There are certainly more than 54 people just in the restaurant we‘re eating at, and that’s far from the only one on the island.

I climb up over a small hill above a beach to watch the sunset. It’s a great vantage point to get a better appreciation of the cliffs back on Kalymnos. There sure are plenty of them, and the whole area looks to be dotted with caves. It seems that the south face of Telendos itself is also a rock climbing mecca. The views from up here in all directions as the sun sets are stunning.

We board the tiny ferry again for the trip back. There were only a handful of passengers on the way out, but now it’s packed. It’s standing room only which is a bit unfortunate because they tell us we’re not allowed to stand, we all have to sit down. It’s going to be a long night if the skipper has to wait for us all to find somewhere to sit before we can go anywhere. I suppose it’ll be an even longer night if we sink, which is starting to feel like a distinct possibility. I’ve seen bigger bathtubs, and I’ve never known anyone try to squeeze fifty people into one of them.

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