Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Grand Café
Kamári
T
22420
71290.
Large and very
comfortable café, at the point where Kamári beach briefly
disappears and the sea laps directly against the road, which
as well as drinks serves top-quality pastries and sweets
from the adjoining bakery.
Winter weekends only,
summer all day every day.
Kali Kardia
Mastihári
T
22420
59289.
Reliable taverna,
facing the ferry jetty, that's good for fresh fish and
mezédhes as well as standards like stifádho, and great
desserts. Almost all mains cost €8-10.
All meals daily.
Panorama Studios
Mastihári
T
22420
59019,
W
kospanorama.eu.
Simple studio apartments with a/c,
kitchenettes and sea-view balconie
s, ab
ove a nice little
restaurant just steps from the beach.
€60
Psérimos
Were it not so close to Kos and Kálymnos, the little island of
PSÉRIMOS
, filled with
remote beaches, might be idyllic. Throughout the season, so many excursion boats
arrive that they've had to build a second jetty at little
AVLÁKIA
port. In midsummer,
day-trippers blanket the main sandy beach that curves in front of Avlákia's thirty-odd
houses and huge communal olive grove; even during May or late September you're
guaranteed at least eighty outsiders daily (versus a permanent population of 25). Three
other
beaches
are within easy reach: the clean sand-and-gravel strand at
Vathý
is a
well-marked, thirty-minute walk east, starting from behind the
Taverna Iy Psérimos
. It
takes 45 minutes of walking north along the main trans-island track to get to grubbier
Marathoúnda
, composed of pebbles. Best of all is
Grafiótissa,
, a 300m-long beach of
near-Caribbean quality half an hour's walk west of town.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
8
PSÉRIMOS
By ferry from Kálymnos
To spend the entire day on
Psérimos, you'll have to take a day-trip from Póthia
(Kálymnos); boats usually leave at 9.30am daily, and return
at 5-6pm.
By ferry from Kos
Boats from Kos Town operate triangle
tours to Platý islet and somewhere on Kálymnos with only
a brief stop on Psérimos.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Studios Kalliston
Avlákia
T
22430
51540.
Ten reasonable
studios, most with sea views and some with a/c, f
acin
g a very
broad segment of the beach from its eastern end.
€60
Taverna Manola
Avlákia
T
22430
51540.
Although it
looks more like a bar, and stays open late as the island's
main social hub, this beachfront taverna, run by the same
management as
Studios Kalliston
(see above), serves good
Greek standards and fresh seafood.
Daily 9am-late.
Tripolitis
Avlákia
T
22430
23196.
Six simple en-suite
studio apartments, three of which have sea views, upstairs
from English-speaking
Anna's
café/snack
-bar
and directly
across from the beach. Closed Nov-April.
€40
Astypálea
Geographically, historically and architecturally,
Astypálea
really belongs to the
Cyclades - on a clear day you can see Anáfi or Amorgós far more easily than any of
the other Dodecanese. Its inhabitants are descended from colonists brought from the
Cyclades during the fifteenth century, after pirate raids had left the island
depopulated, and supposedly Astypálea was only reassigned to the Ottomans after
the Greek Revolution because the Great Powers had such a poor map at the 1830
and 1832 peace conferences.
Astypálea's main visitor attractions include a beautiful old
citadel
- not just the
castle itself, but also the whitewashed village of
Hóra
beneath it - as well as several
good, easily accessible
beaches
. The island may not immediately strike you as
especially beautiful: many beaches along its heavily indented coastline have reef
underfoot and periodic seaweed, while the windswept heights are covered in
thornbush or dwarf juniper. Hundreds of sheep and goats manage to survive, while
citrus groves and vegetable patches in the valleys signal a relative abundance of
