Kalymnos sailing vacations
The first thing that comes to mind when one talks about Kalymnos is the sponges.
The island has been known for these for about 500 years now and is a must when it comes to buying souvenirs.
Every spring, the fishermen leave the island after festivities and after five months they return, which again is a reason for great celebrations.
The sponges today are taken from the coast of North Africa.
The island itself is a popular holiday resort and even though it is an island with mostly pebble beaches, people often choose to return summer after summer.
There are lots of things to do, you have many facilities and the settings are beautiful in a dramatic, mountainous way.
People here live off fishing and selling sponges, tourism and some farming: fruits, olives and vegetables are grown in the valleys.
There are also beekeepers here and Kalymnos honey is known in all of Greece.
The people of Kalymnos have a different and strong dialect from the other inhabitants of the Dodecanese some they say that it is due to their Doric roots.
Kalymnos Greece is a beautiful island of the Dodecanese, close to the coast of western Turkey.
It is located between Kos and Leros.
The economy of the Greek Island was based on sponge fishing in the past.
The island opened its borders to tourism only recently, after the extinction of this activity and became famous for the rock climbing.
This is why the inhabitants have kept their traditional way of life and customs, which is giving to the island a unique atmosphere and a lot of charm.
Mythology has it that Kalymnos got its name from the Titan Kalydnos, who was the son of Gaea or Earth and Uranus or Heaven.
Supposedly, you can see his legs from above: the two plains by the mountains.
The first inhabitants probably came in the beginning of the second Millennium BC. They were probably Carians.
Kalymnos participated in the Trojan war. The Achaeans made a settlement here after the Trojan War.
There are watersports on the island and the snorkelling is a must for fans.
Kalymnos is a small island, sometimes called the Sleeping Princess and was part of Kalymnos until a volcano eruption separated the two islands in AD 535.
For those that love climbing, Kalymnos in an effort to boost its tourism the last years has become a popular destination for climbers from all over the world.
The island is ideal for that sport because is mountainous and has many caves.
In Sykati to the north facing Leros is one of the most popular caves that is used for climbing.
The cave a few decades back was a place where shepherds had their goats and ship there.
In Kalymnos you will find also excursion boats that offer daytrips to Kos, Leros and Turkey.
Since the ancient times, the life and culture of Kalymnos Island was linked to this marine animal; this is the reason Kalymnos is also known as the Sponge-divers island.
Find out more about this Greek sailing vacation here: www.kalymnos-isl.gr