Greece, Day 8 – May 10, 2024. Today we explored Kalymnos. We toured a local sponge workshop and learned about the role of sponge fishing in Kalymnos’ cultural identity. We also visited the Monastery of Agis Savvas, who is also the patron saint of the island. We made a quick stop at the local museum, and then explored the port of Portia.
These are different types of natural sponges. The ones that look like flowers are elephant ear sponges. They are very soft and often used for makeup and ceramics. The sponge workshop harvests, cleans and sells four different types of sponges. They are very durable and can last for over 10 years.
After the sponges are cleaned they are shaped by hand with shears to remove stones. This man owns the sponge workshop and it has been in his family for over three generations.
On the north side of Kalymnos there are great cliffs for rock climbing. We saw several climbers going up. These climbers were about 3/4 of a mile away from where we were.
There are great views of the harbor from the The Monastery of Agios Savvas.
The bells in the Monastery courtyard were made from left over bombs from World War II. They sounded great!
There are small metal plaques, embossed with an image symbolizing the subject of prayer used in Greek Orthodox Churches in Greece are called Tamatas.
We toured a period house/museum. There was a wedding dress that was worn by Kalymnos women over 100 years ago.
We checked out the beach and Mary tested the temperatures of the Aegean Sea. Much warmer than the Cape Cod!
The Sunday before was Greek Orthodox Easter. We saw this outside the local church, in Greek it says Happy Easter. It was filled with beautiful plants.
We saw many of fishing boats in Pothia, Kalymnos. One was unique with Christ painted on it.
Did we mention cats? They roam freely, wild, throughout Turkey and Greece. But, are lovingly cared for by the community. This shot was in the port, we saw three cats basking in the sun under the watchful eye of a local man.