Kalymnos in the southern Aegean
Friday, 27 November 2015 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union General
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Cruising near Pserimos © kallerna/cc-by-sa-3.0
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Kalymnos is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern
Aegean Sea . It belongs to the
Dodecanese and is located to the west of the peninsula of
Bodrum , between the islands of
Kos (south, at a distance of 12 km (7 mi)) and
Leros (north, at a distance of less than 2 km (1 mi)): the latter is linked to it through a series of islets. Kalymnos lies between two to five hours away by sea from
Rhodes .
The island had a population of 16,001, making it the third most populous island of the Dodecanese, after Kos and Rhodes. It is known in Greece for the affluence of much of its population, and also stands as both the wealthiest member of the Dodecanese and one of the wealthiest Greek islands overall. The Municipality of Kalymnos , which includes the populated offshore islands of Pserimos (pop. 80), Telendos (94), Kalolimnos (2), and Pláti (2), as well as several uninhabited islets.
Telendos, with Myrties in the front © Coronium/cc-by-sa-4.0
Kalymnos is known and billed as the “
Sponge-divers ‘ island.” Sponge diving has long been a common occupation on Kalymnos and sponges were the main source of income of Kalymnians, bringing wealth to the island and making it famous throughout the Mediterranean. The Kalymnians harvested sponges from the sea-bed as close as
Pserimos or as far as North Africa. Early diving was done without equipment (free diving), using a harpoon. Sponges are still fished individually, by hand. The Greek sponge trade was centered close in the Dodecanese, featuring Kalymnos until mid-80s, when a disease hit the eastern Mediterranean destroying a great number of sponges and damaging the sponge-fishing industry as a result. Today, Kalymnos faces a lack of sponges due to the outbreak of a disease which has decimated sponge crops.
Being mostly barren (only 18% of the land can be cultivated), agriculture has always played a minor role in the economy of the island, except for the valley of Vathi. The island is famous for its citrus fruits grown in this area. Another industrial activity typical of Kalymnos was the production of painted head scarfs, which were the most original component of the female dress. In recent times, tourism has become important for the island, particularly for rock climbing. In 2006, the island also acquired an airport, the
Kalymnos Island National Airport near Pothia, to better link the island with the mainland.
Read more on
Kalymnos Island ,
KalymnosInfo.com ,
ClimbKalymnos.com ,
Wikivoyage Kalymnos and
Wikipedia Kalymnos . Learn more about the
use of photos . To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
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Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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