RRC Archives

travelinyouth wrote:so we have decided to go acting in Kalymnos. Anybody been? Any suggestions??

calm down mantra...Adam was just looking for info...not to start a fight about vacationing...

Damn mantra51, are you in Greece right now? They got Western Union over there? Send me your info. I'm sending you a $50 cause you are in more dire need of a lap dance than any one I've seen here lately.

Relax son.

If I lived in Boulder I'd be grouchy too.

Grand Junction blows. Theres a wal mart. Wow.

Adam,
Aiga mi sou re malaka, thekataleves tiputa. pu ise? exo re scatouli.

Whatever chief, you know I have no idea what the hell that says. so thanks or get bent; accordingly.

im always bent dude.
Edit: Bent on nuggets.

Just because Mantra is flying off the handle, don't totally dismiss what he's saying. I work for a Greek-American, and have G-A friends. On the one hand, they are intensely proud of being Greek, but at the same time, they're even more aggravated by the stupidity the encounter among fellow Greeks. He's right about the issue of fewer people speaking English away from the tourist areas, and yes, in Greek-only areas you will be f**ked trying to find your way around. A lot of Greece is the developing world, and I sure as hell wouldn't want to be in a hick hospital there.

By all accounts, Kalymnos is trying hard to attract climbers, so I would expect a warm welcome there. You might want to research how the ferries run - you'll want to be careful to minimize the number of connections and avoid making connections on small islands - any ferry system is going to be prone to running off schedule, and I'm sure Mantra would agree that you can't expect a ferry system run by Greeks to be anything like on-time. (That said, I've had fairly good luck) You don't want to miss a connection Butphukinos on Monday and be stuck there until Friday.

I'm not sure how close they are, but I had a great time on Patmos - it's the island where Revelations was written - the original monastery was replaced, but it's still a beautiful little island. We rented motorcycles (the rental guy couldn't care less that we didn't have the proper license!). Sadly, we didn't run into David Bowie (he and his wife have a house there). I've really only been to fairly touristy parts of Greece, but my experiences there have been largely positive, but, like I said, don't totally write Mantra's rants off.

(Now let me really piss Mantra off) As long as you're that close, you really should go to Turkey. The west coast has some really nice areas, nice resorts, great food, and most of the well preserved Greek ruins in the area are in Turkey. (As much as Greeks piss Mantra off, I can't wait to hear what he thinks of Turks!) If you're interested in seeing some Greek ruins and exploring the roots of our civilization, let me know and I'll post some info.

Everyone takes away a different perspective from places they have been....and mantra - I don't care if you have relatives there - what you took away IS a perspective....don't give that guy such a hard time for wanting to explore foreign crags. I lived and worked overseas in various places for three years and of course not every place you go is a picnic where the natives bow at your feet and offer you their finest everything, including hospitality...but that doesn't me you shouldn't go. Besides, since travelinyouth has traveled before, which is the impression I got, he understands the things that come with it....he was asking about the climbing, not really the welcome, or lack there of he would get at the airport.

I've had fake babies tossed at me by gypsies (they'll toss real ones too) to get me to let my gaurd down so they can take my stuff but I still walked away from that place loving it. Mantra - you just sound ticked because Greece wasn't the US...of course it's not going to be the same and of course there will be corruption. LONDON is corrupt for pete's sake. Germany is bad too, I've had to seek police assistance in both places....you just have to be willing to work with them, for them to want to help you. It's all about flexibility and lack of arrogance.


Anyway travelinyouth:

http://www.greekhotel.com/rock-climbing/home.htm

http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/list ... StateID=47

The people on rockclimbing.com are always helpful and you can probably find a cool place to stay with local climbers, which always makes the experience great.

good luck....let us know how it goes!