Located in the southeastern Aegean Sea and belonging to the Dodecanese, the Kalymnos Island is widely considered a sport climber's paradise. It is even said that it has the highest concentration of sports routes anywhere in the world. Roughly rectangular in shape, with a length of 21km and a width of 13km, it is mainly mountainous with complicated topography. The coastline is also very irregular, with many sheltered coves, offering a huge range of climbing on slabs, big walls, overhangs and tufas to suit every level and style.
The soil is mainly limestone-based, but in the valleys there is a compact bank of volcanic tuff, the relic of an ancient volcano, located near the village of Kantouni. The island is mainly barren, except for the two fertile valleys of Vathi and Pothia, where olives, oranges and vines are grown. Therefore the tourists, who coming mainly for climbing, are a true blessing for the island.
A Kalymnos rock climbing guidebook describes 65 sports crags, mainly west and south facing, with nearly 2,700 routes. And the existing routes only cover a tiny portion of what is available to climb here. The rock is top quality solid limestone, which is a little sharp in places. The style of the rock climbing has everything from stalactites and tufas on steep and overhanging wall to delicate slabs and pumpy walls with pockets and smaller tufa features.
About the stamps
The first stamp, depicting Maria Rezan (1921-2004) and Nikos Karantinos (1920-2008), is part of the series Centenary Journalists Union, about which I wrote here. The second is part of the series Months in Folk Art, about which I wrote also here.
References
Kalymnos - Wikipedia
Rock Climbing in Kalymnos - Climb Europe
Sender: Ilia (direct swap)
Sent from Athens (Attica / Greece), on 21.09.2015
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