The island of Pserimos
The main beach on the island is at Avlakia, a lovely stretch of golden sand, quickly covered in sunbedded bodies. Day trippers arrive like locusts and snap up all available sunbeds.
They also pack the tavernas and generally make a noisy addition to what would otherwise be a peaceful islet. Even the ferries have been known to queue to tie up to the small quay.
Those boats that can’t find a berth head off to neighbouring Platys which has a similar, but smaller, sandy beach and far fewer trippers.
There are a couple of other beaches, not as attractive but much quieter. One is at Vathy in the north, reached with a 30min walk along a well marked path to a cove of sand and pebbles. Another is at Marathounda to the west, a 45min walk to a small pebble cove. Indeed, the island is so small that nowhere can be more than an hour’s walk in any direction.
Day trippers make up almost all the visitors as there is so little accommodation on the islet. There are rooms to be had above the tavernas and one small store which gets stocked up by the daily boat that leaves Pothia on Kalymnos around 9am each day.
Nearly all the other boats that pull in are taking trippers on daily cruises between Kos and Kalymnos with a short stop both here and at Platys.
About Pserimos
Pserimos is an island of the Dodecanese. It has an area of 14.6 square kilometers, while its maximum altitude is 268 meters. It is 2.5 nautical miles from Kalymnos and 2 nautical miles from Kos (Encyclopedia DOMI, ed. 2005). Pserimos has a ferry connection with both of these islands.
On the island there are many low hills and small valleys with many olive trees. Administratively it belongs to the Municipality of Kalymnos and according to the 2011 census it had 80 inhabitants.
A few decades ago the population of the island ranged between 350-500 inhabitants, while up to 130 students attended the small primary school. However, without even being able to finish school and with zero infrastructure from the state, most of the residents were gradually forced to leave the island.
The complete lack of management of the marine resources which were the main source of income for the Pserimiots, destroyed their sources of income from the sea.
The island’s pottery unit, which utilized the excellent quality clay of Pserimos, offered important jobs, producing a quality product, exported to the other islands of the Aegean. But this too was closed .
Despite this, Pserimos remains a special gem of the Aegean where you will find quality food and beautiful beaches and coastlines, after all, from these come the few resources with which the 25 or so remaining residents will survive the coming winter and into the spring.
The local community continues to try to survive on the island against all those who insist on discrediting and deserting the little gems of the Aegean, whose recent history proves that they have the specifications to be truly sustainable and self-sufficient.
