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All large ferries arrive at the main port of LAKKI , once the headquarters of a bustling, purpose-built Italian naval base. Boulevards far too wide for today's paltry amount of traffic are lined with some marvellous Art Deco edifices, including the round-fronted cinema (closed since 1985), the primary and secondary schools, a shopping centre with a round atrium and the defunct Leros Palace Hotel . Buses don't meet the ferries - instead there's a taxi squadron that charges set fares to standard destinations. Few people stay willingly at any of the handful of moribund hotels in Lakki, preferring to head straight for the resorts of Pandelli, Alynda or Vromolithos. There's just one bona fide taverna , To Petrino , inland next to the post office , two cash dispensers attached to the National/Ethniki and Commercial/Emboriki banks , Kastis, the DANE agent, and Gribelos, the island's sole G&A Ferries agent. The nearest approximation of a beach is at sand-and-gravel Koulouki , 500m west, where there's a seasonal taverna and some pines for shade, though it's too close to the ferry jetty for most tastes. You can carry on another kilometre or so to Merikia , which is a slight improvement and also has a taverna. XIROKAMBOS , nearly 5km from Lakki in the far south of the island, is the point of arrival for the afternoon kaiki from Myrties on Kalymnos (it goes back very early the following morning). Though billed as a resort, it's essentially a fishing port where folk also happen to swim - the beach here is poor to mediocre, improving as you head west. Accommodation is available at Villa Maria (tel 02470/22 827; ?24-33) on the beach or, for a higher standard, the Hotel Efstathia (tel 02470/24 099; ?43-58), actually studio apartments with huge, well-furnished doubles as well as family fourplexes, plus a large pool. Meals can be had at Taverna Tzitzifies , just by the jujube trees at the east end of things, where the road hits the shore. The island's campsite (tel 02470/23 367), with an in-house scuba-diving centre, is in an olive grove at the village of LEPIDHA , 750m back up the road to Lakki. Just north of the site, an access drive on the far side of the road leads up a tiny acropolis with stretches of ancient masonry and sparse patches of early Christian mosaics.
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