There is always a bustle on the pier around eight o’clock on Monday and Wednesday mornings. Paleohóra is described by guidebook writers as being "the sort of place where nothing much happens." That's true, but the departure of the twice weekly boat to Gavdos always occasions a little flurry of activity as bicycles, groceries and the mailbags are carried aboard the Samaria. She's not a ship that will win any prizes for beauty, but no-one in Gavdos worries on that count. The main thing is that the Samaria brings the supplies upon which one of Europe's remotest island communities depends.