Another quick blog today, mainly photos and they will have to do you for the weekend too. I’ll try and get back to you on Monday. Meanwhile… Yesterday we took the bus to Yialos as there were birthday presents to buy and shops to look at. The day involved lunch at Trata taverna, and then some time in the square in Horio and a drinks party at Taxiarchis, so it’s a varied collection of holiday snaps today. Have a good weekend!
The holiday at home continues – with a fair amount of work being done as usual. The boys on the boat trip, mother to visit a friend in Pedi, a chance to catch up on things at home, many returning visitors to meet up with, a dinner in the courtyard… the usual things. Today we are shopping in Yialos during which a visit to the pharmacy is needed. The tamarisk tree beside us is shedding its… stuff, and even I am occasionally sneezing, Neil is having to walk around in a hazmat suit to avoid the sneezing, coughing and running nose, but even that’s not working.
After some talk of a strike and a lack of boats, I counted six crossings from Rhodes to Symi yesterday; the Pride, Express, Blue Star, Panagia and Sebeco (twice) were all running. The weather is warm with a bit of a breeze and not a cloud to be seen. Here are a few photos I took during the day.
As I said the other day, I may go a bit ‘dark’ on the blog over the next week. I’ve managed a rather poor showing of photos today, a couple snapped in Yialos yesterday and some others from the files. It’s 5.30 and I have at least five hours of work ahead before I can return to the family visit, so I am being very quick about this today.
A few shots of Pedi today, which is where we went yesterday for lunch. We went down to have a quick look at the Pedi Beach Hotel as a possible holiday venue for next year – not for me, you understand, though from what I’ve seen of it, it would make a lovely place for a week away from the hustle and bustle of the village. We ended up having lunch at Katsaras, the taverna on the jetty. It was cool out there, no fans just the sea breeze which was a welcome relief after the heat of the road and the beach. Very nice it was too. This morning, we’re heading down to Yialos to meet the nephews off the boat. Before that, I’ve some work to do, the house to prepare (making beds and so on) and we need to get some shopping in, something I meant to do yesterday, but life got in the way. Ah well. Here are the photos for this morning.
Over the weekend we spent some time at Taxiarchis apartments, so today’s photos were taken there. This place is on the edge of the village at the top of the Pedi valley, not far from the bus stop and shops, and set back off the road with wonderful rural views. Rooms here can be booked privately, through booking.com and it is also used by some holiday companies for package holidays, such as you find with Olympic Holidays. It’s also very popular, so you need to book early. You can find the Taxiarchis website here.
Also over the weekend, I received some very pleasant compliments about this blog. It’s always good to hear that people enjoy it, look at it most days, use it to get a ‘Symi fix’ especially over the winter, and it’s always pleasantly embarrassing to have readers track me down and say how much they like it. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to do that, everyone. As regular readers know, there are some days when I don’t have much to talk about, some where I just put up photos, other days when I witter on about what I am writing and talk about other subjects that don’t have anything much to do with Symi. So, thank you for sticking with it through those times too; it is a bit of a mix of a blog between what I hear is happening on the island and what I am up to in my own little writing world.
I’ve also been told that I should charge for the blog, something I won’t do – far too complicated and unnecessary. To this, I always say that if you want to help keep the blog going, then the way to do it is through the books – over there in the right column >>. Either by buying a copy of one or more of them, or publicising them on your social media pages, sharing links with anyone you know who might be interested and generally putting the word around. If you want to see all of my titles (not all of which are Symi themed) then you can check them out at my author page on Amazon: James Collins. That’s the .com version, but you can find it on .co.uk and in other countries too.
The Symi books are: Symi 85600, Carry on up the Kali Strata, Village View and Symi, Stuff & Nonsense; plus, Jason and the Sargonauts is set on Symi, and The Judas Inheritance is also set on an island very similar (it’s here, actually, but the island isn’t named as such in the book). The Saddling, The Witchling and The Eastling (hopefully out in time for Christmas) are my mystery/thriller series set on the Romney Marshes, and Remotely and Honestly (a novella) are my satire/comedies. You’ll see all the descriptions and blurbs, links and info from the book’s own page when you click through.
Anyway… Back to home and here we are, Sunday morning and, by the looks of it, about to go into a busy week for arrivals, particularly from the UK and northern Europe. I know of several faithfully returning visitors due to arrive this week, nephews included, it’s Neil’s birthday at the weekend, an anniversary too and there are a few functions planned. I’ll try and get more photos – my new smartphone is very helpful for taking snaps that are decent enough quality for the blog. If you want really decent photos to see you through next year, take a look at Neil’s Symi calendar 2019, now on sale at Lulu.com – and only there.
