First day in Athens

Day two – Athens

Day two of our trip dawned peacefully and chilly while passing by Siros, Kithnos and Kea on the way to Piraeus. The good thing about the evening ferry from Symi is that you have time for dinner, and, in the morning, a decent breakfast, if you’re on one of the ferries that serve it. Unlike arriving at Symi from Athens, which tends to be early in the morning, you have time aboard the boat to watch some islands go past; the rest happen during the night. We were up and about early on our second day, catching the sunrise before enjoying a calm sailing into the sprawling mass of Piraeus.

Taxis

One thing I’ve started doing of late is organising transport before I leave home. Previously, I’d get the courtesy bus from the ferry to the dock gates (a 45-minute walk otherwise), cross the road and take the train into the city centre. It’s quick and cheap, but this time, as this was a special holiday, taxis were to be the thing. I used Welcome Pickups, a brilliant pre-book service that operates in various major cities. You do it online, state your arrival time and place, send some details including your photo, and pay in advance. (The prices compare well to other firms, and they track your flight or boat in case of delays.) Nearer the time, they send you the name, phone number and a photo of your driver who is invariably waiting for you when you arrive. That’s great for people travelling alone because you know who to expect, you’re not going to get ripped off, and you’ve already paid. They give you a bottle of water, maps and if you want, a good chat about things to do and see. Anyway… Our guy was waiting for us and whisked us off to the hotel.

Eating

We were staying at the Best Western next to the Plaka, a few minutes walk from Syntagma Square, and not far from Monistiraki, all our favourite places to visit. The day was mainly about getting a haircut, but the place we’d used before, Sir Barber just off Syntagma, was booked up, so we let that idea go and wandered Monistiraki and the surrounding area.

Needless to say, the holiday eating tour started well. We visited a place I’d been to with my mother the previous year (can’t recall the name right now). Then, in September, it was busy with tourists but also with locals drawn to the nightly live music and reasonable prices, considering it is right next to the cathedral. It was quieter in early March, and one of the attractions was the hostess who enlivens the guests by promising that ‘Later we dance Zorba. After, we smash playetes…’ in a drawling Australian-Greek mix. Great fun though there was no dancing or plate smashing when we were there. We also took a look around our locality and spied a barbers’ shop just up the road, closed at that time of night, and put it on the to-do list for another day.

Our main day in Athens was to be the following day when we had no travelling to worry about, and that turned out to be a walk and a half. More about that tomorrow.

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Let’s go on holiday (Day one)

I’m not going to have much to talk about over the next few weeks because we’re lockdown again here on Symi. We can only go out for a few essential reasons and only then with permission, so I shan’t have any new photos. If I hear of anything suitable for the blog, I’ll put it up, but otherwise, I thought it high time I took you on holiday. Over the next however-long, we’ll be travelling from Symi to Athens, London, Canada and back on a journey that began in early March before the world changed. Basically, I’m going to tell you what we did on our last holiday and share some of our photos with you, and it might take a couple of weeks to get through, but hopefully, it will see us through our lockdown, and take you away from the pressures of your own.

Background

Last year, Neil and I, decided we would take that ‘trip of a lifetime’ and journey across Canada by train, something we’d always wanted to do. We were booked to leave Symi at the beginning of March, and when the time came, were faced with a dilemma. If we cancelled, we would lose a substantial sum of money because everything was, more or less, open, and there were no travel restrictions. If we went, we might find ourselves having to turn around and come back. Our insurance and travel companies were not paying out for cancellations at that point because things weren’t so bad, and the countries we were visiting were operating as usual, but under the ‘wash hands and be careful’ guidelines. Airports were open, nothing was cancelled, it was all going to pass us by as long as we were nowhere near Italy, and there were no cases in Greece, the UK or Canada. Things didn’t look too bad.

Day one

The first day of the much planned and anticipated trip started at the new dock on Symi waiting for the Blue Star to Athens. The ferry is much our preferred way of travel to the mainland (rather than flying), and we had booked a berth on the Xios for the 17-hour, overnight journey. The boat was very quiet, as it often is in the out of season months, but operating normally. We found our berth, dumped our bags and headed to the stern to wave goodbye to Jenine and Harry who had come down to see us off, and when the tailgate lifted, the adventure was underway.

The itinerary was set. Two days in Athens, a long weekend in London to see a couple of shows and catch up with some old school friends and family before meeting our tour at Heathrow. We then had 10 days in Canada including Toronto, Niagara Falls, five days on the train, and Vancouver. The journey home was to include another two days in London to see the Tutankhamen exhibition, and two nights in Athens to chill out before the boat back. All in all, about three weeks of travelling.

We were not travelling alone, of course, and you’ll see more of this chap as we go…

The first stop, after dinner, was Tilos, as this was a Friday night sailing. After that, we were up and about long enough to see the docks at Nissiros in the dark, and then Kos, but were asleep in our forward cabin by the time we reached Kalymnos. I have difficulty sleeping when on the move but managed a couple of hours in my bunk before waking up, creeping around and out so as not to wake himself, and watch the sun rise over day two. Which we will get to tomorrow.

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Back to lockdown

I don’t think there will be many new Friday photos for a couple of weeks. If you haven’t already heard, we’re back into lockdown from tomorrow. Only seven viable reasons to leave home, and a form or SMS is needed before you go out. Bars, cafes etc., all shut, so today is Neil’s last day at the bar (it was going to be Sunday anyway). As far as I know, those traders and pilgrims already at Panormitis will have to leave as that won’t be happening, and there will be fewer boats.

Meanwhile… I must prepare a blog post for my other blog ready for tomorrow where I will be showing off the cover of my new book for the first time. Check in and take a look here for a regular Saturday post about all kinds of writer things.

I’ll keep slogging away here, but once again, the posts may simply be morning thoughts and photos from the balcony when we have the shutters open. And talking of photos, here are a few from the files. Have a good weekend.

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Wind

The wind is blowing in the wrong direction and sending the smell of the drains into our laundry room via the sink… somehow. I’ve taped up every join in the pipes, the trap is working, the plug is in, I still don’t understand how it’s possible, but there you are. Somewhat unpleasant but one of those things, like when the wind blows in any direction, it blows the dead leaves into the porch. They rush into the house as soon as you open the door as if there’s a sale on and they’ve been queuing all night. It’s also rattling the balcony doors where the latch/lock mechanism only fits into the top fastening, and to keep out the draughts, we have to close shutters, fill the gap between shutter and door, and then hang a thick quilt over the whole thing. In other words, we’re gearing up for winter.

That gives me an excuse to remind you that you can have a Symi summer all year round simply by buying one of Neil’s calendars. This year, the photos are all of sunrises at Pedi and were taken during the summer. You can only buy these online from one outlet, and all you have to do is follow this link to Symi Sunrises 2021.

And here’s the kind of image you can expect to find on the calendar. There is one like this for every month of the year, and the calendar is one of those that has boxes (about one-inch square) in which you can write notes and reminders.

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Panormitis Festival

In case you were wondering if the annual Festival at Panormitis is going ahead this year (7^th to 9^th November), the latest I heard is, yes, it is. But…

Church services with mask-wearing supervision.
No feast in the refectory, but take-away only.
Market stalls only for traders from within the Dodecanese.
Stalls to be distanced (I heard 5m.)
Food stalls, take-away only.
There will be extra ferries running as usual.

I’m not sure how accurate that is, nor what I feel about it, but we’re not planning to go. In fact, when Neil finishes work on Sunday, we’re planning to stay in as much as possible for two weeks just to make sure nothing nasty has been left behind on the island by summer and other visitors. That’s a personal choice.

Now, back to some random photos…

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