As today, for me, is all about filling out forms, dealing with emails, pretending to tidy the house and preparing for dinner in Harani, I’m not staying around for long. I’m also recovering from an unexpected day on Wednesday. We popped down to Yialos so that Neil could do some paperwork at the bank, and it took longer than we expected, but it was worth waiting for. The result was that we decided to have lunch down there and then walk up afterwards in time for him to do his shift at the bar. So, today’s blog is mainly photos taken yesterday in the harbour, and tomorrow’s will probably be the rest of the photos I have taken this week that I’ve not shown you yet. By the way, check Andy’s travel blog (link on the right) for the latest news on the ANES boat, the Sebeco, and it’s timetable as I believe that’s about to change or end, and it may affect your travel plans if you’re coming over soon.
Today we are going for another walk. This time, it’s three-thirty in the afternoon, at least 32 degrees and we’re heading uphill for two miles before turning around and heading down again. I was in the mood yesterday, so I put on my shoes and left the house, weaving through the back lanes of the village to the road.
I came out by Lavinia Studios, the place I stayed at on my first visit to Symi in 1996. Sadly, they now look a bit delipidated, and I don’t think they’ve been in use for a while. When I was there, there was no building right in front of them so there was an uninterrupted view down to Pedi. Anyway, past there and up the hill past the cantina to the Agia Marina church and cemetery. Past that to the bridge and the yappy dog (absent) and onto the concrete road that winds up to To Vrisi, as it’s known locally. It means ‘the tap’ because there is a natural spring beneath and you can refill your water bottles when you get there.
The thing with this route is that is winds in and out of the folds of the hill. It’s a bit like when you come back from the other Again Marina (the beach with the island) over the top to the windmills. You keep thinking, ‘one more ridge,’ only to find another one beyond it. So it can be with the folds of the hills if you’ve not done the route before, but it’s not too long. There’s not a lot of shade, depending on the time of day, so take a hat and water. I ambled up at a decent pace arriving 35 minutes after I left home, and paused in the churchyard for a few minutes and half a bottle of water before heading back down again.
Form up there, you get a great view down over the Pedi valley, the football pitch (still in need of repair), the bay, the opposite hill, the village and windmills. The route back is the same and much easier. There was also a breeze on the way back which helped dry me off. Today (Wednesday) I have to go to the post office, so that’s my walk for the day. If you’re wondering why I am suddenly doing all this, it’s for two reasons. Late next year we’re going to our son’s wedding in Scotland, and I will have to look good in a kilt, and the following year we’re aiming to go to New Zealand to see Mr Box and family. (See my trip to England posts from late July/early August for an explanation of Mr Box.) He has challenged me to try surfing, and if the thought of me in a kilt is unsettling, you should try thinking of me in a wetsuit.
As I was saying yesterday, we tend to take the coast road back from Nimborio to Yialos, so we have a chance to look at the sea and the coves on the way around. There’s not very much shade, although there are now seats (concrete) to rest on and some are under the few trees. It is possible, at certain times of the day, to catch the train back as it runs nearly to Nimborio, but now it has only one carriage, you might find it full, so I wouldn’t rely on it.
As I understand it, Nimborio was one Emborios, the ‘trading place’, roughly translated. The word εμπόριο means trade or commerce, and εμπόρος is a merchant. The area was important in Roman times as the centre of island trade, and there are the remains of a Roman mosaic still to be seen at the back of the bay beside the church.
Meanwhile, on Symi, the festival is still in full swing. There was a very popular concert on Monday night with a famous singer, great excitement, a helicopter arrival and a heap of boats in the bay and crowding the harbour. (I, as usual, was in bed before it started and up only a few hours after it finished.) We have many French and Italian visitors here right now, plus many Greek visitors from the mainland, and soon the northern Europeans will return for their favourite month of September. We have visitors of our own arriving in the next couple of weeks, so we are looking forward to that, and then, before we know it, things will be quieting down for the winter again… already.
Here are two more photos from our walk.
The sea is roped off for swimming lessons; it’s our municipal swimming pool!And a quick shot from the taxi window heading up the hill to home.
Early Sunday morning on the balcony looking at the stars, listening to the people turning out after a late night at LOS in the harbour, planning the day ahead… A walk to Nimborio and back is planned for this morning, setting off at 9.30 to meet a friend over there at 10.30 for a couple of hours before walking back so Neil can be ready for work at 15.00. Looks like it’s going to be a lovely day, though it’s still dark outside so I can’t say for sure, but I’m looking forward to the walk and the time in the next bay along.
There was a wedding in the village last night (a couple of photos today of people on their way), and a concert in the square for the Symi Festival. We said goodbye to some friends who were leaving after a seven-week stay on Symi and then stopped for one or two more in the square. I managed to get some writing done on Saturday morning, another two draft chapters for ‘The Eastling’ which is nearing the end of draft one. I am still hoping to have the book ready in time for Christmas, but there’s a fair amount of work needed on draft two and beyond to bring it up to scratch.
If you’re wondering about the sweeping going on, it’s because someone up the street has a habit of emptying their washing machine water down the steps. It floods through the bars and needs to be swept out of the way so the stones dry as quickly as possible before people slip over.
And backtracking further, I was able to collect some papers on Friday which, with others I had been working on, were put into an envelope and sent to Spain. This is all to do with my private pension arrangement, so I am hoping that everything is in order and I’ve filled in all the forms correctly. I sent the envelope with the courier, paying a little extra for the speedy delivery option, and I hope to hear from Marbella in the next few days, saying they have received them safely. After that, I reckon about six weeks before everything is in place and I can officially say I am retired, or rather, semi-retired as I will still be writing and working where necessary as it’s not a huge amount, but enough to take the edge off the monthly bills. So, that’s another milestone done with. I will also feel a lot happier when it’s all done as my investment will no longer be in the UK, but in Europe and Euros. I hope they transfer it all out before the pound slumps completely against the Euro – if it does – but whatever happens, it will all be European, as it were, and I’ll feel a lot happier for that.
And so, on with the week and (looks in diary) a birthday party for godson Harry today, a dinner invite for Thursday in Harani, and another for Saturday along our lane. Apart from that, I intend to get to the end of my first draft of the next Saddling story so that I can rest it for a couple of weeks when mother is here.
As we know, things are tough in Greece at the moment, and many small businesses are suffering. The downturn in the economy, the rise in taxes and VAT, the fall in tourism in some places… Well, sadly, another old Symi business will soon be closing.
Yiannis took over the whitesmith business in Yialos from his grandfather a few years ago. This is the workshop/shop in the backstreet that runs parallel to the sea. You can find it at the end of the lane that runs from Pacho’s to Taxas, but you will only be able to find it there until the end of September. We chatted with Yiannis and his wife, Honnie, the other day and they have sent me the following message:
“It is truly a sad time. Giannis is feeling sad, as the business was passed down from his Grandfather with the promise to keep it alive. So many of the older men come and sit here for hours reminiscing about Patsakis and their times, and the older woman leave their shopping, so they don’t have to carry it. The tourists and their memories of Giannis as a young boy and his Pappous and the dark and dingy workshop. When he is working it takes him somewhere safe, somewhere familiar in his heart.
I would like to send you a link to look at, click here for a Vimeo video of the workshop.
I will send you photos. I am not a photographer at all. We are asking if there are any orders they should be placed by the last week of September. All stock excluding Giannis’ work is 30-50% off.”
I have included some more of the photos below so you can see that the shop not only sells the homemade, crafted traditional metal items that Yiannis makes but jewellery and other wonderful items. If you go there, you will find a friendly reception and be able to see one of the few remaining artisan shops that Symi currently has to offer. Times are changing, though, and these kinds of craft workshops are dying out. It looks like you have until September to make the most of it before it goes the way of many others and becomes only a memory.
