There was something of a party atmosphere in the square on Monday night as the cafes and tavernas were able to reopen. We popped down for ‘one’ in the afternoon and ended up getting home in the evening. There were people to see and talk to, and after so many months of not being able to sit at a table and chat, it was hard to leave. Neil nipped up the hill to collect the rest of the Easter cake he’d made and passed slices around everyone outside the café. Other people were celebrating their name day (St George, celebrated after Easter because the day fell within Lent), and others were just happy to be in the fresh air. You’re allowed to do this now as long as there are no more than six at a table, and it’s outside seating only, with a closing time/curfew of eleven at night.
Monday night also saw the traditional ‘burning of Judas’ ceremony/celebration, and the end of Easter was marked with a firework display set off on the main road so it could be seen from everywhere in the harbour and from most places in the village. (Sorry for the blurred images; they were taken on my phone.) After all that, we went home and listened to 78s on the wind-up gramophone because we’re right up to date with our technology.
Here we are on the other side of Easter with a few photos from the weekend. The weather has been warm. It was 30 degrees the other evening, so we were able to sit with the windows open for the first time in many months. That helps when the dynamite goes off, and the house shakes, as the shockwaves enter via the balcony, shimmy you along the sofa a little and disappear through the open front door. There was plenty of dynamite and, apparently, lots of fireworks on Saturday night. We tried to stay up for it, but being early to bed, early to rise folk, we slept through it. Hard to believe there was any noise at all when you look at the morning view from the same, still open windows.
Neil was busy baking a cake for two days. I was at work on my manuscript (and will be for a while), taking a couple of short walks up steep hills and doing very little else, and woke up late on Tuesday to another quiet morning.
I also had one of those advice emails from some Greek government website that might interest you. From 15 May, the government will allow any tourist to visit the country if they have been vaccinated or can provide a negative coronavirus test. However, restrictions are still in place for the Orthodox Easter on 2 May – travelling to another prefecture is not allowed, and a curfew is in place. From 3 May restaurants will be allowed to seat people outside. Schools will reopen on 10 May.
I’ve not been out yet, and it’s 7.30 on Monday as I write, so I am not sure if Lefteris kafeneion will be open from today, but its chairs and tables were out and being prepared at the weekend, so I assume it will be open later today. Yiannis is still away, so the Rainbow won’t be opening just yet, but Neil’s ready to go back to work as soon as he is needed. We have four ferries operating now at various times, so travel to Rhodes is much easier, although I’m not 100% sure what restrictions are in place for that. I shouldn’t need to go over for another couple of weeks, by when I should know more, but restrictions are being eased, and vaccinations are continuing.
That’s my catchup news this quiet Monday morning, and the rest of my day will be spent working on the manuscript, popping up the hill to collect the remainder of a cake, and probably slobbing on the sofa again ahead of starting the new-season routine on Tuesday.
It is Easter weekend in Greece, so I shall take Monday off and be back with you on Tuesday. The bangers and dynamite have started, there’s a donkey tied up beneath our front window, and Neil is planning a cake. After Easter, the tavernas and bars that serve food are preparing to open again with several restrictions in place. The Sebeco ferry service has started again, as has the Stavros larger ferry; we continue to have Dodecanese Seaways catamarans and the Blue Star ferries. We’re well supplied for on/off island transport right now, but I am still unsure what restrictions of movement are in place. One week on from my first vaccination, and I am gradually starting to feel ‘normal’ again, the weather’s definitely perking up, and… I can’t think of any other news to leave you with, so here are some of Neil’s recent photos with which to wish you a Happy (Orthodox) Easter.
I took a little stroll yesterday morning – just part way up the hill in a head-clearing exercise before I settled down to edit and improve the current MS. It was something of a landmark day as it was the first time I went out in shorts (at six in the morning). Today has started cloudy and windy, but it’s still warm. That kind of weather bodes well for next week when cafes and bars can reopen and people will, I hope, be sitting outside watching the limited world go by. That’s the first sign of ‘getting back to normal’, and let’s hope it continues.
Today, for me, is about editing and improving the MS. In fact, the next three weeks will be taken up with that because I have a deadline and a lot of MS to edit. Hopefully, within that time, I shall also be called back to Rhodes for stage two of my biometric card process, have my second vaccination (date booked), and Neil will have started work (next week, all being well). My informal piano student will have started on his grade one pieces, I will have finished a ten-book series, and started on another. Things seem to be looking up, and there are many reasons to be positive.
Just as an aside. I saw this boat in Akandia harbour on Monday, and here it was following me home yesterday. I’ve not seen a Blue Star cargo ship before. I assume that’s what it is. It was followed later by the usual Blue Star ferry.
As I was saying… We ended up walking about 10 miles around Rhodes new and old town on Monday, and when I left you yesterday, we were reaching the end of the day. The dash to the supermarket to buy a bottle of wine was a necessity after such a long day. We had a couple of hours left after all business was done and before the boat departed, so we grown-ups wanted to sit somewhere peaceful with a paper cup of warm white while the boys met friends and did their own thing. So, where do you go for a picnic in Rhodes Town? Well…
The Zeus. Waiting to be tidied up for summer?
If you know this part of Rhodes, you’ll know there is a small beach beside Akandia harbour where the Blue Star ferries come and go. Walking from Akandia towards town, there used to be a bumpy pavement with trees to dodge, but now, they are building a walkway. This is like the one built at Kolona harbour, where the Dodecanese Seaways boats operate, and that now stretches around the bay to the commercial harbour. This new section will make the suitcase-drag from Akandia much easier. Anyway… we didn’t go to that beach because it’s not easy to get to right now, so we went and sat in a moat.
Koukous now with added external shelter.
There are a few ways into the old moat that surrounds the Old Town, and one of them is at Akandia gate. By then, I wasn’t up for walking too far into the moat, so I lowered myself beneath the nearest tree with much ‘Ooh’ and ‘I’ll never get up again,’ and watched young, fit people doing their ‘sesh’ with their personal trainer. The moat is a lovely place to be, either just to sit and rest or to take a walk, especially in spring. You can follow the path around just about the whole walled town. There’s grass, an amphitheatre, places to sit and countryside-like views to admire. Also, it can be a very quiet place, and at times, it’s hard to imagine you are in a town.
View from beneath a palm tree.
So, an hour or so recovery time on the grass, and then some more ‘ooh’ and ‘How do I get up again?’ kind of decisions, and we were back on our feet for the last trudge back to the boat. There, before entering the dock and boarding, we were thoroughly interviewed by a policeman. As with other officials during the day, he assumed Jenine and I were married and wondered why I wasn’t on her tax papers. I showed him mine and my passport, and he seemed very underwhelmed. To get back to Symi at the moment, you need to show you are a resident, hence the tax paper. Neil and I had needed the same thing last year on the way back from Athens just before the lockdown started, and the strict rules are still in place. We thanked him for checking because that’s the kind of thing that’s helped keep the island safe and boarded the boat, where you have to hand in the medical form you get when you buy your tickets. From then on, it was plain sailing all the way back to Symi and home.
Another part of the moat
The first stage of the biometric application is done, and I am now waiting to be called to go back over and have one finger fingerprinted (shame you can’t fax it in, it would save a long day for a five-minute appointment). After that, it’s a question of waiting and hoping my application is approved, or else I will only be able to live in the country I call home for 90 days out of any 180. With nowhere else to go, that could prove tricky.
