Taxiarchis

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.

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Symi Saturday photos – Random

Kalo mina. Here are a few random photos from the files to keep you Symi-dreaming over the weekend. The weather is perfect, the tours and trips are all running, though I am not sure about the Sebeco boat yet, and the nephews are booked on it on Tuesday. Will keep an eye and an ear out for news on that. Have a good weekend.

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Boat trips with the Maria

I took the bus down from the village with Mother yesterday, receiving a cheery welcome from Thanasis as always. In Yialos, he gave me a leaflet advertising a new set of trips organised by Lakis Travel. I’d not heard of these before so I thought I’d scan the leaflet so you can also share it. The boat, the Maria, is running day trips seven days per week and taking groups of people to some of the more inaccessible bays around Symi; Sarpes Island, St Sidoros and Taviri, for example. The trips also take in Str Emilianos, Nanou, St George and other places according to the daily itinerary, plus it’s available for private parties, weddings and so on. Here’s the front cover (sorry about the fold):

If you’re not sure where Lakis travel is, it’s on the south side of the harbour, that’s the same side as the bus stop and taxis, along the waterfront. There’s a sign outside, so you can’t miss it. I’m not sure of the prices of these trips yet, but the flyer tells me they run from 10.30 to 17.00 each day. You can always phone to enquire: +30 6944 899 625 for the mobile, and the landline at the office is +30 22460 71695.

Here’s wishing Lakis, Thanasis and the team all the best with this new venture.

There are other boat trips, and other travel agencies arranging all kinds of excursions too. There are many trips on offer on Symi thanks to Symi Tours, Panormitis Travel, the taxi boats, the Poseidon, Diagoras… Just walk around Yialos, and you will see the boats and agencies offering a wealth of trips and excursions.

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A few more from Rhodes

I must have worn myself out with my long ramble yesterday, I’ve only got a few more Rhodes photos for you today. I’m actually about to set about the house, scrubbing it up before the annual inspection tomorrow when Mother arrives for two weeks. We also need to prepare the spare room for the nephews who arrive on Monday. I’ll try and keep up the blog as best I can, but if things go a bit dark, you will know why.

Here are a few more day in Rhodes views for you.

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Four Hours in Rhodes

I know, it doesn’t seem like a long time but if you know what you’re doing and where you’re going, four hours in Rhodes is just enough. At least, it was for me on Monday. The Blue Star currently runs on a Monday at 10.45 from Symi, arriving in Rhodes at 12.00, and then leaving again at 16:00 and reaching Symi at 17.15, giving me four hours to do what I went to do.

A walk down to the harbour with the boat rounding the headland as I reached the bottom of the zigzag, and a stroll to the new jetty where there were loads of people and cars waiting to leave. The end of August usually means the end of summer Διακοπές for Greek and southern-European visitors. Everyone, it seemed, was heading back to Rhodes for flights, and later heading up to Athens by boat. But the Blue Star is a large ferry, and there was plenty of room. It has a decent amount of things to do as well. There’s a self-service restaurant, an a la carte, several cafes and bars, upstairs seating in the covered deck area and some space out in the sun, plus aeroplane style seats, a large shop, a reception desk, internet and cabins which I’ve not explored yet. Perhaps I will in the winter if we pop up to Athens for a mooch around.

Arriving at a port is a noisy affair. Passengers gather on the car desk ready for the stern ramps to drop down while alarms sound and lights flash. It reminds me of the Lloyd Webber musical, Starlight Express. If you ever saw it in its original form, you might remember the things that happened before each race: flashing lights, barriers rising from the stage, the hiss of pneumatic pumps as the bridge moved and the alarms sounding, plus that awful screeching voice of the ‘child’ off stage who was setting his/her trains up for the contest.

That over with, I walked from the commercial harbour around to Mandraki and the Wind shop 1.5 miles away. I carried my hat at the windier times, not wanting to lose another to the wind and sea. Wind is the name of my mobile provider. It was Telestet once upon a time and later changed its name to Tim. That was rather alarming as, at the time, I was crossing on a ferry from Southampton to France. Halfway across my phone buzzed, and I received a message. ‘Tim welcomes you to France.’ Who on earth is Tim?’ I thought. ‘And how does he know where I am? Bit scary.’ Later still, they changed their name to Wind. ‘Wind welcomes you to France,’ it might be, or perhaps, ‘France welcomes you to wind, depending on what you eat.’

I walked into the Wind shop and was seen straight away, conversed in English (after checking in Greek that it was okay to do so) because my level of Greek hasn’t reached overly-technical yet, and I arranged a contract for my new Smartphone. I was doing this because my pay as you go top up credit was being used up rather voraciously by the data roaming connect to internet function, and I didn’t know how to stop it. I only found out as I waited to get off the boat in Rhodes, making my trip mildly redundant, but as I was there… I set up a contract to cover 1,600 minutes of talk time (I don’t even speak to the husband for that many minutes per month) and 100 messages (ditto) plus a small amount of data. When that runs out, I have the option to top up, but I will not be charged for any further use, as you are with some contracts. And this worked out cheaper than what I usually put on the phone each month, so everyone was happy.

Happier still after lunch by the pool at the Plaza where Agapitos and Costas greeted me in their usual cheery/matey ways which always make me feel like a local. A Caesar salad (€7.00) and a beer (€3.50) later and I was off back to the boat. I arrived there just after three to find it already packed with people. You can board the ferry two hours before sailing, but I reckon some of these people had stayed on since Symi, crossing to Rhodes for the fun of it before heading up north. The journey back went smoothly and quickly, I disembarked amid some of Lloyd Webber’s most elegant music (well, the wail of sirens, so as good as) and walked up the steps to the village and home. All in all, a successful and healthy four hours in Rhodes (and one beer).

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