This leads to that

It’s always fun to see how things link up on Symi and how quickly the best-laid plans can get out of hand.

On Wednesday, Neil went to help a friend chop back another friend’s over-zealous bougainvillaea while first friend’s wife came to me to sing a bit. This led to an after sing/chop beer in the square. We went to Lefteris’ as Rainbow was closed in the afternoon. One beer was ok, but then it started to rain, and so there was no way we could leave and walk the fifty yards home in a drizzle, so we stayed for another one. And then another one as everyone was having such a good time. It stopped raining and, by this time, Rainbow was open, and we thought we should pop in for one to say hello. That soon led to another one as returning homeowners appeared, having come across on the Blue Star, or earlier. By the time we made it home, a ‘quick beer’ at the square had turned into a few more than that, and I had, for some reason, got ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ stuck in my head as a thing to watch. We suffered that (no more beer) before bed and still managed a fairly early night. To be fair, we watched the 25^th-anniversary version from the Albert Hall, infinitely better than the film version as it’s the whole thing staged as best as it can be out of its theatre.

Luckily for the healthiness of at least two of us concerned, we had taken a long-ish walk in the late morning, and that’s what today’s photos are from. I was interrupted in my ramblings yesterday by Neil’s idea to go for a ramble, and so we decided to walk up to the cantina on the main road. This is the place we use to walk to every other morning a couple of years ago. After a few months of doing this (and also walking to Pedi or up to ‘To Vrisi’ on the hillside) we were at the stage of being able to run up there after walking fast up the steps past the museum to the road. Wednesday’s walk was also pretty fast, but there was no running involved, and I was pleased that I managed it with no trouble. I was also interested to measure the distance on my FitBit, which told me it was about 3,000 of my steps and roughly 1.2 miles each way.

With my new/old camera, I was able to zoom in a long way and down to the new jetty at Pedi which, as you can see, looks to be in use, at least in part.

With Easter less than two weeks away, it’s good to see return visitors heading back to Symi. We met a couple of couples the other evening, and there are more on their way. It won’t be long now before Neil is back at work at the Rainbow Bar in the afternoons, three to five as usual, and the usual summer activities start up. It will be a while yet before the taxi boats and beaches are up and running, but we all know how soon time flies.

And, in my news, I’ve finalised the new cover of The Judas Inheritance, and it will be up there soon. It’s looking good. More news to follow.

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Symi Harbour in March

A few shots of Symi harbour today: The Herb & Spice corner being done up, the side of the bridge where the old kiosk no longer is, looks bigger in that area now, and some shots of the buildings by the sea. As you can see, it’s still quiet here, the direct flights from the UK and other places have not started to come to Rhodes yet, but we have had visitors over for the day.

I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things following our trip to Rhodes. I have a to-do list which includes a new post for my writing blog, reading the proofs of several chapters of The Saddling, finalising the new cover for The Judas Inheritance and setting about writing a few more travel articles for a site or two. On the subject of The Judas Inheritance, if you don’t have a copy with the original cover (that features a Symi ruin) then grab one now. In a few days, the new cover will be out, and the old one will no longer be available through Amazon. Perhaps the originals will become collector’s items one day. yeah, right.

The story is exactly the same, in fact, the interior will be exactly the same, but the cover will look like a completely different thing. It’s much more professional and well designed (because I didn’t do it) and it’s being done by the same people who have done the cover for The Saddling – which should be out next month or, more likely, early in May.

While I am getting on with all of that, the sun has come back, though so has the chilled breeze and the air is colder than it was a few weeks ago. The sea is calm though, and it’s not been windy. And that’s good news because Neil has just come back from his aerobics class all keen and eager to go for a walk up the hill. I have to play the piano at 1.30, and we need to have lunch first… But there’s plenty of time… Okay, just let me finish this… You can finish it later… I’ve run out of excuses, so I’m off for a short walk. I may be some time.

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Symi Animal Welfare – Spring Report   2017

Today I hand over to Symi Animal Welfare who have sent this Spring report and photos for posting:

It’s Spring time on Symi, with glorious sunny days and calm seas… The island has emerged from its usual winter ‘hibernation’, and the port is suddenly a hive of activity as the locals prepare for the new season. So, it was a perfect time for us to organise a vet visit, with lots of street cats now out & about in the sunshine. We arranged for our favourite Rhodos vet to come over for a weekend, and ‘set up’ in the house that we use at the back of the port which is in an ideal location, very quiet but with easy access. We are indeed very fortunate to have use of this private villa for the vet visits and would like to thank the owner for his generosity.

The vet, Panayiotis, was assisted by his lovely wife Maria, as the veterinary nurse, and we had a very capable and enthusiastic group of helpers to assist the SAW team. There was much to be done, in only 2 days and both Saturday and Sunday were quite intensive! The target was for 35 cats, but we are pleased to report that a total of 38 cats were neutered, 14 males and 34 females and that 2 male feral cats were euthanised as they tested positive for feline HIV.

The vet brings his own equipment and drugs, but this time one process was made easier as we have acquired a new sterilisation machine, kindly donated from a clinic in Germany! We would like to thank all the cat ‘carers’ and ‘catchers’ who gave donations for the vet visit, and the helpers & volunteers who gave up their time to assist us. Most of all we would like to thank Panayiotis and Maria for their tremendous hard work and dedication which made this vet visit a great success!

A formal report on our Cat Neutering Programme has been submitted to the Greek Cat Welfare Society, with a request for funding towards future vet visits. This summer SAW will have lots of new collection boxes in many businesses around the harbour and in Chorio. We rely entirely on donations, and all your support is very much appreciated.

We look forward to seeing many of our regular visitors again this summer on Symi, and lots of new faces too!

Best wishes from the SAW Team,

Suzan, Antonella, Christina, Hazel & Tove

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It’s quite common for visitors to Symi to have to spend some time on Rhodes. This is usually to do with boat connections. So, I am often asked about the best places to go to eat, or the best bars to have a drink in, and so on. What’s best for me isn’t always best for someone else so it depends on what you are looking for of course, but when I’m wandering around the new town or the Old Town I’m always on the lookout for new places to try. I also like to call back into places I’ve used before as I know what I am going to get. And there are a lot of places to choose from.

Being in the Old Town on Friday last week, I was sad to see that Boukia Boukia, a very traditional Greek taverna, is no longer there. It may have moved, I don’t know, but it has been replaced by another taverna which I’ve yet to try. The long-running and popular ‘China Burger’ has also closed and is now a souvlaki place, still with tables and quite a big menu, but no longer Chinese. Safron, the Indian restaurant, is due to open again this Friday with limited space (the outside part is not yet ready) so book first if you are going.

If you’re there and you’re looking for something different, healthy and not expensive, try the salad and soup place opposite the Casino gates, just up the parade of shops from the Indian spice shop, also worth a visit. We called into a place that’s new to us, this was only the second visit. I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s in ‘MacDonald’s Street’, the one that runs from the college up to the taxi rank. Up at the top, on the right, it has pizzas, souvlakia and a taverna in three adjacent buildings. It’s good to be able to get traditional Greek food that’s not a giros, though you can have that too. Over at the old fish market in Mandraki, we use the Symi café (opposite the cheap, clean, attended, public toilets) and we used to go to Indigo next door, but that has now moved. George’s Giros place nearby is still good value if you want one of those.

Over the main road at Mandraki, there’s the Yacht Club bar, not cheap but generous measures, and further along that quay is Kontiki. Huge portions here, so you may not need a starter and a main. And, dashing back to the Old Town again, The Walk Inn is fast becoming a popular destination of ours. This is a pub/eatery with a good menu, fresh soups, fresh pizzas made there, and then and other goodies. Down at the seahorse fountain in the square with the parrots (I must learn the real names of these streets) is a café called Mike’s. We have used this one in the winter and summer, as it’s open all year round and it’s where the locals go. And by Akandia Gate, on the way to the Blue Star ferry quay, just inside the gate, is Nimos, which is run by two guys who used to live/work here on Symi.

I am sure there are plenty of other places and you have your own favourites, but these are the ones I’ve been using in the last few years. I should also add that we use the Plaza bar and restaurant too; good prices, great staff, good food and not too costly. Just up- the road is Napoleons, also worth a visit. There, a few ideas for you when you are next on Rhodes and waiting for a boat or a plane, or when you’re just visiting.

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It’s Sunday morning as I write and we’re home from Rhodes. I’m currently cooking lunch for my birthday party (slow cooker, easy) and trying to get a nasty virus off Neil’s laptop (not easy). The sun is shining, it’s very warm, in the sun, and everywhere is calm. The celebration of Evangalismos and then the Independence Day parade have happened too. I am sure I have lots to tell you about our trip to Rhodes, but I’ll do more of that during the week, but here are a couple of moments that stuck in my mind and then a few photos. More details to follow.

I made two notes in my notebook, both of which I thought were rather funny. The first happened when we went into a place to arrange tickets. We have been using the agency for ages and so always get a warm welcome and have a quick catch up on the news with the agents. We called in there on Wednesday morning, and our usual lady was looking pensive. After the hellos and greetings, it was, ‘How are you?’

She didn’t look very happy. ‘I am having a very bad day,’ she said. ‘I am distracted.’

Indeed, she did look very worried about something. ‘Oh no. Nothing serious I hope. Is everything okay?’

She thought deeply for a moment and sighed. ‘I am cooking fish later, and I can’t decide how to do it.’

I know, it’s a very stressful thing, cooking fish, but I am glad that was the only issue.

Later in our trip, we sat down for a late lunch at a taverna we have used before. It has a huge menu, and some of the things are different. That is, different from the usual Greek cuisine menu. So, when I see Cannelloni, for example, I think, ‘that will make a nice change.’ So I ask, ‘Do you have cannelloni?’

‘Well,’ the waitresses replied. ‘I just saw something in the kitchen, but I’m not sure what it was. I’ll go and find out.’

I thought that was funny as well. We also had some successes: good health check reports, great time with our health insurance rep who met us and drove us around, set up the appointments and looked after us. We also did lots of walking, 25,000 steps one day which fair confused my FitBit as I don’t normally do more the 4,000, some sitting in the sun, meeting friend for a lazy lunch afternoon in the Old Town… lots of things to tell you, but right now, I have a Normandy chicken to prepare before I go and chillax for the rest of the day. Still, we’re back, and the blog will be back to normal now. Here are a couple more random photos from Rhodes.

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