A walk to Panormitis (2) Continuing yesterday’s theme, here are some more photos taken on the walk to Panormitis last Sunday. We’d set off early and taken plenty of water and a sandwich or two. The first part of the walk was on the shaded side of the countryside, as the sun is quite low at this time of year and not yet (at that time of day) over the hills. I was still sweating like a glass blower’s a… mind you, but not because of the sun.

That (above) is Stavros Polemou over on the right, the highest church on the island. This is Neil, still walking and not yet limping, though I did have to stop around here and adjust the plasters on my heel (new walking boots).

There was some traffic on the road (we’d lost sight of the walking couple by now), we were offered a lift but we were there for the walk, we got lots of toots and waves and hellos from loads of locals (we only saw three other ‘ex-pats’ the whole day, apart from Jenine and the boys who we met at Panormitis). I think we saw every taxi at least four times during the walk too, and the buses hurtled past us pretty often too, but mainly everyone was heading in the same direction as us.

Past the olive grove…

And past the olive grove…

To where there is land for sale and a bit of a building already started. Fancy a taverna in the middle of nowhere? This is where some folk were going to have a rave in the summer (last year or this, can’t remember) but they were not able to get permission becasue of fire safety -we’re in the middle of a very dry wood in the height of summer after all and nowhere near a fire hydrant or water…

And on past Nanou, which is down there somewhere… More photos tomorrow! Do try and keep up.

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A walk to Panormitis. As I thought, no great big blog post today, it’s 7.40, I’ve only just got up and I have to be at the dentist in two hours or so, so here are the first of several photos I took yesterday when we walked to Panormitis – and had a great day. More info and photos tomorrow.

It was a misty morning when we set off at 7.50, the walk took us three hours 50 minutes in total.

Leaving the village by the old calderimi path, the ‘donkey path’ which leads to Xissos, though you turn left at the sign and head vertically to the road.

I hope no one was badly injured (or injured at all, actually) in this mishap. This is taken on the ‘short cut; via Ag Katerina which is no short cut at all. There were a couple and a solo lady walking ahead of us who carried on up the zigzag as we sniggered off into the ‘short cut’ only to find them still ahead of us when we came out on the road again. Not bothering with that next time and the rough terrain plays havoc with Neil’s bad foot.

More photos and notes tomorrow when I have recovered from the dentist…

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This weekend is the festival of Panormitis, or rather, of the Archangel Michaelis, at Panormitis, and we will be walking over there on Sunday, all being well. The last time we walked all the way to the other end of the island was on my 40^th birthday last year… only joking. But we did walk all the way and I’ve also done it once before and the story is told in Carry on up the Kali Strata – click the title for the Kindle version if you’ve not got it.

There may well be another version of the story to tell next week. I doubt I shall get to it for Monday as I usually do Monday’s post on a Sunday so I am free to start work straight away, but I can see me not doing that this week as we’re intending to set off at 7.00 on Sunday, aiming to arrive around 12.00 and then we’re aiming to get a bus back in the afternoon, but we may be later and… well, anyway, Monday’s post may be a bit of a quick one, if there is one at all, but I shall, no doubt, be sharing photos and any anecdotes during next week.

For today though, here are some more of our Symi Saturday photos; some taken from the house (sky and sea, sorry about the blue dots the old camera’s sensor needs cleaning) and some taken in Yialos on Friday – enjoy and have a good weekend.

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I’ve started uploading the guest posts for the blogs for while I am away, so here’s a reminder that if anyone wanted to write a guest post for Symi Dream I still have space to fill for the days when we are away on holiday. I have some posts already in, thank you for those, with photos, but more would be fun. They can be about Symi, Greece, your own business or website (as long as vaguely related to Symi, Greece, writing or holidays) and you can even use it for advertising and linking. Send docs and pics to mail@symidream.com before 22^nd November.

I’ve not got much other news today. I went for a walk yesterday morning, nice and chilly and got the old circulation going, then came back and did some work, went to the dentist again and came back. That’s not very exciting for a blog post is it? But I did grab a few early morning photos for you, also not very thrilling as there was no cloud, but we don’t want cloud at the moment!

I was a bit shocked to see that my stock of ‘photos to post one day’ is now reduced to mainly images from Rhodes. Nothing wrong with Rhodes of course but not always very relevant to Symi and Symi Dream. I think I need to get out there and get more snaps. I’ll do that next time I am down town with the camera. At the moment I am spending a lot of time at the desk working and setting up the next draft of ‘Straight Swap’ for my ‘beta readers’ as apparently proof readers are now called; or draft readers really. After several hours at the desk I might pop out for one at the Rainbow as Neil is still working there –the sun is out there are a few visitors around, some white yachts come in to Yialos, though not many, so it’s still worth it. And after that, retreat home for something warm to eat and a good film.

The winter routine has started then!

Don’t forget the blog posts if you are interested to share your Symi thoughts with over 1,000 unique visitors per day. You might like to boost your favourite holiday company or accommodation as I will allow links to appropriate businesses. You might want to talk about your own book about Greece, or your favourite and that will be fine too. Anything about Symi, Greece, writing, holidays… anything suitable will be welcome.

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The weather is calm and it looks set to stay calm for the festival of Panormitis happening this weekend. A 48 hour strike by some ferry workers meant that there was no Blue Star on Wednesday and may not be one on Friday, so our annual winter boat disruptions have started already. And that may also have a knock on effect for anyone hopping to come by ferry to the festival, unless they can come by the ‘Spanos’ routes from Rhodes. It may also mean fewer stalls at the festival if they were due to come by big boat. Or it might all work out fine.

We are, at the moment, intending to walk over to Panormitis for the day on Sunday, as long as Neil’s foot’s okay. He’s just started aerobics again so might be feeling a tad stiff in the legs; a walk will do it all good. The mornings are colder so it is even harder to get out of bed early and get into jogging gear and go up that hill and evenings start earlier so it is even more tempting to be in the warm with a good film or a book, rather than going up that hill in the evening. I’m working on it.

I’m also working on my new book and almost have the third draft ready for the next proof reader. My efforts are being slightly hampered by the E key on my keyboard, which is sticking in the up position; I have to belt it with my finger to get it to work. So, if you find typos with the e missing you will know it’s because the ky isn’t doing what it should. And clearly that was meant to read key and not KY.

Other news? Well, I heard that a group of doctors is coming over on Saturday to do examinations at the clinic and the Yialos school between 14:00 and 19:00, though exactly what doctors I am not sure; would be worth enquiring though if you are in need of a check-up. I also heard that the current island doctor may be leaving soon and we might be without one for a while.

I can tell you that fewer and fewer day boats are coming in now the season has ground down, a few of the tourist shops are closed, and some have shut for the whole winter now, while a few remain open for Panormitis weekend I guess. The boats will be doing runs from Rhodes to Panormitis at the weekend but may not be calling into Yialos as often. And I also heard that Symi Tours are putting on buses to bring people back and forth to the festival, so we shouldn’t have to walk home, and there should also be the Panormitis regular bus, so that’s handy. If all else fails we will stick our thumbs out and hope for a ride on the back of a truck. If all else-all else fails we’ll walk back. Yeah right.

Just to add that part one of the root canal work on the tooth went smoothly and surprisingly painlessly and part two is today around midday. It’s nice to be able to eat without pain again, until the next one goes wrong. And finally, finally, Neil spent some time with other volunteers sorting the winter and summer stock for the refugee centre yesterday as 20 or so new refugees came into Symi. The international news may have gone quiet on the subject in places (an on-going news story is not always a selling news story) but the crisis continues, people are still dying in their attempt to get to freedom and idiots are still saying ‘send them back, they are all men, they want to turn Europe into an Islamic state,’ and so on as Greece considers taking down it’s physical barrier between Greece and Turkey so the refugees don’t have to risk the sea. And so it goes on.

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