It’s all about steps. The pop group. As was. I hear they’ve made a musical based on the classic songs of ‘Steps’ using their wonderful music, those national treasures of melodies that saw us through the late 90s and early new century. Such original and breathtaking sounds, like their famous cover versions of other people’s work. Of course, the musical is packed with modern-day relevance, and makes me wonder how we’ve managed to survive for so long without a musical about this pop group. To my mind, these ‘jukebox musicals’ are the creative equivalent of an AI-written CV. So unoriginal. So un-creative. But that’s me in a cranky mood. Anyhow, someone came up with the idea of putting together a bunch of songs and then weaving a biography around them, and if you can do that and the songs are by the person the show’s about, why! You’ll have an immediate West End transfer the moment you open at the St Mary’s Bay Community Hall, Lower Wiggenfield. How fab. Not.
No, not those kinds of steps, but these:
The not-so-secret entrance to the Kali Strata and the way up to the village for those who want or have to walk up. These are, though not the Kali Strata. Check the sign on the left, and follow the arrows. The name of the shop is a gorgeous, independent fashion opportunity at the bottom of the Kali Strata, where you can pause and browse after climbing the first flight. Think of it as base camp.
To find the helpful sign and those blue steps which are not the KS, you will need to follow directions. (Turn left at that sign and carry on up.) Here, we could return to the thorny issue of Google Maps Vs Navigating Symi and issue the warning: If G-maps shows you a road running through any kind of Symi conurbation, the chances are, it’s not a road. Oh, the joy of seeing a car squeeze its way around the windmill (soon to reopen), past the Village Hotel, breathe in even deeper as it passes Sotiris’ support market and the Hotel Fiona, before reaching Job 38:11 between the two restaurants. Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further! You can’t drive up the Kali Strata. Nor down it, strangely.
So, to find these blue steps and start your summit attempt on foot, imagine you are standing in the harbour looking at the row of cafes and shops, with the taxi boats, sea and open bay behind you. Over there on your left is Yiannis’ souvlaki place, head for that, pass the fruit and veg stand, and you will see the blue steps. That’s how G-maps should work. If in doubt, ask someone.
Of course, once you start on the climb, you have to keep going…
And going…
Until you reach the second right-angle turn (the one with the view where that nice bar used to be 100 years ago), and keep going up until you meet someone stuck in a car or on a moped staring forlornly down at you and arguing that Google Maps is never wrong, and these wide, age-weary steps are, in fact, a road.
You can then, if you have inclination and legs left about your person, carry on, up and through, and left and right, and up and across, until, by luck or design but rarely by a computerised map, you read the top of the village.
You’re way away from the Kali Strata now, but the steps continue, as they will until the day you leave the island. There are even steps in Yialos, and if not steps, then you will meet a slope. Symi life is full of ups and downs, you see, and going up and down steps is one of them. Unless you have motorised transport, of course, in which case fine, but you’re advised to stick to only the roads that look like roads, and not try to follow the KS up or down on your Vespa. I’ve seen it done on a mountain bike (there’s a great video on YouTube involving a descent from the Kastro church to the harbour, through the village (I am in frame 1,076), and down), I’ve seen a digger come up part of it on its caterpillar tracks, and Lefteris, when younger and not a father, used to ride his trials bike down parts of it.
Anyway, I will leave you with the Tragedy of a Steps musical to contemplate (currently nearing the end of its first tour), and step into my day.
