Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby Gemma1 » 10 Oct 2018, 07:35

Another great update though I do wonder how you manage to fit all that delicious food in after the mezes, I'm full just thinking about it ;) I didn't get chance to try any dolmades on my recent trip - hopefully I'll have some when I go island hopping with OH in June. I love the starters in Greece but most of them are so large that if I order a starter I can't eat my main meal.

Safe travels back home today and thanks again for sharing your Symi holiday - and all that delicious food - with us all. I won't be back on Symi next year :( but through reading blogs like this it won't feel so far away and hopefully I'll be back the following year :D
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 10 Oct 2018, 08:19

Tuesday - Last Day In Paradise

Our planning turned out to be perfect as this being the last day the fridge was empty apart from water and chocolate - the latter going into the case and to be rationed when home. This allowed a second visit to the Nireus for the walk-in buffet breakfast that once again we had at a table beside the sea.

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A Interesting Panoramic Pic Over Breakfast

We then returned to the apartment to pack before we walked round to Cafe Aiglios for the last time this visit and the daily frappé and a shared fresh orange juice. E had a wander around the back streets and made one final purchase before we rendezvoused for a small beer in the Corner Bar. Then another in the Stella Bar and then a last in the Nireus with fond farewells and good winters being exchanged as we walked round.

We then packed away the last few things and our wonderful host and friend for so many years took us and our neighbours S&J round to the far side of the harbour where the Skiadeni was forced to be, due to Tuesday being the day for the regular stop of the Cypriot cruise liner at the Clock Tower.

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Au Revoir Symi

Our neighbours were on the Sebeco which was departing 16:45. The Skiadeni departed spot in 16:30 and we watched the Sebeco follow us from the top deck. Both boats disembarked about the same time. E did her usual “sprint” to get out of the gates of Akantia and grab a taxi - we have phone numbers as back up. We were sitting overlooking the pool of the Plaza by 06:45.

As we were having a cocktail in the hotel bar S&J popped in as their accommodation was only 2 minutes away. We may well see them at the airport as J is on our flight and S on one an hour earlier.

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Plaza Hotel Bar

We knew that Stavros of Mythos Fish Restaurant had moved from Symi to Rodos and his new restaurant, Mythos Simi, is only 2 minutes walk from the Plaza so we headed there. The place seemed lifeless with one person greeting us and two locals having a beer. We asked for Retsina but Retsina was off despite there being a rather large supermarket just at the end of the road. However after accepting the carafe of white wine as an alternative the main man himself made an appearance from what we assumed was a house next door. There was some mutual recognition and we got down to ordering.

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Mythos Simi

Some of the old signature dishes were on the menu but when we asked for the aubergine mille feuille and the coquille St.Jaques Stavros apologised and said he would make us alternatives that would be equally delicious and whilst initially a bit concerned about this we shouldn’t have been as two excellent starters arrives. Prawns in a garlic butter served in the shell that the coquille would have come in and a prawn saganaki where the prawn has been diced and reshaped with a saganaki sauce and served on a bed of puréed chickpeas - top cooking. Our plates were wiped clean with the corn bread that we had been given.

E then went for pork medallions with dauphinois potatoes. The pork as cooked to perfection and the dauphinois were excellent but such a wonderful dish was let down by a serving of tinned carrots. D had prawns linguini and the prawns were cooked perfectly with a light garlic and tomato sauce. Stavros again apologised for not having had time during the day to prepare his sweet menu.

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Mythos Simi Dinner

There is no doubt that Stavros is a top chef and his new place is small and intimate. What we had was very fine cooking but we were left thinking that something was slightly amiss and we will put this down to it being a one off perhaps. It will not put us off visiting again.

We walked round the corner to the Plaza and off to bed.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby rockbottom » 10 Oct 2018, 19:32

Really enjoyed your blog D and E, so much so that we'll definitely book for next year, especially as friends of ours will also be returning! It was good to hear that George from Alexandra jewellers was visiting, i'll miss his shop as we always managed to find the perfect birthday present for me there! Last year George presented me with a beautiful pair of earrings as a gift to match the necklace we had bought! Where else but on Symi would that happen? Safe journey home and maybe bump into you next year!
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 11 Oct 2018, 10:15

rockbottom wrote:Really enjoyed your blog D and E, so much so that we'll definitely book for next year, especially as friends of ours will also be returning! It was good to hear that George from Alexandra jewellers was visiting, i'll miss his shop as we always managed to find the perfect birthday present for me there! Last year George presented me with a beautiful pair of earrings as a gift to match the necklace we had bought! Where else but on Symi would that happen? Safe journey home and maybe bump into you next year!


Thanks for the encouragement Rockbottom.
If the blog encourages one person to book a visit to Symi it has done its job.
It would be great to meet up with you guys again - we had a few laughs last time.
Take care and have a good winter.

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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 11 Oct 2018, 10:24

Wednesday - Rodos

The shutters of the Plaza Hotel are such that when closed it is impossible to say if the sun has come up. We were in no hurry for a change and made the most of that fact by having a relatively late and very leisurely breakfast.

We then packed the cases again and checked out around 10:30 leaving the bags in the secure store that the Plaza has. All in all we believe it is an excellent hotel.

We have our favourite haunts in Rodos so we headed for our morning frappé to the Yacht Club braving the numerous approaches along the harbour front that were trying to sell us cruises, fishing trips, scuba diving and fresh juice.

We thought that Symi was busy late in the season and we have never seen Rodos as busy at this time of the year. As we walked through the Old Town we were amazed at the amount of people. We love just to walk aimlessly up and through these ancient streets, lanes and courtyards and just think about the history of the place.

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The Old Town

We came upon a very nice shop that specialised in fun jewellery and ceramics and so D was able to add to his house collection.

Having walked for over an hour and navigated ourselves to the top of the Old Town we walked down amongst the throng of tourists and found our oasis - Socratous Garden. We had a couple of small Mythos and a chat with one of the more familiar waiters that we see once or twice a year. It always amazes us that they recognise us and come to the table.

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Leaving The Old Town

From there we headed to Kukos where we have had lunch before and have indeed stayed over on one of our trips to Symi. Most of the tables were taken at around 14:00 but they found us one in the doorway of the bakery which did us just fine. We were sure that last time there was a special mezes printed on the paper table cloths but this wasn’t the case this time. However our helpful waiter knew exactly what we meant and for €20 we had another wonderful lunch of a shared mezes plate that consisted of potato & chickpea dip, very good tzatziki, a salad of leaves, feta and tomato, tomato bread, an interesting and tangy feta dip, a nice piece of roast lamb and a very nice piece of beef Stiffado with our usual large bottle of very chilled water and a half kilo retsina this was real value for money.

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Mezes Lunch At Kukos

We then returned to the Plaza and had our last ouzo & retsina. Got changed and as there was till plenty of time we had another last retsina and a small Mythos before calling a taxi for around 17:00 and heading out to the airport. The taxi driver knew Symi well and had many personal friends on the island who we also know so exchanging stories made the journey go past in a flash.

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Last Mythos In The Plaza Hotel

Easyjet Bag-Drop was at Desk 1 in the old side of the airport - the side with no aircon. It took a good 20 minutes to get the bags weighed and then over to the antiquated security machine system queue. Security was straightforward and then we walked the length of the airport to find the biggest transformation since our visit in May. The new part (with aircon) is now full of shops to remove any Euros you may have and we can only hope that the profits are used to modernise the check-in / bag-drop experience.

We sat in one of the new wine bars and D started the blog over a couple of glasses of very enjoyable Chardonnay as we waited for the incoming EasyJet flight from Luton which the App said was 20 minutes late. We were boarded and off by 9:15pm on a busy uneventful flight landing around 11:15pm UK time.

Despite there being a bank of Border Control desks with officers sitting at them looking bored an officious guy in a HiViz was shouting and demanded that everyone with an e-passport join the long queue for that method of entry to the UK. It’s just as well they don’t arm such people.

Luggage was circling on the carousel as we entered the hall and it was nice to see and hug J and wish her a safe onward journey home.

The short taxi ride took us to the Holiday Inn on the airport and by midnight we were tucked up in bed and so another wonderful Symi visit ended.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby silverfox » 11 Oct 2018, 19:01

So many thanks for sharing your precious time on Symi and as usual a superb blog and I think everyone is amazed how much food you two can get through.

I'm sure you must attract many visitors to the island with your great ramblings and pictures.

I hope you have a great winter and hope one day our paths cross and we can share a drink or two!

Take care!
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby Gemma1 » 12 Oct 2018, 07:11

Welcome home to the wonderful UK weather ;)

Ditto to silverfox and if our paths cross again in the future I would love to say hello. It won't be next year as I've booked a week in Paleochora in Crete for next September which sadly means no Symi - hopefully I will be back in 2020 and I quite fancy visiting in Spring on my next trip :)
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 12 Oct 2018, 07:30

Gemma1 wrote:Welcome home to the wonderful UK weather ;)

Ditto to silverfox and if our paths cross again in the future I would love to say hello. It won't be next year as I've booked a week in Paleochora in Crete for next September which sadly means no Symi - hopefully I will be back in 2020 and I quite fancy visiting in Spring on my next trip :)


Thank you Gemma - we have certainly woken up to a stormy morning here on the west coast of Wales.
2020 - it’s a date if our dates coincide.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 12 Oct 2018, 07:33

silverfox wrote:So many thanks for sharing your precious time on Symi and as usual a superb blog and I think everyone is amazed how much food you two can get through.

I'm sure you must attract many visitors to the island with your great ramblings and pictures.

I hope you have a great winter and hope one day our paths cross and we can share a drink or two!

Take care!


It’s been a pleasure Silverfox.
At least when we are blogging we are not eating :D
We can picture that drink or two in Yiannis Rainbow - let’s hope our dates allow it sometime.
About to post the final blog.
Many thanks.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 12 Oct 2018, 07:35

Thursday - Reflections

After breakfast under a cloudy British sky we set off on the three leg train journey home with the first two legs spot on time. Over a Costa Coffee in Birmingham we started seeing and hearing cancellation after cancellation of trains to Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury due to the tragedy of someone being hit by a train and then our Arriva Trains Wales 14:25 service which uses that line was also cancelled. Network Rail declared that the closure of the line would be until at least 17:00.

Thinking that the “at least” could turn into something much longer; that the backlog of passengers by that time would be considerable; and adding in the fact that we had two rather large cases & cabin bags some quick thinking was needed.

Using the power of the iPhone, other brands are available :-) , a one way hire car would be £140. A taxi would be £150. The National Express Bus at 16:00 arriving Aberystwyth 20:00 would be £42 for us both - bargain. So it was booked online and we were issued there and then with an eTicket. A short taxi ride took us to a very modern and stylish coach station. This would be the first time we have ever travelled with National Express.

Our bags were taken and stowed by the driver. There were charging points at the seats, a WiFi system with access through an easily installed App to a number of TV channels, comfortable leather reclining seats, aircon, a large TV screen that allowed us to share the drivers view of the road ahead and an onboard toilet. The only thing missing was at seat catering. We were very impressed.

Reviewing activity on the National Rail App and with a rail passenger through Twitter the failings of a rail system spread across so many operators was plain to see with nothing in the way of contingency planning. It is the risk we take when letting the train take the strain.

However the slightly longer final leg of our journey home afforded us plenty of time to reflect on our three weeks in Greece.

Travelling from Luton was functional rather then pleasurable.

Three weeks was perfect allowing us a far more leisurely journey to and from our beloved Symi.

A day or night in Rodos can be very pleasurable especially if it removes the pressures of late night or very early ferry crossings.

Pedi was heavenly. So much so that it will be where we look first in future when visiting independently.

Nos was its usual perfection and we would not wish to miss out on the alternative perspective that gives on a visit so for us a two week Pedi and one week “down” might be something we try in future.

When visiting “up” it did remind us how much we missed “Village Life” and that has to remain in our minds.

The food was stunning as usual. And yes we overindulged as usual. The trepidation on D’s face when returning to his long trousers in the Plaza Hotel just before we headed to the airport was plain to see. We need to have a lean winter.

The people were amazing. The friendliness and generosity is indescribable.

As ever the Poseidon day out leaves us with unforgettable memories as does our visits to Tolis and the family dinner we attended.

It was good to see that perhaps the economy of Symi has settled down a bit after a spate of closures of well known businesses over the last year or so. The island was certainly busier than we have ever seen it at this time of year and this was borne out by conversations with many of our Symiot friends. The Cafe Bars must certainly have benefitted from this longer season of day visitors and hopefully this has been seen by the wider business community.

And finally of course we want to thank all those people who have a shared love of little Symi - that tiny rock that punches way above its weight - and who take the trouble to read and share in our daily ramblings. We know how much we enjoy reading about other Symi lovers visits so it is always a pleasure to try and provide our efforts.

And now it’s time to start thinking about 2019 which alas has complications of pressures to visit other parts of the planet but a year without a Symi fix is unthinkable.

Have a good winter.

Yassas.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby Lisa B » 12 Oct 2018, 09:44

It feels like summer is finally over! Thank to all of you who made the build up to Symi and then the actual visit such a wonderful experience. You've all certainly added a little something, whether it be just a smile, a walk or a restaurant tip.
We swore we wouldn't be returning so quickly as so much of the world to see and the 'Symi magic' wouldn't get us......So as we booked our flights and hotel for Summer 2019 a big fat thank you to you all. Yammas anytime :D :D
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby Gemma1 » 13 Oct 2018, 08:27

Your last post brought a tear to my eye, what a great reflection on a wonderful Symi trip :D As well as being very good at eating ;) you write a brilliant blog - blogging round the Greek islands could be a new career :)
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby Gemma1 » 13 Oct 2018, 08:37

Lisa B wrote:It feels like summer is finally over! Thank to all of you who made the build up to Symi and then the actual visit such a wonderful experience. You've all certainly added a little something, whether it be just a smile, a walk or a restaurant tip.
We swore we wouldn't be returning so quickly as so much of the world to see and the 'Symi magic' wouldn't get us......So as we booked our flights and hotel for Summer 2019 a big fat thank you to you all. Yammas anytime :D :D


Symi is very addictive Lisa, I know a lot of people that visit twice a year. It remains my most visited Greek island out of the 43 I've stayed on so far - with still more islands to discover, plus all the different areas on Crete which is my second most visited Greek island :)

Yamas :D
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby silverfox » 13 Oct 2018, 12:21

"that tiny rock that punches way above its weight"

What a great line!

Gemma - we stayed in Paleochora on Crete for a few nights a number of years ago, it's a lovely place.

A great base for the Samaria Gorge hike! ;)

Hope all you good people have a good winter and nice dreams of Symi or any other lovely Greek destination.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 13 Oct 2018, 14:04

Gemma1 wrote:Your last post brought a tear to my eye, what a great reflection on a wonderful Symi trip :D As well as being very good at eating ;) you write a brilliant blog - blogging round the Greek islands could be a new career :)


Such kind words.
So many thanks.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby Gemma1 » 14 Oct 2018, 09:34

silverfox wrote:"that tiny rock that punches way above its weight"

What a great line!

Gemma - we stayed in Paleochora on Crete for a few nights a number of years ago, it's a lovely place.

A great base for the Samaria Gorge hike! ;)

Hope all you good people have a good winter and nice dreams of Symi or any other lovely Greek destination.


Ha ha, I enjoy walking but know my limitations and the Samaria is a bit beyond my idea of an enjoyable walk ;) I might walk as far as the iron gates but that will be it. I do regret not walking the Imbros Gorge when I stayed in Hora Sfakia 2 years ago and might manage that one on a future trip :)
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby JuliaB » 14 Oct 2018, 22:43

Lovely to have seen you again, D&E. Hope you have had a safe journey home. We're thinking about 2019 and that it's a while since we had a May/June visit. Our paths may cross again! J&M. xx
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 15 Oct 2018, 10:17

JuliaB wrote:Lovely to have seen you again, D&E. Hope you have had a safe journey home. We're thinking about 2019 and that it's a while since we had a May/June visit. Our paths may cross again! J&M. xx


One of the lovely thing about Symi is the lovely people you meet time and again and so we also hope that our plans may coincide with yours. We haven’t started planning as yet but we have a friend who came with us a few times many years ago and who would like to return with us in 2019 so we can’t leave it too long before we start.
Take care.
D&E
xx
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 15 Oct 2018, 14:00

Some Aprés-Symi tasks undertaken today before the return to work for D tomorrow.
Submitted claim for delayed train journey home in hope rather than anything else.
Ordered our Symi Dream 2019 Calendar by using the link on the excellent Symi Dream Blog website - always do that when we return in Sept / Oct.
And added the latest purchase to D’s Symi Village - the three small houses together on the right being his latest “build”. If he ever finds a ceramic that is close to replicating Yannis Rainbow Bar or Elpida’s he will be unstoppable. He Is already talking about adding to his flotilla of Symi ships that are on the wall opposite - bless :)

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D’s Very Own Symi
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