moon and hearing the church bell strike midnight.
Tuesday
Although this is a very short break with only 5 nights on the island D’s Symi Routine is like riding a bike. He is up and out just after 07:30 and back with the bread by 08:00; writes the blog and does his bits and pieces until around 09:00 when E (the breakfast chef) surfaces - this often requires the delivery of a cup of tea to help the process along. There is no wifi in this part of Chorio so postings can be delayed but now that Data Roaming is part of our normal monthly mobile phone package it is easy enough for the iPad to access 4G through the link to the iPhone.
Weather Report at 09:00
Baro Pressure 1004
Humidity 40%
Wind Speed 0.0 mph
Temp Shade 28 C
Temp Sun 37 C
So after the normal breakfast of yoghurt, honey & fruit, fresh bread with cheese & ham and coffee we need to replenish our stock of water and get one or two other things. The supermarket just down from Giorgios is bustling with a large new delivery and all the locals exchanging stories and having banter with the shop owner.
We decide to spend the day on Pedi Beach so we wander down the deserted Pedi Road and round by the boat builders. We have our morning frappe in Tholos taverna whose sun beds are doing rather well. We then walk along towards the jetty where George is doing a good trade back and forth to St. Nikolas & Agia Marina - we think avrio. Another taxi boat is also working the route.
Pedi Beach is busy. The Greek schools are on holiday so there is a great family atmosphere. We find sun beds (€4 per bed) and settle down with two small beers that the sunbed guy is only too happy to bring to us. The wicker canopies are much improved and for the first time in a long time D does not whack his head.
The sunbed guy is using a hi-tech means of servicing all the people. He takes orders on his phone and texts them to the bar - the theory being that by the time he returns to the bar the order has been prepared. It seems to work to a certain degree.
Soon the bus deposits a large American / Greek family who seem to surround us. The open conversation that they have over and around us is simply hilarious. Two of the mothers describing the births of their children - apparently one just “slipped out”; and then toilet frequency became the topic of the day. We were in fits of disguised laughter. But they were great fun and the cute kids were having a ball.
We decide to be very lazy and instead of taking the short walk to the supermarket by the jetty we order a light lunch of a very good spinach pie full of spinach and made with a very thin and light filo which we share. This with ouzo, retsina, olives, succulent cherry tomatoes & garlic bread makes an excellent lunch.
We swim in the afternoon and the best description of the water is - lush.
We just miss the 15:30 bus so decide to have a beer and retsina in Katsaris bar. There are no seats in the new area where we spot the owner of Tza Ti having an afternoon with his friends and he comes to greet us. We sit on the jetty and have a lovely cold draught Mythos and meet a charming young couple from Ireland who tell us they have accommodation booked in Rhodes next week but they are trying to cancel so they can stay on Symi.
We get the 16:30 bus which drops us at the bend beyond The Secret Garden and as has happened each day when we return to the apartment, we start to read and soon find we have dozed off. But it's soon 18:30 and the showering and getting ready starts and like clockwork we are in Yiannis around our usual times and “our seats” are free.
After our usual ouzo & retsina / E visiting her friend in the boutique routine we head to Zoe’s. We have decided that this is an “up” holiday so have no plans to head down in the evening and will keep Odysia, Tholos, Trata & the other Yialos restaurants for September.
It is good to see Zoe’s busy again. We order the prawns and tuna salad to start. Four large prawns simply cooked on the barbecue come with sliced carrots and cherry tomatoes and two very flavoursome dipping sauces. The tuna salad is the creamy variety that is excellent to mop up with the bread. For mains D has the always reliable moussaka whilst E has the lamb cutlets cooked beautifully on the barbecue and served with chips - that’s real chips cut from potatoes that day.
We end dinner with a serving of watermelon and then head home in the moonlight and, unusually for us, find the church bell ringing midnight once again.
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- Chorio By Night
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