Tuesday - Thursday : Days 14 - 16
The last day, the journey home and some reflections.
On the Tuesday we woke up to lovely blue skies and so we headed down the Pedi Road one last time. George the boatman explains that we are watching the Coastguard tow a half submerged Turkish boat that has been abandoned in Pedi. They will sink the boat in deep waters beyond the Pedi headland. We watch this quite dramatic event as we are taken over to St.Nicks which is still the only beach where the taverna is open. Despite this we estimate that we see less than 30 visitors during our day there. We do brave the water which remains 'bracing" before having a frappe from the cabin. We have lunch in the taverna with a verbal menu that has grown again. We have tzatziki, a quite substantial chicken souvlaki and the omelet. We asked George to collect us at 3pm as we had to pick up ferry tickets and of course pack.
After walking back up the Pedi Road, dumping our beach stuff at the apartment, we head down the Kaki Strata and our ferry tickets are waiting in the Symi Tours office. We say some final goodbyes over a small beer in the Corner Cafe and then head back up in the luxury of a brand new taxi. We pack and head for Yannis - the 100% record achieved
(There was never any doubt in this front). E says farewell to her friend who runs the wee shop opposite - this is well worth a visit as she sells quite unique things, many made locally.
Our traditional last night dinner when staying in Chorio is always Zoe's so off we head where we had the dolmades with tzatziki and the meatballs to start. E then had the saganaki prawns and D the beef Stiffado which he continues to declare the best although admits that Giorgio's lamb Stiffado gave it a very close run for its money this time. Our Welsh friends from St.Nicks say cheerio to us and we have a final discussion with Zoe & Nikos about the UK's EU Referendum, hugs & kisses and home to bed.
We never sleep well before the return journey - the fear of missing the alarm - so we are up and at the pick up point by 06:40 and the Symi Tours bus is there within 5 minutes and we are first on. We then pick up from Sevastis, Taxiarchis, Pedi Beach Hotel and finally Iapetos - 11 of us in total. We are at the Clock Tower by 7am for the 8:15 sailing. This gives us time to have a frappe / espresso fredo at the cafe nearest that end of the harbour and then walk to the bakery by the harbour bridge and share a cheese & ham pie for breakfast. The Paros arrives on time and is an impressive replacement for the Diagoras. There is a great number of Symiots heading over to Rhodes with us. We sit out with our new found friends P&J and have a very pleasant crossing - thanks for the coffees P&J. When we arrive at Akantia there is an Olympic mini-bus and we are taken to the International Hotel (see comments about the rep-free approach in our reply to Mr Wotsin on this subject). We wander to the Old Town and to a favourite pottery shop where E buys a beautifully crafted small bowl. A small beer stop at Socratous Garden where despite us only ever passing through three of the waiters recognise us and greet us as regulars - quite amazing when you think of all the people they encounter. A last stop at the Yacht Club and back for the transfer to the airport. A very slick check-in, security check and passport control which we then find is due to there being only 17 of us on the Enterair flight back.
The return flight is uneventful. There is a limited trolley service of drinks and snacks and no perfumes / aftershaves etc. We are back in Gatwick earlier than planned. The car is delivered back to the South Terminal where we have landed. We drive to the Sofitel to pick up two night bags we had left with them on the way out and then drive to the Crowne Plaza, 10 minutes away in Crawley, where we have decided to stay the night as neither of us have work the following day - a much more civilised approach than we have taken in previous years. We find it exceptional for airport hotels to be anything more than functional, exceptions in our experience being the Sofitel Gatwick (expensive) and the Crowne Plaza Manchester (great Thai restaurant), so we were not disappointed. A dinner of tempura prawns followed by a quite decent dish of pork belly (D) and pork terrine followed by a well cooked chicken dish (E) was expensive for what it was but we have been spoiled by Symi in terms of both flavour and value for money for the last two weeks.
A very decent and generous buffet breakfast sets us up for the next day which sees sunshine but not the temperatures we are used to. We set the SatNav to avoid the M25 accepting this will add an hour to our journey and set off across country through some beautiful villages finally picking up the M4 at Newbury. We are home by 17:00.
So reflecting on this Symi Visit -
The island was quieter than we can ever recall for this time of the year. This impacted the opening of tavernas at the various beaches and the day boat taxis / Symi Tours bus trips. The exception being St.Nicks.
Olypmic's unintentional 'Rep-Free' approach may be fine for regulars like ourselves but we do recognise that this may leave visitors feeling vulnerable and uncertain about arrangements. They really need to address this and D will be writing to them and we would encourage others to do the same. After all the price does includes access to a Rep.
The weather was strange for this time of the year. We have experienced small rain showers and some coolish evenings in the past but this time most evenings needed a jumper or something more substantial and the rain that we had was more intense and lasted longer. May just have been a blip but we are convinced of a general global change in weather patterns so such uncertainty may be the shape of things to come. However the general weather pattern experienced was warm, sunny and extremely pleasant.
Prices for food, drinks and other purchases remain very reasonable which is surprising when one thinks about the rising tax burden Symiots face.
The welcome was as warm and genuine as ever.
The dish of the holiday was small but the simple Mezes plate at Elpida's gets our vote.
Will put up some more photos later today and happy to answer any questions anyone has.
And thank you to all those who took time to read our ramblings and for the positive feedback which encourages us to post.
So until October ........