(title courtesy of music loving E)
Saturday to Monday
We left Sými mid October 2019 in the knowledge that we were booked to return the following May and blissfully ignorant to what lay ahead. 2020 brought us all the pandemic and with some restrictions continuing into 2021 we were torn but decided to delay a further 12 months. If only we had known !
In March of 2022 D suffered a double pulmonary embolism in a very dramatic fashion and the scans for the clot discovered a tumour on his kidney. NHS Wales were absolutely superb and by July he had had surgery and whilst given the all clear the consultants recommended we delay Symi, that he had told them all about endlessly until 2023 which takes us to now.
EasyJet were superb with carrying a credit for the flights and once we had sorted that we had to decide where to stay - port or village. History indicates that our May / June visit is normally “up” and Sept / Oct is “down” so why tamper with fate. The place we have stayed most often during our visits “up” is Anastasia’s so we made contact and sorted all that out through email with the ever helpful P.
With uncertainty over trains and having replaced the Smart car, with all its limitations, with a Fiat500 we set off on our adventure on Saturday, after getting Zoë the pussycat into her holiday home at the cattery, and clearing the kitchen as it is being re-tiled and new work tops installed in our absence.
We decided to split the journey to Gatwick with a Cardiff stopover and had a night in the Holiday Inn.
We had tapas in the excellent Bar44 just across the road from the hotel. The chicken with hazelnuts in a Sherry sauce was the standout dish amongst scallops in a garlic crumb, ox cheeks in an intensely meaty sauce, lightly fried cod, patatas bravas, and a pleasant mushroom dish.
After a full Welsh breakfast from the buffet we headed along a relatively quiet M4, M3 and joined a very busy M25 but still reached Gatwick around 2:30. We had decided to have a hassle free return to Sými so returned to our favourite - the Sofitel at North Terminal. We booked Meet & Greet parking through EasyJet/ Holiday Extras. So easy to just drive into the Sofitel car park, follow the very clear signage, unload and leave the keys at the parking reception area. A short walk round to the front of the hotel and check in.
What to do on a Sunday afternoon in Gatwick airport ? First of all we took the 2 minute walk to re-familiarise ourselves with the EasyJet bag drop and check-in. D doesn’t like surprises and wanted to make sure things hadn’t changed. Then we took the shuttle monorail to South Terminal just to see what was occurring there - not much Took the monorail back and settled down in La Terrace bar of the hotel for our complimentary drink. That dry white wine prompted us to have a glass of champagne (E) and a rhubarb cosmopolitan (D - get him) and then another glass of fizz with D having a more subdued G&T before heading to the room to sort out our bags and get changed for dinner.
Being able to check bags in the night before is so handy. However our first attempt was thwarted by queues for late evening flights but when we returned at 8pm we went through the self service bag drop with ease and with the help of a very pleasant EasyJet gentleman. We then returned to the hotel and had a pre dinner glass of champagne each and returned to the excellent Thai restaurant. The Brasserie menu has certainly gone mainstream which does make it more affordable and the place was busy. One regret is that the mezzanine cocktail bar is no more .
The Thai remains as good as ever and E followed a shared platter of chicken satay, spare rib, prawn toast, edamame beans, and tempura prawns with chicken in black bean sauce, whilst D had the roast duck red Thai curry and we shared noodles and pak choi washed down with a bottle of Singha beer. We were tucked up by 10pm.
D had looked at the departures for the following morning and whilst our EasyJet 5:25 topped the list the number of other flights around this time suggested that we could experience a busy security area. D therefore set the alarm for 3am and we headed straight for departures and were ahead of the masses and were through quite a smooth process by 03:30 and in Starbucks for a hit of caffeine to get us going. We sat and watched the Departures Board as the Gatwick population grew and grew and recognised that the precautionary early start was quite wise.
The flight came up as being delayed to 6am and that provided time to start this blog and download the Blue Star boarding passes for later in the day - another nice innovation that avoids having to go to the office. It wasn’t long before we had a gate and headed down. We were boarded and finally took to the air at 6:30am.
Is 7am too early to have a breakfast of G&T, wine and Pringles ? Not when you are heading to paradise.
The flight took about three and half hours and we touched down in a sunny Diagoras that was a relief having watched the weather forecast over the previous few days. No longer able to go through the EU channel we had to wait to have our passports stamped and by that time the luggage was waiting for us.
There were plenty of taxis and we hopped into one driven by a guy from Sými so that allowed us to exchange tales and before we knew it we were sitting in the Taverna Moupáyio just opposite the entrance to Akandia port. The cost of the taxi was €29.
(We will include some prices throughout the blog this time just in light of the high rates of inflation in the UK and to keep potential Sými visitors informed)
Taverna Moupáyio has been a favourite stop ever since a visit with Olympic, years ago, dropped us off there. The food is excellent. Having only had a liquid breakfast (with Pringles) we decided on a light lunch. The waitress excused her lack of English when in fact it was our lack of Greek that was the real issue. So an order of beetroot salad, tuna salad and roasted pepper with feta resulted in a lovely fresh tomato and aubergine salad, superb tuna ceviche (that they only charged the tuna salad price of €4.50 for) and the roasted pepper with feta. With a large bottle of water, an ouzo with ice and a very acceptable small bottle of retsina the whole bill came to €36 which was very similar to our last visit. And the complimentary panacotta was as wobbly as you could wish for.
Around 3pm we walked to the port cafe and had a frappe and the Diagoras ferry docked around 3:45 for its 5pm sailing. We boarded and before long took a stroll to the top deck to enjoy the feeling of return to this place that means so much to us. Was it the sea breeze that caused the moistness in D’s eyes ?
Konstantinos was waiting with a bear-hug and his new luxury taxi to run us up to the village hotel and then the familiar walk along to meet his mum, Anastasia, and an extra special welcome. We are in our favourite room with the slightly secluded and generous balcony looking up to the Vigla.
There have been a lot of improvements made to the property including very swish new windows and doors, WiFi and a double bed !
It didn’t take us long to freshen up and head to the Rainbow. Anastasia was out for a short walk with her husband Sortiris (aka Sam) and he added to our earlier welcome. Then it was Yannis turn to hug us and with “our seats” being available the usual ouzo and retsina appeared without a word being spoken. We are “home”.
The Kali Strata was quite busy and before long our good friend J appeared. It was lovely to have a drink and a catch up. Perhaps Yannis is protecting his customers or maybe the claims back in the UK that there is rampant inflation everywhere is exaggerated but our drinks cost no more than they did during our last visit.
The tradition of first night continued with dinner in George & Maria’s. A mezes of the mushrooms in red wine, the green beans that are slowly cooked in a light tomato sauce with hints of garlic and pieces of potato, a beetroot salad and the kefedes with the usual accompaniments (water, bread and restsina) was as good as ever and again the price at €36 did not seem any higher than 2019.
The 3am start to the day was catching up with us quickly so we said Kali Nichta and walked back under a bright, almost full moon, with the dots of lights flickering across Chorio as though we had never been away.