Greece 2010, Two Symilar Days in Symi

Overheated and itching madly we woke early and as we drank tea we were startled by the clatter of donkey hooves on the marble steps as they began their heavy days work carrying building materials from the top of Kali Strata to the bottom over and over again.

We had breakfast on the sun terrace and prompted by Kim I reminded the woman about the promise of air conditioning repairs but I wasn’t terrible confident about this when she shrugged her shoulders in a sort of ‘how should I know and do I care anyway’ sort of gesture and looked at me with a distinctly blank face. I reported this to Kim but for some reason she was a lot more confident than I think she had a right to be.

We walked to the harbour and along the harbour perimeter road and past the sponge shops. Sponge fishing used to be really big in Symi but over fishing and then disease almost drove the valuable creatures to extinction, trade collapsed and many sponge divers left the island to take up similar employment in Florida in the USA. In the next bay were the remains of the ship building industry and that was a disaster story as well because in the nineteenth century Symi was famous for its high quality boats but it built so many that it cut down all of its trees and ran out of wood. No business sustainability plan – that was the problem!

For a while we walked along a new road that climbed steadily without ever getting anywhere so abandoned that and clambered down the rocks instead to a secluded rock where we were able to go naked swimming in the inviting sea. The last time in the sea was in the testicle shrinking temperatures of the English Channel but this was nothing like as challenging and we enjoyed an undisturbed swim in the silky warm water of the Aegean Sea.

After a swim we walked back to the Pantheon via the bars of the harbour for a drink and the mini market to purchase lunch and then went to see who was right about the air conditioning repairs. It was me of course so Kim phoned Andreas whose excuse was that unfortunately things get done only slowly on Symi so prospects didn’t look very good.

After self prepared lunch we waited around for a while to see if the repair man would turn up and watched the builders working on the renovation of a property opposite. We were amused by the lack of health and safety as men struggled to manoeuver heavy roofing timbers into place without any mechanical assistance at all. Waiting for the repair man was proving to be a complete waste of time so we abandoned the vigil and returned once again to Ano Symi passing again the man on crutches who was also surprisingly repeating yesterday’s epic struggle to the top of the town.

We visited the rather disappointing redundant windmills, climbed to the very highest of the blue domed churches and passed by the old derelict kastro before finishing with a Mythos on a roof terrace bar and then returning to the accommodation to prepare for a second night out dining at the same taverna as the previous evening.

The evening was even hotter and more uncomfortable than the previous night but with extra applications of mosquito repellent we got through without any more bites. When I say got through that is not strictly true because Kim was so uncomfortable that she was up two hours before dawn at five o’clock and out visiting the harbour even before the sun, like me, was showing any interest in the day.

We had enjoyed the first full day in Symi so much that we did exactly the same things all over again with just a few variations to see the places that we thought we might have previously missed. It seemed that there might be an air conditioning repair today because the woman at the apartments asked us to leave our keys which she explained that she would just casually leave on the window ledge for the repair man to let himself in but we refused to do that so that seemed to scupper the prospects immediately.

The reason we like island hopping holidays is that we both become restless and fidgety after a couple of days and like to move on to something new. There is nothing worse than routine on holiday but the trouble is that it can quickly establish itself and we demonstrated that today. First we repeated yesterday’s harbour walk, but did visit a church that we had missed before, and then we returned to what we thought was our private rock for a little more swimming but sadly our personal rock by the sea was unusually busy today so that meant no naked swimming this time. A lunchtime drink, lunch at the apartment, a rest (after her unusually early start Kim was a bit disorientated today), a walk to Ano Symi, and a pedicure for Kim passed away the rest of the day.

On our first walks it had been the stunning views over the harbour that had mostly caught our eye but we were used to all of that by this stage and now we had established an eye for the detail. One of the things that spoiled Symi was the careless attitude that the islanders seem to have towards waste disposal and we couldn’t help noticing that the derelict mansions were being used as convenient rubbish dumps and all of those that hadn’t been secured were being used as unlawful landfill sites, which was a great shame.

The air conditioning repair man didn’t arrive of course but at least I was able to negotiate a 20% discount on the room with Andreas because of the inconvenience and after a third evening meal at the same taverna we suffered another uncomfortable night in sweltering temperatures and worrying about mosquitoes. In the morning we packed and left before breakfast and made our way down the Kali Strata and to the harbour to catch the half past eight Dodekanisos Express ferry back to Rhodes. The hotel web site described the breakfast as sumptuous but in reality it was basic and quite poor so we weren’t devastated about missing it.

As we sat on the open top deck the sun began to spread from behind the mountains and as we left golden rays spilled into the horseshoe shaped harbour and brought the colourful houses to life and as the ferry left and Symi slipped away we were glad that we had added this island to our growing list of those visited on our Aegean odyssey. We had enjoyed three days here but we were now ready to move on.

Greece 2010, Symi, Ano Symi and the Harbour

After we had settled in, cooled off and calmed down we decided to do a little exploring and as we had already seen the harbour today we walked further up the Kali Strata towards the upper town of Ano Symi passing on the way dozens of abandoned once grand mansions that were built over a hundred years ago when Symi’s sponge fishing and ship building industries were both thriving but which fell into decline in the first half of the twentieth century when both suffered serious economic failure. Other houses were damaged during the Second-World-War during the German occupation and empty shells stand adjacent to some, like the Pantheon, that have been restored. Rules on restoration are very strict and this together with difficulties of access for modern vehicles (the only viable means of transporting building materials is by expensive donkey train) means that the cost of a restoration is often prohibitive and for this reason the whole process of regeneration is likely to take some considerable time.

The pace of life in the narrow shady streets of Ano Symi was much more relaxed than the busy harbour and we enjoyed exploring the crooked cobbled streets, admiring the old houses as we went and visiting the inevitable white churches built on the tops of the highest hills. Kim continued to complain about the steep steps but eventually felt guilty about that when we came across disabled man with crutches valiantly making his way to the top and, with great difficulty, stopping every now and again to take photographs, which sort of put the whole thing into a very different perspective.

There were some spectacular views from the top and after a drink in a wine bar we started the descent back to the Pantheon. It was easier going down and we could fully appreciate the spectacle of the colourful harbour with its rows of houses, restaurants and shops and the increasing number of holiday sailing boats that were arriving for an overnight stop in the town.

After a couple of hours rest we changed and walked back down to the harbour for evening meal passing and admiring the stamina and perseverance of the disabled man as we went. The harbour was much busier tonight and on the boats people were partying and having a good time over dinner before hitting the bars later. We had spotted a nice looking taverna earlier with simple blue check tablecloths and rustic furniture and although it was almost full the busy waiter obligingly found us a vacant table.

There followed an excellent meal of traditional Greek plates and interesting conversation, first with an elderly couple from Hunstanton who visit Symi every year and then a couple of walkers who gave us some tips on trails and sights. We shared our whinging story about the accommodation and lamented the lack of air conditioning in the room. They were sympathetic but he explained that he found it easier to sleep without this modern comfort and tried to reassure us that if we kept the windows open then we were sure to be nice and comfortable regardless.

Three hours later and stewing in our own sweat in temperatures of over 30º centigrade in an inappropriately pine paneled bedroom I was fairly certain that Kim did not entirely agree! And to make matters worse, sleeping with the windows open simply invited the mosquitoes to drop by and we discovered that the problem with lying on top of the sheets with no clothes on meant that we were laid out like an all-you-can-eat buffet table for creepy-crawlies. I don’t like all-you-can-eat buffets much myself because I invariably overload the plate and eat too much and the mosquitoes suffered from the same lack of self restraint because in the morning Kim was suffering from fifteen irritating bites. I had only a couple and considering how many Mythos I had drunk the previous day took pleasure from imagining that the little blighter that got me would most likely be suffering from a monster hang-over!

Greece 2010, 200 Steps in Symi

The Dodekanisos Seaways ferry to Symi left Rhodes at half past eight so there wasn’t time for breakfast at the Caravel before we caught a taxi from the hotel to take us to the harbour. As usual the fare was more than the advertised fixed rate but being ripped-off by Greek taxi drivers is just inevitable and the reason why, whenever possible, I avoid using them. The Dodekanisos Express was the type of ferry that we don’t really like, a high speed with matching prices but we were early enough to bag a seat on the open top deck rather than sit inside and as the warmth of the sun began to strengthen we waited for cast off and the forty kilometre, fifty minute crossing which took us close to the coast of nearby Turkey and docked right on schedule.

The approach to the harbour town of Symi was probably the most spectacular of all the islands that we have visited flanked on both sides by colourful neoclassical houses in a riot of complimentary pastel shades, contrasting wooden shutters, decorative iron balconies and red tiled roofs. It reminded us of Santorini but the difference here was that the houses spilled right down to the water’s edge rather than sit on the top of black volcanic cliffs and the ferry docked right in the middle of the attractive town rather than ten kilometres away on a chunk of ugly concrete.

When arriving by ferry we have become accustomed to being met by someone from the apartments to take us to our accommodation and we looked for someone with a sign announcing the Pantheon Mansion but as the crowd drifted away and dispersed into the surrounding streets it was clear that there was no one there and we would have to find the place for ourselves. Another apartment owner that we spoke to thought this was bad form and so did we but things were about to get even worse.

We walked around the harbour with the expensive yachts and the local fishing boats competing for space on one side and on the other rows of bars and shops selling all varieties of sponges, which is just about the only thing the little island is famous for. Not being absolutely sure of the location of the Pantheon we stopped in a bar and telephoned the number on the booking confirmation but no one answered.

After a couple of further unsuccessful attempts we abandoned this approach and asked for walking directions. The people that we asked all indicated that it was up a steep road called the Kali Strata with a lot of steps to negotiate and as they gave instructions they looked sympathetically at our bags as if to say ‘oh dear, rather you than me…’ but with no real alternative we carried on and predictably I took the wrong turning and we had climbed about fifty precarious steps before it was obvious it was the wrong way and we had to turn back and start again.

At the second attempt we found the correct street and then we started to climb; and we climbed and we climbed and we climbed until Kim could physically climb no more and gave up before she passed out. I carried on and after nearly two hundred steps with great relief found the Pantheon Mansion and partially collapsed! After getting my breath back I returned to give Kim the good news and help her to the apartments.

It wasn’t all good news however because the place was deserted, there was no one to meet us, no notes pinned to the door or instructions giving any sort of advice at all on what to do and the phone was still not being answered. It was eleven o’clock and extremely hot and all we could do was sit on the sun terrace, sweat and wait. Luckily I had a couple of tins of Mythos in the bag so I had to drink them quickly before they heated up in the sun and after an hour so and after I had almost recovered from the ordeal of the climb I went all the way back down the steps to get some more and to buy some food for lunch.

Getting back up the steps returned me to my previous state of sweat streaked exhaustion and what I really needed was a cool blast of air conditioning but still the phone remained unanswered and still no one came. A French guest came and went and told us that usually someone came by at about two o’clock so this meant that we would have an hour or so to wait so we made some lunch and drank some more Mythos and competed for the shade of the wooden pergola.

Two o’clock came and went and so did two-thirty and Kim was beginning to lose her patience and then was suddenly successful in getting an answer on the mobile phone. There were apologies of course and a promise that someone would be there soon so it seemed the situation was improving. Sadly it wasn’t because the only person that turned up was a six year old boy with a key to a room that he was reluctant to hand over because as it turned out the air conditioning was broken. A few minutes later a workman, who might have been his father, arrived and allocated us an alternative but greatly inferior room and we had to phone Andreas, the owner, again. Andreas wasn’t anywhere near of course, he was somewhere on the Greek mainland so wasn’t a lot of help but eventually a woman arrived who spoke a little English and after a conversation with the owner she moved us to our original room (which was very good it has to be said) with a promise of repairs to the air conditioning tomorrow. This was a bit of a nuisance but we accepted and moved in.