Symi: Perspectives (2)

Posted on October 2, 2012 by BarryH

Monday was completely different from any other day I have spent in Greece.  We hired a car!

One of the pleasures of being here has always been that we go everywhere on foot or by bus.  Even my long journey around western Greece from the northern most point to the southernmost earlier this summer was accomplished entirely by public transport.

So why hire a car on Symi where there is less point in doing so than anywhere else I can think of.  It’s small, I can cover most of it on foot and there is a bus service to the huge Panormitis monastery at the far end of the island.  I could walk there and back but the last part of the trek would have to be done on hairpin tarmac roads and not very appealing.

It was simply a matter of economics and practicality.  There were 5 of us and splitting the hire cost meant it was cheaper than the bus and it gave us more flexibility on timing and where we could go.

Hiring the car gave a set of completely different perspectives but it was a nightmare.

The only 2 hire places are on the harbour side and that in itself is a problem.  The car was in a car park nose first and hemmed in by other cars parked higgledy-piggledy all over the place.  I walk across the car park regularly and don’t look at the cars twice.  Now they became hazards waiting to be bumped into as I inched my way slowly and tortouosly in reverse to a space wide enough to do a  3-point turn.  The dimensions and ‘feel’ of the car were unfamiliar and being hemmed in so tightly meant any lurch from not knowing the ‘bite’ of the clutch could add to the collection of scrapes on all four corner of the car as wella s the wing mirrors and door panels.

When I have hired cars previously, both at home and abroad, there has been the ritual of walking around it with the person doing the hiring and making  a note of all blemishes with a corresponding tour of inspection on its return.  No such inspection here.  I had my small camera with me so that I could photographed the parts of the car which were damaged in order to have a record before we set out in it.  I now have photographs of every bit of the car except it’s roof, testament to how many collisions it had already had.

It took 10, thankfully impact-free,  minutes to get out of the small car park and then another new perspective.  As a pedestrian I hadn’t noticed that the square behind the harbour is one way.

Having negotiated that I then turned onto the road along the harbour.  Always difficult to negotiate, in a car it was now transformed into some kind of real-life video game with natural obstacles such as bollards, high kerbs and straight–drop into the water augmented by parked scooters, cars and lorries, semi-permanent obstacles such as rubbish skips, restaurant tables and chairs and various marine paraphernalia as well as moving hazards including pedestrians, scooters and motorbikes, cars and the island bus.  The majority of the road along the harbour is too narrow for cars to pass going in the opposite direction with several ‘pinch points’ where the kinks right or left not much more than the  width of the car with the prospect of one wheel dropping off the edge straight into the harbour.  Again, thankfully we survived with the car unscathed, or at least no more scathed than it had been when we picked it up.

And so it continued.  We drove to the monastery of Panormitis at the far end of the island and had a wander around.  There were 3 large trip boats in the large natural harbour when we arrived so the place was crawling with people over from Rhodes for the day but when the boats left it was a haven of peace and quiet.  We bought spinach pies from the extremely well-regarded bakery at the back of the monastery building and sat on the side of the harbour and ate them before heading back along the road and up the amazing series of hairpin bends to the ridge-top.

Fishing boat in Panormitis harbour

The monastery entrance

Next stop was the crag-top monastery of Agios Stavros Polemou with stunning views in all directions, very hazy on Monday because of the high humidity.

At the top of Agios Stavros Polemou monastery

View towards Vigla (on the right) the highest point on the island

Small chapel close to the top

Cool courtyard at Panaiidi, at the bottom of the path to Polemou

Group photo on Hochlakos floor at Panaiidi

Then back down to walk to the Byzantine winepresses built onto great slabs of rock on the mountainside, some of them restored to show what they would have looked like when in use.  Altogether there are reckoned to be something like 120 or more and there must have been vast areas of vines to have kept them supplied with grapes.  Now they are set in cypress woodland and most of them are just collapsed stonework.

Stone wine presses, restored to what they would have looked like

Mosaic set in the crag

True it was a bit of a nightmare driving around Symi but it enabled us to see more and do more in one day than we could possibly have done by using the bus and walking.  And then in the evening the high humidity which had given us hazy views turned to rain.  Not for long but it freshen up the air and was seen by locals as a welcome relief from the heat of what has been a long hot summer … even by Symi standards.

Time to photograph the wildlife

Why do dragonflies sit on top of sticks?

x

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Symi: Perspectives

Posted on September 30, 2012 by BarryH

Saturday morning and we walked down to the harbour from the Horio to do bits of shopping but most importantly to buy the ferry tickets for the crossing to Rhodes from where we fly home on Wednesday next.

Last year’s trauma on Kalymnos when I couldn’t get a ticket in the Central Ticket Office for the trip to Symi because the ferry  was full left a lasting impression.  As a planner by nature as well as former profession I like to make sure that plans can be implemented once they are formulated.  Ferries between the major destinations in the Dodecanese islands have become very crowded since the number of operating companies has reduced so to avoid problems I have tended to book ahead as much as possible.  Hence the visit to the harbour early on Saturday.

Not being able to  move on from one island to another is no real problem but not being able to get back to the airport for the flight home is another matter.

Ambling down the Kali Strata steps I was musing that my 6 weeks over here is now nearly at an end that set me thinking about what I would like to do in the last few days.   But then it struck me that my daughter and her husband and our friends would have a completely different perspective because they are not yet half through their stay over here. The main part of their holiday is still ahead.  So need to plan for that.

But that’s not the only different perspective.  They are getting used to the heat and avoiding sunburn as it’s still hot over here compared with the UK and the cloudless skies have returned after a day of passing clouds.  I’m enjoying the fact that it’s cooling off a little compared with what it was like earlier in the summer.  They are getting used to walking longer distances while I’m winding down the walking.

A reminder to always try and look at things from other peoples’ perspectives.

Blue sky, blue sea, intense colour: it’s still summer on Symi

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Symi: getting it wrong

Posted on September 29, 2012 by BarryH

We have been coming to Symi and walking the mountains for over a decade.  I spent 3 months in the summer of 2010 on the island doing the research for writing a walking guide, which is unfortunately still incomplete.   So I reckon to know the island and it’s footpaths pretty well and can find my way around parts of it even where there are no paths.

So it came as a shock and an embarrassment when on Friday I got it wrong.

Symi has two parallel fjord-like inlets with steep limestone hillsides plunging down into the sea.  The main harbour and the town sit at the head of the northern inlet and the much smaller settlement of Pedi sits at the head of the other with the old Horio, as is so often the case, sitting on the hill between the two.

Symi’s two major inlets, Agia Martina at the tip of the central ridge

Still easing gently into the walking the plan was to walk down the Pedi Valley on an old path meandering between the enclosed fields, have a coffee in a very pleasant taverna and then follow another very rocky path to the taverna-and-umbrella beach of Agia Marina at the tip of the peninsula which separated the two inlets.

I have walked the path over the col from Agia Marina to Pedi many times as part of a circular route from Horio but never in the other direction.  As happened with the path on Nisyros from Palloi to Emborios I hadn’t appreciated that going in the other direction there were decisions to be made.  Going downhill routes funnel into one valley and you pay no attention to other paths coming in from the side.  Your route is clear.  But going uphill the path splits.  Straight choice: left or right.  On Nisyros I called it correctly.  On Symi on Friday I called it wrong.

Instead of going up to a low col and then dropping down to Agia Marina the path continued upwards and came out in a much higher col above Agia Marian and joined the path direct from Horio to Agia Marina.

I was uneasy all the time we were walking that bit of path.  I knew something was wrong but couldn’t put my finger on it.  We usually call that feeling ‘instinct’ but in fact it is simply that the subconscious is picking up on data and signals which haven’t registered in the conscious mind.  On the way back to Agia Marina afterwards I realised what it was .  There were no footprints on the path.  It’s very rocky but every now and again there is a patch of red soil.  Instead of seeing footprints there were only hoof prints of the feral goats.

Normally if I become suspicious that I’ve gone wrong I stop and cast around for some identifiable indication.  On Friday I was just too cocky and, not wanting to let on to the others that I might not know what I was doing and might have got it wrong, just ploughed on regardless.

Reaching the high point of the path and looking down on the other col I knew exactly where I was and how to get where we wanted be …. but by then it was too late.

The island and its monastery at AgiaMarina

Lesson:  trust your instincts.  Look around for the evidence which your subconscious is telling you is there somewhere.  And don’t be ashamed to let on that you might be wrong.

On the plus side, I found a path which I didn’t know was there.

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Symi: acclimatisation on the Hot Rock

Posted on September 28, 2012 by BarryH

Symi: acclimatisation

It seems that Autumn has well and truly arrived in the UK with temperatures in single figures.  Flying out to the Dodecanese where in the afternoon it is still 30oC is very pleasant but a bit of a shock to the system.  I found that even though I had been walking in the mountains for 2 months earlier in the summer, including 4 weeks in the south of the Peloponnese, when I arrived back here at the end of August I had to re-acclimatise.

With my daughter and husband and some friends fresh out from the UK onto the Hot Rock into what must have seemed like mid-summer heat under cloudless sky it made sense to ease into the walking gently.  So a very pleasant amble along the coast road round to Nimborio in the next bay and then a climb up the monastery of Agios Nikolaos Stenou on the top of the easternmost ridge of the island looking across to Turkey.

Like many monasteries it’s a very relaxing place with a huge shade tree in the courtyard We sat for a while on the wall in the shade and a gentle cooling breeze before dropping back down to the beach at Nimborio and  a very refreshing swim.  ‘Nimborio’ is a variation on ‘Emborio’ meaning ‘place of trade’ and though it is a very now there are indications of a richer past with old churches and monasteries, a Roman mosaic floor and underground catacombs.

We stopped off at the beach-side taverna there and had a Greek salad before taking the short route back to the harbour over the shoulder of the hill. Again we sat under the shade-tree in the courtyard of the large church on the hill to cool off after the hot climb up the very well paved kalderimi.  Being out in the sun all day at this time of year isn’t such a problem if you have been in Greece through most of the summer but regular shady rests are sensible for those coming straight from the cold and wet of Grey Britain.

Agios Nikolaos Stenou on the rocky ridge top

Flat calm sea at Nimborio

Bougainvillea and sea

Shady courtyard overlooking Nimborio Bay

One of the other visitors to the courtyard

Harbour side

Reflections

 

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Symi: to Rhodes and back

Posted on September 27, 2012 by BarryH

Early start to Wednesday.  I was taking the ferry to Rhodes to meet my daughter and her husband at the airport.

There was a choice of two, the high speed catamaran at 07.45 and the large Blue Star ferry arriving in Symi from Piraeus at 08.15.  I had booked a ticket on the big ferry partly because it would give me an extra half hour to struggle from the grip of Morpheus into the real world and partly because it was half the price. I didn’t need to be in Rhodes by 08.30 when the cat would have arrived, it would just have meant more time to kill, so a 10.30 arrival was more leisurely.

Only problem was that the 24 hour strike in ports in Greece was expected to disrupt the Blue Star which would be leaving  Piraeus at about midnight, when it was expected to turn into a pumpkin.  I went into the travel agent on Tuesday evening to check and was assured that there was ‘οχι πρόβλεμα’ – no problem.

‘Το πρόβλεμα’, the problem, was that I was suspicious.  Having spent the early part of the summer having to make last second contingency travel plans all over Greece I reckoned that building in a contingency plan from the outset made sense.  So I got up in time to go down to the harbour for 07.45 in order to catch the cat if necessary.  I rehearsed the Greek for the expected  conversation with the Hellenic Coastguard who are better informed about arrivals and departures than anybody else  …. but

I then  opted for the easier solution.  I would put my trust in the internet and check the live maritime traffic web site.  So at 07.00 I was sitting in the courtyard of the hotel where the WiFi signal is strongest and logging on.  It assured me that the Diagoras was just rounding the Turkish coast and heading eastwards straight for Symi.  Sorted!!  Time for breakfast before I left.

I sauntered down the Kali Strata, encountering some scepticism on the way, and then ambled along the harbourside towards the Town Clock where the Big Ferries park.  I could see groups of people and two member of the Coastguard at the end of the road so was encouraged.  Even more so as I nonchalantly went to join them and the ferry loomed from behind the clock tower 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

Good, smooth crossing.  A leisurely couple of hours wandering around Rhodes town with the occasional frappé and spinach-and-feta pie.

I was planned to up to the airport on the bus and was pleased to see that neither the buses nor the taxis were on strike.  A couple of years ago when the taxi drivers went on strike there were near-riots at the kiosks to buy bus tickets and the buses themselves were rammed full.  No such problem on Wednesday.

As I sat in a very pleasant garden café having a frappé and a WiFix there was a demonstration on the road alongside.  Hundreds of public sector workers marching with banners, chanting their displeasure at the way the austerity measures are affecting them.  It was very noisy with hand-held klaxons and horns.  Loudspeakers led the chanting, I guess along the lines of:  loudspeaker:“What do we want?”   chant “ no more cuts”.  But it was all completely peaceful and caused only minor traffic disruption and delays to the buses.

The flight arrivals were not on schedule, however.  A 3-hour strike by air traffic controllers disrupted all flights between 10.00 and 13.00 with the result that they all bunched together after that.  The 15.20 flight I was meeting came in at 16.00.  That was no real problem but it caused problems for ground handling and baggage reclaim was chaotic.

The Dodecanese Express back to Symi was more or less on time.  Apparently very little disrupts the service apart from bad weather.  Carried the Big Bag up the 85 metre of steps on the Kali Strata and arrived back at the hotel at 19.30.  Almost exactly 12 hours after I set out.  Time for a beer.

Early morning, Symi harbour from Top Deck

The iconic entrance to Rhodes old ‘Mandraki’ harbour

At the entrance to the WiFix garden on Rhodes

This may be good as a hairstyle

 

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Symi: dead sandals.

Posted on September 26, 2012 by BarryH

Tuesday was earmarked for another good walk, significantly longer than Vigla on Monday but on paths so less arduous.

The walk to Agios Emilianos, the monastery on an island connected by a causeway is a long-time favourite.  It’s one that I have written up and put on the Greek Island Walks website and even plotted the route on Google Earth so I know it quite well.  The conditions were perfect: cloudless blue sky; little heat haze; slight breeze to take the edge off the temperatures (still 30-35oC in the shade in the afternoon on Symi); sections in cypress forest to add variety and provide cool relief now and again. Walking quite fast and very comfortably, fair bouncing along the path, I reached Agios Emilianos in less than 2 hours.

Just as the trip boat arrived and set up the BBQ.  I knew some of the locals who were on the boat and was invited by the captain to stay for the meal which is always very good.

I acknowledged his kind offer but declined.  I wanted to walk back and eating a large meal in the middle of the day puts me out for the count.  Very enjoyable if the next stage of the journey is on the boat, but not with a long walk back beginning with a sustained pull up to the col in the full afternoon sun.   So I had a good long swim around the island, dried off in the sun chatting to folk off the boat, ate a banana and set off back just as the very appetising smell from the roasting meat on the BBQ was beginning to sap my resolve.

I was sluggish getting going again but soon got into my stride.  Hopping from rock to rock I became aware that when I hopped onto rocks which were edge upwards it was uncomfortable on my feet, occasionally verging on being painful.  Hopped onto one which elicited a distinct “Ow!”.  Quick investigation of my foot showed nothing wrong …. but the sole of the sandal had split and the top of the sole had cracks in it..  The footbed had collapsed and when I squeezed it between thumb and index finger they nearly met in the middle.

No problem getting back but the sandals were distinctly dead in terms of future walks.  In fact even with dead sandals I covered the ground fairly quickly and so with time in hand I changed the route going back to walk down another ridge and finish in Yialos, the main harbour.  Very satisfied feeling as I sat in a taverna on the harbourside, chosen a couple of years ago because it has the most comfortable chairs, and sipped a frappé in the late afternoon sun.

The sandals?  I always walk in Teva TerraFi sandals because the soles are made from the same rubber as rock boots.  That means there is a trade-off between high friction/good grip and long wear.  I’m more than happy with that.  Security of grip is more important for what I do than having footwear lasting longer.  The sandals were new when I flew out for the first part of my 2012 Greek Odyssey and I estimate I have walked about 1000 miles of footpath in them.  They will now be used in the garden.

The temporary solution?  As soon as  I got back to the hotel I scrubbed them clean and will now wear them for ‘smart’ and my ‘smart’ sandals, which are themselves quite old, will last another week until I get home where I have another pair waiting for me.

A really great walk.

Looking down to Agios Emilianos from the path

…. and from the beach at the other side of the bay

Ancient stone olive press serves as a good waymark

One of a number of imaginative and creative planting schemes

Symi Walk 3: to Agios Emilianos

http://www.aartworld.com/Walks/Symi/Symi%20walk%203.pdf

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Symi: straight to the top of the hot rock.

Posted on September 25, 2012 by BarryH

After a good warm-up walk on Sunday I decided not to pussyfoot around but to take advantage of the fitness I built up on Nisyros and go for one the most strenuous and challenging walks on Symi, to the top of the highest mountain on the island, Vigla, by the direct approach.  Straight up the front.  It’s strenuous because it rises to 617 metres from sea level in barely 2 kilometres, the rocky summit of this hot rock.  It’s challenging because there is no path.  At all!  The return route I decided on was to follow the ridge eastwards and drop off the end of it down to Pedi Bay and have a swim.  Again, no path.

Over 90% of the entire walk is ‘off-piste’ and over extremely rocky ground.  In places, especially getting towards the top of Vigla, the safest route is to climb the rock, the loose stony bits in between being too unstable for comfort.  Much of the rock close to the top is razor-edged, giving good grip but potentially blood-letting.

As it turned out the only blood that was let was when I straightened up too soon coming out of the 1 metre high door of one of the three small churches inside the courtyard of the Profitis Ilias Monastery en route.   For the first time I have seen, there was a key in the lock of the large outer door to the courtyard and visitors were clearly welcomed.  I went in to look around.  Thankfully when I banged my head, there were no monks in residence as they might well have been offended as I vented my view of myself for being unable to even walk through a door without injury.  How tall were these monks anyway?  The outer door was massive.

Slight digression.  In the UK the Cornish town of St Ives has a quality of light as well as an eye-pleasing informality of architecture which has attracted artists for decades The same is true of Collioure on the Mediterranean coast of the Languedoc-Roussilon region of France, another artists ‘colony’.

The same quality of light is found on Symi.  The intensity of colour really is amazing.  Knowing the place so well you just come to accept it, don’t regard it as anything special.  But it is.  I was reminded of this as I creaked open the large door into the inner courtyard of the monastery on the foot of Vigla.  The reflection from the high white walls was blinding.

The inner courtyard of the Profitis Ilias monastery at the foot of Vigla

The sun was also dazzling as it reflected off the huge outcrops of jagged limestone as I climbed the mountain.  Very little evidence farming up here.  A few goats excavate the soil where they can to get at the roots of plants in their sun-scorched dormancy.   A few small circular stone structures, maybe put there to give them shade.  The temperature shoots up as the sun gets higher in the sky.

Looking down the way I came up and to the coast. The monastery I checked out is just to the right of centre, at the bottom of a long arette

Zooming in on Horio

A little wrinkle I learned in my 3 months on Symi n 2010 is that iced water is more refreshing than warm.  It does the same job in terms of avoiding dehydration, it’s just more refreshing.  So I put a one-third full bottle of water on its side in the freezer compartment of the fridge overnight and fill it with chilled water before I set out.  Carried in an insulated sleeve inside the rucksack it’s still iced at the end the hot afternoon.  I was glad of it on Vigla.

Despite the stop-off at the monastery which, for the first time I have seen, had a key in the lock and clearly welcomed guests, I made it to the top in exactly 1½ hours.

The next section of the route was considerably longer but lacked the steep ascent, just gradual undulating peaks.  The traverse of the ridge was made a little easier by following a goat path, obviously used by the entire herd of feral goats as a migration route from one end of the ridge to the other.  I think if I was a goat I would migrate. There was very little for them to eat, most plants being devoid of anything green and very many just dead, dry twigs.  The amount of dead vegetation seems to be accelerating year-on-year.  I think this is due to two factors; first, reduced rainfall in winter; second increased abstraction of water to keep tourists in showers and thereby lowering the water table.

Looking along the ridge, the next part of the route

Curious if cautious onlooker

Spot the goat path.

Dead and nearly dead vegetation everywhere. And this is stuff particularly adapted to survive drought!!

Yet in the middle of the desert, a tiny sign of new life.

I swam from the same rock at Pedi as I used regularly in 2010.  Slithering out of the water and lying on a hot rock on the Hot Rock to dry off is very pleasant indeed.  I love how the sun seeps into your bones and the rock warms you from underneath.

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Symi: on a hot rock

Posted on September 24, 2012 by BarryH

Sunday and what to do!  Having spent many years coming to Symi and walking the mountains and 3 months here in 2010 the “opportunities and possibilities” (quotation from the first series of the Alan Plater Beiderbecke Trilogy, as spoken by the ‘dazzlingly beautiful platinum blonde’, in case you missed it) were countless.

Late start not due to any indolence on my part but to the slow upload speed on the WiFi connexion I used.  I give incoming e-mails and replying priority so uploading photos to the blog may be reduced.

When I finally got down to it, I put together a walk on the hoof, a combination of an easy stroll along the coast, usually done after a mid afternoon arrival on the island, with a longer walk inland and back to the Horio.  Very easy after the longer, much more taxing and challenging walks on Nisyros: very enjoyable in a relaxed sort of way.  All the more so for calling in where I knew there might be always-unharvested grapes and finding the vines loaded down with perfect fruit.

Given that every island has a distinct personality and character there are a number of differences between Nisyros and Symi.  Symi is distinctly more cosmopolitan in terms of the visitors it attracts and the number of yachties calling in on gin palaces and Turkish caiques.  Inevitably and sadly this is reflected in the prices of everything.

But swallow hard and get on with enjoying this enjoyable island.

Another major difference between Nisyros and Symi is in the geology and therefore the geomorphology.  The predominant impact of Symi is that it is a ‘hot rock’. Much of it hugely reflective and very sharp-edged limestone.  Sunday’s walk  was over some of the rockiest and sharpest terrain. Put a foot or hand wrong in some places where I walked on Sunday and you get razored!  Not to everyone’s taste but I love it.

The island has the reputation for being the hottest and driest part of Greece and with the wind having dropped and the white rock reflecting the sunlight and radiating the heat collected over a whole summer, hot it certainly was.

Another very distinctive difference is that depending upon the particular geology, and therefore the soils, some hillsides are covered in oregano, others in thyme, others in sage and smell accordingly. Much of the mountain I was walking over on Sunday was covered in oregano and it was just about ready for the picking.  The oregano you pick and dry in the sun yourself is always better and more flavoursome than what you buy in supermarkets.  On Sunday I made a start with collecting for the next year.

Good start to the stay on Symi.

Calm sea on the Hot Rock

Raven on a Hot Rock, with Turkey behind

Looking down to the main harbour from the footpath

Two of the many bell-towers

Now THAT’S a bicycle chain!

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From Nisyros to Symi via Kos

Posted on September 23, 2012 by BarryH

Moving on.  There nolonger seems to be a ferry connexion directly between Nisyros and Symi.  Early morning ferry to Kos and high speed catamaran from Kos to Symi at the end of the afternoon was the best option.

Early breakfast in the hotel and then down to the harbour for an 07.30 departure with the sun just coming up over the headland.  It was very windy on the crossing with spray going right over the boat as it ploughed into larger waves.  Passengers all sat inside.  The crew got wet.

Sun coming over the headland

Two hours later we docked in Kos harbour.

Each island has its own character.  Although Nisyros and Kos are very close together they are like chalk and cheese.  Nisyros, laid back and relaxed, few boats in and out of the tiny harbour, a ‘locals’ island as it doesn’t depend on tourists because of the income from pumice quarrying.  Kos, bustling, boats in and out of the harbour constantly, harbourside thronged with tourists.   Bike hire (the pedal kind) is big on Kos and the bikes hired are …. big.  The handlebars all seem to be about 4 feet off the ground, very sit-up-and-beg style of cycling.

The good thing about Kos is the archaeological sites.  There are many and some of the larger ones are open to the public completely free of charge.  You just wander into them and around them like a public park.  There are columns and arches and mosaic floors and remnants of domestic buildings and remnants of massive carved masonry lying on the ground everywhere.  In Athens you would pay for this.

My ferry was at 16.20 so I split my time between wandering around the archaeological sites with the camera and drinking coffee in the very laid back taverna at the KTEL bus terminus, this year with added WiFi.  Hanging around the bus terminus reminded me of all the KTEL bus termini I hung around earlier in the summer on my Grand Tour of western Greece: Athens, Kalabaka, Ioannina, Igoumenitsa, Kerkyra, Patras, Kalamata, Areopoli …….

Probably mu favourite image on Kos, carving on one of the marbles lying around

….lots of them!!!

carved pillars everywhere

framed

another site, another frame

Marble frame about 20 feet high

Many intact mosaics, mostly of blokes fighting beasts

The iconography at the top of the wooden screen is said to date back to 1067

The ferry came and left dead on time.  Dodecanese Seaways are brilliant at keeping to time.

The ferry arrived in the iconic harbour on Symi with its small outer deck packed with people ooohing and aaahing, cameras clicking away.  I spent 3 months on Symi in 2010 and ferried in and out of the harbour a number of times.  The impact never palls, it really does make you catch your breath, but it doesn’t make me grab the camera any more.  I know there are many better viewpoints of this dramatic harbour than the deck of a catamaran.  I sit there smugly knowing the ropes until it was time to go down to the lower deck, grab my Big Bag from the pallet at the side where it’s been stowed by the crew and then position myself to be first off and along the microscopically narrow harbour side.

Arriving on Symi isn’t like ‘coming home’ but it’s a very comfortable feeling.  Everything is familiar, I know the alleys and the steps of the Kali Strata (some say 360 but I haven’t counted) up to the Horio and the hotel where I’m staying.  People I know offer greetings as I walk past: “Welcome back. Nice to see you again. Catch you later.”   Hands shaken.  Greek hugs.

It’s good to be back.  And good to know that in a couple of days I’ll be joined by my daughter and her husband and some friends.

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Nisyros: teetering on the brink, an inside curve, and the unexpected.

Posted on September 22, 2012 by BarryH

Friday.  Last day on Nisyros.  Difficult to believe that what has become so familiar will soon be a wistful memory.  The plan was to see as much of the island as I could in one long walk. The route would take me up to the rim of the caldera and then around the inside of 3 sides of it before the return to sea level. A kind of circumnavigation of the island on an inside curve.

Set out from the hotel in Mandraki at 10.30, later than planned, and headed up the western side of the island to the edge of the caldera and then up to Nikia perched right on the rim at 415 metres ASL.  I went that way because I wanted to take in the views of the crater from that end of the caldera rim.  I don’t know how many photos I have taken from along this bit of track but I added more today.  Every time it has that ‘Wow!’ factor in bucket loads.

First sight of the caldera coming from Stavros monastery

From the low part of the rim

… and heading up towards Nikia

Despite repeated photo stops the walk to Nikia took exactly 2 hours!!! My very ambitious target.  Rewarded myself with a frappé.  In fact I would have had one even if it had taken me 3 hours.

But then the targets went haywire.  Completely AWOL.

Mid frappé and gazing admiringly at the white-and-pastel-blue Agios Nektarios church perched very decorously on top of the mountain overlooking Nikia I was jerked back to the here-and-now by the arrival of a young couple who had been in a scooter accident on the way up the mountain and were bleeding from various limbs.  Would you believe that the first aid kit which I carry with me everywhere in the mountains was the only one available in the village.  Well, the only one which could be found at short shrift.   So a good bit of time was spent cleaning wounds, applying antiseptic and temporary dressings, until the couple could be taken down to the surgery in Mandraki by a generous visitor with a hire car.

That was the third scooter accident involving significant abrasions to limbs I have seen the results of since I got here.  All thoughts of possibly hiring a scooter sometime to get to a couple of really isolated places in the far south of the island evaporated completely as I cleaned and dressed the wounds.  Hiring four wheels is safer than hiring two, even if they are more expensive.

When I eventually set out from Nikia again my targets were blown so I adopted a more laid back approach and settled in to enjoy the route and particularly the dramatic lava extrusions along it.

Rock pinnacle in the shade

Lava and caldera

One of my main objectives was to get back to the rock pinnacles at Parleta.  The old castle nestling in among the giant fingers of lava like an eagles eyrie has become my favourite place on Nisyros, pushing the summit of Oros Diavatis into second and the Paleocastro into third.  One smug pleasure I get from Parleta is the knowledge that very few people will ever get there because the path must be classed as pretty extreme and to reach the top of the eyrie requires basic rock climbing skills and a bit of bottle to climb the somewhat precarious fortifications.

Approaching the Parleta crags

The route to the top, straight up the rock

Probably he most impressive pinnacle

Blue Rock Thrush on the top

But another reason for wanting to come back to Parleta was to expunge the sense of failure at having made a mess of the difficult bit of path immediately after the pinnacles earlier in the week.  I wanted to move on knowing I had done it right.

There are two walking maps of Nisyros, one by SKAI (Murdoch’s Greek outfit) which shows the path and one by a German couple who produced a map for the love of it and which doesn’t show the path.  Which is right?  There is a path but there are a couple of sections which are unstable and difficult.  In particular about 30 metres east of Parleta where it is so precarious that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone outside the rock climbing section of the mountaineering club.  It’s obvious from the absence of hoofprints that even the goats don’t use this as a path.  So, although it’s only short sections of the path which are extreme, because most people couldn’t use it to get from ‘a’ to ‘b’ (or even from Nikia to Emborios) it doesn’t function as a viable path.

Friday and this time I got the line and the speed right.  Linger fractionally too long on one foot and the whole lot starts sliding. Dead smug!!

One of the places where the path has collapsed completely requiring a rock traverse along the wall

Spot the path

Take a closer look

That’s where you go if you get it wrong

I had been slightly tense up to that point in anticipation of what was to come but from then on it was pure enjoyment all the way to a final frappé and bid the owners ‘kalo heimona’ (have a good winter’) in the Balcony Taverna in Emborios and then back down to Mandraki.

Not in time for a swim unfortunately due to unforeseen delays in Nikia.  Scooter riders wearing only shorts and T-shirts should be aware of the consequences of their actions.  Making a chap miss his last swim on Nisyros!  Harrumph!! Still I took my swimming trunks and towel for a good walk.

Seriously, no regrets.  Only too pleased to help.  That’s what mountaineers do.

The cliché “expect the unexpected” is in some ways a non sequitur.  One thing I have learned travelling around Greece this summer more than any other, is to be prepared to deal with the unexpected.

It has been really great being on Nisyros for a month and exploring it in detail but I guess I got the bug for travelling in Part 1 of my 2012 Greek Odyssey.  Who knows what will happen when I move on Saturday.

Natural art en route: ‘Turkey struggles with Octopus’

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