Nisyros: hopping hot rocks

Posted on June 16, 2011 by BarryH

We decided that Monday would also be an easy day in walking terms.  Well, that was the plan.  In the event didn’t quite work out like that.

A very lazy morning, reading, chewing the fat, buying a spot of lunch.  Perhaps I should confess at this point I have splashed out and bought an Amazon Kindle.  I have been thinking of buying one for over a year but been put off by the fact that the books I wanted to read weren’t available in Kindle format, further deterred by the WiFi-only option as very limiting over here, and the thought of a monthly contract for the 3G version not appealing.

All change.  The books I want to read are now in Kindle format and the 3G version is not tied to a monthly contract.  Tim had had one for his birthday just before I flew over here and I was very impressed with it.   I didn’t bring any books with me this time because of the weight limits so I bit the bullet and ordered one which Ruth and Tim brought out with them.  With the 3G version ordering books is not constrained by access to WiFi which is a major benefit on Nisyros and the Kindle is actually easier to read than a ‘hard copy’ of the book.  Though I wouldn’t recommend reading in the bath.  When you open it, it goes straight to the last page you read.

Enough of the confessions and the advertising.  Towards the end of the morning I went for a stroll with the camera round the top road behind the town again, just to limber up. Spotted a big caterpillar munching on fennel and found a good vantage point to photograph the small beach with the breakwater creating a calmer area to swim which stood in sharp contrast to what was to come.

Caterpillar munching on fennel

Calm water on the beach side of the breakwater

Ruth and I set out about 13.00 to walk further along the shore than we did on Saturday. On the bit we had done the shoreline had become increasingly dramatic, rock-hopping on massive boulders, most of them of volcanic origin, fallen straight from the cliff behind.  The further we went the more dramatic the rocks became, again black, deep-red, sulphur-yellow …. and many more pieces of grey lava-bubble like strange hieroglyphic messages.

This is why on rough-sea days I don’t swim at Hochlaki beach

Rock contrasts

Sulphur Rock: not a new music craze or a town in the USA (as far as I know)

Lava flow, lava bubble, sulphur rock ….. mind blowing and very hot

Altogether we rock-hopped along the shore for nearly two hours until we reached a small flat-topped headland which we managed to get round thanks to basic rock-climbing skills.  Extra zest was added to the operation by the very rough sea which periodically washed up the cliff to the height we were traversing at but we stayed dry shod thanks to careful wave-watching.  Great fun.

The target headland from beyond the edge of reason

We didn’t go any further because once round the headland we realised that further progress was barred by cliffs straight into the sea.  The odd bit of traversing was OK but enough was enough.  So we sat on the rocks, watched the waves pounding just below us and ate nut-bars.

We then rock-hopped two hours back.  Which was when we realised how tiring constant rock-hopping is with cloudless sky, sun almost overhead and rocks heating up like storage-heaters.  As it turned out it was good preparation for Tuesday.

After the dramatics of the shoreline, on the way down to the main square to have evening meal we went to watch a pretty dramatic sunset and had a bad bout of Repetitive Photo Syndrome.  I have long ago lost count of the number of sunsets I’ve photographed on Nisyros but I still took a lot more.

Sunset through the octopussies

Sunset through the 9×6 inch drainage hole in the sea wall

Another very good meal in the square and as usual a warm welcome from Irini.  Then we all had an early night.

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Nisyros: rocks and butterflies

Posted on June 14, 2011 by BarryH

Apologies for the delay with the blog, the internet connection has been very poor.

Saturday was an easy day in walking terms.  After a season skiing in Canada Ruth and Tim had had little exposure to the sun.  A month in Grey Britain had been poor preparation for the strong solstice sun of Greece.  April in Britain had been very enjoyable weather with temperatures up in the mid 20’s and many sunny days but May reverted to grey.

So with cloudless sky and little breeze it was very hot for walking and important to be careful about staying out in the sun for too long.  Accordingly we had a quiet morning.  I ambled along to the ATM at the harbour and withdrew some cash, relieved that the banking system hadn’t disenfranchised me yet again.  It’s not as simple on small islands as it is in the UK.  Things which have gone wrong include the recent electronic decision that I had entered my PIN incorrectly, power failures which render the machines useless (twice so far in the last 3 days) and the machine running out of cash and necessitating a visit by a bank official from Kos to refill it  (happened to us in 2008).  But today all went smoothly.

I wandered back to the hotel via a slightly inland, higher level route with good views down over the harbour and a different perspective on the town.

The end of the harbour

Cruise ship calling in and pushing local ferries out of the way

Once the strong heat had gone out of the sun around noon we walked to Hochlaki beach and continued along the shoreline.  The shoreline becomes increasingly dramatic.  Backed by high but crumbly cliffs it is a matter of rock-hopping on massive boulders, most of them of volcanic origin, some of them sharp-edged rocks straight from the cliff, others rounded by many years of  pounding by the sea, black, red sulphur-yellow …. and many pieces of grey lava-bubble with strange hieroglyphics like messages and signposts left by aliens.

One of the vast number of pieces of lava bubble lying on the foreshore

….. or are they hieroglyphic epitaphs form aliens?

As well as the great variety in the rocks there were also other interests including artistic expression and the odd alien looking creatures.

Art for the fun of it

scaling the heights

We continued along the shore for about an hour and then back-tracked, sufficiently interested and enthused to want to go back earlier in the day and walk further.

Zzzzzz!

On Sunday we had a plan for a longer walk.  There are many dramatic things to see on Nisyros but unquestionably the most dramatic is the caldera of the volcano at the centre of the island and the crater at its far end.  We planned to go  on one of the day-trip buses down to the taverna on the caldera floor and then walk up the steep side to the crater-rim village of Nikia. From there we could get the public bus back to the town, always assuming that we arrived in time.

But it was not to be.  We went to the harbour in order to arrive ahead of the day-trip hordes arriving on the ferries and waited for the tickets booths to be dragged from the side of the ATM and put in place ready to greet the arriving trippers.  The driver of the public bus came along and turned on the engine,  unexpected since it wasn’t due to leave until 14.00 and it was still only 10.30.  When he had finished warming up the engine and switched it off I checked with him what time it was leaving and found that it was not leaving until Tuesday.  I had forgotten that it doesn’t operate on Sundays and didn’t know that the following day was a public holiday.  Best laid plans and all that

Need for a rethink.

Of the options available we went on a trip bus and got off at the junction with the road to Emborio.  Walked up into the village via the sauna, drink on the terrace of the taverna and then on up to the castle and church perched high on top of the hill, looking straight down into the caldera.

Looking along the caldera from the castle at Emborio

We then walked back to Mandraki via the lava bubble and the Evangelistra monastery.

There were still many flowers very much in evidence, not yet parched by the heat of the summer sun.  I suppose it was that which meant that butterflies were also very much in evidence, in some places drifting like clouds along a shady bit of path.   Last year while I was on Kalymnos I had seen for the first and only time the large Greek Streamer Tail butterflies flitting around the flowering oregano high up on the flank of the mountain near the ancient Kastri.  The oregano is in flower again now on Nisyros and there were the Streamer Tails high up on the rim of the Kato Laki caldera.  Very spectacular.

Oregano flowers attract many types of butterfly

…. but none more spectacular than the Greek Streamer Tail

Once back at Mandraki it was time for a swim.  The sea was a bit rough to risk the dumping waves on Hochlaki  beach so I headed for the small ‘town’ beach with its stone breakwater and had a very enjoyable swim.  Nice and calm behind the breakwater but a a good bit rougher once beyond its influence.  Ruth stuck to the peacefulness of the hotel pool.

Yet another good day.

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Back to Nisyros: cut off from the rest of the world

Posted on June 11, 2011 by BarryH

It was an early start to Thursday in order to catch the 09.30 ferry to Nisyros.  A very relaxed start to the day.  The hotel we were staying in was just about OK for overnighting but not somewhere to hang about longer than necessary.  We had unpacked little and so after essential preliminaries we ambled down the street to the harbour and sat in a taverna and had cups of coffee to re-caffeinate our systems ready for the day.  We had an hour to kill and it was very pleasant sitting in the quiet of the morning, the loud brashness of the night before just a memory.  There are very few people around at this time of day in Kardamena.  It’s a different world.

And then the flocks of day trippers started straggling onto the seafront and along to the part of the harbour where the 3 trip boats park up.  By the time we had finished and ambled along to buy our tickets and get on board, one of the boats seemed to be crammed to capacity and we were redirected to the one of the others, a rival concern.  We couldn’t tell if this was because we were only travelling one way and therefore represented a reduced income but it was of little matter as the ferry we had been directed to left probably half an hour ahead of the other which remained, seemingly to pack another flock of day-trippers on board when they finished dribbling along the seafront.

Once at Nisyros we were first off the ferry and headed straight for the hotel, keeping well in front of the flock which queued up at the bus ticket booths to find out which bus they had been allocated to which would whisk them up to the rim of the volcano and then down into the .caldera before parking at the crater-side taverna for an hour’s viewing and being relieved of money. Just as on Kardamena it was all a different world to that which we inhabit, a parallel universe which we bump up against now and again.  Walking up in the mountains it is rare to see anybody all day long.

Not quite so on Thursday because we didn’t venture very far.  After dropping off bags at the hotel and changing into walking clothes we ambled up to the Paleocastro.  Enfys and I went there many times when on Nisyros and it has never ceased to amaze but this was Ruth and Tim’s first visit and interesting to see their reactions to it.

When we arrived there was just the one couple there who were leaving as we arrived but when we re-focused our attention from the micro-scale of butterflies on lavender bushes and large lizards having a territorial battle over territory or women or male pride, historically the principal causes of battle, there was a small straggle of day-trippers wandering around the massive walls.

Scarce swallowtail on lavendar bush

Part of early public notice carved into the massive stones reading “plebs keep at least a metre and a half away from the wall”

Tim giving scale to the walls, internal stairway and main gate

We spent a couple of hours up there and for the last hour we had the place to ourselves again, day trippers having left to catch the ferry back to Kos at 15.30.

That is how Enfys and I first came to Nisyros, a day-trip on a hydrofoil from Tilos.  Whisked into the volcano on a bus for the usual quick shuftty and then on through the town we found our way up to the Paleocastro.  Like today’s trippers we had to cut short the visit in order to get the hydrofoil back to Tilos.  But it sparked our interest so much that we determined to return the following year and stay overnight and have kept coming back.

We rounded off the afternoon with a swim.  I headed for the pebbles and dumping waves of Hochlaki beach while Ruth settled for the peace and quiet of the hotel swimming pool.  Ever since picking up an ear infection in a swimming pool in Italy I have had to keep water out of my right ear, even in the bath, in order to avoid the infection flaring up again.  The sea water in the Aegean causes no problems, presumably because of the high salt content but I am very trepidous  of  risking swimming pools again.

22Usual end to an unusual couple of days.  Meal in the square and then to bed.

Zzzzzzz!

We decided to breakfast fairly early on Friday and were down just after 08.00 to get the best table on the terrace, underneath a large palm tree at the side of the pool. I’ve said it before but it cannot be said often enough, breakfast on the terrace at the Hotel Porfirys is one of the best ways to start the day.  We didn’t hurry.  There was no need to hurry.  We didn’t have a bus to catch because we had decided on a circular walk from the hotel.

The walk took us up through the woodland on the Northern flank of the island to the monastery at Evangelistra with its great shade tree, apparently the meeting place of the unofficial local committee during one of the many periods of occupation of the island by non-Greek forces.

Where to from here?

Whimsy at Evangelistra: baggy short man

Then back to Mandraki via the ancient monastery of Armas, now being excavated and renovated by archaeologists when funding allows.  Not much going on at the moment.  Not much funding available for archaeology on backwater islands in a time of very severe economic constraint.

Amphora: ancient underground storage at Armas

Fairly early finish so time for another swim.  Again I went to Hochlaki beach but this time found the dumping waves significantly bigger and heavier and so didn’t swim for long.  I stretched out to dry off in the sun and then just as I was crisping nicely a particularly large wave broke a lot further up the beach and swamped me.  Ruth again went for the quiet option of the hotel pool, very sensible under the circumstances.

I went back to the hotel and joined Ruth and Tim in the very civilised environment at the poolside and had a quick swim in the pool, being sure to keep my head out of the water.

Taking the plunge: a little whimsy at the hotel pool

I then spent two hours trying to sort out yet another banking trauma.  Having finally succeeded in being able to Skype the bank and get my account re-activated for use with the PIN (a long story) and tested it by making a withdrawal at the harbour ATM, I now found that the on-line banking facility had been upgraded and wouldn’t allow me to log-in.  Another long story but it turned out that the bank had changed the identification number which I needed to access the account without advising me of the now-superfluous ‘##’ at the end of the code.  Simple when you know but when a facility has worked perfectly satisfactorily for months why should it occur to you to think that the code has changed?

Having got that sorted by use of my mobile, which basically I keep and only use in case of such emergencies, I then found that the island’s electricity supply had been cut off.  No explanation, just no electricity anywhere on the island.  So no water because it’s pumped and so no prospect of a shower.  No WiFi.  No power to charge flat batteries.  No juice-making to get fresh orange juice.  No ice for drinks because fridge doors need to be kept closed.  A tough, deprived life.

This, as well as the generally poor internet connection, is all by way of explaining why the blogs have not been in evidence for a few days.  It is very pleasant being on a remote, peaceful Greek island but it is difficult for the comforts of Western Civilisation to continue without access to high-speed international communications.  And impossible without electricity.

In the larger scheme of things these are really minor inconveniences and once resolved disappear into the back of the memory.  They don’t detract from the long term enjoyment of just being here.

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Over the sea to Kos

Posted on June 9, 2011 by BarryH

After having got up and had breakfast on the terrace, Wednesday didn’t follow any kind of pattern at all.

Ruth and Tim were arriving at Kos airport at the end of the afternoon and I was crossing over the meet them on the day-trip ferry at 15.30.  So not really time to fit in a long walk.

First thing I did was to get the problem with the phone sorted out.  There’s a small computer and electrical gadget shop in one of the backstreets so I went in there.  The guy knew the number to dial to check on the credit and found that, as I had surmised, the remaining credit at the end of the last trip had been deleted by Vodafone.  Bit of a cheek that really, corporate theft but probably written into the small print.  I have heard before of the practice with phone companies. It was simply a matter of putting more credit onto the phone.  One problem sorted.

I headed out after that and walked along a section of coast beyond Hochlaki beach.  The sea was a lot calmer, about the calmest I have seen it, so I enjoyed a very good swim and then ambled on some more.  Very pleasant and low key.

Back to the hotel to clean up and pack a few things for an overnight stay in Kardamena, the small harbour where the day-trip ferries to Nisyros come from at 09.30 to disgorge trippers to spend their money on Nisyros for a day and takes them back to at 15.30 with lighter pockets and heavier bags. It was very noticeable how the national make-up of the day trippers has changed over the last 3 years.  In particular the number of Russians has increased dramatically and lots of local restaurants and tavernas now have menus in the language.

I could see Ruth and Tim’s plane landing as we pulled into the harbour at Kardamena so perhaps as well that there was a taxi waiting for me by arrangement where the ferry parks.  I got to the Baggage Reclaim just as the first passengers were filing in.  Ruth and Tim’s bag was the last off the  carousel but no real problem.

Taxi back down the Kardamena and we dumped the stuff in the hotel where we were overnighting and then ambled down to the seafront for a drink and a meal.  It was very relaxing sitting waiting for the meal and chatting.  The boat and the calm sea which Tim spotted just about summed up the mood.

ησυχία

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Nisyros: ancient cultures, New Europe

Posted on June 8, 2011 by BarryH

After a much longer and tougher walk than usual on Monday, I decided discretion was the better part of valour on Tuesday morning.  I got everything ready to post the blog and getting a quick connection I posted it all very expeditiously, including a couple of photos, and managed to access e-mails as well ….. just before the connection went down again so I couldn’t reply.  The connection really is rubbish.

That sorted, I made sure I was down to the harbour well before the day trip boats came in and sorted a lift on one of the volcano buses to the turn-off to Emborios, the other caldera-rim village.

Very interesting on the bus.  There was a small group of Germans staying on the island who were there ahead of the boats and then a few others from the boats coming in small groups, including a French contingent of 8.  Then just before the bus pulled out a group of 17 got on.  Turned out they were from the Czech Republic and with a young girl as tour guide.  One of the other bus drivers who spoke good English got on and announced that there would be a commentary on the journey in Czech and would the other nationalities please be respectful and not make a noise so the Czechs could hear what was being said.

It soon became apparent that the commentary in Czech was going to be non-stop. This irritated the French who started to talk among themselves increasingly loudly.  When the tour guide half turned to see what was occurring one of the French blokes shouted out “Now please can we have all this in English”.  The Czech girl patiently explained that it was the Czech group which had paid for her services not any of the other nationalities and so, no, the commentary would continue in Czech.  I have to say it did sound pretty boring but she did have a completely valid point.

A couple of things strike me about this.  First, the French bloke asked in English for the commentary to be in English.  Pretty well unheard of from the French who are fiercely defensive of their right to speak French and have everything translated into French.  Second it as a peep hole into the impact of the New Europe.  One of the younger members of New Europe having the whip hand over one of the oldest members.  To quote Corporal Jones in Dads’ Army  “They don’t like up ‘em”.

I got off at the road junction.  The Czech girl had to interrupt her commentary, get out of her seat at the front and climb down onto the road so I could leave the bus but she said cheerio very nicely.

The road up to Emborio is only short and there is always the pleasure of the sauna to look forward to.  It’s a small natural cave heated by a vent from the volcano.  Stick your head inside and your specs mist up instantly and even after a few seconds it feels cool outside again.  One of these days I’ll check the temperature inside.

Photographer on hot tarmac

Emborio is like another world, another time.  The houses are very old, many of them teetering on the very rim of the caldera, certainly some of them with natural under-floor heating.  Though a lot are derelict, an increasing number are being renovated.  It’s always worth starting a walk from Emborio with a sit on the balcony of the eponymous taverna, cantileverd over the end of the caldera.  Today the homage was further rewarded by an eagle fly-past.  Enfys would have loved that.  Just managed to flash off a long shot with the big camera.

Eagle fly-past

Once outside again it’s up through the arches to the top of the village and the few remains of an old castle and a photogenic church, one of the places where I always get an attack of Repetitive Photo Syndrome.   Normally there is a shadow across the black, white and, on Nisyros, red pebble ‘hochlachos’ pattern on the floor of courtyard but today, with the sun at just about its highest, the whole of it was lit up.

Main square in Emborio: church on the left, taverna on the right

On the way up through the village

Hochlakos courtyard

 The great thing about the walk from Emborio is that once having climbed from the bus terminus/car park at the bottom end of the village up to the castle, it’s downhill with stunning views all the way to Mandraki.

The sun is pretty hot around the middle of the day at the moment.  Last year I came over early May so had acclimatised to the heat by June.  This year it’s straight into the heat so I stopped off at the monastery of Evangelistra on the way back to doze in the shade in the courtyard for half an hour.  I must be getting soft in my old age.  Not that I’m that old!  I reckon I’m at the door of middle-age, though unfortunately it’s the back door.

Study in white – Evangelistra from the back

I heard a nerd on the radio in the car on the way up to Ruth and Tim’s, seems like eons ago now but it was only last week.  Said nerd was trying to hype up some happening he was promoting and said “Yes, we’ve held this event every year for the last two”.  Well, having dropped down from Evangelistra I went straight to the black-pebble beach of Hochlaki, something I’ve done every day now for the last three!  The swimming seems to get better each time.

Still no solution to the phone problem.  Still poor internet connection.  But these places I’m going were there and lived in many years before the concept of easy international communication was even dreamed of.  Sobering.

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Nisyros: it’s great but not everything is working out

Posted on June 7, 2011 by BarryH

I was up with the lark again this morning.  However, there are no more larks on Nisyros than there are on Kos so I’m still none the wiser as to their getting-up time.

After breakfast on the hotel terrace, always a pleasure, I started to upload the blog.  The process I have adopted is to write it in Word, usually in the evening, and then copy/paste that into the on-line software on the Word/Press site next morning.  Photos have to be added individually at that stage and that is the bit which takes longer.

There is a public WiFi on Nisyros. Last year there were two aerials, one on the town hall the other at the information office at the harbour.  The signal at the hotel, which is in the middle, was weak so I got into the habit of going down to the harbour and sitting in the shade to upload the blog, check bank balances, send and receive e-mails. This year there are at least 3 aerials and the signal strength at the hotel on my balcony is excellent.

However, the connection keeps going down, sometimes mid-process.  Uploading the blog yesterday morning took a very long time and even then I only managed to get the text loaded.  That was the first thing which didn’t work out.

The second thing which didn’t work out. I had discovered that the free public bus only runs at 06.45 and 14.00, neither of those times being convenient for going for a walk, hotel breakfast being served from 07.30.  So I thought I would do as before and arrange to take the ‘volcano bus’ part way and get dropped off.  The trick is to get to the harbour before the trip boats from Kos arrive and make the arrangement with one of the two bus operators before the crowds arrive.

Because of the delay with the internet I didn’t make it to the harbour before the crowds and the queues at the desks to buy tickets were long and the bus operators clearly more than a little hassled dealing with the hundreds of people who all wanted personal attention and had idiosyncratic needs, increasingly often through the medium of Russian.  So I decided to walk from the harbour to the village of Nikia perched on the crater rim and either catch the 14.00 bus from there on its return trip or do a circular walk around the rim of the caldera and back to town.

In the end I decided to see just how fit I was and do the whole walk, considerably longer than I have walked before.  Normally we would do this as two separate walks each of which is quite taxing in the heat.  The temperature has increased in the last couple of days from low 20s to mid 30s and we are only a couple of weeks from the summer solstice when the sun is highest in the sky and at its strongest.

It was tough going but I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and got considerable satisfaction from managing the whole thing in one go. Many of the late Spring flowers were still in evidence, not the vast fields of colour which Enfys and I saw in early May 2009 but significant numbers, particularly in shady spots out of the scorching effect of the sun.  So I decided to concentrate my photographic efforts on the many types of flower still in evidence to post on the blog.  Because of the poor internet connection I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.

I stopped for a break at the crater rim monastery of Stavros and had an unpleasant surprise which led to a very pleasant one.  When I opened the nut-bar with dark chocolate which I had brought from home I found that the dark chocolate had turned to liquid and it went everywhere including all over my hands.  Having failed to bring any tissues I went into the church to see if I could find any kitchen roll, often in evidence as part of the cleaning kit left there.  On opening the door I disturbed a huge cicada usually very difficult to see as they hide in the trees.  A good photo opportunity.

about 5 inches long excluding antennae

Still a long walk back to the town but I eventually made it, tired, hot and very glad of being able to go straight to the beach and a swim in the sea.  A lot calmer than yesterday but still pretty big waves.  It was fabulous.

The third thing which didn’t work out was that when I put the Greek SIM card in my phone and texted Ruth and David to tell them the Greek number was up and running …. it wouldn’t send.  Haven’t got to the bottom of that one yet but I guess it’s something to do with Vodafone cancelling the credit I left on the phone last year.

The fourth thing which didn’t work out was that I have clearly got the wrong PIN for my new current account locked into my brain.  I failed to get cash out of the ATM and am afraid to try again in case I get locked out and my card eaten by the machine.  I’m hoping David will come to the rescue.

After all this I was veryready for bed.  I think a shorter walk is on the cards for tomorrow.

Photographer in another well

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Nisyros

Posted on June 6, 2011 by BarryH

 Having set my alarm clock and having a real purpose for getting up I was up with the lark.  I have no idea what time the lark gets up and there were certainly none in evidence on Kos on Sunday morning but I was up and at it (I do find clichés fascinating) at 07.30 despite not having got to bed until some time after 02.00.

I wandered down to the harbour, passing the now completely deserted ‘Bar’ Street, and had breakfast in a taverna, the breakfast bar in the place I was staying being closed, presumably because of lack of trade. The town is a kind of cheap alternative to Falaraki or Ibiza, buzzing until the small hours and dead in the morning. Certainly I was the only person staying in the appartments and the owner was nowhere in sight, obviously recovering from a disturbed night’s sleep and the prospect of €5 for breakfast not being sufficient to get him out of bed.  There were small groups of locals in several tavernas obviously enjoying early morning coffee in peace and quiet after the night before.  What do they make of the lewd and loud behaviour of British lager louts so much in evidence in ‘Bar’ Street at night?

Having got up with the lark, though failing to find it, I caught the ferry with time to spare and by 10.30 was on Nisyros and in a completely different world.  Despite small-engined, under-powered motorbikes/scooters buzzing around from time to time, Nisyros is all peace and quiet – ‘ησυχία’ in Greek. As a rule of thumb, anyone looking for a holiday characterised by ‘ησυχία’ should go for an island without an airport and put up with the temporary inconvenience of a stop-over on an airported island and a ferry journey the next morning.

It was good to be greeted by people I knew as I trundled my bags to the hotel.  I didn’t know them well enough to call them friends but they always seem pleased to see me and it is flattering and heart warming to be remembered.

Warm greetings in the hotel as always and I settled in by unpacking most of my stuff and stowing it in drawers and cupboards.  After buying a few essential supplies including bottles of water, bananas and nutbars, without which my life on the islands would be imposiible, I decided to walk up to the Paleocastro on the hill overlooking the town.

When we first came here Enfys and I ‘discovered’ the Paleocastro an ancient and massive fortress, completely abandoned and ignored but recent funding by the EU has seen it partly excavated and renovated with footpaths around it and through it.

The new information boards describe it as a ‘city’ and I guess for its time I guess it was.  The information at the entrance says it dates back to 400BC though some think parts of the walls date back to Mycenaean times about 1000 years earlier.  Whatever, it is very impressive in its size and the sheer scale of the building blocks.

Entrance to the Paleocastro

Each block precisely cut to shape and size

the end of the wall

Photographer on the edge

Photographer in the well

From the Paleocastro I wandered down to the beach at Hochlaki, black pebbles backed by cliffs with the Monastery of the Virgin of Spiliani and another ancient castle overlooking Mandraki and repaired by the Knights of St John in the 14th Century.

Time for my first swim of the year.  The waves at Hochlaki are of the ‘dumping’ variety, coming towering in and then crashing down with considerable force on the beach before sucking viciously back through the rocks and pebbles.  My technique for getting in and out is an undignified shuffle down into the waves on my bum until there is enough depth from a retreating wave to start swimming.  At this time of year the sea has not yet warmed up with the heat of summer so is very ‘fresh’.  It was great to be back in the Aegean.

Hochlaki beach with cliff-top monastery and castle behind

Dumping waves on a pebble beach, difficult and painful to get through for a swim

Photographer On Black Pebble Beach: £300K to Michael Scratchy if he’s still reading the blog (if he ever did)

Then back to hotel, clean up, beer on the seafront, shower, meal in the square …. and I was more than ready for bed.

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Déja vue

Posted on June 5, 2011 by BarryH

I’m starting the first blog of my 2011 trip to Greece sitting in the plane on the tarmac at Manchester Airport with the prospect of sitting here for 2 hours before we move, trying to suppress memories of the flight home from Rhodes in October last year which was delayed by  10 hours .

Today’s flight, scheduled to leave at 14.50, was called at 14.00.  Just before I joined the end of a long queue at Gate 6 an announcement came over the loudspeakers that this was the final call for flight TCX2358 to Kos, all remaining passengers to proceed at once to the gate.  Very perplexing as the long queue was stationary when I joined the end of it and remained so.

Then came the rumour rippling down the line that there would be a 2 hour delay.  But they decided to load the aircraft anyway. Might as well make us suffer as much as possible.

In a strange way I had been looking forward to seeing how the experience of a 4 hour flight compared with the 9½  hours to and from Calgary.  I wondered if 4 hours would seem more bearable after that.  It was clear that I would not find out this trip, the 4 hours already being stretched to 6. I guess the experience was even worse for the parents with the howling kids and for those sitting closer to them.

The delay was apparently because of the need to find a slot to land at Kos Airport which for some reason was suffering significant delays, difficult to understand given the comparatively small number of flights into and out of Kos.  We were assured by the pilot that the airline staff were trying to reduce the delay and we were therefore pleased when it was further announced after 1½ hours that we were on the move.

And move indeed we did.  We moved a couple of hundred yards in fact.  We then stopped.  Eventually the pilot announced that there was a medical emergency on board and we would have to ‘return to stand’ as quickly as possible.  So we whizzed around in a fairly tight circle and went back where we had come from.

Paramedics came on board, the patient was taken off and ambulanced to hospital, apparently suffering with some kind of heart trouble.  Then they had to empty the hold in order to find the bags belonging to the patient, it being illegal to take off with unaccompanied bags.  Eventually we took off at 17.50, exactly 3 hours late.

With the 4 hours of the flight that meant that we were sitting on the plane for 7 hours.  Or to put it another way, it was a 7-hour flight with only 4 hours actually flying.  While we were sitting at the terminal building waiting for the ground crew to search through the hold luggage I explored with the cabin crew the option of being allowed to wander down the tube to stretch my legs …. but it was not allowed.  In fact nothing was allowed except sitting in our seats with seat belts fastened.  Why did we need to have our seat belts fastened???  Presumably fear of ground turbulence.  Or jail-breaks.

What was amazing was that people just seemed to accept it as a bit of a bother, but perfectly normal.

Anyway, we eventually arrived at Kos airport at midnight and streamed to Baggage Reclaim via a very desultory passport check.  Amazingly there were bags coming onto the conveyor as soon as we got there, though nobody seemed to be claiming them and they continued to go around for the 45 minutes while I was standing waiting for my bag.  I guess they may have been left-overs from another flight or loaded onto the Kos flight by accident when the hold was emptied onto the tarmac at Manchester in search of the bags for the person taken to hospital.  Whatever, nobody seemed to want them.

The carousel seemed to be getting more and more crowded with bags and they started falling off, the falling-off process being helped along by people pulling and tugging at a bag in the vague and frenzied hope that it was theirs.  One guy pulled a distinctive holdall off the carousel, tipping two others onto the floor at the same time, and started to pull at zips and check inside it.  He then took it off only to bring it back 5 minutes later and put it back on the carousel, presumably having confirmed that there was nothing in it that he fancied.  It was amazing how many people clearly couldn’t recognise their own luggage.

I finally left the Baggage Hall at 12.45.  No problem getting a taxi down to the little harbour where I planned to catch the ferry to Nisyros and we arrived at the hotel I had telephoned a few days earlier at 01.00.

It was in total darkness.  No sign of life anywhere.  The taxi driver, who I had discovered was from the town, asked a guy walking past and he just happened to have the phone number of the owner so he rang him up, presumably dragging him out of bed.  He arrived after about 10 minutes from another part of town, showed me to a room, took my money and went back to bed.

It was still early for me, 23.00 UK time and still the time of my body clock, and I was very hungry, having only had a toasted sandwich at the airport and a snack Ruth had made for me on the plane.  So I went not very optimistically in search of food. My pessimism was well founded.  Plenty of bars open in ‘Bar Street’ parallel with the harbour but no food on offer anywhere.

I settled for an ouzo as a night-cap in the quietest bar I could find and then went back to the hotel and crashed, but not before setting my alarm clock to get me up in time for the ferry at 09.30.  I had arrived.

  

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On my way

Posted on June 4, 2011 by BarryH

Just a quick post to say that I am finally on my way.

Great time at Ruth and Tim’s.  Now at Manchester airport having survived a check-in of the cattle market variety.   My Departure  Gate has just been flagged up and flight seems to be scheduled to be on time.

Arrive Kos 21.00 local time, 19.00 BST.  Then overnight on Kos before ferry to Nisyros Sunday morning.

Will keep up Daily Blog from now on as well as I can, WiFi connections permitting.

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Time running away; the need to prioritise

Posted on May 30, 2011 by BarryH

Once again I regret the absence of the Blog for many days now.  To use a cliché, time has been running away from me.  Strange concept that, given that we think of time is a kind of measuring rod, something fixed, against which we compare what is happening to us and around us.  Blog Followers will know that now and again I start ruminating about perception of time, usually with reference to ‘The Magic Mountain’ by Thomas Mann.  I’ll curb the urge to yet again philosophise about time because the root of the issue at the moment is that, to use a common excuse, there isn’t enough of it.

‘Not enough time’ is always an excuse, never a reason.  The fact is that when we offer the explanation that we have failed to do something because there wasn’t time, the real reason is that we failed to do it because we didn’t give it a high enough priority.  There are many competing calls on our time and, consciously or subconsciously, because we cannot do everything we would like to do, we prioritise them as we go.  Which means some things just don’t get done.  It sounds rude to say to someone “sorry I didn’t come to see you/do that thing because it wasn’t high enough priority for me”.  But that is the stark reality.  Time is there, 24 hours in a day.  It’s up to us what we do in it.

I’m trying to get everything sorted ready to go to Greece and, as always, there are just too many things to cram into the time available.  The last two weeks have been a blur of activity.  I’m still trying to unscramble priorities and there are not many days left now.

One of the top priorities has been publishing the book of Enfys’s poems.  That is now complete.  It will be in an increasing number of bookshops over the next few weeks and can be obtained from Ruth or Dai.  I have also been prioritising a way of making the book available on-line and have cobbled together a web page.  It’s not perfect but it works as tested out this morning.  If you want a copy click on:

http://www.aartworld.com/EnfysHankeyPoems

Another priority has been to prepare the garden for the summer.  Still a bit more to do but just about got there yesterday.  The vegetable garden all planted up through weed-suppressant fabric or sown with seed; potatoes earthed up for the last time.  Seed heads from pernicious weeds have been taken off, some pulled out of the ground.  Foxgloves now coming into their own in the old bottom lawn, Acers spreading to throw deep shade to deter growth under them.  The fruit garden covered in weed suppressant fabric and mulched; raspberries tied in.

Foxgloves, becoming increasingly prolific in what was once a lawn

... and closer up

Gooseberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, blueberries .... and a prickly pear

Courgettes, leeks, sprouts, red cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli, blue potatoes, fennel and artichokes

.... a closer look

Low growing Acers had been swamped by other vegetation, now cleared

I have also prioritised meeting up with people I haven’t see for a while.  One visit to Cardiff had a very bizarre conclusion.  At the end of a very enjoyable evening in a Mediterranean restaurant in City Road I was given a lift to the station to catch the train home.  What I hadn’t realised was that it had been the final of the Heineken Cup and the city centre was swarming with rugby fans.  No problem until on reaching the station I found that the concourse outside was fenced off like an old-fashioned cattle market with long queues of people for different destinations indicated by large banners.  We were held there in pens like cattle until 5 minutes before the train was due to leave when we were allowed into the station and onto the platform flanked all the way by police in riot gear and railway personnel. No hint of crowd trouble or aggression of course.  Didn’t they know this was a rugby match not some local soccer derby!!  I found it demeaning being herded like an animal but the up-side of it was that there were no railway personnel on the crowded train to take my fare.  Having travelled down on the bus using my bus pass I didn’t have a return train ticket …. so a cheap trip.

Still a massive amount to do, including getting to grips with packing.  And cleaning the house, neglected while I beavered away in the garden.  Not nice to come back to untidiness and dirt I know was there when I left.

Not many days to go.  I travel up to Stockport on Thursday and then fly on Saturday.  I’m really looking forward to it.  No meals to prepare.  No housework.  No garden tidying.  No conscience about not getting on with the decorating.  And sunshine.  Lots of sunshine.  To a SAD person like me that’s very much to be looked forward to.  Time to leave Grey Britain for a while

All being well, blog followers will have the pleasure of a return to The Daily Blog once I get to Greece and suss out WiFi connections.

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