Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

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Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 18 Sep 2018, 10:31

Monday - The Build Up

D struggled up to the attic, reminding himself for the umpteenth time that he should really invest in a proper attic ladder, and fetched down the cases. E had the more complex task when packing and that’s before she started on her diabetic kit which this time has to be for three weeks. Whilst the fashion show continued upstairs D searched through iPlayer, Netflix and Prime to see what movies and entertainment he needs for the outward and return journeys - he misses the days of the inflight movie on European flights.

Being the lifelong public administrator D then checked that both the travel doc wallets have all the necessary paperwork although being a tech-head he relies more and more on the iPhone, universal WiFi & iCloud.

As we are flying EasyJet the luggage allowance is 23kg each rather than the skimpy 15kg that we had with Olympic back in May but then the bags still have to be lugged around ! EasyJet also offer onboard vouchers with a 20% discount so those are bought online, printed and that’s the G&Ts, Fizz & nibbles provided for.

After a lot of calling and a short wait Zoëcat appeared and so we took the opportunity to call the cattery and bring forward her check-in slot. As her normal holiday home, that is ten minutes from the house, is not available it is a 30 minute drive and whilst Zoë doesn’t like the car she is better than usual. This is her first time at this new cattery and whilst E researched the venue online to make sure it would be suitable what we found was 5 Star accommodation which Zoë took to immediately.

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OK One Last Game of Hide & Seek


We headed home booking a taxi for 08:30 the next morning to start the long haul to Symi. Unusual for us but we appear to be well prepared - one might think that after all this time that should be taken as read but it is unusual.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby silverfox » 18 Sep 2018, 17:45

Looking forward to all your ramblings!

Thought you might have gone for "Pedi Cure" as the title.

:D
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby rockbottom » 18 Sep 2018, 22:18

Looking forward to reading your blog as we're really missing a visit to symi his year!
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby Gemma1 » 19 Sep 2018, 07:35

What a cute picture of Zoecat :D

Looking forward to following your trip - some of it from very close by ;) My suitcase is already down and half packed with the rest of my clothes hanging up ready to be packed on Saturday morning before my afternoon flight to Rhodes :)
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 19 Sep 2018, 10:16

Tuesday - The Journey Starts

There are immeasurable pleasures living on the west coast of Mid Wales. But to fly from almost any UK airport that has decent priced flights involves a 3+ hour drive so a long time ago we decided that as soon as we lock the front door the holiday starts and staying over the night before a flight, as well as providing much needed peace of mind, is part of the pleasure of getting to Symi.

Previous journeys have seen us take up the Europecar Airport Connect Option where there is no doubling of the cost for a one way hire but when D enquired about that, the option was no longer available. Parking for 3 weeks would be quite pricey and trying to squeeze our luggage into our Smart Car would be another challenge so we decided to let the train take the strain. With our TwoTogether Railcard this proved to be a very reasonable and a very pleasurable option.

The taxi booked on Monday evening arrived 5 minutes early and we were having coffee before boarding the 09:30 Aberystwyth to Birmingham New Street train. We then changed to the 12:52 to Leicester and a final change onto the 14:38 arriving Luton Airport Parkway bang on time at 15:38. The shuttle bus took us to a stop beside the Holiday Inn Express and a short walk took us to the door of the Holiday Inn.

Checked in and settled we decided that having never visited Luton we would get a taxi from the hotel for the 5 minute journey into the town centre where we visited a couple of traditional pubs and D had an excellent pint of Adnams Ghost Ship (he does like his real ale). Taxi back, shower, changed and dinner in the hotel after a couple of G&Ts and glasses of fizz in the bar.

D started with a well spiced lamb kofta with a good chilli sauce and E had spicy prawns with Asian slaw. We kept the Asian theme going; D having crispy duck in a ginger & chilli glaze with pak choi and egg noodles and E going for the Asian sticky chicken skewers with corn on the cob and fries. E stayed with the fizz and D had a fruity Malbec. All in all very decent cooking for an Airport Holiday Inn.

First leg of the journey over.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 19 Sep 2018, 10:17

silverfox wrote:Looking forward to all your ramblings!

Thought you might have gone for "Pedi Cure" as the title.

:D


Like it : wish we had thought of it :evil:
:D :D :D
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby Gemma1 » 20 Sep 2018, 06:25

Great start and safe onward travels to Symi :D
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 20 Sep 2018, 11:55

Wednesday - The Journey Continues

So often we have had to get up at some ludicrously early time. For example the 05:30 Gatwick to Rhodes flight or even the early morning flights from Manchester so it was a luxury to wake around 08:00 and just take stock.

We recall the days when we desperately tried to make Symi either the same day, which was very tough going, or as quickly as possible. But as the years have progressed a night in Rhodes isn’t all that bad and in fact can be very pleasant with the added advantage of feeling rested and fresh to catch a morning ferry the following day. Easy to say when we are looking forward to three weeks in paradise but we would feel differently if on one of our last minute “cheeky” weeks as our co-blogger, Silverfox, so ably described it.

We had the pleasure of a leisurely Full English buffet at 09:00 in the Holiday Inn. Then we did that last minute reorganisation of the packing and getting the liquids sorted in the hand baggage. Whenever possible we stay in IHG Hotels as we are part of their Rewards Programme and we have always been able to leave an overnight bag to pick up on our return stay-over; not so the Holiday Inn Luton Airport. We were given the “National Security” line which was a bit difficult to swallow when one thinks of the proximity of this hotel compared to the Crowne Plaza on Manchester Airport. So after some further enforced repacking in the hotel lobby and a very reluctant farewell from the hotel front desk we caught a taxi for the 2 minute run to the airport where we met some other irrational British “logic”.

Due to building works and maybe more “National Security” taxis coming into Luton Airport have to drop travellers some distance from the Terminal Building. However as we walked towards that building we saw a mass of taxis waiting to take travellers who have just arrived - we presume that the taxi dropping-off then has to get itself to the pick-up zone. Seemed irrational. Oh and the very pleasant taxi driver could not apologise enough for the £3 surcharge that the airport places on him for dropping off in the area that he regarded as quite far from the terminal - in fact it is quite a short walk but we saw his point.

So having checked in through the EasyJet App we avoided the quite lengthy check-in queues and just went to bag drop-off. Then through a quite quick and painless security where they treated E very well in respect of her insulin pump. Plenty of time then for E to visit Jo Malone and for us to have some fizz and as we were doing so Symi regulars J&M spotted us and it was so nice to see them both. Then the Right Hon. Andrea Ledsom MP decided to sit down next to us - of all the bars as D said !!!

We moved on to the main bar for one last glass of fizz before boarding on time and taking off some 20 minutes late. There was plenty of crosswinds to make the assent a bit more exciting than usual but it wasn’t long before we levelled out and we had a very calm flight.

D had taken advantage of buying EasyJet Vouchers thus gaining a 20% discount (born an Aberdonian ...... ) - £50 quid of vouchers for £40. He claimed he hadn’t read the small print but when E did she found that these could only be used for the bar service and not the aftershave and cosmetics that we normally indulge in. So we had the challenge of getting through the vouchers which are not transferrable between people or flights but thankfully we measured up to that and all was well.

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Using Up The Vouchers


D watched his downloaded movie - Mr Holmes which he gave a 5 star rating to.

We landed spot on time at 20:00 and passports were given the cursory glance whilst the Non-EU queue seemed to take rather longer : that will be us next year we sadly surmise. All the baggage carousels were in full swing with around seven or eight flights landing around the same time so it took slightly longer than usual to collect the bags. Enough time for the first Mythos from the vending machine.

We had thought it would be quiet but the taxi rank was manic. We were quickly put in a car and whisked to the Best Western Plaza Hotel by a young driver whose political dialogue proved most interesting. As we walked into reception bang on 21:00 there was our fiends L&S. We dumped our bags and joined them as planned for a few drinks and a general catch-up as it had been at least five years since our journeys had crossed. We had just missed the hotel buffet that closed at 21:00 but they were more than happy to provide a toasted sandwich in the bar and we Mythosed and Ouzoed away a few hours with our friends before hitting the pillows just after midnight.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 21 Sep 2018, 09:30

Thursday - Journey’s End

After a good nights sleep we surfaced around 07:30 and went down for the excellent buffet breakfast. Checked out and were in a taxi for the 5 minute journey round to the Tourist Port where the ticket office was very busy with people heading on a sailing to Turkey. We sat in the cafe that is right next door to the ticket office and had a frappe and then at 09:00 the ANES window opened and we picked up our pre-booked tickets (€13 single). The Sebeco arrived around 09:45 and we all boarded what was a very busy boat with many day trippers using the service. We departed just after 10:00.

It is a nippy craft with a fair sized interior with excellent aircon; an upper deck that quickly filled up; and a luggage area and seats facing the stern where we sat. We arrived Symi and disembarked by 11:30 where the apartment owner was waiting for us to nip us over to Pedi.

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The View From The Stern


The main road is having considerable works done to sink electric cables to service the new ferry port so that slowed the traffic.

This is the first time we have stayed in Pedi and when we were shown out onto our balcony we just smiled with a sense of satisfaction that is difficult to put into words. The accommodation is beautifully decorated with some lovely touches and the perfect size for two people - three at a squeeze if using the mousandra. Our hostess provided water, fruit juice, tea & coffee and had even baked a cake and some biscuits for our arrival. The view from the private balcony with the sound of the sea lapping the shore is such that we may not move very far for the next 6 days.

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Looking Out From The Balcony


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Looking Left Towards Katsaras


After unpacking we just sat watching the various boats and yachts come and go in Pedi Bay; watched a guy paint his boat; studied the local ladies visit the fruit & veg lorry; read our books and dozed off until E had a spurt of energy and decided to walk the couple of hundred yards to the well stocked supermarket. This promoted D to take a walk the length of the Pedi seafront. Not to be outdone E then strolled in the opposite direction towards the gate to St.Nicks. After all these “exertions” it was time to get ready to go out.

To complete the day we caught the 18:30 bus up from outside our door to the kiosk in Chorio and had our traditional first night. After the big welcome from Yannis’ regulars and from E of the boutique we took our favourite seats and decided all was well with the world. Out of the blue our Swedish friends appeared having walked over from Nos and up the Kali Strata to dine at Zoë’s. So we had a brief catch up with B&C and Ö&L and learned that B&C leave the next day - we had hoped to see more of them.

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When You Know All Is Well With The World


After a few glasses of ouzo and retsina and noting that Yannis prices don’t appear to have changed in years, it was Giorgios for our usual mezes of tuna fish salad, bourekakia, imam, green beans and soutzoukakia and damned fine it proved to be. We headed back to the kiosk finding Sotiris of the supermarket working late stocking up and having said our hello’s then came upon Konstantinos whom we diverted from his return taxi journey to Yialos to take us home.

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First Night Mezes

We had coffee and cake out on our balcony taking in the local Pedi atmosphere which is quite different from Chorio and Yialos. It is much quieter for a start with many families sitting outside their houses chatting or doing some chore or another and it feels very homely.

And so our first day on this island that we have come to love so much ended and we slept soundly. Télios.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 22 Sep 2018, 08:38

Friday - Yialos

When we learned that half, that’s two, of our Swedish gang were set to leave Symi on the 16:30 Skiadeni there was the tiniest thought of heading over to Yialos on the 08:30 bus to deliver a small gift that we had brought for them but that tiny thought diminished and died quite quickly. Instead we didn’t surface until around nine.

D’s bread run isn’t going to set records on the Fitbit as the bread is delivered to the local supermarket which it takes him all of two minutes to walk to (& back).

Walking to the supermarket D met Abi the sunbed guy at Katsaras who was already setting up for the day as one of the young girls that works there was peeling and chipping potatoes - real potatoes that will make real chips later that day. That gave life to another thought which had far more chance of turning into a reality.

The day started with breakfast on the balcony watching the family who run the taverna at St.Nicolas Beach set off on their motor boat followed soon after by the taxi boat heading to Ag.Marina and St.Nicks. Another day in paradise was coming to life.

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View From The Breakfast Table


Mid morning and a relatively large ship docked at the jetty delivering large quantities of building materials which is presumably for all the road works that are going on. The road from the windmills to the village hotel and the road beside the supermarket near Giorgios to the Ringo Bar are dug up and being resurfaced by the looks of things.

Finally around midday we dragged ourselves from our apartment and wandered along to the Pedi jetty where we sat and had a catch up with George who is “meet & greet” for his brother’s taxi boat nowadays. We chatted about the wall that is no longer there due to last years intense storm which dumped it in the sea and the crack in the road which is far more noticeable than it was in May - and may or may not get fixed.

We caught the 12:30 bus over to Yialos and headed straight to Nos where we left the gifts for our Swedish friends who were over at St.Nicks. Yialos was as busy as we have ever seen it with several day boats including one from Turkey delivering all the day visitors and having got caught up in a small crowd we experienced what it is like to follow an umbrella. Manolis & Katholika were busy serving lunch at Odyssia but still had time for a quick hello.

The cafe bar in Hirani (that was a small gift shop last year) looked like it was doing well.

We had a beer stop out of the heat in the ever cool bar of the Nireus Hotel where the band of waiters were plying their usual brisk trade in lunches. The next stop was at our favourite “down” bar, Elpida’s where the retsina and ouzo came with the perfect mezes of mussels in rice, homemade cheese straws and a plate of salty cheese, cucumber & tomato and succulent salami. It is remarkable that this tradition of providing mezes continues and long may it do so. We have yet to sync with the bus timetable so we found ourselves stopping in Cafe Aiglios for one and still had time for one final small beer in the Yacht Cafe before catching the 17:00 bus over to Pedi.

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Elpida’s Mezes


Oh and on the way we booked a table for dinner Saturday night but where might that be ?

The balcony then proved the perfect place to start drafting the day’s blog as the sun went down and that wonderful early evening light illuminated Pedi Bay. We are totally smitten with staying in Pedi.

To make the most of Pedi we stayed in Pedi for the evening and walked the very short distance to Katsaras and had our retsina and ouzo in their small bar right on the seafront. It is only a small area and most seats were taken by locals enjoying the cocktails that the barman was so ably producing.

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The Excellent Katsaras

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Mussels

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Aubergine with Oregano & Skordalia


Yiannis and his sister Irini, who we have known since they were teenagers, were having dinner and we spent a little time with them catching up on their news before taking a table at the end of the jetty where we could watch the twinkling lights of the many yachts overnighting in Pedi Bay. An ouzo and retsina arrived at the table - efheristo Y&I.

It had been a few years since we last had dinner in Katsaras in its magical setting. We shared two starters. A bowl of plump mussels cooked in a red wine broth which were delicious and aubergine slices that had been crisped up on the bbq, sprinkled with fresh oregano, and came with a very pleasant skordalia which was mildly garlic and thus didn’t overpower the vegetable.

We followed this with E having lemon chicken. This was a good sized chicken leg that clearly came from a chicken that had been allowed to live a life outdoors for several years as it had a real depth of flavour as can also be said for the baked lamb that D had. Two chunks of lamb slow cooked on the bone that simply melted in the mouth. Oh and both came with those real potato chips that D had witnessed being prepared that morning. A complimentary plate of fruit - grapes and nectarine ended a very fine meal. Just for reference, and as it has been a while since we last “reviewed” Katsaras the bill with drinks (two ouzo & retsina before dinner plus large bottle of water and 500ml Retsina with dinner) came to €48 which we felt was extremely reasonable in view of the setting, the excellent service, and the generous portion sizes.

We returned to our balcony for coffee and a square of dark chocolate and lit the beautiful candle holders that are on our balcony. The peace and quiet was disturbed by some “yacht rage” when we heard some f’ing & blinding (we could tell as it was in English) and soon after one of the yachts upped anchor and moved to the other side of the bay and with that drama we retired for the night.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby silverfox » 22 Sep 2018, 22:27

Wonderful reports!

Wish we were still sat chilling in Elpidas!

:)
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 23 Sep 2018, 09:15

Saturday - A Return Visit

The day started with both of us visiting the supermarket followed by the usual breakfast of yoghurt, honey and fruit followed by bread, cheese and ham on the balcony.

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Breakfast View


Then D started on the daily photo-management task getting photos from our iPhones and cameras into an iCloud shared folder and then downloading onto the iPad; choosing those for the blog and then resizing them into the SmallPics album; uploading them and inserting them into the blog and then tidying up so that duplicates don’t interfere with the main album. The apartment has WiFi which is very convenient.

Tidying up after breakfast, reading a couple of chapters of our books and before we knew it the 11:30 bus was turning - Symi time somehow feels like it defies the laws of physics or whatever determines time.

We decided to take a walk up through the Pedi Valley, round by the football pitches, to Chorio. It was a warm one with high humidity and there was only one remedy - Yannis Rainbow Beer. The bar was busy when we arrived and so we were given pride of place at the “local’s table” and the first chilled beer didn’t touch the sides so a second quickly followed.

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On The Pedi Valley Walk - So Nice To See


Once our “usual seats” were available Yannis invited us to move thus restoring the natural place of things in the universe and as we were so comfortable we had another couple of drinks. We were joined by a most charming lady who was so kind about the blog and we had a convivial half hour exchanging our mutual experiences of this wonderful place - that is Symi, and of course Yannis Rainbow :D

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Yannis Mezes


Then it was all downhill - well down the Kali Strata to be precise and our first descent took us past Lefteris (of Zyllygos fame) shop which is situated at the bottom of the steps between Taverna Trata and the Kali Strata. We got the usual bear hug welcome and it was good to see him in business even though we believe running a restaurant is his true forté. The shop seems very similar to what Anna’s next to Elpida’s was like. We then found ourselves in Cafe Alegrito where we captured the only two spare seats left. Dawn, who many Symi regulars will know, was kept very busy. E took time out to shop in the boutique two doors along and bought a very nice Greek styled dress.

Several regular faces were arriving in the taverna as we headed to catch the 17:00 bus as there was an evening Poseidon cruise with bbq and rock music and we spotted S of S&L boarding with his trusted guitar.

We had booked dinner so that dictated timings for us. We had our first ouzo & retsina (well, first of the evening that is !) in Katsaras beach bar and then caught the bus and had our second in Cafe Katoi next door to the pharmacy.

Having only visited once before, and that was maybe three years ago, we have watched the reputation, popularity and size of To Spitiko grow and grow so we had booked a table and were there for our second visit.

On our arrival we met J but didn’t have much time to catch up which we are sure we will in more relaxed circumstances over the next couple of weeks.

We were delighted to see one of the waiters was the very pleasant young man who we first encountered many, many years ago in the Taverna at Nos Beach. Over the years he has worked in several restaurants and he now brings his friendly welcoming smile and professional qualities to To Spitiko. He and the two other waiters that attended to us could not have been better.

As for the food we started with very well made courgette fritters that were moist and flavoursome and accompanied this with four good sized grilled prawns. E followed this with squid stuffed with feta cheese and a very nice piece of squid it was. D had the seafood spaghetti which came with plump mussels in their shells, some very nice prawns and beautifully cooked octopus and he very much liked this. Alas we had got our timings a bit out again and eager to catch the 10:00 bus we respectfully turned down the offer of a complimentary sweet and drink and walked the short distance to the bus stop.

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To Spitiko


As we we will be living “down” from Wednesday we will inevitably visit this restaurant again as it’s extensive menu is worthy of further exploration.

And so it was that another day on sumptuous Symi came to an end.
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 23 Sep 2018, 09:22

silverfox wrote:Wonderful reports!

Wish we were still sat chilling in Elpidas!

:)


Thanks Silverfox - there’s nothing quite like Elpida’s when “down” ;)
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby Gemma1 » 23 Sep 2018, 15:23

Another great blog and wonderful pictures. I feel quite embarrassed posting my ramblings, considering the only culinary delights I have had so far are a donut on the ferry this morning and a chicken gyros at lunch time!
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 23 Sep 2018, 16:06

Gemma1 wrote:Another great blog and wonderful pictures. I feel quite embarrassed posting my ramblings, considering the only culinary delights I have had so far are a donut on the ferry this morning and a chicken gyros at lunch time!


Never knock a Chicken Gyros :D
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 24 Sep 2018, 07:13

Sunday - Pedi

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Moored Outside The Apartment


We were just surfacing as the 08:30 bus was turning and the church bells were ringing. The steady putt-putt of a small fishing boat crossing Pedi Bay laying out a single line was the only other sound.

D had been a bit too anxious to get to Katsaras beach bar the evening before so had been remiss in his usual practice of half drafting the blog for completion the following day. Therefore as he was forced to start the ramblings from scratch it afforded E a longer lie in bed before we both headed to the supermarket to stock up on water and other incidentals. Whilst the Pedi supermarket doesn’t have the hustle, bustle and fun of Sotiris in Chorio it is very well stocked, has friendly helpful staff and has everything you could need.

As we had promised ourselves we had a day of doing absolutely nothing except sitting in our balcony enjoying the apartment. We took the odd photo, read our books, wrote some stuff, emailed & texted family and the likes. We did take a short walk to Katsaras beach bar where we had a frappe and our Swedish friends, Ö&L, arrived for a day on Pedi Beach.

We took a stroll round to the far side of Pedi picking up a cheese pie and a sausage pie from the kiosk for lunch.

On our return we found that we had had a bedding change and there were biscuits and dried figs in sesame seeds from the owner of the property - such a lovely thing to do.

Being a Sunday a lot of local families turned up in Pedi in their finery to meet up and have a late lunch with family and many people off the numerous yachts in the bay came in on their small tenders to lunch in Katsaras.

We returned to our balcony and dozed and read until Ö&L came in for coffee and a chat before catching the 16:30 bus and returning to their apartment over at Nos where we will be moving to on Wednesday.

E went for a swim off the jetty just in front of the apartment and avoided being eaten by a bird that was eagerly fishing in her vicinity.

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E Avoided Him


Then it was the time of evening to watch the Pedi water taxi commence its numerous journeys bringing folk back from Ag.Marina and St.Nicks. At the same time Pedi Bay started to fill up with various craft that had decided to moor overnight. Numerous walkers started returning from St.Nicks, including G&D, and we started thinking about our dinner plans - our favourite time of day.

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Late Afternoon Pedi

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As The Sun Starts Going Down


Having had a whole day in Pedi we didn’t want to break the mood so we had our usual ouzo & retsina in Katsaras beach bar and then walked the short distance to Taverna Apostolis, the only other Taverna in Pedi. It had been many years since we last visited and then it was for lunch so this was the first time for dinner.

When we arrived they were tidying up after what looked like a Birthday Party and some of the guests were still there with the children all dressed up and having a great time. Apart from a table of what we assumed to be yacht people we were the only other Symi visitors with several well known Symiot faces occupying the other tables - always a good sign we think.

Our waiter was quite a character and although we dredged our memories could not place him but he was fun. We ordered feta stuffed peppers and tuna salad to start and chicken souvlaki and moussaka as mains and it came in the order of the tuna, the moussaka, the souvlaki and then the peppers but that’s how we like things.

The tuna was good and not at all creamy as can be found in some places. We both agreed that the moussaka was the best we have ever had - it was perfect. The souvlaki was a very generous skewer of very tasty chicken and the peppers were up there with the best. We regard this as traditional Greek cooking at its best. A family run Taverna that sticks to its tried and tested menu and it is worth considering getting the bus over / down to Pedi to experience it - it’s that good in our humble opinion.

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Food So Good Pic An Afterthought


The short walk along the Pedi seafront was the perfect way to end a perfect day
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby Gemma1 » 24 Sep 2018, 07:36

That food looks delicious. I quite fancy moussaka so might have a stroll down to Pedi tonight, though I was thinking about having beef stifado at Zoe's - decisions decisions ;)
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby silverfox » 24 Sep 2018, 13:53

A full lazy day in Pedi sounds wonderful for a complete change from Yialos or even Chorio.

We must book somewhere in the future to find such peace in such a great bay.

Your evening meal sounded so nice!
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby silverfox » 24 Sep 2018, 13:55

Gemma1 wrote:That food looks delicious. I quite fancy moussaka so might have a stroll down to Pedi tonight, though I was thinking about having beef stifado at Zoe's - decisions decisions ;)


Would love to have your difficult decisions right now Gemma!

:D
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Re: Ready Steady Pedi (& Nos)

Postby D and E » 25 Sep 2018, 06:47

Monday - Ag.Marina

We were up sharpish as we had decided to head over to Agia Marina.

D had the photos and blog done by 09:00 at which time the still hot, fresh bread gets delivered to the supermarket so he nipped over for our daily bread - give us it. Beach bags were packed and breakfast over by 09:45 and we then took the short walk along to the jetty where George guided us onto his brother’s taxi boat.

Another beautiful day on Symi and we had a very pleasant short journey, just being pipped to the Ag.Marina jetty by a Lucas & Irini boat that had come round from Yialos.

The sea was quite high at Ag.Marina even before the waves created by taxi boats and other passing craft impacted and small tsunamis were washing away flip-flops and other beach items - all very amusing unless of course they are your flip-flops.

The usual routine followed. Took about 15 minutes to get settled on a sunbed (€3 by the way) and then decided it was frappé time. E sourced and we drank said frappé at the sunbed and then decided it was time to have a swim. Dried off and struggled out of swimwear and into shorts and t-shirt. Decided it was beer time so headed to the nice garden area and had a beer. Returned to sunbed and read until around 14:30 and then decided it was time for lunch. Finished lunch and it was time to catch the 16:00 taxi boat back to Pedi - a typically “exhausting” day on Agia Marina.

The lunch at Ag.Marina at a table overlooking the sea was first class. We had our first Greek salad of the visit and it came perfectly balanced with a good chunk of salty feta. The fried baby calamari was a plate of exquisite bite sized fresh calamari fried in a very light batter and it was a stand out dish. A bowl of spaghetti with pesto with a glass of chilled red wine and one of retsina and we could not have been happier.

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Ag.Marina Lunch

N&S were having lunch at the table next to us and we had a quick catch-up.

We were back on our balcony by 16:30 with our books and watched the super-yacht Harum arrive into the bay - according to the internet at €8 million its a snip and can be chartered for €110,000 per week plus expenses - puts the €7 fare to Ag.Marina into perspective. We wandered if they would be dining in Katsaras that evening but they headed off turning out of the bay as if to head to the bright lights of Rodos.

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The Super Yacht Heads Off

We headed to Katsaras for our nightly ouzo & retsina and decided to dine there. Having had a very nice light lunch we ordered three plates to share. We had the healthy choice green beans which had been braised with carrots and a potato yet still had a bit of bite to them. The prawns saganaki were first class. Four perfectly bbq’d prawns in the best saganaki sauce we have had - tomato, cheese & ouzo. The grilled bread that you get in Katsaras was a perfect accompaniment to finish of that sauce. And we had a bowl of beef stiffado which was cooked in a very fine sauce with sweet small onions and was yet another stand out dish. We did dine well yesterday.

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Prawns Saganaki

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Beef Stiffado


The 10:30 bus passed as E got some milk from the supermarket that was just closing and we returned to our balcony for our nightly coffee and square of chocolate. An early night as there is an actual plan for Tuesday !
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