Yamas Yialos
Posted: 10 Oct 2019, 08:59
Yamas Yialos
Monday - Wednesday : The Journey Over
On a wet Monday morning Zoé the cat was waiting for D when he went down at 7am and knowing her powers of sensing what we are up to he sensibly blocked the cat flap. The sight of a suitcase and there is every chance Zoë would go into hiding.
Her normal holiday home which is only 10 minutes from where we live closes for most of October and so we had her booked into a new cattery some 40 minutes drive south. Usually she doesn’t like the car but she was much better this time so fingers crossed she is getting more accustomed as she gets older - she’s only two.
She took to her new surroundings quite happily and so we were home by 10am and started the packing.
G, who had been with us to Symi in June and who lives closer to the station than we do, is providing parking and a shuttle service to the train plus he gave us some super tasty home made sausage rolls for the journey. And so on Tuesday morning we caught the 11:30 supposedly direct train from Aberystwyth to Birmingham International, but as is often the case with the recently established Transport For Wales, they decided to swap trains in Shrewsbury. Despite this we arrived on time.
E needed to pick up an item from the Amazon Lockers on the airport so she headed over on the monorail and made it back just in time for us to catch the Holiday Inn courtesy bus which was just pulling away but he heard our shouts. A five minute journey and we were checked in by 15:30.
The item E had to pick up was a wallet that ensures her insulin is kept cool. E has an excellent social media support group for her Type 1 Diabetes and a long term online buddy who lives close to Birmingham Airport offered to lend her his wallet. After reassuring him that Amazon had come up with the goods they still agreed it would be great to meet up so T came over to the hotel and we had a very enjoyable hour over a drink with him.
We had booked dinner in the Marco Pierre White Italian / American themed Brasserie in the hotel. It was very busy and we started with a rather large crab cake and lovely blackened shrimps that came with a mustard mayo. We both decided to have the ribeye steak which was good enough but not that good to justify the £25 price tag.
We hit the sack around 10:30 but as usual when we know we have a 4am alarm slept fitfully. The alarm came far too soon and as ever with D we had time to spare to catch the first shuttle bus at 5am. A very friendly driver took us the short hop to the station where we jumped on the monorail and then down in the lift to the check-in desks on the ground floor.
TUI’s desks were relatively quiet and having done all the necessary online we simply used the self-service bag drop and then headed up to security. E’s medical lanyard that she got back in June when we went from Manchester did the business and we were put through the express lane and had absolutely no problems with all E’s medical equipment. Birmingham outshone June’s experience in Manchester.
After getting a few last minutes bits and pieces - there’s always something - and a quick visit to the Jo Malone shop our gate was announced and off we trotted. We were boarded and doors closed by 06:50 and were taxiing down the runway at the allotted 7am.
A full Boeing 737-800 gave us a very smooth flight. The passenger beside us mentioned that they had switched to TUI when Thomas Cook went bust so as ever one business’s loss is another’s gain.
The usual fare of an early G&T and cheddars got the journey going. Flying over the Alps never fails to impress and with clear skies the views were amazing. Then the usual smellies trolley and then the last bar service as we started our slow decline over the most beautiful of blue seas accompanied by Merlot and Pringles.
After a perfect landing we were bussed and through passport control relatively quickly - perhaps for the last time as EU Citizens which we both regard as a a tragic misjudgement - but let’s not go there in this blog.
The ATM spat out the first of what will inevitably be several transactions and charged us €3 for the courtesy. Diagoras is undergoing a make-over and the toilets are looking superb. By the time we had inspected them and had the obligatory can of ice cold Mythos from the vending machine the cases were there; we picked up our pack from the Olympic Desk and were on the X10 bus with a handful of others, most who were dropped off in Ixia.
We were dropped at the Mouragio Taverna which we adore. A first ouzo and a half kilo bottle of a new brand of very nice retsina accompanied a superb lunch of oven baked peppers stuffed with cheese, fried squid and a very good tzatziki that was mopped up with toasted garlic bread. Superb value at just cents over €30.
Just as we finished lunch another bus arrived and at long last we met our fellow blogger Silverfox and the lovely Liz. We headed off to the port to allow them to have their lunch in peace and agreed to see them on board. We went to the cafe just opposite the harbour side for a frappe and found that it has a Blue Star counter so we were able to give them the Olympic letter in exchange for our tickets.
The Blue Star Patmos arrived around 17:30 and we were one of the first on and headed up to the upper deck to watch the usual “chaos”. We were soon joined by S&L and spent a very pleasant crossing under the moon kissed sea exchanging stories over a couple of drinks as you do.
As S&L were heading up we were taken round to Iapetos and depending heavily on D’s memory of over 10 years ago set off to find Irini Apartments. Of course it was dark and so we left the big bags opposite the Opera House and set off up the twisting stairs and after knocking on a few doors - apologies if any of those guests are reading this - found Room 2 which is a bit of a disappointment as we had correspondence with Olympic and our confirmation suggests Room 1 which we paid a small supplement for and of course it has the full view of the harbour whereas we have a view of the left hand side of the harbour sitting in effect below the Vigla which does look very dramatic.
It was bags dropped and back down the stairs to Cafe Alegrito where the ever pleasant Dimitris had the ouzo and retsina served in seconds with a quick hello to Manolis and Debbie who now has her shop opposite. After a second drink to compensate for the energy expended on the climb up to Irini’s (any excuse) we popped round the corner to Trata who with only one table taken looked set to shut but then this is Symi and the waiter who we have known for many years welcomed us in and we had a wonderful dinner of a shared plate of dolmades to start followed by E having chicken souvlaki (note the homemade chips S&L ) and D had the moussaka and with a couple of bottles of water to go we headed home and were asleep within minutes after a lovely trip over.
Monday - Wednesday : The Journey Over
On a wet Monday morning Zoé the cat was waiting for D when he went down at 7am and knowing her powers of sensing what we are up to he sensibly blocked the cat flap. The sight of a suitcase and there is every chance Zoë would go into hiding.
Her normal holiday home which is only 10 minutes from where we live closes for most of October and so we had her booked into a new cattery some 40 minutes drive south. Usually she doesn’t like the car but she was much better this time so fingers crossed she is getting more accustomed as she gets older - she’s only two.
She took to her new surroundings quite happily and so we were home by 10am and started the packing.
G, who had been with us to Symi in June and who lives closer to the station than we do, is providing parking and a shuttle service to the train plus he gave us some super tasty home made sausage rolls for the journey. And so on Tuesday morning we caught the 11:30 supposedly direct train from Aberystwyth to Birmingham International, but as is often the case with the recently established Transport For Wales, they decided to swap trains in Shrewsbury. Despite this we arrived on time.
E needed to pick up an item from the Amazon Lockers on the airport so she headed over on the monorail and made it back just in time for us to catch the Holiday Inn courtesy bus which was just pulling away but he heard our shouts. A five minute journey and we were checked in by 15:30.
The item E had to pick up was a wallet that ensures her insulin is kept cool. E has an excellent social media support group for her Type 1 Diabetes and a long term online buddy who lives close to Birmingham Airport offered to lend her his wallet. After reassuring him that Amazon had come up with the goods they still agreed it would be great to meet up so T came over to the hotel and we had a very enjoyable hour over a drink with him.
We had booked dinner in the Marco Pierre White Italian / American themed Brasserie in the hotel. It was very busy and we started with a rather large crab cake and lovely blackened shrimps that came with a mustard mayo. We both decided to have the ribeye steak which was good enough but not that good to justify the £25 price tag.
We hit the sack around 10:30 but as usual when we know we have a 4am alarm slept fitfully. The alarm came far too soon and as ever with D we had time to spare to catch the first shuttle bus at 5am. A very friendly driver took us the short hop to the station where we jumped on the monorail and then down in the lift to the check-in desks on the ground floor.
TUI’s desks were relatively quiet and having done all the necessary online we simply used the self-service bag drop and then headed up to security. E’s medical lanyard that she got back in June when we went from Manchester did the business and we were put through the express lane and had absolutely no problems with all E’s medical equipment. Birmingham outshone June’s experience in Manchester.
After getting a few last minutes bits and pieces - there’s always something - and a quick visit to the Jo Malone shop our gate was announced and off we trotted. We were boarded and doors closed by 06:50 and were taxiing down the runway at the allotted 7am.
A full Boeing 737-800 gave us a very smooth flight. The passenger beside us mentioned that they had switched to TUI when Thomas Cook went bust so as ever one business’s loss is another’s gain.
The usual fare of an early G&T and cheddars got the journey going. Flying over the Alps never fails to impress and with clear skies the views were amazing. Then the usual smellies trolley and then the last bar service as we started our slow decline over the most beautiful of blue seas accompanied by Merlot and Pringles.
After a perfect landing we were bussed and through passport control relatively quickly - perhaps for the last time as EU Citizens which we both regard as a a tragic misjudgement - but let’s not go there in this blog.
The ATM spat out the first of what will inevitably be several transactions and charged us €3 for the courtesy. Diagoras is undergoing a make-over and the toilets are looking superb. By the time we had inspected them and had the obligatory can of ice cold Mythos from the vending machine the cases were there; we picked up our pack from the Olympic Desk and were on the X10 bus with a handful of others, most who were dropped off in Ixia.
We were dropped at the Mouragio Taverna which we adore. A first ouzo and a half kilo bottle of a new brand of very nice retsina accompanied a superb lunch of oven baked peppers stuffed with cheese, fried squid and a very good tzatziki that was mopped up with toasted garlic bread. Superb value at just cents over €30.
Just as we finished lunch another bus arrived and at long last we met our fellow blogger Silverfox and the lovely Liz. We headed off to the port to allow them to have their lunch in peace and agreed to see them on board. We went to the cafe just opposite the harbour side for a frappe and found that it has a Blue Star counter so we were able to give them the Olympic letter in exchange for our tickets.
The Blue Star Patmos arrived around 17:30 and we were one of the first on and headed up to the upper deck to watch the usual “chaos”. We were soon joined by S&L and spent a very pleasant crossing under the moon kissed sea exchanging stories over a couple of drinks as you do.
As S&L were heading up we were taken round to Iapetos and depending heavily on D’s memory of over 10 years ago set off to find Irini Apartments. Of course it was dark and so we left the big bags opposite the Opera House and set off up the twisting stairs and after knocking on a few doors - apologies if any of those guests are reading this - found Room 2 which is a bit of a disappointment as we had correspondence with Olympic and our confirmation suggests Room 1 which we paid a small supplement for and of course it has the full view of the harbour whereas we have a view of the left hand side of the harbour sitting in effect below the Vigla which does look very dramatic.
It was bags dropped and back down the stairs to Cafe Alegrito where the ever pleasant Dimitris had the ouzo and retsina served in seconds with a quick hello to Manolis and Debbie who now has her shop opposite. After a second drink to compensate for the energy expended on the climb up to Irini’s (any excuse) we popped round the corner to Trata who with only one table taken looked set to shut but then this is Symi and the waiter who we have known for many years welcomed us in and we had a wonderful dinner of a shared plate of dolmades to start followed by E having chicken souvlaki (note the homemade chips S&L ) and D had the moussaka and with a couple of bottles of water to go we headed home and were asleep within minutes after a lovely trip over.