Friday - Boat Day
D was up around 7 and knew that if we were to go on a boat, breakfast might be in Cafe Aiglios so he just finished off the blog with the photos and then packed the beach bags.
We did not know if or even when a taxi boat might go out - it’s like that now the island is heading towards its slumbers so we erred on the side of caution and had breakfast just after 9 in Comfy Chairs. The usual frappe, with a shared fresh orange, and a shared ham omelette - perfect.
We then discovered that our luck was in and Lucas & Irini were running one boat and it would be the last of the season. It would stop at St.Nicks and Marathounda so we chose the latter. As it departed at 11am we wandered round to the Clocktower and back to see what was occurring and fill in some time after breakfast.
- The Morning Catch
Unbeknown to us that intrepid walker and photographer, Silverfox, had spotted us on the prow of the taxi boat - well D isn’t that hard to spot especially after 9 days on Symi
It was only when E was reviewing Facebook later in the day that we knew the Sheffield paparazzi had caught us
- Best Seat In The House
There must have been about 20 people on board and 2 got off at a very deserted looking St.Nicks where all the canopies had been taken down and stored inside the Taverna. We could not tell if the Taverna was even open.
From St.Nicks it was direct to Marathounda where the small cafe bar was closed but the Taverna was open. After getting our free sun beds we had a small beer each and then had a swim in the slightly colder but still lovely water.
- Taxi
Unfortunately for the ever efficient waitress at the Taverna everyone seemed to decide to eat at the same time but the team coped brilliantly as they always do. We had our first Greek Salad of the holiday alongside delicious grilled octopus and great courgette fritters with the obligatory goat looking on, who then decided to munch our paper tablecloth.
- Greek Salad Marathounda
- Courgette Fritters Marathounda
- Grilled Octopus Marathounda
- Goaty McGoatface Marathounda
We dozed on the sunbed after lunch and it was soon time to pack up and head back to Yialos. We arrived at 16:20 and once we all disembarked, the boat was immediately taken to Hirani boatyard.
- Thank You Irini, Luca & Co.
We had a drink in Cafe Aiglios and watched first the Skiadeni and then the Sebeco and finally the Dodecanese Express all depart for Rhodes and the island feels very quiet indeed.
We decided to keep the theme of a different restaurant every night going - can’t see us succeeding as there are at least three revisits that we want to do. Now where would those be ?
Elpida’s has the same magnetic effect that Yiannis does when we are “up” and as we arrived one half of the Taverna was being decked out in helium balloons and birthday related decorations. The great lady herself was front of house chatting to a friend before she headed off for the evening. We took our usual front table and the ever pleasant waitress didn’t even take the order as she now knows us. Our ouzo & retsina came with the usual mezes plate and with spetzofai and a light chicken curry this time.
We had decided to go round and see if Cavos was open and did not want to leave it too late at this time of year as you cannot blame restaurants for shutting up shop if they haven’t seen anyone by say 9pm. So we only had the one in Elpida’s and walked round by the Clocktower and took a sea side table looking over to the ever-busy Tholos and the illuminated church above. We were the only people between the Clocktower and Tholos - that’s how quiet it is now.
- Cavos Restaurant
We think it was last year that we thought Cavos had improved immeasurably and it is great to report that it is keeping up these fine standards. Being confirmed prawnaholics we had to have the garlic prawns as a shared starter and this came as six fair sized prawns semi-deshelled in garlic butter with a small salad - wow. The toasted bread is essential to savour the garlic.
- Retsina
Between courses the Blue Star docked opposite and its is so clear to see how this is the island’s lifeline. It made us think again about doing the Athens run to Symi as Allan has described on this forum and James has mentioned several times on the excellent Symi Dream site.
Back to food. E adores chicken with prunes ever since she had it in the days of Zylygos in Chorio and a lovely oven baked piece of chicken on the bone with real potato chips and rice & peas was declared delicious. D was surprised to find that there was still Symi goat on the menu and a good chunk of oven baked goat with a lemon sauce, again with chips and rice & peas almost floored him - note the word “almost”
After a complimentary glass of mastika we said our farewells and good winters to the super friendly family who run this excellent restaurant.
- Cavos Dinner
We walked back around the port where the birthday party in Elpida’s was just getting going around 9:45pm and E was just in time to catch the new mini-market situated between Manos Fish and the bank by the bridge. She needed to get her life-saving tea bags and milk.
We were home by just after 10pm and as D sat with his nightly square of chocolate out on the balcony listening to the much quieter sounds of Yialos E had a Eureka moment ! D has been mumbling on about the inadequacy of the aircon unit. E decided to do a bit of DIY and opened up a vent and wow - a much cooler room and a much cooler D.
And so another wonderful day was given to us by magical Symi.