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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The Excellent Katsaras
- Mussels
- 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.