Tuesday - A Quiet Day
After the previous evening D was a bit slow to get going.
When he opened the balcony doors the Vigla was shrouded in early morning mist but it looked as though the sun would burn that off quite quickly.
As he was running a bit late he just popped down to the baker at the bridge and came back directly, passing the fruit & veg van that was doing a roaring trade. This looks like it is a great source of news as the ladies & gents spend time chatting over the feeling and smelling of the considerable variety of goods on offer. Things are thrown into bags, weighed on a an old fashioned scales, money is exchanged and the chatter continues - there is no hurry.
On his return he checked on the little cat that has taken up residence in our door side balcony. It is one of about six that hang out around the apartments but it is the one that looks like it needs feeding up. He found that he had been beaten to it and that our neighbour, who we hardly see, has already put out some food in a saucer.
On his way to the bakery he made a dramatic discovery so after breakfast and the usual morning chores he took E to see his find and lo and behold -
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- The Much Needed Suitcase Ramp
If you take the third opening on the right, opposite and after the Opera House, you find that someone has built a suitcase friendly ramp which makes a considerable contribution to the route up to Irini. If only we had known.
As we were leaving the house we could see the Cypriot cruise liner - the Salamis Filoxenia - that regularly visits Symi during the summer. It takes up its position at the Clocktower and is quite an imposing sight.
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- The Salamis Filoxenia
By the time we reached Cafe Aiglios we luckily got the last comfy chairs as clearly the influx of visitors from the cruise ship were out and about. We had our morning frappe and added a fresh orange juice to see if that would help E’s throat and the cold bug that she has caught. Apparently it is doing the rounds on Symi.
All the cafe bars that surround the harbour appeared to be busy even before the Panagia Skiadeni was forced to use the harbour side opposite the Clocktower due to the cruise liner being there.
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- The Panagia Skiadeni
Poseidon had gone out for the day but it looked like only one of Irini & Luca’s taxi boats had gone out. We noticed that Manolis and Debbie’s shops just opposite Meraklis had not been open for a couple of days and so it appears that the island is starting to wind down.
E had some transactions to settle so we agreed to meet in the Stella Bar where D had his small beer chating to Vasilis and Panormitis as they tried their best to woo the day trippers in. It is so easy to sit there just watching the world go by and then with the activity of the St.Nikolas arriving a second beer was inevitable. Soon after this we felt the first drop of unexpected rain and before long we had a full on shower that lasted around 30 minutes.
We headed to Elpida’s where we shared an excellent cheese & ham omelette for lunch accompanied by the day’s mezes of lightly curried chicken and spetzofai. The weather had improved trade with several people taking shelter.
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- D’s Tipple Of Choice On Symi
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- Elpida’s Omelette & Mezes
Around 15:00 the sun was back out and we headed back to the apartment, via Taxas for some fruit and yoghurt. The next thing we knew it was around 18:00 and D went out onto the balcony under a very dark and dramatic sky over the harbour yet some blue skies over the Vigla. It could get stormy.
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- Fixing The Nets
One “clever” thing worthy of mention is the key to the apartment. It comes with the small card that ensures electricity isn’t wasted but normally such cards can be removed and then things can be charged when you are out in the evening. They are wise to this in Irini’s where the card and key are on a soldered key ring and neither can be parted.
We had not finally decided on the most important decision of the day so we sat down in a rather busy Alegrito. It is very noticeable how the ratio of tourist to local has now shifted. We slowly had a couple of ouzo & retsina’s watching the sky light up with a storm over Turkey and then headed to Haris Taverna - that’s the one between the taxi rank and To Spitiko.
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- Taverna Haris Welcome Retsina
In our early years coming to Symi this was the Orange & Lemon bar where we recall there was a happy hour on cocktails where you could buy two for one of the most extravagant drinks with suggestive bananas, the obligatory umbrella, and lit sparklers sticking out of tall glasses. We regularly visited of an evening and often had a light lunch there. Over the years the bar turned into a fish restaurant and now a place with a much wider menu and for some reason that we cannot really put our finger on it fell off our “must go to” list.
We decided to rectify this and even though only one other table was occupied - it was 10pm and at this time of year ..... - we sat down. There was a lovely point of recognition from Haris after all these years and he went on to cook us a memorable dinner.
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- Toasted Garlic Bread With Parmesan
The menu has all the traditional favourites and a few interesting dishes involving pasta, cream and vodka. We decided to share what is described as shrimp saganaki but before doing so checked that these were in fact prawns and not a bowl of Symi shrimps in a saganaki sauce which would prove rather tricky to eat. What appeared was four good sized prawns that had been prepared perfectly for eating in a sauce. They had the head and tail left on but the main body had the shell removed and were slightly butterflied. This makes it far easier to eat especially when they are hot off the bbq. The saganaki sauce with some Symi shrimps through it was one of the best we have tasted.
The garlic bread with Parmesan on top was perfect for mopping up this superb sauce.
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- Saganaki Prawns
E decided to have the set-price bream (there was other bream and fish on the menu) and for €13 a very generous sized fish came straight from the bbq with lovely real chips. D went for the lamb kleftiko which came with lemon potatoes that were the equal of anywhere else. The lamb was on the bone giving it a richness of flavour that was simply divine.
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- Lamb Kleftiko
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- Bream
A complimentary sweet of yoghurt with fig jam followed and whilst we ate that we were shown pictures of the family who had just been born when we first started coming to Symi and the next generation who Papous was very proud off.
This is a very, very good restaurant and D’s next job is to do a Trip Advisor review. This place is so good it is now a candidate for “Last Night” although we have so far been successful in going to a different restaurant every night which was an unsaid aim of this holiday.
As we started to climb our steps a few drops of rain were felt and by the time we were safely home a full blown thunder and lightning storm was dancing over the Vigla followed by quite a stormy few hours. D just fell asleep.
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- The Storm Approaches