A Couple Days in Symi



The Gang at Dinner

The next couple of days are a blur of food, drink and fun with our new friends Tina, Dave, Bimmy and Claudia. We went out for dinner a couple of times, walked to the beach, tried to go out on a day-trip boat but it was too windy, and generally trooped around Symi. They’ve been coming to Symi for more than 20 years – Tina started coming because her brother said she’d like it. Her father was Greek and so she understands the language and customs. Dave is a very gregarious guy and between them they seem to know everyone in Symi. They come twice a year and avoid the summer crowds … so they’re like locals and have been coming so long they have many friends and have a tough time walking a block down the street in less than a half hour because they’re always stopping and chatting with friends. Dave owns a company that deals with airports in Libya, lives part of the year in London, part in Switzerland and part in Florida. Tina lives with their kids in London and they join up with each other in one of the three spots – I guess 4 if you include Symi. 



Playing in the famous Takis Leather Shop



Both Ross and Jessie had a great time with the girls. Jessie showed up several times with evening style make-up, different clothes combinations and hair styles. Ross would join in (though he did say he wasn’t too keen on watching another makeover) and they explored, played cards and other games in town on the boat or at the hotel.

Symi to Rhodes

Like all holidays, it must end, and on the 30^th of October it was time for us to get going. Rather than do the ‘dance’ of leaving Greece again in Symi, we decided to go to Rhodes – famous ancient city and home of one of the Colossus of Rhodes – one of the ancient wonders of the world. We got up and had breakfast with the girls and Tina, David was recovering from the last night of the tourist industry (the 30^th of October is when they roll up the sidewalks in the Greek Islands and the locals hold a late-night party to celebrate the end of another season).

After saying our goodbyes, we fired up the engine, pulled up anchor and headed to Rhodes. The wind was behind us and probably good enough to sail on but we were a bit lazy and just motored away for 3 hours. We like to arrive during the day into a strange harbour. We arrived at Rhodes around 3 in the afternoon but there wasn’t really much space at the harbour. We pulled in beside a couple other boats and were informed by one of them that it’s a high-speed catamaran’s dock and we needed to leave by 07:30 the next morning (no problem). Marina and Ross went to see if they could find the harbourmaster and see what we could do.

They came back a half hour later without having found the agents (offices closed and locked) but they did run into Tina, David, Claudia and Bimmy arriving on their ferry from Symi and we decided to meet them for a final drink and snack. Apparently there was a bet between Marina and David who could get to the restaurant first …. So Marina and Ross ran as fast as they could back to the boat to fetch us. We joined up a couple of tables and had our last glass of ouzo together for a while. The kids each had a waffle covered with all sorts of goodies like strawberries and Nutella. We marvel at the amount of this stuff they can eat. At 19:00 hours their taxis arrived and we said our final goodbyes – until we meet somewhere in the future.