Trying to get through the Old Town
Yesterday continued…
The slow walk from Mandraki to the Old Town took us past the taxi rank on the seafront, past the artists selling portraits, and the craft stalls, over the moat bridge and into Symi Square with the art gallery to the right, and then up to join Socrates Street. We were leapt upon by a leather salesman because we ricked examining a leather bag, and then explained that we had one each already, but he wasn’t even satisfied that we’d bought one of them from him last year (it might have been a different shop, but they look the same after a while). We pressed on…
Down to the main square with the fountain, and bar-boys doing their kamaki business, shouting greetings in various languages until they have your attention and then telling you theirs is the best café, coffee, steak, octopus etc., and trying to drag you in. That’s something which immediately puts me off, so if you have a shop or a bar and you see me heading your way, leave me alone if you want my custom… And on past the jewellery shop where we bought our wedding rings and Sam’s new chain for his baptism cross (receiving a friendly wave through the window, recognised after all this time), and to ‘Parrot Square.’ I can’t remember its real name, but we have taken to stopping there at ‘Mike’s Café,’ because he was one of the only ones to ignore me when I walked past a few years ago. Again, we were welcomed like long-lost relatives. I’m only there once or twice per year but am remembered, ‘How’s Symi?’ and so on. I still don’t know how people do this; I can’t remember names and faces from one day to the next. There, we sat for a drink, moving onto something more fortifying now that it was later in the afternoon and all our tests had been done. In Rhodes, and other places, you can find beer in a boot or wine in a fishbowl, it seems.
While we were at Mike’s (it’s actually Michaelis, and it’s a place used by locals all year round, so there were waves and greetings from others as well as the guys who work there), we fell in with a couple from the yUK who had just finished a rather wet and wild week in Rhodes. Committed Greekophiles, they had been to several islands including a day trip to Symi one year, and, yes, they asked, ‘Are your brothers?’ I said, ‘No. It’s just that master and dog thing where one ends up looking like the other after a few years,’ and the conversation moved on. We entertained them, and they us until a second bowl arrived. We finally left there with an hour to reach the boat and made it as far as Akandia Gate before…
… We passed by Nimmos, a Symi-family run taverna only 15 minutes from the boat. Handshakes and greetings ensued, the family came out, and we were pressed into chairs and to a glass of ouzo while we caught up on news. The boys are now men and tall, the taverna is doing well (I hope), and it’s already open for the season. It’s a handy stop-off on your way to the boat, and we left with 30 minutes to go before departure and were on board by quarter-to bearing our bags, new clothes and two pillows we’d been carrying since before lunch.
The boat left dead on time as usual, and the crossing back was steady and relaxing. Neil had done some wheeling and dealing and arranged a taxi for us which we shared with others up to the village where we tried to slip past the Rainbow Bar unnoticed. Unsuccessful of course and a final glass of wine (not bowl this time though still pretty much a vat) was thrust upon us. The rest is a bit of a blurred history, but I did wake up to new pillows the next morning, so we must have got something right.
