What quay are you in?
Another quiet day up here in the village. I took a quick walk down to get some food for the Alarm Cat, who is a vociferous as ever, and then came straight back up via the western, steep steps and the slope. This is more direct but harder work as there are few flat areas to recover yourself on – as there are on the winding Kali Strata. I didn’t really see anyone, a few chickens on the path, a couple of cats, and some local folk out and about in the harbour. Also in the harbour yesterday was this:
I had to get the long lens out to see what it was and it looks like some kind of floating concrete-pouring device, perhaps for the new jetty that is being built on the south side of the harbour. This work is still going on, and will be for some time I guess. I’m still not sure how large trucks will get around the hairpin bend at Petalo but have heard that once the jetty is complete, funding can be sought for a road to link it with the main road to the village. This may have to turn out to sea and curve upwards, which should be an interesting building project to keep an eye on.
It should make a big difference though. We saw last week, when the wind was up and the sea was rough, that boats like the Blue Star Diagoras were only able to dock at some ports, namely Kos, which has a dock directly onto open sea. At Symi, and other places, the boats need to manoeuvre into a tight harbour, albeit a deep one, and this is sometimes not possible. The new jetty, or landing stage, or whatever it’s called, would mean the larger boats could back in, in the same way as they do at Kos, without having to negotiate the confines of a harbour. In theory, this would mean boats could dock here in rougher weather than they currently are able to dock in.
It will also mean that most supplies come in on the south side of the harbour, and this will mean fewer trucks grinding around the narrow quayside, something which can be tricky. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen shop owners rush out to pull their awnings back in, or seen groups of day-trippers have to part like the Red Sea to let a lorry through. And then there’s the noise and fumes from the vehicles, and the congestion that a landing boat causes. Hopefully all that, or at least most of it, will go once the dock is ready and connected to the road. Meanwhile, Symi will carry on as normal and we’ll all put up with the disruption of large lorries and visiting cars as they are bringing in supplies, building materials and things needed for folk to make a living, tourists included. (It doesn’t last for long and it’s quite entertaining to watch.) But for now, if arriving at Symi, you’ll most likely still arrive on the north side near the clock tower, both on the Blue Star and the Dodekanisos Seaways boats. The ‘Sea Dreams’ is pulling in on the south side near the bus stop, when it comes in.
And all that talk of boats reminds me I need to arrange tickets for our trip to Rhodes. If you are a regular Dodekanisos Seaways or Blue Star user, you can pick up loyalty cards and receive bonus points and benefits from regular sailing. I’ve had one for ages, but I keep forgetting to take it with me when I go to book tickets. This is mainly because I don’t use a wallet. I’d rather leave one or two things here and there than lose a wallet with everything together all in one place. So, I’ll leave myself a quick reminder to self to take my loyalty card when I go to book the boat. You can probably find details of the loyalty schemes on the websites for both the Dodekanisos Seaways and Blue Star Ferries. Both sites have English language options too.
