Health Holiday, Greek style
Hello! We’re back. I’ve enjoyed me week off and we’ve done loads during it: coursework, furniture removal, health checks, lots of eating, walking, boat trips… But where to start catching up? Let’s go through in order…
Sunday, we took the Dodekanisos afternoon boat across to Rhodes. It was fairly busy with a football team coming down from Kalymnos, or Kos, to Rhodes, and day-trippers from Rhodes to Symi, but there were, as always, seats and the journey was quick and comfortable. A short walk from Kolonoa harbour took us to the Lydia Hotel where we were given a decent room. Room 312 in this case, it’s one at the end of a corridor, so you only have one other room next door and not one on either side, and it also has a larger bathroom than many as the shower area extends across the corridor. Er, behind a wall of course; it’s not that kind of a hotel. The price is reasonable and the staff are friendly, the breakfast is a good mix of everything from healthy stuff to cakes, with a hot buffet and a cold one, and it’s very handy for the local shops and things.
On Monday we had to meet our private health insurance agent at 8.15 at Euromedica. This is out of town near Koskinou and you can take a bus, but we didn’t fancy it at that time of day so we called a taxi. It was a beautiful sunny day on Rhodes and our agent, Tsambika, met us dead on the appointed time. We had to be early as my blood tests were to be done in Faliraki so our agent drove us there and we caught up on news and gossip en route. She did all the talking at the medical places we visited and, though I’ve done these things many times before, I didn’t have to worry about a thing: sit there, do that, hold this, thank you and goodbye. And we were whisked back to Euromedica so Neil could have his various check-ups done.
We walked in to the health centre at nine and were out by nine forty-five, again with Tsambika doing all the paperwork negotiations (there were very few) and taking us to the various places. I only had the chance to read half a chapter of The Return of The Native while I waited. Tsambika had set up appointments so Neil was whisked straight in for blood test, cardio and chest and we were on the road to Kanada Street for my next appointment 90 minutes early. But that wasn’t an issue either and, again, Tsambika asked if they could see me early, they could, and 15 minutes later (not even the chance of a paragraph of Thomas Hardy) and I was out in the sunshine with a picture of my perfect chest (internal) in my hand.
The rest of the day was ours and so we opted to walk back to town. Our agent would have driven us, but there was no need, so we said goodbye and agreed I would call her the next day after my cardio appointment. So, after some wandering back through the Old Town where I had a coffee and Neil a very dodgy frappe, we did some shopping and found ourselves completely free from the to-do list by one. So, we headed to Indigo in the Old Fish Market at Mandraki. Now then, here’s a place to go and eat! It’s Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking, each chair or seat has the name of a Greek island painted on it (I sat on Kalymnos, Neil on Tilos), the lampshades are made out of hats, each table has its own quirky teapot for flowers and the food is to die for. Neil had a beef stew with the best risotto either of us had ever tasted, and I had a gorgeous chicken dish. We were treated, by the owners, to a starter of bread and homemade dips, and a sweet of chocolate fridge cake and cream. I can’t find a web page for the bistro but there is a Facebook page.
So, that takes us up to Monday afternoon. There is more catch-up to come and I will set about that tomorrow. The one thing I didn’t do was take photos. Neil might have taken a few but we felt that we were having a whole week off from photographing and writing and so you will have to make do with some images, from Symi, taken in recent days, rather than our ‘holiday snaps.’ Oh, and I just realised, it’s Jack Cat’s birthday today: He’s made it to 14 years old! Will try and get some snaps for you.
