And back to Rhodes
I’m not going back to Rhodes, not for a week or so, but I am going back to what I was up to last Friday when I went to Rhodes. The boat was due to leave at 6.35, though it was about ten minutes late, but on the Nissos Chios it only takes an hour to get across to Rhodes, and I was in no hurry. The walk from the port to the Plaza took me 30 minutes, and once there, I checked in for breakfast which cost a very reasonable €7.00 (I may have said €7.50 before). That’s a buffet with just about everything you can imagine, so excellent value. My first appointment wasn’t until 11.00, and as I wasn’t in the mood for shopping or wandering, I sat at the hotel and read some of my book, a biography of Bram Stoker.
I was very impressed with the optician (and I’m not just saying that because he reads the blog). I arrived a little early, as I tend to do for any appointment, but that was not a problem. He knew I was coming to see about contact lenses and had prepared a pair based on my last eye test. Taking a reading from my more up-to-date glasses, he then swapped them for that prescription, measured my eyes, etc., and I tried them on – or in, I suppose. An hour or so of walking about and testing them out, and I called back to finalise the process and ordered several boxes to see me through. I’ve been wearing them in the afternoons and evenings so far, mainly because I tend to fall asleep after lunch and don’t want to doze off with them in. Already I can hardly feel them, and my brain is adjusting to the new style of seeing things. The optician I use, should you be interested, is Optical House, not far from the Plaza Hotel, and there’s a Symi connection. You can contact them with these details. Iroon Polytechnelou 20, Rhodes, TK 85100, +30 2241 028 600, rhodes@opticalhouse.gr
I had another check-up, arranged by AXA, and once that was done, had only two hours before the boat was due to leave at the worryingly precise time of 16:01. I walked back around the seafront to the gate just past Kolona and took the shortcut through the ruined church and park to Akandia where I stopped for a quick lunch at Nimmos Taverna, which I have mentioned before. This is run by Aris and his son, Jino, who we know from Symi. Talking to Jino, we discovered that he was nine when I first moved to Symi (makes you feel old) and he’s now a strapping young man in his twenties (makes you feel older). Caesar salad and a much needed cold beer, and I was ready for the off, but not until I’d had a complimentary ouzo which I probably shouldn’t have had, but which saw me happily floating onto the ferry in plenty of time. A chat with Irini from Georgio’s taverna about grandchildren and glasses and I was back on Symi before I knew it.
I knew, however, that I’d walked up the hill quickly when I sweated my way into the Rainbow 20 minutes later after taking another shortcut up through Petini and past Haritomeni. There, once everyone had admired the fact I wasn’t wearing glasses, I took out my temporary lenses – which I was only to wear for a few hours on the first day. And that’s basically the story of last Friday with a few photos to go with it.
