Good morning, welcome to Saturday and a collection of photos from the file with a catch up and some ideas for some Symi holiday bargains. First: Thursday evening: down to Yialos to attend a meeting about the refugee situation. That was followed, slightly ironically, by a pizza at the Dolphin. There was a family on the next table making an awful lot of noise…
Friday was spent doing very little. Neil was in Rhodes (reporting lots of police checks on people getting off the ferries, sniffer dogs and searches; I am assuming there’s been news of some smuggling from Turkey) so I covered the bar – not completely, just one chair and a couple of hours – and spent the rest of the day at home fiddling with ‘Straight Swap’ which is now only two major scenes from the end of draft one. But when I say major I mean – a variety show, a failed sabotage attempt, the denouement and the epilogue. I’m kind of standing back from it for a day or so to let the strands filter through the old imagination, and then will set about it.
I think the weekend holds in store a little frivolity with the boys coming over on Saturday, I believe, and a calm day planned for Sunday before getting back into the working week on Monday. The wind has died down up here, after Thursday’s blowing about, and the sun is set to ‘warm and above’ for the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, on Symi: we continue to have day trippers and regular visitors visiting, though numbers are down. So, if you want a last minute quick and quiet break there are probably plenty of deals around. You’ll be okay, even if we do go a bit bankrupt next week, something which seems to have been a possibility for five years now, so no great change there. Check out the ‘Search Hotels’ link in the right column >> you can change the location from Symi to Rhodes if you need an overnight there, otherwise, there are some neat deals to be had. I checked out Olympic Holidays, on Symi for the last two weeks of August, and found under £500 per person including flights, and that was staying at the ever popular Anastasia in Horio. I was almost tempted to book it myself.
Here’s another one: 8th July for two weeks, two people, from Gatwick, flights included, staying at Sevasti Studios in Horio (greats views of Pedi), self-catering, £388 including flights and transfers. If you want to stay in Yialos there’s one there for £408, or Anastasia’s in Horio for £424 which isn’t a bad price at all, considering you have the flights included. A self-transfer at Rhodes could cost you around €20.00 for the taxi to the harbour, and then €16.50 on the ferry times two, so that’s at least €73.00, not to mention the possibility of an overnight stay. I know that package holiday companies do strange things with people, like put them down beyond Lindos for a night which means two hours there, two hours back and three hours in a hotel room. Or else they put you in the foyer of a hotel in Rhodes town (all depends on when you land and so on), but it’s bearable – you could always check yourself in for a night somewhere, for those prices you can’t go wrong.
Anyway, I didn’t set out to sell you an Olympic Holidays holiday, just thought I’d give it a mention. (And there are many other tour operators working here: Kalodoukas, Symi Visitor, Symi via Travel A la Carte…) I’ll let you ponder on it all though and let you get on with your day.
