Starting again in Rhodes

July to December 2023

Summer came, the island population trebled with the influx of tourists, residents worked overtime, and we non-working immigrants and retirees went to the beach.

Towards the end of July you may remember that we suffered terrible forest fires in the middle of the island. Fortunately there were no fatalities, but they caused absolute mayhem for those living in the area and the hotels and tourists there. Tourists were evacuated from beaches without being able to collect their belongings. Grace (with whom I went to Turkey last March) works for one of the tourist companies and relayed what was happening. The staff in the hotels in their group ended up packing their customers’ bags which were then stored in Grace’s company offices until they could be reunited with their owners. Madness. Many people lost their homes. Hundreds of local people rallied round to help fire fight, and afterwards to provide food and water for the deer and other wildlife in the ravaged forests.

In July my friend Laila was heading back to her home in Denmark for an extended stay, so of course we all gathered at Zoriana’s café Hamam for a sending off drinks party. (She was happy to be going to see her two dogs but not looking forward to colder climes. The “beach” gang of nine (set up on Messenger) were there to commiserate with her on missing her sea and sunbathing outings.

I started a new routine of going to Hamam mid week for dinner and a glass of wine. As I went fairly early, there was time to chat to Zoriana about how business is going (not great but adequate). She suffers from the heat which is not great when having to work. That said, this year we have not had the scorching temperatures that hit the rest of Europe. Still, hot enough that a cool shower several times a day was a welcome relief.

I continued to feed Caroline the tortoise through to October when she started looking for a quiet place to hibernate. However she kept reappearing on warm days so it was hard to work out when to put out food. Nikoletta, her owner and my downstairs neighbour is slowly regaining some mobility after breaking her leg and hip so has taken over the feeding, but now the nights are cold I have not seen Caroline for a while.

One day I heard frantic mewing coming from the lightwell in the middle of the building. I managed to raise the young lad from upstairs to unlock the basement door to investigate. The cat eventually emerged sufficiently to identify it as one of Nikoletta’s (she has 3, and a dog). One of her helpers had opened a window from her apartment into the lightwell, and the cat had escaped, and unable to return once the window was shut. Another problem resolved.

I had grown tired of the issues with my smartphone. It was a Huawei and of the generation that denied access to Google. I had got round it by downloading from a different app provider, but it was annoying me. As it was time to renew my phone contract, I was pleased to get a better deal, along with a good discount on a new phone from any of the local stores. After a lot of shopping around and internet browsing for best performance within my budget, I now have a Realme 11Pro+, which is great. It loads so much faster than the old phone and at last has access to Google Play, Gmail and other apps. Of course, swapping everything from the old phone to the new one turned the air blue a few times!

I continue to go to Cross Fit three mornings a week, sometimes joined by friends Mara and Susie, and latterly a couple of Swedish guys, Tony and Shell. The trainer, Giorgos, sets a different routine every day that he writes up on blackboards painted on the walls. There is one for the older or beginner participants (small), and a much more energetic and longer one for the younger set. We don’t have a “class” as such, just turn up and do the routine whenever it suits. I find the discipline of getting up and out early(ish) suits me although I have had time for a couple of cups of tea and a bowl of cereal before leaving. By the time I have got home and had a shower, sorted out washing etc, it is coffee and biscuit time.

With the coffee and biscuits I can settle down to a crossword and to catch up on a chapter or three of whatever book I am reading, before getting on with any tasks I have lined up before lunch, if any.

Many of the books I read are by American authors and there are frequent references to “biscuit” eaten with meat or fried breakfast. I kept wondering what this might be – our British notion of biscuit not really fitting with something that seemed to be used for mopping up juices. Finally I was roused enough to look it up and found American Biscuit recipes. It turns out to be similar to a scone mix. I made some – it was interesting!

By Dale Cruse – https://www.flickr.com/photos/dalecruse/47639772112

Walking back from the gym I watched the municipal workers raze the banks of the river of the enormous reeds and other plants. It looks so awful when they do this, but within a couple of weeks the reeds have all started growing back again, and are now several feet high. But the view up the river is clearer and I always keep an eye out for visiting egrets and herons.

It was only the end of August when I noticed that the swifts had disappeared and the cicadas had stopped buzzing. The weather did not change from being hot and often very humid but finally a few small clouds appeared. Our Danish friend returned feeling sun deprived, so the beach gang headed to one of the nicer beaches down the east coast for lunch and sunbathing and swimming in warm water. Very pleasant. I was introduced to Frauke, a German woman who works as a journalist for various German magazines and newspapers – always busy.

A couple of days later we had a huge thunderstorm, with lightning and torrential rain. You could almost hear the parched ground sighing with relief.

I still keep a bicycle and use that to run local errands that are a bit further than walking distance, or on occasion to head down to the Old Town or harbour to meet friends for coffee. Unfortunately I use it so infrequently that I have to pump up the tires every time I take it out. For some reason, I have suffered two flat tyres this year – most annoying. However there is a bike shop just round the corner where I can take it and get anything fixed for a small fee – most convenient.

I have mentioned the artists’ group before – and described some of Sally’s paintings to Chris, my sister in law. She loves poppies which are the subject of many of Sally’s compositions and was keen to have a picture. I picked a smallish canvas and wondered how to pack it for sending. In a flash of inspiration I headed to the local pizza restaurant who kindly gave me a large pizza box. Perfect fit, along with a bit of bubble wrap and protection. The man in the Post Office upbraided me for not filling out a customs form online (huh?) but let me off, doing it for me. Then of course poor Chris had to pay Customs duty. Another down side of Brexit.

It was Zoriana’s birthday in September. Susie and a visiting friend had got up at the crack of dawn and decorated the outside of the café with balloons and gold letters saying Καλές Γιορτές (Happy Birthday) hanging from a ribbon. The usual suspects met up at Hamam in the evening for a big party – great fun. Zoriana was happy both for the business and to see us all.

The same week Tudor had another of his famous parties, this time at the Walk Inn, so I was all peopled out by the end.

The end of September also saw the Sea Squill bulbs flowering along with wild grape hyacinths – lovely for about a week before the flowers are over and the tall stems are full of seed heads ready for next year.

I made the decision to finally get something done about my drooping eyelid which was interfering with my vision and visited the ophthalmic guy not far from my house – he had done my eye test for my “over 70” drivers license. All I asked for was his opinion – but he gave me a full eye test again and needed blood tests and an echocardiogram to go ahead for a blepharoplasty. Well, that was unexpected!

His assistant made an appointment for a Saturday in mid November. I think specialists are shipped in from Athens or Thessaloniki for these kinds of operation probably once a month.

I had also decided to get myself a new car. I had lost confidence in the old one as it had let me down at critical moments. Having looked at brand new cars, I thought again – most cars here suffer from scratches and dents very quickly – so perhaps a 2^nd hand one would be better.

One day in early October, going with Margarita to do her monthly Cash & Carry shop, she needed to go to the dealership to fix something on her car. While waiting for her, I browsed the parking lot full of nearly new cars and liked the look of a couple of them. After doing a bit of internet research I returned to the dealership and asked about the ones I had seen. One had already been sold, but a similar one (2 year old Citroen C1) was still available. I quickly put down a deposit and within a week was the proud owner. Of course the bureaucracy was a bit complicated, but buying from a dealer makes life simpler.

Laila is buying my old car – private deals are definitely more complex.

Zoriana closed down Hamam (as so many places do for winter) at the end of October and of course we all gathered for a farewell snack and drink. Grace was heading off for a holiday after finishing work at the end of October. We met up for a pizza at her favourite restaurant, me showing off my new car! Her company wants her back at work at the end of March I think.

Next year the Easter holidays are really weird – non-orthodox Easter is at the end of March and Orthodox is at the beginning of May. Here is the explanation from Google:This year, Easter Sunday will be observed on Sunday, March 31. This is based on the Gregorian calendar. However, many Eastern Orthodox churches follow the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian. In 2024, Eastern Orthodox Easter will occur on Sunday, May 5(the Julian calendar date converted to the Gregorian calendar).

28^th October is Oxi day – a public holiday and a big quasi military parade around the old harbour with groups from every single school on the island as well as people in traditional clothes, scouts, navy, army etc. Frauke’s nine year old daughter Iosephine was marching with her school group. Susie and I met with Frauke before the start then chased her along the street next to her daughter’s group. We found each other again with Iosephine after the parade and had coffee and lunch at the Yachting Club Café on the seafront. It was a lovely day – poor Iosephine was in a uniform of white tracksuit top and tights with a black skirt – she must have been baking.

Frauke had been investigating getting a group of us to join a Greek Dancing class. It is part of what I think is a cultural organisation called Greek College. I helped a bit with some location investigation and finally in December we managed to get to the class – five of us from the “gang”. We are late to the party – the class has been going since October – but the group is very welcoming and hopefully we are not holding them back too much. It is all fancy footwork and complicated but great fun.

In November my next door neighbour Margarita finally got her wish to take a break and headed off to the States to visit her daughter and her sister. She is away for almost 3 months – it is quiet without her here. She managed to get another German lady to house, cat and dog sit for her. She is very quiet and apart from saying hello, I have not spoken to her.

With the temperatures becoming more reasonable, I cleaned house and, along with many other Greek housewives, put down the carpets for winter and put away the fan that had kept me cool. Amazingly I had not had to use the air conditioner all summer. Even in October and November it was warm enough to meet up with people at the Yachting Club Café for coffee and cake, sitting outside in the sunshine.

Locally grown avocados, oranges and mandarins started appearing in the market – the peaches and nectarines had disappeared by the end of September.

Then it was time for my blepharoplasty. I was gowned up and led into the operating room where I had a local anaesthetic, closed my eyes and hoped for the best! It took the two young surgeons around an hour and was totally painless. I heard them mutter “excellent”, then “difficult”! Then my eyes were covered with big pads and left for another hour to recover. Mara was kind enough to collect me (hidden behind dark glasses) and take me home – although I felt fine. The next week, having stocked up with provisions, I took it really easy, just reading and dozing although Susie came for coffee and to check me out! After 10 days I ventured out with dark glasses to the shops and slowly returned to normal operations. It is great to be able to see clearly again.

During this time the new Kindle that I had bought in May stopped charging. After a conversation with Amazon I had to package it up and send it back to the returns centre in Fife, couriered by DHL at great expense. I hope to get a new one delivered soon but of course it will be held up with Christmas being so close. Fortunately I still have my old Kindle which continues to work fine even if the screen has a small fault.

In December we had a few cold days and I have succumbed to putting a bit of heating on. I was stuck for ideas on producing my Christmas card, then realised that I could use a lovely painting of poinsettia that Sally had made. I agreed a royalty for using it, and here it is. Another of Sally’s paintings will be my Christmas gift to Vaso (landlady) upstairs – along with a big box of chocolates to say thank you.

My Christmas twig had given up the ghost – too many bugs eating the wood. Tudor saw a suitable replacement at Jysk – great find. It is now decorated and the outside lights for the balcony railing set up with the usual palaver of threading an extension cable through a small hole in the wall.

The Greek Dancing group sings! A Christmas carol concert was arranged at the church just down the road from my house. I found the venue in the church hall – full of older women chattering over tables of pastries. I beat a hasty retreat, then met up with the group and finally watched their excellent concert especially the musicians who are also part of the dance team.

The group also advertised a Christmas programme of song and dance at the Municipal Theatre. I went, hoping to see them dancing in traditional costume. It turned out to be a production re-enacting a Greek story in six episodes, each having a number of songs and dances. It started with a huge group of children and a narrator. The children arrived on stage carrying large paper boats lit up with fairy lights. Very pretty. It started late, the theatre was packed so I stood and only stayed for three episodes – that was enough.

So ends the saga for this year – I wish you a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

January to June 2023

Sitting in a cool breeze, I wonder where to start; a friend pointed out that it was time for one of my blogs and I realised that the half year update was overdue.

Summer arrived a couple of weeks ago. But going back to the beginning of the year – Christmas. The few days prior to Christmas it was all go – finding Christmas puddings, a few presents and tidying up.

I had invitations – Tudor’s house for Christmas lunch for which I was providing Christmas pudding and upstairs with Antony and family for New Year’s Eve. Of course there was brandy butter to prepare involving an aching arm and most of a small bottle of Metaxa which I delivered with the pudding to Tudor’s house on Christmas Eve.

Tudor is a British artist and craftsman. He bought a rambling mansion on the top of the hill to the west of the town and has renovated and converted it into self contained apartments. It has outside terraces and a small garden and is perfect for entertaining.

Arriving for the late lunch I found the dining table laid out beautifully. I was introduced to a few people, Italian and German friends of Tudor, along with others who I already knew making up a party of twelve. All very civilised and the food was great. The pudding and brandy butter went down well and Wolfgang played his guitar after, accompanied by Marja singing some old favourites.

It was time to relax after that. Tudor was interested in some of Brian’s remaining tools and came to collect them – one being a huge angle grinder which Tudor found perfect for cutting stone. Another of the artists, Sally, is using my now emptying room to store some of her paintings as she doesn’t have much space, and she makes sure I am invited to Tudor’s parties.

Nikoletta, Anthi, Dimitri, me, Antony, Vaso and Peri the dog

On New Year’s Eve I trotted upstairs for Antony’s party. He, his wife Vaso and their three children were there as well as seven of their relatives, including a 4 year old boy, Michaelis who I guess is a nephew. Antony’s two eldest, Anthi and Dimitri are away at university, one in Thessaloniki and the other in Crete. The youngest, Nikoletta, has one more year of school before the PanHellenic exam – the equivalent of the baccalaureate.

Vaso had cooked enormous amounts of food as usual. I was plied with wine and chatted to Antony’s sister Despina as well as the others who I had never met before. I tried to catch their Greek conversation but they spoke too quickly for me. At midnight we all cheered in the New Year, then Dimitri dressed up as Father Christmas hid on the balcony, then came in to give presents to the very excited little boy. Only then did I discover that present giving is more of a New Year thing here. Vaso gave me a soft fluffy blanket that I wrap myself in when it gets cold.

The week after New Year I spent sorting out more stuff in the “workshop”, clearing out things I would never use despite good intentions (yes, I know, road to hell and all that) and giving away more tools. The gym was open again (except on Friday 6^th which is always a holiday here), and I went back to stumbling along with my Greek lessons.

We were fortunate to have a relatively mild winter this year. There was less rain than usual, although a few thunderstorms kept life interesting and a short earthquake towards the end of January was a little disturbing. One Friday, the wind blew the big metal sliding door of the gym off its tracks! Yes, that one.

I keep in contact with Grace (the belly dancer) and one day suggested that we go to Fethiye in Turkey for a few days. I wanted to buy dress fabrics as there is only one shop here which has limited stock and is very expensive. Grace was very keen and before long we had booked the ferry and the hotel for five days in March. Another friend (Claire) runs a boat guardianage business in Fethiye and we arranged to meet up with her. Two days after we had made the arrangements, the horrendous earthquake in eastern Turkey and Syria happened. Many people living along the Turkish coast in Mugla come from that area to find better work. Claire said that everyone was wandering around in shock.

By the end of February there were signs of spring – the dog daisies in the archaeological remains were flowering and I saw a skein of ducks flying north. The chiff-chaffs had been doing that chiff-chaff thing for a while.

On Sunday 5^th March Grace and I set off to the harbour to catch our ferry to Fethiye. When we got there the small ferry was bouncing up and down on the swell, even inside the harbour. This didn’t bode well. After hanging around for a while, getting multiple passport and customs checks, we boarded and found seats – the ferry was only about a quarter full. A couple of families with children sat at the front facing the window.

As soon as we left the harbour, the swell became very bad – about 3m I would guess. The ferry was small and struggled. The children at the front initially squealed and cheered as the waves crashed over the bow – then started being sick. Oh dear. As did a large number of the adults. The crew were great in rushing back and forth with sick bags and carrying kids to seats in the centre where the movement wasn’t so great. I was fine, and managed to keep Grace talking to overcome her own queasiness.

Finally the ferry docked – over an hour late. We found Fethiye streets covered in detritus from the storm that had passed over. We finally found our small hotel, grabbed a bite at a local fast food place, and sank into bed.

After a very good breakfast we waited out the storm outside which cleared up by late morning. We set out to investigate the old town, change money, window shop, have a big lunch and remind myself of previous visits. The sun, once out, was hot and we walked the seafront promenade for miles.

We booked a spa and Hamam session which was something Grace was determined to treat ourselves to. After changing, we relaxed in a sauna before being led into a huge room dominated by a massive circular marble waist high slab that was heated. We were dowsed with water, spread our thin towels on the slab and lay down for ladies to massage us with rough cloths. After having been pummelled for a while, we were then slathered with foam and again given a massage – it was wonderful and exhausting.

Grace was searching for upholstery fabric and eventually found something suitable. There was only one small shop that had the dress fabrics I wanted – stacked from floor to ceiling on both sides of the narrow premises. After hunting through the selection I ended up with lengths of one blue/green and one khaki sprigged cotton, and Grace found a very jazzy bright fabric for me.

Several times we stopped at a restaurant called Locanda for coffee and meals. It is one of a chain where you select your food from the array of dishes on display at a long counter, your selection is plated up and brought to you by a waiter. Very civilised. We agreed that service in Turkey is far better than in Greece.

We met Claire one evening at the new plaza for a lovely seafood dinner. She has obviously made friends there and we were well looked after. It was good to chat to her and find out a bit more about her business and life in Fethiye.

Having concluded our purchasing we decided to get the bus to Kas, where Brian and I had spent three winters at the marina. I keep in contact with a couple we had house-sat for and arranged to meet for lunch. The two hour bus trip brought back many memories of our frequent trips along the road to Gocek and Fethiye. The last third of the journey is along the coast, with massive cliffs and turquoise seas. Beautiful.

We arrived in good time, met with Colin and Carol for lunch and wandered around the town. It hasn’t changed much apart from losing the harbour front café where we used to meet up for the Sunday walking trips. Then it was time to get the bus back, return to our hotel, book a taxi for horrid o’clock the next morning and pack our bags.

The ferry trip back was smooth. I spent the next few days recovering from our exertions and heard the first screams of the swifts, returning for the summer.

Oops, there was too much mixture for the big tin. A pyrex bowl served well for the leftover.

I had been thinking about making a simnel cake for Easter and gathered all the ingredients together – lots of orange and lemon zest and crystallised fruit. It turned out really well, so I made another for my birthday and took it to the gym where it was much appreciated. I had also used the lemon glut to make the lemon slice cake that I had made before. Very rich and very tasty. Of course I can’t eat these cakes all by myself, so Antony and Vaso get a big portion as well as Margarita next door. However I have found that the lemon slice freezes OK, so I have treats tucked away.

The remainder of March and into April I got out my sewing machine and made some adjustments to summer clothes as well as deciding what to make with my newly acquired fabrics. I had a pattern for a dress that I had made forty years ago and which I had really liked, so that took care of one, using the blue/green fabric. It was a real pain doing all the pin-tucks on the bodice. I had to read the manual to work out how to do the buttonholes, and serendipitously found out how to do invisible hemming – wow! I used the jazzy fabric to copy from a dress bought here and which is very comfortable in the heat of the summer. One piece of fabric remains for next year.

The China Ball trees lining the road at the end of our street were severely pollarded for the first time in my memory. Normally they are just trimmed with lanky branches left to provide shade. Now they have re-grown nice dense tops. Having been cut just as the flowers were coming out, this year we won’t have the yellow berries littering the pavement below. More and more bushes and trees started to flower. By the middle of June the oleanders lining our street were in full pink bloom. At the end of the street purple bougainvillea festoons the pine trees bordering the council plant nursery – amazing.

A contractor came to do some severe trimming to the lemon and mandarin trees in our back yard. I had been admiring the spider webs suspended from the electricity cable running across the yard and anchored to their branches. With the anchors cut away, the webs unravelled and disappeared, only to reappear later as the spiders re-created their homes on a much grander scale. Now, all of a sudden, the whole edifice has collapsed and is draped over the mandarin tree. Perhaps a bird flew through the supporting structure?

Recently I have been feeding Caroline, the tortoise, who lives in the back yard. Her owner fell in the supermarket and broke her hip, necessitating surgery and a couple of weeks in hospital. Now she is home but unable to get about yet, so I continue to devise tasty tortoise suitable snacks each morning. She loves tomato, courgette and crispy lettuce, with the odd bit of cucumber thrown in.

Zoriana, a Ukrainian who has lived in Greece for some years, re-opened her bar/café called Hamam in the Old Town. It was originally a hamam but had been converted for various previous uses. A bunch of us went to celebrate with her. It had been shut last year much to our dismay and she had opened a small café near the beaches. Now she has re-developed Hamam to meet all the necessary regulations and we are all enjoying her comfy chairs, tasty meals and cocktails.

At Easter Tudor organised another gathering. He has great luck with the weather, it was a hot day so sitting on the lawn was perfect. One of his friends played the saxophone as we chatted. He organised a mid-summer’s day event too – seeming to enjoy entertaining and barbeques. I found out a bit more about some of the people who I vaguely knew. One is a secondary school headmaster but also plays excellent guitar and his artist wife (Effie, mentioned in the previous blog) teaches primary school. Another plays for the Rhodes symphony orchestra and later I found out he is a keen dancer at the Walk Inn music nights.

I invested in a sunbed which I set up on the east facing balcony, for sunbathing for an hour or so in the morning to mitigate the shock of summer. I only use it once a week but it has helped me to acclimatise to the hot sun. My mornings get full of other things like Greek lessons, gym and other vital stuff like drinking coffee, browsing the internet and reading. The west facing balcony faces the street so I think it would be a bit naff to lie out in full view in the afternoons.

Having my own sunbed removed the need to go to the local beach for sunbathing, but I have been to the further beaches a couple of times with friends and had my first dip in the sea last week – very pleasant.

I spend a lot of time reading on my Kindle e-reader, not having a TV and not really enjoying watching videos on the laptop. Somehow I prefer the ability to use my imagination rather than be presented with someone else’s interpretation. The Kindle I had been using finally started to degrade with a little pinprick letting light through the screen. After a bit of rooting around on the various Amazon websites, I found that the UK one would send me a new one to Greece via their European warehouses. So that arrived, a new model to get used to and somehow not quite as comfortable to use as the old one.

When discussing this with a friend, he enthused about his current book – the Count of Monte Christo. So I downloaded it and got caught up with that for quite a while – Alexander Dumas wrote great pot-boilers!

Despite my preference for books, I do occasionally check out the local cinema. Screenings are rather late for me, but the other week I did manage to go to see Guardians of the Galaxy III. Not having seen numbers one and two, it took a while to catch on, but it was fun and very silly, but the music had some great tracks from our youth.

In early May the screams of the swifts were joined by the burbles of the bee-eaters as they arrived. They hung around for some time, so I wondered if they found suitable nesting sites in the walls of the Old Town. On the rare days that we had cloud it was great to watch them fly around as you could then see their bright colours.

Peaches and nectarines started appearing in the market at the end of May and by the end of June were piled high. I discovered that the small watermelons were perfectly good. I had always thought that they might be all skin and not so juicy but that isn’t the case and I have been enjoying a slice or three with my evening meal. One small 2kg watermelon lasts me over a week. Caroline the tortoise gets a sliver too.

June was strangely cool and wet. This was a good thing as the winter had been dryer than normal. So we were all waiting for summer to start – which it did around the last week of June. Now we are all complaining of the heat of course, but it is very pleasant if sweaty. Even the cicadas have not really started buzzing as much as in previous years.

The Rodos Art City group was started by Azam Maysonet, a Puerto Rican artist who has settled in Rhodes with his wife and small child. He spent time in Boston in his youth, working in customer service and developing his art alongside his uncles who encouraged him.

When he arrived in Rhodes he found the local established artists operated a closed shop. Being nothing if not exuberant and full of energy, he got together with other local and immigrant artists at least 6 years ago, setting up Rodos Art City. The group exhibits at various café and restaurant locations, bringing in new customers for the establishment as well as selling and getting commissions for the different artists. Sometimes they manage to get access to formal exhibition spaces where a larger number of the group can exhibit.

The artists who exhibit at the various “pop-up” locations vary. There are at least nine contributors who join in at various times. Mostly graphic artists, but some ceramicists and sculptors – the range of styles is very wide, including use of naturally occurring items as well as more traditional techniques.

The lively arts scene in Rhodes includes many musicians who are invited to entertain the customers at the exhibitions. They play jazz, rock and Greek traditional music, sometimes as solo artists and other times as a group. Again, they are made up of a variety of nationalities that make up the extraordinary cosmopolitan scene here.

The group is a strong supporter of local charities and set up exhibitions to help with fund raising. They work together to decorate walls and buildings too.

I first met Sally Nearns a couple of years ago through friends – immigrants who live in the Old Town and others who gravitate there for music and events. Sally is one of the founding members of Rodos City Art, having lived here for some years. She is also American. With a father in the U.S. Diplomatic Service she travelled extensively while growing up, spending her formative years in the Philippines.

Sally’s Argentinian mother’s influence shows in the bright colour palette she uses. She had her own exhibition in one of the “Knight’s” mansions in the Old Town, now the French Consulate. I subscribe to an online Greek language site and noticed that there was a fellow student with the same surname as Sally’s. It transpired that it was her brother, who is an entomologist working in the U.S. He visited Rhodes a while ago and we met up at a café in the Old Town – great to meet another student.

Subsequently, in an attempt to brighten up my study, I bought a couple of her paintings to hang on my wall. Since then we have met up at various events. Recently she needed to find somewhere to store her paintings. One of my rooms was becoming empty as I slowly cleared it of unused items, so I offered it to her to use as she wished. So I can sneak in and feast my eyes on even more of her lovely canvases, surreptitiously turning them face out to make my own small gallery! She paints on wood as well as gourds to hang as decoration.

At the Valentine’s Day exhibition at Art and Taste café in Ixia, I enjoyed an afternoon treat while taking pictures of the art on show. Another Greek member of the group, Efi Simonopoulou, specialises in painting trees, wonderful colours jumping off the canvas. The family owning the café, as well as being extraordinary chefs, are artists themselves, with sculpture and foundry skills, with an eye to tourists who like to take representations of local statuary home with them. The location, with plenty of parking space and a sea view, attracts residents from further afield than the city itself. Laila and I enjoyed the sunshine on the terrace at the back of the building.

Goodbye 2022

It’s been a bit of a roller coaster half year, starting at the end of June with that dose of Covid. It took the full 10 days before getting a clear test result – very tedious.

During those days, I heard the first cicadas begin to chirp away. Once they start, it becomes an imperceptible background accompaniment to every day life – until they stop. Then all of a sudden, one day you wonder what is missing – that was around the beginning of September. It is amazing that they only last a couple of months.

The end of June was marked by sad news. Margarita’s mother gently passed away, a month before her 103^rd birthday. I was invited to the low key funeral in the local church and a small wake following. Margarita’s grief was overlaid by relief after so many years of being the carer. Theresia (her mum) was pretty cogent right to the end. Two of my own friends also died – one far too young. Here everyone was in mourning for a young singer who had been a big part of the local social and music scene who died of cancer.

On a more positive note friends in the UK became grandparents for the first time, the last couple to join the ranks. They were thrilled and of course I get regular updates.

So July crept up on us and it was time to prepare for my trip to Syros and the intensive two week Greek course. On Friday 8th, Margarita took me to the ferry dock, a crowd of people waiting in the sunshine to board at 5pm. I buried myself in my book, tried to doze without much success. The ferry stopped at Kos, Kalymnos, Leros (I remembered our time there on Alixora, and the lovely people we had met there) and then Patmos, where many more passengers embarked. Finally we arrived in Syros at 4am.

The owners of the studio room I had booked, Lampros and Maria collected me at 4am! Wonderful. They drove me to Azolimnos, not far along a narrow winding road. I wasn’t paying much attention! After thanking them and getting into my room, I fell into bed waking unexpectedly early. I investigated the village, finding a mini-market where I stocked up with basic provisions, slept a bit more, had a frappe at one of the cafés, walked around the bay, slept again and then had a big restaurant dinner.

Azolimnos was not a very exciting place. Apart from a multitude of hotels and studio apartments it comprised four restaurants, a couple of cafés, the mini-market and a narrow beach with umbrellas. Several concrete piers stuck out into the sea, which was full of dead seagrass. Being on the east side of the island it bore the full brunt of any wind making the sea quite rough too. And cool! I had taken my usual Rhodes summer clothes, with a couple of T-shirts “just in case” – and needed them every day.

On Sunday night the language school (Omilo) held an introductory dinner at one of the restaurants (which turned out to be the best option of the four). All the teachers introduced themselves and we had a very enjoyable mezes type dinner with lots of the local specialities. There were around 30 students there from upwards of ten different European countries – extraordinary. Fortunately everyone was able to speak English as the lessons were conducted with English explanations.

On Monday we all took an exam to find out our “level” of expertise. I was classed as high intermediate and put with a group of lovely people (Norwegian, German, Finnish, Swiss/Italian and Spanish). Unfortunately my written expertise far exceeds my spoken ability, so I struggled. However, despite being offered a different group, I stuck with it and really benefitted, becoming less reticent and able to join in the conversations.

So the two weeks passed in a blur – lessons for 4 hours in the mornings then homework, followed by evening activities such as Greek songs, dancing (fun!) and a trip to Ermoupoli, the main town. There I met Sonja, a Dutch lady just starting Greek lessons, and shared dinner with her a couple of times.

The final day, Lampros and Maria took me to the ferry port for the 9pm ferry. This time I found a bench and managed to get a few hours sleep on and off, arriving at 7.30am to be met by Margarita – so kind. Dawn broke as we passed the last islands round the corner of Turkey – wonderful sight and I really wanted to be home. The next night I slept for 11 hours.

So that was the highlight of my year – a mixed bag of enjoying the course but being disappointed in the location. If I go on another of their courses I will choose Navplio, a bigger seaside town with more going on. It was brought home to me that I am not a very social animal, and that I am not great at exploring on my own. So ideas of setting off to visit distant parts have been set aside for the time being.

Back in Rhodes the weather was hot as usual, in the mid 30s most of the time. About twice a week I went to the beach, mostly on my own but occasionally with others. I resumed going to the cross-fit gym three times a week (very hot and sweaty), my Greek lessons with Eva restarted. We have interesting conversations about etymology – most recently regarding Christmas preparations about the similarity between the verb “to decorate” (stolizo) and the word for uniform (the clothing kind) which is stoli. Curious, as is the dual use of the English word uniform.

One evening Giorgios at the gym organised a beach games event. Susie and Cosima came with me and kindly marvelled at my efforts – I was the oldest there. First we had to swim out to a buoy about 15 metres off shore. The younger participants powered into the water and sped out to the buoy and back. I gently waded in and gently breast stroked out and back, before undertaking the rest of the routines on the list. I gave up after a couple of rounds of the exercises and snuck off for a drink and a laugh with my friends.

August passed quietly. Both my Greek and UK tax returns were finished. I was relieved that the money from selling Alixora didn’t get taxed. With the increase in fuel costs, the Greek government gave everyone a with a car a fuel rebate – that was nice! As I don’t drive much, I don’t think I have used it up yet.

One day I was alarmed to find a praying mantis settling in on my sunshade umbrella. They are huge and scary. I kept a close eye on it as it very, very slowly climbed the pole, traversed the underside of the umbrella and climbed out on top. The next day it had gone – phew. More recently I have been struggling with a minor outbreak of cockroaches – something I had not experienced before. The killer sprays work well, but I don’t know where they are hatching.

Eva, my Greek teacher, asked me to make her a sundress out of fabric she had bought in Japan. This was a nail-biting exercise as I had not made anything for another person before – especially a shorter, rather better endowed female! It all turned out well in the end I think. There wasn’t much fabric so it was interesting to try to get the most out of it.

My friend Grace, the retired belly dancer, found work with a travel company for the summer. Previously she had been working as a tour hostess for Tui which was hard work. This new job was office bound, airconditioned and 9-5 – wonderful. Her mother was German and the company wanted a German speaker. She had to brush up as it was a long time since she had practised – but did really well. Due to this we didn’t see much of her during the summer, but I did manage to meet up with her at the Walk Inn on a couple of evenings.

Towards the end of August the market started to offer figs and grapes as they came into season – making a nice addition to the wonderful peaches and nectarines. Later, persimmons started appearing, but I am not keen on their taste. Melons abounded, both water melons and cantaloupe types. Even a half of a water melon is far too much for one person so I stick with the smaller ones.

I downloaded a book of Greek sayings for fun. One is that there isn’t enough space for two water melons under one armpit – roughly meaning that trying to do too much is counter productive. Some are strangely similar to English proverbs, others are just strange.

A complete non-sequitur but it is linked to my discussions with Eva on the etymology of both Greek and English words. I picked up this titbit from an article describing how world finances have moved from dealing with millions, to billions and now trillions: ‘Trillion’ sounds just a couple of notches up from ‘million.’ But consider this: a million seconds in just over 11 days. A billion seconds is just over 31 years. A trillion seconds is 31,700 years. Now apply that scale to money. It makes you think, doesn’t it…Yes indeed – and does everyone use the same definition of trillion? I think not…

2nd Hand books – Who on Rhodes was reading these?

August morphed into September. Another music bar in the Old Town is called Andama, and has live music most weekends. I went a couple of times with others and had a good time. They too serve food which is always good.

Cosima thought it would be interesting for a few of us to try out the small, scruffy bowling alley just down the road from me. It was great fun – especially as I won once which generated a flurry of scurrilous messages. Unfortunately various events prevented a continuation after two sessions – including some participants’ lack of enthusiasm due to their inability to keep the ball out of the gutter!

September seemed to flash by and all of a sudden bright red pomegranates were piled up on the market stalls. The walnut tree at the end of the yard had borne its usual crop of nuts hidden behind the big leaves. As the month progressed, more into October, bevies of crows would land on its branches, tugging at the walnuts and taking them off to nearby roofs to break them open for the nuts inside. Most amusing.

The local artists’ group held an exhibition at a café on the west side of the island. The place was crowded but I found a seat with friends and had a very good dinner while listening to an excellent saxophonist.

Autumn was heralded by the sea-squill suddenly spiring up from the arid ground.

By the end of September I was wearing a few more clothes as the days grew shorter and the temperatures dropped into the 20s. The cooler weather meant I felt more energised to do a bit of sorting, getting rid of a couple of old laptops and redundant electrical gear. There is still much to do – but Grace’s partner will help me do some more clearing in January.

A couple who I knew many years ago arrived for a week’s holiday and we spent a few happy evenings catching up on our very ancient history. They had booked a hotel in the Old Town that turned out to be less than pleasant, so moved to one recommended by Susie for a much better experience.

My sister had been experiencing mental problems for a while, culminating in a severe breakdown in May. Her friends rallied round, culminating in a couple living with her for 6 weeks in August and September, but finally finding her problems too difficult to cope with. She was eventually sectioned, staying in hospital for 6 weeks, then allowed home with a full time carer. Her many devoted friends have been closely involved and I have had to apply as attorney for her finances. Being in Greece, this is proving difficult. As you can imagine, this has overshadowed a significant part of my time this year.

And finally it rained in mid October! The dormant and yellow grassy areas almost immediately started showing green shoots and within a week the grass was a few inches high.

Suddenly I spied clumps of wild grape hyacinths appearing with the new shoots of grass, then quickly hidden from view as the grass grew higher.

With the rain, the temperatures cooled and it was time for the Greek tradition of bringing carpets out of storage and setting them down on our tile floors. Of course it warmed up again after that, so a few more evenings spent outside with friends were a pleasant finale to the summer.

Now my walk to and from the Walk Inn is in darkness. I kept admiring the bright star shining in the east and wondering which one it was. Eventually, activating my phone app for the night skies, Stellarium, I found that it was Jupiter. Without my glasses it looks as though there are two bright spots of light circling each other– my science fiction mind was thinking UFO…..

November was unremarkable apart from a couple of outings, one to the cinema to see Amsterdam. It was good if a bit contrived, although based on a real story. It made a nice change – I should go more often but the screenings are a bit late for me. The next day I went to the Eco-Fair – an annual 2^nd hand market with food and music.

I met up with various friends and bought some rather attractive Christmas ornaments. It was a gorgeous day, bright sunshine and a fantastic venue overlooking the sea and the distant Turkish coast. A group of women presented a great dance routine – all really well synchronised.

I put up my “winter” red curtains, dug out the duvet, swapped my summer clothes for winter ones and so on. I splurged out on new trainers, organised appointments to get a new bank card to replace an expiring one, and took the car in for its annual service. Then made the appointment for its MOT where all went well. Next year’s car tax has been paid too. I feel quite virtuous.

After a summer of not using my oven, and minimal cooking, food preparation has become a little more adventurous with casseroles and stews back on the menu. Last year I often made cakes and buns which I may resume. The lemons in the back yard are ripe but rather high on the tree, but if I get a few windfalls I can make the lemon tart that is so good. I will make some mince pies to give to Margarita and Antony’s family as a traditional British offering.

Finally the market stalls were piling up oranges and tangerines. The hiatus between the end of the peach season in September and the start of the citrus season in mid November always makes me wonder what to buy. And now I see the mandarin tree at the back of my apartment is covered in flowers with bees buzzing around. It seems to fruit every two years so next November we might have free fruit as it didn’t have any this year. At the same time, local avocados came into season, excellent. Several huge avocado trees grow near my house, but they are so big and tall you cannot see if there is any fruit hanging high up in the branches.

Margarita had put up her Christmas decorations in early November! The rest of us held back until December, but now my front balcony is glittering in multi-coloured lights, the twig has been pruned somewhat, set up and decorated. The poinsettia trees are in full red glory. One has been coppiced so has a plethora of bright new branches. I had to explain the meaning of the word “coppice” to friends.

As I look out at the back of my house I see workmen on various roofs repainting and replastering as the recent rains reveal leaks. Earlier, one apartment had insulation added to the outside of what is a kind of bay window. Now new scaffolding is in place for further works higher up.

A gang of 5 men were cleaning a tall steel chimney, ready for Father Christmas? Once they had athletically retrieved a hammer having dropped it onto the next roof down, they tied it to the end of a long string. Then they dropped it down the chimney, pulling down the circular brush attached to the middle of the string. A few jiggles up and down (and a lot of shouting) and it was done. Then they put the cowling back on – poor Father Christmas.

Now I have finished this blog, it is time to start seriously preparing for Christmas and New Year festivities. Let us hope that 2023 brings more hope and less calamity.

Success! Me, Dimitris (boss and teacher), Beata (Norway), Paola (Switzerland), Eva (teacher and dancer)

The Walk Inn – my Friday treat

Every Friday I treat myself to a trip into the Old Town for a beer and dinner. It is still light when I set off around 5:30 pm and head north up the alleyways. I pass the small group of shops on Aghia Anastasia – the wedding dress and fireworks shop on the corner closed down a while ago. The apartments above it have been renovated, but still no takers for the shop. Next door is the tailor who told me where to go to get my sewing machine fixed. He also has done up his shop front with new signage. Next to him is the key shop, which sells all kinds of security stuff, and a bit further along is the small take-away selling pita gyros.

On the other corner, again another closed outlet where an internet café used to be. A small local shop selling every day necessities set up when the larger supermarket next door closed down. Their space has been taken over by the laundry where I take my carpets to be washed. It is called Symela – her shop is always stacked high with bags of cleaned articles ready for collection.

And next door to Symela is Savazio patisserie. I was taken aback to find it closed the past few weeks. Finally I looked up their Facebook page and found that they are taking an extended 6 week holiday! Opening again in mid November – phew.

Further on is a bakery, and then the road narrows as it goes past the church – pedestrians dodge oncoming traffic. Past the dilapidated neo classical mansion where cats abound, and a new “traditional products” shop that I have yet to investigate. Then various cafés and eateries, the wonderful Stani ice-cream and cake shop, a new perfumery, a florist, a shop that makes signage and engraved things, an upmarket clothes shop and a nightwear shop, another tailor and a physiotherapist!

Passing all of those I arrive at the corner of one of the two cinemas in town, cross over to walk along the outside of the Diagoras stadium (very art deco) and over to the Red Gate which is my closest access to the Old Town. Turning left, I arrive at the beginning of one of the main east-west cobbled streets, Omirou where a Turkish fountain still offers running water, and a wonderful white bougainvillea hangs over the archway.

Down hill along Omirou, I am walking between high walls. There are a couple of alleyways leading off to the left, with glimpses of brightly coloured houses at the end. Eventually I come to an archway on the right – not the one I want as it leads to a weed strewn ruin. The next archway magically leads into a large open area with several huge ficus trees giving shade. A large mosque on the right is usually closed but I think it may be opened for special occasions.

Several restaurants have made their homes here, with chairs and tables set out under the trees. I negotiate my way around these, avoiding the guys who rush over and brandish their menus in front of me. Turning to the left I see the Walk Inn – a few tables and chairs outside, sometimes busy even at this early hour.

Sitting at a table, Poppy comes and greets me. “On my own again” I say, digging out my phone and Kindle e-reader. I order a Vergina beer, which arrives promptly along with the menu securely ensconced in big wooden covers. The speciality is pizza, but other options are available. Trying to reduce my calorie intake, I select a salad – which arrives in a huge bowl. Avocado, rocket, sun-dried tomato and pine nuts drizzled with a tasty balsamic vinaigrette and parmesan cheese – scrumptious.

Having heard a few stories about the Walk Inn, and been there for music and social gatherings as well as my Friday treat, I wanted to find out more about how it all started. It was fascinating to get another insight into Greek entrepreneurial families. George told me the story.

A brother and sister run the restaurant – Giorgos (George) and Cassiopeia (Poppy). George is in charge of the kitchen, and Poppy is front of house – both assisted by various seasonal workers.

The history: George’s parents grew up in Greece, and met in Karpathos, when his mother was there for a wedding and his father “jumped ship” he thinks. A romance, their own wedding and then finding that post war work was scarce, they emigrated to Baltimore, found work, bought a house and had four children – Giorgos, Nikos (Nick), Cassiopeia and Manolis (Manni). When George was in his late teens, disaster struck, when his father suffered an accident at work and was hospitalised then bed-ridden for months.

George trained as a refrigeration and air conditioning technician and supported the family during this time. Realising that his father would not be able to work again, the family decided to return to Greece in 1989 when George was 20. They settled on Rhodes as a place where the children could find work and it would be cheaper to live. They found the house in the Old Town and bought it with the proceeds of selling the house in Baltimore.

It wasn’t a huge house, originally with a courtyard to one side with a fig tree and the remains of stables. Over ten years, George working in his profession after the requisite 6 months military service, and the younger siblings training in hospitality (such colleges being present in Rhodes), they converted the house to become the restaurant/café that it is today. The courtyard was roofed over, the floor level built up and it became an indoors seating area with a wood burning stove to keep us warm in the winter.

Having lived in the States, George and his siblings were immersed in the jazz and rock and roll culture of the ‘80s and before, and had access to great bands on their tours. The Walk Inn capitalises on that culture, playing excellent rock music instead of the ubiquitous Greek folk music heard in other venues. In the early days, young local musicians gathered and found a sympathetic environment. They had heard highlights of the rock era, but here at the Walk Inn they found a wealth of more in depth experiences and influences.

While George was following his career, he spent a lot of time during the 10 year re-building period in other restaurant kitchens while fixing their fridges and air con units. He watched and learned, developing his own affinity for cooking and finally becoming confident enough to become the chef at the Walk Inn, which opened its doors in 1998. The pizzas are renowned for their crisp bases and wonderful fillings and the rest of the menu is excellent, and good value too. Although the financial returns from the business are not as lucrative as George’s engineering work, he finds it far more satisfying.

As the siblings grew up, everyone lent a helping hand, while at times working in other tourism related businesses in Rhodes. They have all taken advantage of living in Europe, taking the opportunity to visit as well as travel to gigs in other countries. George told me about flying into a deserted Manchester airport when they went to see Fleetwood Mac in London.

To emphasise the rock culture the family decorated the walls of the restaurant with large black and white photos of famous rock artists. This attracted the local artist community and the photos have now been added to with original paintings on the same theme. The Rhodes artists group hold exhibitions of their work there from time to time, with live music. For me, it is a wonderful refuge of good music, food and art.

Tragically Nick died recently after what was supposed to be a routine cardiac operation. There is still huge sorrow in the family and their friends as Nick was a charming, calming and strong character, and shared running the business with George. Manni is now working in Manchester, UK, for a different experience.

None of the siblings has married for one reason or another, narrowly avoiding disaster George says! So there is no younger family coming up to potentially take over when George and Poppy retire. However with all the friends they have made in building this business I am sure something will emerge.

Like the people at Savazio, George and Poppy are taking a short break in November for the first time in many years. It is one of very few establishments in the Old Town that remains open for local clientele all winter, so they don’t normally get any break at all. One of their recent concessions has been to close on Mondays – something some of the other restaurants outside the Old Town do.

The Walk Inn has its own complement of cats, most of them named and ensuring that their territory remains sacrosanct.

Italian Influences

The Northern peninsula of Rhodes and Grande Albergo delle Rose

One of the main things you notice when wandering around Rhodes is the reminder of the Italian occupation. Ηere is a story of one of the more ostentatious buildings, and another of a town built by the Italians. All of this is taken from various sources, Wikipedia, Facebook, advertising etc.

In Britain, un-invaded since the Normans, it is difficult to appreciate the turbulence of invasions and political manoeuvrings affecting the populations of the countries around the Mediterranean over the past two centuries or more. It is salutary to get a feeling for the effects of our own colonial efforts that are reverberating today.

After the outbreak of the Italian-Turkish war over Libya in early 1912 Italy, in order to apply pressure on the Ottoman government, occupied the Dodecanese. The idea was to establish a centre for the Italian empire in the Levant. I assume that prior to this the Dodecanese was in Ottoman hands.

The Italians brought in a huge swathe of modernisation including property registration, power and water and urban development in Rhodes Town and to a lesser extent the rest of the island. Redeveloping the medieval harbour (Mandraki) they cleared the western side, demolished existing buildings, created a promenade and over the years built a range of municipal offices and commercial enterprises, a theatre and a huge hotel. All this in the span of only two decades.

Mario Lago was the Governor of the Dodecanese from 1922 to 1936 and commissioned the hotel as an upscale tourist destination. It combined Byzantine, Arabian, Ottoman and Venetian styles – echoed in the municipal offices built around the corner on the harbour front.

The hotel was (and is) called “Grande Albergo delle Rose” named after the surrounding rose gardens.

The hotel dominates the beaches to the west of the harbour, as they curve around to the tip of the island. It was completed in 1927, hosting a number of the great and good over the years.

This picture seems to be when the building was in the process of being modified. The diving board still exists.

A new governor closely associated with Mussolini, Cesare de Vecchi, took over in 1936. His aesthetic sense was offended by the ornate architecture. He immediately demanded that the hotel should be converted to the “rational” style which I think had been utilised along with Art Deco touches in the more severe architecture to be seen today at the town hall, theatre and surrounding buildings. The Venetian style municipal offices were strangely spared.

The hotel closed during the 1970’s (no reason given) and was bought by a Casino company in 2002. A big sign on the front advertises Rhodes Casino, and the hotel was refurbished and still operates (at eyewatering rates).

Friends decided to treat themselves to a flutter at the tables and then partake of afternoon tea – all very British! They assumed that a casino would expect a certain dress code, but found that they stood out among the rather more relaxed apparel of the tourists around them. The tea looks sumptuous though.

Campo Chiaro

Further south, in the centre of the island, is a small town called Eleousa, previously known as Campo Chiaro. It was one of four rural villages built by the Italians to control agriculture and promote the political regime. Mario Lago – still in office in 1934 – invited 30 families from the Fiemme valley, Northern Italy to move to the recently built Campo Chiaro. These families were lumberjacks and sawyers, and were to maintain the 55 thousand hectares of forest around the area. The workers were guaranteed a good salary as well as a house, land and schooling – amazing luck in a time of great unemployment.

Campochiaro was built in a strategic location. New roads were created to facilitate the connection between other rural villages and to transport goods, and later military equipment. The two main highways connecting Rhodes town with Mt Prophet Ilias and Lindos were paved with asphalt. Campochiaro was also on the way to the two impressive hotels built in the forest near the summit of Prophet Ilias – “Elafos” and “Elafina” and a villa where many officials, including the governor of the island, Mario Lago and later Cesare Maria de Vecchi, spent the hot summer days.

The forest was cleaned and well-maintained so the officials could go hunting during their free time. Probably this explains why Campochiaro had such impressive constructions like the catholic church, the school, the market, and the services building to impress visitors and to remind them of their homeland.

With the change of governor in 1936 and the advent of WWII, the village became an army base with 20,000 soldiers descending on it. One of the buildings was turned into a prison. At the end of the war the foresters were not supported by the Italians any more as the Dodecanese was returned to Greek governance. They left the small town and returned to Italy.

A sanatorium took over as the foresters left in 1947 and became well known for treating respiratory ailments, particularly tuberculosis. It was the main institution for its treatment in the Dodecanese until 1970.

The municipal buildings have now fallen into ruin (apart from the church of course), but the remains are very evocative of that era and appear very ghostly. After the Dodecanese islands united with Greece, Campochiaro was named after Aghia Eleousa, meaning “Our Lady of Tenderness”. The church was converted to Greek Orthodox and was dedicated to St. Charalambos.

One of the main attractions is the enormous pool, just outside the centre. It is weird to find such a construction seemingly in the middle of nowhere now but looks so close to town in the older pictures.

The town is built on a hill and the photographs from the construction phase show the complex road layout, now made even more difficult with a one way system and a very specific lack of signage at the critical junction. Every time I go through the village to get to the forests and walking areas of Profitis Ilias, Mussolini’s house (never used) and the Alpine style hotel Elafos, I take the wrong road and have to turn round. The signs are fine coming the other way!

The residents – now Greek – are proud of their town and have posted its history on Facebook – so my thanks to them.

January to June 2022

Half a year gone already – the sun is shining, the tourists are arriving in force and I caught Covid! After two years of managing to avoid it I was somewhat annoyed to get it. However being laid slightly low and confined to the house for a week has meshed very well with my intentions to get this episode written. It also coincided with a hiatus in my twice weekly Greek lessons, as my teacher is entertaining friends for a couple of weeks.

Christmas and New Year

Of course I must not omit the fun I had over the Christmas and New Year holidays. I created the flower display to cheer up my sitting room. The flower stalls in the market sell mainly chrysanthemums in a variety of colours including my favourite maroon and white, plus suitable greenery.

On the culinary side for Christmas day, I made a lemon chicken casserole, bought a fancy pistachio concoction from Savazio and enjoyed a small limoncello afterwards. Margarita and Vaso and I exchanged our usual gifts of preserves and liqueurs from the market. It was a horrid wet day, so staying in and treating myself was perfect.

I had started a series of science fiction books by Neal Asher – great stories, well written and with enough dry humour to amuse. I have been slowly working my way through his publication list all this year.

Boxing Day was dry and bright so I wandered down to the beach to blow the cobwebs away. There is a hardy group of locals who swim every day unless it is really stormy.

For New Year’s Eve I had been invited upstairs to Antony and Vaso’s party. On the day they sent a message saying that their daughter had been in contact with a Covid positive person and had to cancel – but if I wanted to risk it I was welcome still! Of course I did. We had a lovely evening, munching through some of the great dishes Vaso and her family had prepared for 15 people, drinking pink champagne, and watching the build up on TV. I learned how to play gin rummy badly. Then it was midnight and the traditional cake came out and we watched the fireworks from the balcony.

January

Having struggled with a tiny diary to make my notes the previous year, I invested in a larger one to make more copious notes. The main theme from December through to mid March was how cold it was – much colder than normal. All the locals agree. My electricity bills agree. I eventually just left my new oil-filled radiator on all the time which kept the house warmish. It also rained a lot, which is good when you live on a small island.

I did a bit of furniture shopping and rearranging, and organised the first Covid booster appointment at the hospital. As my friend Grace lives not far from there I arranged to go and visit for coffee afterwards to catch up with her news. She used to go to the gym and I had not seen her for a while. The inoculation procedure had improved considerably and was straightforward, with little ill effect.

As mentioned in the December episode, I had to renew my Greek driving licence, getting health and vision checks. Amazingly this could now be done online. With much help from Margarita I negotiated my way through the system and got a code for the health practitioners to use. I found a doctor who could do the health check just round the corner from my house. The check consisted of a long list of questions, one request to hold out my arms and hands, and that was it, all online! He also takes public health patients so was an excellent find.

The ophthalmologist was similarly close by and again the test was straight forward. However I must have been the first person to present with a digital submission and his secretary had some difficulty working out how to fill in the online form.

Finally I proceeded to load my signature and picture the latter of which I had to do twice, and very fiddly but it was all accepted and my new licence was ready to be collected in mid March. Phew. All a big learning experience.

And I continued to push out the boundaries by uploading Windows 11 to my laptop – it took a long time. On the whole it works well with some nice new features.

My Greek lessons with Eva continued relentlessly. We had struggled with Zoom connections, so eventually settled on using Skype. She lives on Rhodes, but teaches online – mostly to students learning English, but with a couple of exceptions like me. I also use other sources – one is an excellent series of podcasts each about 10 minutes long that enhance my understanding. Easy Greek videos help too (on YouTube, but with exercises and transcripts if you subscribe).

February

Spring must arrive sometime! After being annoyed last year by baby sparrows twittering in the outlet tube of my kitchen extractor fan, I finally got round to putting a net over the end of it. Achievement.

Savvas Pavlides organised the first group walk since the start of the pandemic. Greece had kept up its restrictions all winter – masks on all the time outside the house, Covid vaccine certification to get into anywhere other than supermarkets and pharmacies etc. But we were now allowed to exercise outside in groups.

So it was great to get out – a brisk and strenuous hike up the side of Ilias Profitis from near the old Italian administrative centre of Eleousa. I met an interesting couple, but since then Savvas has not organised anything else (no explanations given), so have not seen them again.

After seeing Grace again I finally managed to persuade her to have a go at teaching Laila and me belly dancing. She had been a professional belly dancer, performing all over the world, until settling down in Rhodes. She performed in most of the big hotels here before finally retiring. We gathered for coffee and cake at my apartment, then with a little YouTube backing music Laila and I twitched and jerked in some semblance of imitation of Grace’s very graceful moves! We had great fun and hope to resume next winter.

March

This month we celebrated “Clean Monday” and the beginning of Lent. Early on, I thought Clean Monday was a literal description to clean house, but of course not – it is to start the process of repenting sins and fasting during Lent. On the Saturday the market fish stalls were full of shell fish and other tasty things. Vaso brought me a bowl of octopus stew and Margarita brought bread – such kind neighbours. I had thought about mussels, but they didn’t look very attractive.

And then it was Laila’s 65^th birthday. She took over a music bar called Andama – frequented by friends, but I had never been before. She and friends organised decorations, a huge buffet and free drinks, and the excellent rock band played for us all to dance to. And it was a good thing too – it was so cold that exercise was mandatory. We all had a lot of fun.

Later in the month another music session was advertised at Andama – a jazz night – which I attended. It was good – but spoilt slightly by the background buzz of conversation. I met Olympia who had done the video of Brian’s funeral and we had a short chat before she got back to the friend she had come with.

Having found the friendly public health doctor, I discussed my cholesterol results with him. He suggested I try to diet for a couple of months then have another test. So I cut down on the cakes, fat and other nice things, but it made no difference. The process to get the 2^nd test was another investigation into how things work, very efficient through one of the many commercial test centres and again close by. I am now on a course of low dosage statins, and another test will reveal if these are sufficient.

And finally, at the end of March, the temperatures slowly crawled upwards and the swifts arrived – screaming around the rooftops. Wonderful harbingers of spring.

April

To celebrate my 70^th birthday I invited neighbours plus Grace and Laila to an early evening meal out. I selected a restaurant (4 Pomegranates) that I had been watching develop, where they had gutted and renovated an old Italian building on Kanada street. The reviews looked great. Unfortunately they were closed on the actual day of my birthday so I booked a table for the night before, got responses from eight invitees, and pre-ordered the food. They serve a huge selection of shared meze type dishes.

The day was fortunately warm so we sat outside – Margarita’s husband Roy was home too which was great – and the food started to be brought out. It was deemed an excellent selection – the portion sizes were bigger than I had expected. However we managed to scoff most of it, and Grace and Laila boxed up the remainder to be consumed at home. None of us had been there before and we were all very impressed.

The next day I celebrated by doing absolutely nothing – just reading and going out for a short amble down to the beach. Wonderful.

Having become frustrated by the difficulty in practising my Greek on an island where almost everyone speaks English, I was attracted by the advertisement for a two week residential course specifically tailored to get people more accustomed to speaking Greek.

The company organises these courses in various places in Greece – the closest to me being on Syros – the administrative centre of the Cyclades. Amazingly a ferry goes from Rhodes to Syros, so that was an easy decision to make. The course starts on 10^th July, but I arrive a couple of days earlier due to ferry schedules.

Another few days were spent organising and writing up my visit to Archangelos, and as you could see from the pictures, we began to experience much warmer weather. I finally turned off the heating.

Grace invited Laila and me to dinner one evening which was a very nice change and a chance to chat to her husband Mehmet who works as a plumber. He is hoping to change career to something desk bound – he speaks fluent German and Turkish – as he is experiencing back problems.

Box tree cuttings scattered outside the church for Easter

Finally Easter arrived, celebrated quietly although the restrictions on social events had eased by then. Roy had gone back to his job running oil tankers in the North Sea from Norwegian oil wells. Margarita reported that he had been asked to work 3 months back to back due to the increased demand caused by the war in Ukraine, so his next break here will be July.

The bars and restaurants in the Old Town had opened up for Easter (a week earlier than Greek celebrations) and we started meeting at Hermes again. I have fallen into the habit of going there on Friday evenings for a beer and pita gyros- just for a change of scenery really, and to meet anyone who might be around.

May

With the advent of warmer weather, new produce was arriving in the market. As I love dolmades I decided to try making my own. What a performance! The recipe I found said to blanch the vine leaves – but of course if you put a bunch of leaves in boiling water they will all stick together. So I dunked them one at a time – so tedious. Making the dolmades themselves was simple and the recipe worked well. I still have some in the freezer, but my curiosity has now been satiated, not worth the hassle.

The trees had started sprouting leaves and flowers – the China Ball trees showing both last year’s golden bunches of seeds and the new pale lilac flowers at the same time. Very pretty.

On the walk to the market I watched the progress of the spring flowers in the ruins. The lizards that must hibernate in the rocks started appearing and sunning themselves. I have heard them being called Rhodes Dragons – from a distance they seem a bit bigger and scalier than the usual greenish ones.

Margarita had made contact with Christine, an Australian who has bought a house in the Old Town. Christine wanted to know where to get sourdough bread, and Margarita arranged to show her how to make it herself and give her a starter dough. Christine invited us to visit her house in the Old Town. It is amazing that behind a blank wall, structures like hers exist. She has four or five floors ( counting a couple of roof terraces) with a big open air light well running down the middle. Needless to say it had been very cold in the winter, but in summer it will be wonderful.

Christine and Margarita and sourdough loaf

Gradually we saw more traffic, bendy busses going to Faliraki and other points, and the umbrellas and sunbeds were set out on the beaches. I had my first sunbathe on the beach in mid May, but didn’t venture into the water. My winter wardrobe got washed and transferred into the boxes emptied of summer clothes. Finally the thick cotton carpets were folded up and taken to the laundrette for washing and put away.

I was highly amused the last few days of May when a swallow family hatched and three baby swallows perched wobbling on the electricity wire at the back of the apartment. The first day they didn’t try to fly (although they must have got there somehow) and just squawked and fluttered when their long suffering parents swooped by with insect offerings. They finally started flying properly on day three, and by day five had disappeared. So cute.

June

And here we are, getting towards the end of June. Mid summer’s day came and went. I had a lovely day on one of the more distant beaches with friends, having lunch in the beach café and finally swimming.

Peaches and nectarines have started to be available at the market, along with juicy melons, the ubiquitous watermelons, and tangy cherries. The oranges will soon disappear until next October.

The month has been remarkably quiet – even before I contracted the dreaded Covid. People are busy with visitors and working with tourist companies. Laila returned to Denmark for a few months, Grace is now working full time and others are busy, so we meet up at irregular times.

I am looking forward to my trip to Syros – it will be an adventure and hopefully will boost my efforts to get to grips with this difficult language.

Arhangelos – Αρχάγγελος

In a lightning strike of inspiration, having never been to Arhangelos itself, I asked a friend who lives there if I could visit and use it as the subject of this episode. Firstly, yes I know we might spell it Archangelos, but the Greek χ (ch) is soft – so recent practise is to call it Arhangelos as evidenced by the road signs.

We arranged a suitable day and I arrived in time for coffee. It is around 35-40 minutes drive from Rhodes town, on the eastern side of the island, just over half way to Lindos. It is somewhere you pass by, and never stop! Karla met me at the main road, guided me to the centre and we enjoyed lattés in the sunshine at Gregory’s (γρήγορα – quick!) – a café chain that has proliferated in recent years. It was a perfect day for touring the town and finding out its history.

The town has expanded into a valley surrounded by high hills. The old town clings to the side of the southern massif with views across the newer developments towards Tsambika mountain to the north. According to the guide book the village was originally agricultural, with a tradition for carpet weaving and hand made goatskin boots – the double boots I mention later. Large citrus groves are cultivated inland on the flood plains of the major rivers – Malona oranges and mandarins are piled high in the Saturday market and Massari has an orange festival. As well as being agricultural it is also a bustling commercial and administrative centre.

An indigenous miniature horse (110 cm) existed in this area. These were common across the Aegean, and most agricultural families on Rhodes used them on the farms before mechanisation. Regrettably they were then killed off by hunters or for food until near extinction. They were finally protected and the few remaining are maintained in a small area near the town.

The villagers consolidated themselves in this valley as a defence against the pirates who regularly raided the coastal areas. The only access to the sea from Arhangelos is down a very steep and easily defended road to Stegna beach. Of course it is now tarmac and carefully maintained, but even so, where the modern road has been cut into the hillside, great swathes of wire netting hold back the crumbling rock face.

The residents have a reputation for insularity, their own dialect and strange behaviour! This may have arisen as many Cypriots immigrated here, obviously bringing their own culture with them. This possibly occurred when the Knights Hospitaller moved here, having been based in Cyprus for a few years previously, or from pirate incursions. The young people chatting at the café seemed normal enough!

During the two hundred year occupation of Rhodes by the Knights of St John or Knights Hospitaller (1300 to 1500) the island was managed by the eight “langues” – the name for the different nationalities. They built twelve defensive forts around the island. One of the Italian knights, a member of the huge Orsini family, built the fortification above Arhangelos (Castle of St John) in 1367. From the walls you can see the coast and be warned of approaching marauders. It is likely that there had been something there prior to this where the locals would look out for pirates and other invaders.

The other castles are clockwise from Rhodes Town, which has two, Koskinou, Farakos (Haraki), Lindos, Lardos (inland), Asklipieio (also inland) then a big gap around the southern tip of Rhodes until you get to Monolithos on the west side. There are a couple on the western islands of Halki and Alimia, then another big gap up to two close together at Kremasti and Filerimos. Obviously the South and Western sides of Rhodes were deemed to be of lesser interest to the invaders.

Most are located on ancient sites, in the case of the Lindos Acropolis, a medieval fortress enclosing an ancient site!

Once the Knights were vanquished by Suleiman the Great and Ottoman ruled the island for the next four hundred years, Karla surmises that the Turks kept mainly to Rhodes Town, and left the Greeks to manage their small holdings without too much interference. This small agricultural town was isolated, a good distance from the main town and so the ensuing changes of rule didn’t affect them so much. The much more recent Italian rule of the Dodecanese did have some effect, as can be seen from the municipal building.

Young Archangelides, like many Greeks in the 20^th century, headed overseas for work and to make money to start their own businesses and families. Germany was a popular guest worker destination, evidenced by many speaking good German here. Those remaining in the town kept their identity, traditional clothing being worn well into the 1990’s. In particular the locals wore footwear called snake boots – a double folded type of boot to ward against snake bites.

I was to discover that Archangelos doesn’t really have a town square, as many Greek villages do, just a large junction of a couple of main roads. Hidden behind and to the south of the junction is the administrative centre with the Italian built town hall. Moving further south and uphill we explored the alleyways of the older part of town, finally arriving at St Michael’s church – the eponymous archangel. This is the usual huge wedding cake structure, filled with iconic wall paintings, rich gold decorations and candelabra.

Locally the 8^th November, St Michael’s day, used to be a public holiday. Now not so much but a big celebration nonetheless, along with another St Mary celebration later in the same month. Other churches proliferate around the village of course, most seeming to be older and smaller than that of St Michael, but all beautifully kept.

After visiting St Michael church we headed up through the winding streets, finally finding narrow passages between or through back yards to get to the top of the hill and the castle. Little remains apart from the external walls over which we could see the sea and the coast to the north of the town. A small chapel has been constructed in a pit within the walls, presumably later. Old carpet has been spread under the trees outside the sunken church, offering the worshippers somewhere to sit in the cool after the hot climb.

We clambered around the ruins before deciding it was lunchtime. Karla suggested we go down to the beach at Stegna, where we had a very pleasant meze lunch. Stegna means “dry” – the area has no natural water supply. A small harbour would have provided the local fishermen with a safe haven for their boats, while being able to retreat to the safety of the inland town up the vertiginous paths.

After a very pleasant day it was time to return home and gather my thoughts and photos to create this episode. Many thanks to Karla who helped to put this together.

Savazio

When I started to plan this episode, I had hoped to describe two or three of the cake, ice cream and sweet shops that I frequent. One of them didn’t want to know and I ran out of time for the other. But I found there was plenty to write about on the one 5 minutes walk from my house – “Savazio – Fine Tech Pastry”.

This superb patisserie (zacharoplasteio) opened on 18^th December 2020 – just as the second Greek pandemic lockdown started. I asked Maria Papageorgiou how it all started. Maria is the daughter and granddaughter of the owners, She runs the business side of the shop as well as helping behind the counter and was kind enough to speak to me to give me all this detail.

The eponymous Agios Anastasias looking towards Savazio

Maria’s grandfather owned and lived in the building that is now the shop – 125 Agios Anastasias, one of the alleyways leading towards the centre of Rhodes town that I described before. Like many Greeks he went to Canada to work and make some money before returning to Rhodes. His son, Maria’s father, was brought up on Agios Anastasias and married in 1993. Around that time his father decided to open a hotel and restaurant in Faliraki and the entire family moved there. (“Oh, recently” I said – showing my age) The building on Agios Anastasias eventually fell into disuse.

Young Papageorgiou trained in the hotel and restaurant business, following in his father’s footsteps and managing the hotel and restaurant. Maria was born in 1996 and studied in Rhodes and then for her degree in Economics in Athens.

Once the building on Agios Anastasias had fallen out of use, they realised that they should do something with it. Over several years they made a plan to renovate the first and second floors into apartments which would be rented, and to make a “pastry” shop with kitchens on the ground floor. The one thing you don’t see here is pastry – the English equivalent of their product is really confectionery I think.

They engaged the services of an architect from Thessaloniki. He had an impressive portfolio of modern restaurant and shop designs and they felt his experience would serve them well. At the same time, they brought in a design company to create a brand identity for the shop. The company suggested a number of names, and the Papageorgiou family settled on Savazio (this is spelled Sabazio in Greek) characterised as the god of Perfection. When I looked it up in Wikipedia the summary was that he was the horseman and sky father god of the Phrygians and Thracians and associated with Dionysius. Maybe perfection is in there somewhere! The design company produce all the very smart packaging and the signage, including window displays for every calendar event that involves the consumption of confectionery.

The Papageorgiou family knew of Lazaros Chatzisavvas through the restaurant trade. He was the head pastry chef at the 5 star Lindos Blu hotel and had made a reputation with his fantastic creations. He was born in Rhodes, studied at the tourist and catering colleges here, then expanded his expertise by studying in Switzerland and then working in Belgium (both noted for their chocolate). On returning to Rhodes he had been snapped up by the top hotel in Lindos to support their claim to showcase “gastronomy as art”. I have included a few pictures of his confections – words are insufficient! If you have Instagram, his work is more extensively displayed there.

I saw the renovations of the apartments beginning in 2019 – all very prettily done and the balconies painted in pastel colours. Then the ground floor was stripped out and the kitchens and shop created, the architect working closely with Lazaros. The retail area is a long cooled glass covered counter showcasing the exotic creations for sale. At one end they put in extra refrigeration for the homemade ice creams that they sell in the summer months. At the other end, by the door, is the till next to a built in weighing platform.

The kitchen area extends behind, all gleaming white tiles, stainless steel and glass and is open to view from the counter. Very different from the more traditional pastry shops. Smartly dressed cooks and assistants beaver away making their wonderful concoctions. As far as possible all the ingredients are locally sourced and fresh every day.

Lazaros is the product designer and creator of what Maria calls “the menu”. He is assisted by 6 or 7 other members of staff – one of whom, Michael, Maria’s cousin, moved from his job as chef at the Faliraki restaurant.

So, on 18^th December 2020, as all the other retail shops and businesses closed down, Savazio opened. Only food shops, supermarkets and pharmacies were allowed to remain open. Maria and her team posted the opening date and an expansive album of pictures on Instagram. This was picked up by people looking for something different for Christmas, and the queue was out of the door! So when I asked if Covid had affected them, they don’t really know yet what “normal” will be like. The business is thriving in these restricted times.

If you want to see more, here is their Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/Savazio/photos

Summer and Autumn, Rhodes 2021

By the time July arrived, we were already well into summer in this southern part of the Mediterranean. June passed with a blur. I had just started Greek lessons with my new teacher – Eva (Evangelia) Halatsi – on Zoom as related in the last newsletter. These have carried on and we enjoy our twice weekly sessions. I struggle with the 18 different ways to decline the nouns and adjectives – and the many different versions of each of these. I have just now found another four different adjective forms – o joy. But we manage to have a laugh most days.

Zephyros Beach – not so inviting in December

Laila, my Danish friend, introduced me to the sunbed attendant on Zephyros beach and her cousin who runs the drinks and snacks bar in a caravan on the beach. After a couple of weeks, Cassandra was bringing my frappé to me after I came out of the water and she and Giannis always gave me a friendly wave as I arrived. On occasion I would meet friends on the beach, but usually I would just be enjoying an hour or two of quiet relaxation with music on my earphones and a book. By July the water was warm enough not to make me grit my teeth on entering. Cassandra and Giannis come from Thessaloniki – part of the grand invasion of Greeks and other nationalities that come to the islands to service the tourist trade. They had taken on an apartment together but Cassandra, being expected to housekeep, was not happy. They were planning to keep the sunbeds going until the end of October but I didn’t go down there after early October. Next year, if they return, she will live on her own. I look forward to seeing them if they do.

The winery and a few sculptures – Manolis and Laila

At the end of June, Laila arranged for us to spend a night at Apollakia reservoir and camp again. We stopped off at Gennadi beach on the way for a swim and lunch – it was pretty much deserted. We visited Manolis at his house. We had met him last February at the camp. His friend Apostolas from Aegina had arrived for a visit. Manolis’ hobby is to collect driftwood and turn it into wonderful statuary. He also showed us his home brew kit – several massive tanks for making wine. Did all the grapes come from his own vineyard? No, he is given some by neighbours, who then benefit from the resulting beverage. He had no bottles left for us.

Manolis and Apostolas are great hikers and were arranging to visit Karpathos – the scenic island south from here. They were bemoaning the fact that they were restricted to circular walks in order to get back to their car. Laila amazed them by offering to join them and act as chauffeur – which she did and regaled us with tales of Karpathos on her return.

She had been worried about getting the Covid vaccination. I took her to the hospital and metaphorically held her hand – the setup had changed and it was all far more professional. She said she had tidied her house, sorted out her paperwork and given her neighbour instructions in case the worst should happen. After her jab, we went to my local pizza restaurant for lunch, conveniently close to the cemetery just in case. She was fine.

Shortly after that it was time for my 2^nd Astra-Zeneca vaccination. Amazingly I got a text message the same evening giving me the website address to get my certificate. It all worked excellently and I printed out the certificate to keep in my bag and now have downloaded a picture of the QR code to my phone. This as a result of the more recent restrictions that to enter any facility other than a supermarket or pharmacy we have to show our vaccination certificate with separate ID (or a negative lateral flow test result). This has encouraged more people to get vaccinated, but there are still a worrying number of hold-outs. The new requirement for all eligible over 60’s to be vaccinated or bear a 100 euro fine every month starts in January.

Most of the summer I headed into the Old Town to either Hermes or Hamam café a couple of evenings a week for an hour or two. There I caught up with the gossip and it was good to have a chance of conversation. Zoriana is Ukrainian, was married to a Greek and had a café business in Karpathos. On separating from said husband she moved to Rhodes with her 8? year old daughter Veronica, and leased the Hamam café for a couple of seasons. We congregated there as she had brought wonderful cushioned cane armchairs with her as well as offering a very good menu. We all seem to suffer from the classic Greek straight backed rush seated chairs. Hermes at least puts cushions on theirs.

The Rhodes Jazz festival was held in early July. As usual, everything starts at 9pm and continues to the early hours – totally contrary to my normal routine of being in bed by 10pm. I had a strong word with myself, had a good afternoon rest (when do I not?) and arrived at the wonderful setting within the Old Town walls. The show turned out to be excellent – I found a sound recording app on my phone and recorded some of it as well as a few very wobbly videos. Most exhilarating was the school percussion band. Around 10 children of varying size marched onto the stage armed with drums of equivalent size and proceeded to perform the most amazing set. I would have returned for the Sunday session but the thought of getting up at 7am for gym on Monday dissuaded me. So I have been there, done that and even got the T-shirt! I look forward to next year.

Just after that, my sister Jessica announced that she had booked flights to arrive in Rhodes and stay with me for 3 weeks, from the end of July. Oh! I made a rapid evaluation of how to organise my apartment and cater for a sun-starved Londoner. At the same time, my car seemed to be acting strangely, but I ignored it. Typically, on my way to collect her at the airport, it gave up the ghost (it was suffering from a leaking coolant pipe). Of course it broke down in an area with no mobile signal, but eventually, with the help of a conveniently placed construction company office, I managed to get a taxi to collect me and pick her up – returning later with Margarita to pump water into the car and get it to a garage.

Poor Jessica – she arrived at the beginning of the hottest three weeks of the summer. That first day we went to the beach in the afternoon and she luxuriated in the warm water. Having introduced her to Cassandra and Giannis, she was in good hands. I had booked a few days at a more countryfied resort (Haraki) in a self catering room about 50 metres from the beach. As we set off the reports of the fires on the west side of the island started coming in and Haraki was downwind of the ash and clouds of smoke for a couple of days. But thank goodness for the proximity to the beach. All plans of making the odd trip out in the car disappeared as the temperatures soared (and my car does not have air-con).

On returning to Rhodes, we alternated between the beach during the day and Hamam in the evenings – introducing Jessica to “the gang”. She survived the heat remarkably well (and my lack of TV), keeping herself occupied by spending mornings catching up with overdue emails to friends and associates. A couple of days we ventured (not far) to the Kallithea Springs Italian resort that has been renovated, and one of the other beaches on that peninsula.

One day my friend Denise had organised a “group” pedicure for us. Neither Jessica or I had had one before and it was lovely. We celebrated with lunch at the smart Aktaion café restaurant in the harbour. Another day we went shopping in town and found (rather tardily) some new swimming gear for Jessica. The museums and archaeological sites will have to wait for another year, and preferably not summer although we did pay a short visit to Monte Smith and the Roman acropolis and stadium. Jessica left with boxes of chocolates from Tsortsis (my favourite sweet and nut shop), armed with the tests and documentation to allow her back into the UK, and a slight tan to show off to her friends.

The road that Tsortsis (and many other useful shops) is on is called Kanada street. It leads down to the commercial harbour. During the tourist season cruise ships tie up to the quay, dwarfing the buildings. On occasion, I have seen four of them hanging on to the quay by their fingernails. Driving down Kanada, it seems as though there is suddenly a huge new block of flats at the end.

Life resumed along its normal pattern – occasional evenings out at Hamam, beach time, fixing things, gym, Greek lessons and homework, video chats with friends and so on. The trainer at the gym took a video of me doing some of the exercises. He posted it on Facebook with some very complimentary words! It got lots of likes – mostly from his contacts, but it was nice to get a message from a yachting friend in Shetland whose posts I read with interest.

I had been listening to music on the big stereo system which started acting up. I found a sound system company (run by Italians). They cleaned the amplifier, admiring it for its quality and all worked again. Recently I have tuned in to Greek radio too – trying to get my ears acclimatised to the language, but it is all still too fast for me to understand more than the odd word. However I feel that I am making some progress.

As the weather cooled down and the tourists left, the Old Town started to close up. Zoriana kept Hamam open until mid October, and Hermes stays open all winter acting as our backup. Evmorphia and I managed to see a couple of films – the latest Bond movie and also Dune, most enjoyable. Susie and I spent a half day hunting for new “traditional” slippers for me, unsuccessfully, but then met up with Evmorphia at a café on the harbour front and had a very pleasant afternoon there.

My own effort at baking when it got cooler

Now with the dark nights and colder weather our social gatherings are fewer. A new Nordic bakery opened opposite the ice-cream shop and I sometimes meet up with friends there for morning coffee. They offer many enticing cakes and lunchtime snacks. Their cinnamon buns are the current favourite. My evenings end with an hour or two of online Scrabble with Brian’s sister, a friend in Canada, and now several other competitors. Great fun and interesting to see what strange words pop up as I frantically try to fit the letters I have to the board.

I managed to get a flu vaccination without difficulty this year, and also had my annual health check-up, without issue. I should be eligible for my Covid booster shot at the end of this month. The next hurdle to overcome will be renewal of my Greek driving licence in February. I will need certificates for cardiac health and vision – and then find out how to apply for the new licence.

My car passed its annual health check too at the local MOT office – all very organised. Greek car insurance covers the car, not the driver, so anyone can drive it. Which has been of great help to Margarita, who used it while her son was using hers to go to work at a diving school further south, and Denise while she was moving, and Laila to run errands and take another trip to Apollakia. Rose’s car service…..

Sitting outside Hermes – Non-vaccinated people not allowed in
Susie, Gareth, Annie and Evmorphia

My Greek residence certificate finally arrived – more paperwork to be filled out at the immigration office – but it appears to be valid for 10 years which is a bonus. It is a plastic ID card with pretty colours and holograms and is very handy to use instead of carting my passport around.

By the end of October the temperatures were dropping to the mid- teens overnight. I hauled down the thick cotton rugs that serve as carpets and laid them around the house to keep my feet warm. I invested in an oil-filled radiator with bells and whistles, and have had it running for about 3 weeks. It does seem to keep the whole apartment slightly warm. It started raining in mid October, the grass recovered and now all is green. Since then we have had fairly frequent downpours – more than last year and I hope it means that the reservoirs will be filling up. Island water supply is always a cause for concern. The temperatures vary widely – a morning last week it was warm enough to go out without a coat, then the clouds gathered with thunder and lightning and the temperature dropped quickly. Currently we are having a bit of an arctic freeze.

Me, Denise, Evmorphia, Gita (visitor) and Laila

A few of us had a farewell lunch with Evmorphia at Hermes before she left for Athens. You can see that we were well dressed for the occasion. She is sending almost daily pictures of her visits to old haunts and the bustling city areas.

And then finally it was December – I retrieved the Christmas twig from the balcony, set it up and decorated it with lights and baubles as previously. I managed (with some effort) to get the outside lights strung out on the front balcony and started work on this year’s Christmas card. I shall get some flowers for a display on the sitting room table and all shall be ready! For what? Who knows, but I am looking forward to spending Christmas day slumming around, reading and generally not doing anything.

“The Gang”

Susie: British, 62, married to Swedish Micke who is now in Sweden waiting to get repairs on his shoulders – Susie to join him in January. Was my first contact here through a mutual yachting friend. Also has a yacht for sale.

Laila: Danish, 64, arrived in Rhodes last year, lives down the road from me. She had spent some time in Rhodes as a teenager, her mother lived here.

Evmorphia: Bostonian Greek, 69, arrived in Rhodes last year, is now spending a month in Athens visiting friends and relatives, after that who knows?

Denise: American, 75, lived in Rhodes as a child when her father was engineer on the Courier – boat broadcasting “The Voice of America” in the 50’s.

Margarita: German, 62, next door neighbour with two dogs, two cats, and is the carer for her 102 year old mum, was married to a Greek, now married to a Norwegian who works month on, month off on North Sea oil tankers.