Halki 2015 (Dodecanese):

Prevelis ferry docked at Emborio

June 2015 saw me making my third trip to the beautiful little Dodecanese island of Halki. A full five years after my last visit in 2010 (review here:Halki ) I decided it was time to return and see if anything had changed there -for good or bad.

This was a holiday that nearly didn't get off the ground (literally). For many years now I have been in the habit of staying at an airport hotel (Gatwick Hilton to be exact) for the simple reason that this eliminates the stress of getting to the airport on the day with all the potential transport delays that can occur (and, trust me, I know all about that). With an 9.00am flight and check in from 7.00am all I had to do was a leisurely five minute walk to the desk. The problem was I didn't hear my alarm and woke up at 8.15. A mad dash ensued without even time for a coffee. Thankfully, an airport employee got on his radio and they agreed to get me on the plane (they even re-opened the check in desk just for me). The deal was, though, that I was going but they couldn't guarantee my luggage was. Instead of a four hour flight full of happy anticipation I had a miserable few hours working out scenarios of what to do if my case didn't arrive. To say I was delighted when my case was one of the first few out is something of an understatement. Now my holiday could begin!

On board the Nissos Halki ferry from the port of Kamiros Skala we drew ever closer until that final moment

Stone sculpture on Ftenagia beach

of swinging into Emborio harbour on Halki. There it all was -the bell tower (tallest in the Dodecanese), the harbour front, and above all the clock tower still showing the time as twenty past four as it has done for so many years now. It really felt like coming home to me as it was all so charming and so familiar. I've already posted about my accommodation at the Dorothea Studios which had a magnificent view right over the harbour -it really exceeded my already high expectations from the brochure pictures. Needless to say my first priority was an outing to one of the three small supermarkets to stock up on essential items like Retsina where I was pleased to find the generous sized 1.5ltr bottles available. Sitting on my balcony with a glass of the piney stuff and looking over the harbour was about as good as it gets and continued to be for my two weeks there.

One of my favourite short (about 40 minutes) road walks on Halki is the one to Kania beach. Take the main road out of Emborio towards Pondamos beach and then the road to the right just past the school. This climbs steeply taking you past some strange industrial looking vehicles. I've since found out (thanks to the excellent Halki Visiting forum) that these are emergency electricity generators. Brought to the island, parked up and then never used -and never will be looking at them now. Less industrial, you also pass a field containing loads of wooden beehives all painted in the blue and white of the Greek flag. Now Kania was, in 2005 and 2010 a lovely deserted cove where your only company was likely to be a lizard or two. Not anymore! There are now sunbeds, umbrellas and a taverna and a handy bus service bringing Rhodes daytrippers up from Emborio in their hordes. It's not for me to be churlish -everyone has to make a living and I'm sure many more people now get to enjoy Kania as a result (and the taverna is said to be very good). It's just not for me anymore, sadly. But I still enjoyed the walk there and back even if I didn't venture onto the beach itself.

View of Emborio from the Dorothea Studios

Also on the Kania walk you will pass the new de-salination plant which converts seawater to fresh. This means that you will no longer see the several times a week visit of the water tanker boat from Rhodes. I rather missed that as well but on the plus side didn't find the water stop running in my studio like on previous visits.

No visit to Halki is complete without a walk up to the medieval Crusader Knights castle. Passing Pondamos beach just keep going as the road (Tarpon Springs Boulevard) climbs up from Emborio to the (nearly) deserted old village of Horio. In the old days it then involved some scrambling up a sort of path to the castle but in 2015 this was all changing with EU funded restoration work going on. The path up is now much easier and clearer. I found myself in what was clearly a building site with cement mixers and other equipment dotted around. The chapel was in the process (nearly complete I think) of being rebuilt but, sadly, couldn't get inside to take a look. Health and safety also get a look in with a new wall at the cliff side of the castle and proper covering over the very deep well. Back in 2005 you had the choice of plunging down the cliffs if you put a foot wrong or disappearing into the uncovered well. Think I preferred that but as it was very much a work in progress I'll reserve judgement.

New for me this time was a walk to Giali beach. Reach this by entering Horio village and taking a long

Renovation at the castle on Halki

winding dirt track downwards for about 40 minutes (longer coming back up!). Somebody has a house just above Giali and had chosen to position three less than friendly dogs either side of the track. Just tread a precision path between them and you'll be fine. This is quite a wild rocky cove and beach with pounding waves that I certainly wouldn't venture into but made for some interesting photographs.

Also new this trip was a walk up to the plateau high above Emborio. Just follow the road on from Horio. When I say "Just" be aware that it gets much steeper and harder going and I considered turning back a few times especially when turning yet another bend and seeing the road still going steeply upwards. However, finally reaching the plateau I was rewarded by another charming little chapel and the remains of an old stone windmill and best of all goats. Lots of goats -as I found out whilst passing a stone enclosure and snapped a twig. Cue startled animals bolting out from the enclosure while I stepped back in a hurry. That's as far as I went on this trip but the walk back down gives fantastic views down into the valley and down to Emborio in the distance.

Tarpon Springs Boulevard down to Emborio

As with my previous two visits I took a day trip aboard the speedy catamaran ferry Dodekanisos Express to Nisyros where, for the third time, I was able to walk in the still active volcano crater. I'll post about that in more detail in due course.

So there were some changes. Kania transformed beyond recognition. The castle being renovated. The ANEK Lines "big" ferry from Piraeus to Rhodes is now Prevelis and not the Ierapetra L (but still created just as much excitement on each visit). And other things were just the same as they always have been. The chickens were still clucking around in the road by the town cemetery. Pondamos beach has a lot more sunbeds but still the lovely excellent taverna. Costas is still a great place to enjoy a cold Mythos and toasted cheese sandwich while watching the world go by. Above all the peace, charm and tranquillity of a small Greek island (except for the ferry arrivals and the daytrippers -but they come then they go again). Halki is, without doubt, one of my favourite Greek islands and one to which I intend to return many times in the future.

Paxos (Ionian) - Walk to Arkoudaki beach:

The rocky beach at Arkoudaki

This is a lovely round walk from Lakka taking in one of my favourite spots during my stay in June 2014 -the rocky beach at Arkoudaki. Allow circa 45minutes for the complete walk without any stops. You will, of course, want to stop -for water, photographs or just to sit on the rocks and watch the boats passing.
Starting from the "upper" road in Lakka (the one on the left, looking inland) head to the harbour end of the road where, on your right, you will find the Sweet Gallery shop. Just past this is a steep road heading upwards, again on your right.  Enjoy the views over the harbour as you quickly climb above Lakka.



When you reach the top, turn right onto the larger road and follow this round a left hand bend then straight ahead. Shortly after you pass a turning on the right you will see a wooden sign for the beach pointing into woodland on the left. If you end up in someones front drive you have gone too far and need to backtrack a few yards. Even if the sign has gone you should still spot the path going into the woodland.

Scramble over the rocks to stay dry

This well trodden footpath then descends down through the pretty woodland roughly following a dried up ravine on your left. The footpath stops some feet above sealevel and you are left with a bit of a steep scramble to drop down to the beach. Just watch your footing carefully on this bit. Once there you can either turn right for the rocky beach or to continue the walk turn left onto the impressive slabs of rock. These are fairly flat and make a good place to sit or sunbathe. Looking straight ahead you will see the Greek mainland with the mountains of Albania behind. Looking slightly to your right you will see Corfu. And looking in any direction you will see plenty of small boats heading to or from Lakka harbour.



Boats heading into Lakka harbour

Continue walking along the rocks towards the headland of the harbour -there's a bit of rock scrambling involved (especially if you want to avoid the inlets of seawater towards the end). When you reach as far as you can go, just before the headlands, you will see a steep "path" heading up the cliffs. This brings you onto a proper footpath at the top which will lead you along the clifftops around the harbour and back into Lakka. This last stage of the walk gives good views and photo opportunities looking down onto all the boats moored in the harbour. You can, of course, reverse this walk but I think this way round works better. Now, time for a Mythos.
Regards, David.

Lazy Days on Symi (Dodecanese):

Fading beauty of Lazy Days on Symi

When I wrote my full post about Symi last year (Symi island ) I briefly mentioned the lovely old excursion boat Lazy Days which has been crumbling away in the Harani boat yard at Yialos for years. I've just recently edited the images and have been uploading them to my various photo agencies - giving me an excuse to publish them here.
Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I found this boat utterly charming and wondered about its history, where it had been and who had been on it. Most importantly, why had it ended up here in Yialos. Some of the answers were on the boat itself with peeling signs advertising Moonlight Cruises and excursions to Lindos (on Rhodes island).

For more information I turned to the excellent and informative symivisitor.com . This is a site I had looked at a lot before my trip to Symi in 2011. There's a host of information about the island on the site and even a webcam looking towards the harbour which you can look at (note: these are updated stills, not a live video feed!). Even better the site has a chat page (just click on the link there)
which is a forum all about Symi -with active contributions from both permanent residents of the island and visitors new and old. Pretty much anything you want to know about Symi is there and if not just ask. Someone on the forum is sure to have an answer for you.

Lazy Days excursion boat on Symi

Before I went most of my questions were about ferry schedules and what was likely to be operating (2011 saw a lot of industrial action in Greece and, indeed, I was delayed by an Air Traffic Controllers strike on my return journey). In the end, my flight arrived too late for the last ferry anyway and I had to stay on Rhodes until the next morning. As I said in my previous post, this was the only time ever I had failed to reach my destination island on the same day.



Where to find Lazy Days in Yialos (click to enlarge)

Obviously, on my return, who better to ask about Lazy Days. The forum came up trumps with all sorts of memories of actually travelling on it, old photographs, and an approximate date of circa 1995 for when it had arrived at the boat yard. The concensus seemed to be that there was some kind of dispute between various owners of the boat and that as a result Lazy Days had just been effectivly abandoned there for all those years.
Interestingly, views about Lazy Days ranged from how charming it was through to it was getting to be an eyesore. We do all, indeed, see things in a different way.
The big question that had to be answered before writing this post was Is Lazy Days Still There? Needless to say, the forum provided the answer when two regular visitors posted this month about walking past Lazy Days. It seems it has substained more damage from storms last Winter but, yes, it is still there.
So, if you are heading for Symi, take a walk past the clocktower on the left of the harbour and a few minutes later there she is. I hope you appreciate her as much as I did. Do you have any memories of Lazy Days? Feel free to comment below. Regards, David.

Edited to Add (October 2014): Sadly, the Symi Visitor Facebook page recently posted that Lazy Days is no more. Not clear if it is being broken up -or just collapsed through natural causes. We'll always have the photographs though.....

Alonissos shipping:

Achilleas ferry docked at Patitiri

Oe of the fascinating things for me on Greek islands is watching the endless coming and going of shipping of all kinds. Ferries, in particular, always create a stir as people and vehicles gather on the quayside as the time of arrival approaches.

Cargo ship Ioanna Chrisoula at Patitiri

In these pictures you see the Skyros Shipping Company ferry Achilleas docked at Patitiri harbour. This was making several trips a week between Alonissos and Skopelos and its home island of Skyros during my June visit. This opens up the possibility of a trip to Skyros, though you would need to stay there for a few days before your return. I didn't see this ship when I previously visited in September so I am guessing it may only run during the peak season.
The second ship is the cargo supply vessel Ioanna Chrisoula which operates out of the mainland port of Volos -bringing supplies and cargo to the various Sporades islands.

Hellenic Seaways Flying Cat 5 catamaran ferry

Finally, we have the Hellenic Seaways fast catamaran ferry Flying Cat 5 moored at Patiri. This image is from 2012 when it had this vivid red Vodaphone livery. When I returned in 2013 this had changed to the green livery of Greek telecommunications company Cosmote. Personally I would recommend the journey on the slightly slower regular ferries Express Skiathos and Express Pegasus (also operated by Hellenic Seaways) as you can be out in the fresh air and enjoy the view during the journey. The Cats do have a small outside area at the rear (upstairs) which the crew may let you out on while docked -you'll be ushered back inside
once under way.
A useful tip for anyone interested in ships and shipping is to note the IMO (International Maritime Organisation) number of the ship (it's painted on somewhere). Then just search that number on the internet to get the ships history and details -always useful for photo captions. Ship Spotters can even get real time details of its current location and destination! Regards, David.