Empty Lot at The Tate Modern

I had an afternoon up in London last week. After lunch at Borough Market I had a wander along the embankment and dropped into the Tate Modern to see the latest installation in the Turbine Hall. 

It was interesting and gave some nice images but it was by far from the best work that has been in the Turbine Hall. 

In my mind Olafur Eliasson with The Weather Project or Doris Saucedo with Shibboleth had the best installations in the turbine hall.

Round Symi Boat Trip

We had a strong recommendation to do a round the island boat trip on one of the boats that offer the trip. We were recommended to use the Poseidon and were pleased to see that the rep from the holiday company had arranged for us to easily book a trip on the Poseidon.
The boat trip departed from Yialos at 10.30am. We left our apartment in Horio with plenty of time and had a nice walk down the Kali Strata before the heat of the day built up. We found the boat and checked on how busy they expected to be for the days trip, before we wandered of to get a coffee in one of the nearby cafes.

We got back to the boat about 15min before departure to ensure a good seat. We ended up sitting on the front of the cabin under the sunshade. It turned out to be the perfect place out of the sun but with maximum cooling from the breeze, also as we were sitting with two couples we had already met, we were able to share the space without feeling we were encroaching on other peoples space.

The trip we were on was a five stopper. First a visit to the church at St Isidoros. For a swim and a walk around the church.

Next a stop at Seal cave. The seal must have heard us coming as it was not at home but we had a nice swim off the boat.

Then back on the boat and on to Diavates Island for another swim off the boat.

Each of these stops gave us about half an hour swimming time. which was enough.
The next stop was at Sesklia Island for a lunch stop and a much longer swim.

We could smell lunch being prepared onboard the boat as the smell of cooking and garlic was wafting up from underneath us as we sat on the cabin. Lunch was a mix of salads pasta and barbecue chicken, which was cooked by the crew on a barbecue which was lit as soon as we moored up at the pier.

After eating all we could and having had another swim it was back on the boat.
We were then on the run back up the east coast of the island. The only stop here is at St Georges bay this bay is only accessed by boat as it surrounded by steep cliffs which shade the beach in the afternoon.

We swam of the boat and then had coffee and watermelon.

Horio

The old town at the top of Kali Strata is called Horio. It is the area on the right of centre on this image The tongue of sea on the right is Pedi bay a short walk from Horio.

It is a maze of narrow alleys and steps. Some are so narrow that they are single file for people.

It is also at night, very dark. When we went out to eat in an evening we had to remember to check we had torches with us. We also had to memorise features on our route. one alley looks just like another even in daylight but at night it is worse To get from the top of Kali Strata to our apartments we had to 

1 Find windmill restaurant.

2 go right and across by the shop.

3 Follow the sign for the Sunrise 

4 stop and have a drink

5 keep on going 

6 diagonal across the open area

7 stay high at the next fork with the crushed figs on the ground.

8 keep the exposed bedrock on the RHS

9 down the steps

10 Turn left passed the house with the water bottles.

11 arrive at door

Looking up at Horio from our balcony. as you can see the lights are few and far between.

Further up the Kali Strata

As I said in the last post the Kali Strata is the main 'street' between the harbour and the old town at the top off the hill in Symi. It is lined by the houses built by rich merchants in the 19th century. During the war the island was occupied and damaged by bombs and departing German army.
Many of the houses are still ruined, awaiting someone with a large amount of money to rebuild.
Because of the amount of classical houses on Symi any building built must be built in the local style, and as there is no vehicle access to the street the cost can be astronomic.

 But when the houses are restored the results are beautiful.

Up the Kali Strata

I am going to be blogging some of the images I took on our summer holiday in Greece.
We booked at the last moment without doing any research, not like me at all. Well I say no research, but as the girl in the travel agent was pulling up destinations I was frantically searching on my phone.
Our original plan was a hotel with a pool, near a beach, either half board or B&B and near an airport. We ended up on the beautiful island of Symi.
Never heard of it?
Neither had I!
Well it turns out its a small island about an hour and a half from Rhodes by ferry. Sitting about 5 miles off the Turkish coast.  The island has no natural water so no swimming pools, all the water either comes in by boat or from the local desalination plant. Traditionally each house had a cistern to store water from the winter rain, but this is not enough for a tourist trade. Also I would add that all the beaches are a boat trip or long walk away and we were in self catering!
So almost exactly what we had wanted originally!
Anyway we arrived safely and the island was everything we wanted for a holiday. The town of Symi is split into Yialos which is the area around the harbour and Chorio which is the older part of town up on the top of the hill. The two parts of town are linked by the Kali Strata a stone stepped street lined with old buildings.

I will put a few more images of the street up as I get them processed.