Our fourth time .. here we go !

[Liz]

Jul 12, 2022 11:42:00 GMT muriman said:

Thanks, Tom. I may end up pursuing something with one of the agents - we have previously rented villas on the "hotel side", usually through Zifos Travel which closed some time ago. Don't go to any trouble, but if you happen to be walking towards the hotel along what I call the "middle" route (not taking the lowest loop path which ends up climbing steps next to what I think is the Alexandros), you come to a point where you turn left and go down some steps (at the bottom of which the path swings right and passes next to what is now the Villa Takis (formerly Erah), then the Margarita and Nitsa and police station). Now, just before you get to the top of the steps just mentioned, on your left there's a high wall behind a property which I think (but not sure) was called the Maritina. It used to have a notice outside with owner's contact details but I now know that the ownership changed last year. If there's any info there about new owner or any contact details for renting it could be useful - a PM message if you prefer. But as I say, you are welcome to ignore this in favour of enjoying your holiday!

Graham

Hi Muriman
I think the property you are referring to is now called the Filoxenia ( or something like that ) there is also Halki Muses on the water front the Aede ( the old direct Greece Olga ) and the Melete upstairs - We've stayed in Melete twice .. its really nicely done for two people , If you are on Facebook you can contact them directly

[Liz]

Tom .. its so good to read your blog again .. you mentioned the Marigo ? we stayed in it this year .. beautiful little place with a huge ( almost private ) terrace .. there is a path runs up the side but its not like the M6 !
The Marigo runs right to left - or left to right its all open plan , bedroom - storage area/dressing table through to small well equipped kitchen and bathroom at the end but its the terrace that we loved blooming huge ! with table and chairs and sunbeds with beautiful views , there is access to the sea down a path below .The owners Harry and Marigo have the upper floor but only seem to appear at weekends. - the Brucie bonus for me is a washing machine ! - its on airbnb although I contacted them directly via FB give me a shout if theres anything else you wanted ask

[soupdragon]

Hi Liz

Should have read your post before I replied to your message 😁

So the owners use the steps at the far end of the balcony or go further up around the back and use the door?




Been doing a bit of snooping around for Graham 😁

Cheers Tom and Rose 

P.S. can't you tell I'm out of practice, can't get pictures to display from my Google drive thing ☹️

[soupdragon]

Yay 😁😁😁

Cheers Tom and Rose

[soupdragon]

It's visit yesterday but coincidentally it's just been and gone while I've been mucking around



Taxi schedule for those who may want it

Cheers Tom and Rose

[j90]

I share your concern Soupdragon !! Facetube appears to be the 'go to' social media site these days but we have been holidaying on Halki for some 26 years and I recall that our first visit threw up some questions for which travel precise info would have made our journey much easier. The advent of this site was a 'God send' and was a mind of information. Subtle changes to the island daily life were duly noted and we could even get our 'Halki Fix' whilst at home because of the very excellent 'blogs'.

Contributors to this site are generally long-standing Halki visitors and answers from questions are more knowledgeable and to the point. Facetube has a habit of side-tracking into random opinions.

My, personal view is that this site is absolutely invaluable. Some of us have not been for a couple of years because we are Senior Citizens and were isolating.

Current information is therefore crucial because things we took for granted, such as buses to the beaches and independent travel, have changed. I note there is now a taxi boat to Khania. How do the day trippers get to the beaches now that there are no buses? I guess the water taxi would need to make a number of trips to accommodate them. Khania is a steady trundle as is Ftenaigia if they have to walk !!

I too have noticed a decline in the use of this site, in favour of Facetube, but there is still a very valid place for it in my humble opinion and long may it continue.

[soupdragon]

Long may it continue indeed j90.
Rose does enjoy the various groups that she's a member of but accepts that there's far too much non relevent information on there. She takes what she needs from it and ignores all the heated discussions that sometimes crop up. I'm sure you know the basic script, one person posts something negative and another person takes issue with it. The story rolls on. I'm not suggesting that the Halki group is like that as I have no interaction with it. It does happen quite frequently on other closed Greek groups though.

Any-hoo, time for a quick snooze. Being of a certain age ourselves we appreciate the benefits of a siesta.

Oh and just in case you were actually asking how often the water taxi goes to Kania, it's 10am, 11am and noon. See picture above for details and prices. Forgive me if you already knew 😎

Cheers Tom and Rose

[stevec]

soupdragon - the Seajets ship is the (younger) sister ship of the Paros Jet that was on that route last year. Only just restarted as when we were there the last 2 weeks, the only ferries we saw was the Pride (Tuesday and Wednesday - shortened itinerary), the Previlis (final visit 10/07/22) and the Stavros. The local ferries were just the Fedon (now operated by Alko) and the Nissos Halki - the Sebecco didn't turn up until Sunday 3rd July, after the Halki had broken down on the Friday and was out of service until late Tuesday.

Have you noticed the clock, previously stuck at 4.23, is now working? Or the solar farm on the reverse slope of the slight ridge behind the water plant?

There seems to be an influx of substantial 'off island' money as the development at the eastern end of bay has 3 new, large structures (and none of the 4 units already built have been completed) and 5 units are under construction to the right of the Boulevard just as the ground starts to fall away towards Pondamos.

The Ice House just to the left of the steps by the Town Hall has been converted into a single unit - don't think it had been last year but I may have missed it.

Both the Police and the Port Police have got new electric cars - smallest vehicles in their class and quite comical - sort of modern Noddy cars. Only the Port Police were using theirs though I'd have thought it would have been quicker to walk rather than drive round via Pondamos.

[soupdragon]

Hi Steve.

Rose tells me she's read a report that the Prevellis, that was only cancelled last week will now be pressed into service again due to the failure of the Olympus to be made seaworthy (airworthy they called it).

I didn't notice the clock but Rose mentioned it to me last week and as regards the solar farm? Not even been to the crest of the road (to our shame).

Don't really know much about the building works.
Looks like something is going on on the back road behind the Town Hall if that's where you mean? There's that and at the end of the middle (shady side) path just before it joins with the road and meets up with the path to Ftenagia, there's some work getting done on something that has been empty and run down since our first visit.
There's a new build (unfinished) in front of the Villa Petraki so anyone who's booked that has a nice breeze block wall view now.
The only thing we noticed on a wander by the Town Hall was the cat feeding station. No takers when we passed.

Funnily, we both went "ahhhh" when we saw the port authority car. We've seen quite a bit of it this far.

Shower time now, followed by ouzo time, followed by Remezzo time 😁

Cheers Tom and Rose

[soupdragon]

A little busy at the moment so may be a bit brief. Will explain presently if all goes well....

Why, oh why aren't pizzas available in the UK that are more like the ones crafted in Remezzo? Ok, maybe some outlets do create something close but then they charge some exorbitant price for them and call them artisan. Really? I make my own beer from the grain, wine and bread. I don't consider myself an artisan crafter. I just want to make nice things and sometimes the only way is DIY. I really don't get how these people can make something so commonplace and charge the earth for it. I can really, it's called ripping off those who know no better.
Please note, I am NOT talking about Remezzo now as their wares are priced most acceptably.
I've had a similar conversation on another forum or two regarding the blooming array of so called craft beer. It all started off nicely enough with small breweries creating something a little different from the normal malty British bitter. Nothing wrong with choice. However as soon as the big breweries realised they were missing out they started churning out lake loads of dishwater and calling it craft, charging Joe the punter twice the price for the privilege. Again, those who know no better.
I really have no issue paying more for something that is worth it but corporate greed is one of the things that really winds me up. Calm down and think of your blood pressure..........

Where was I?

Ah yes, Remezzo for tea tonight. Simple but very tasty Hawaii for Rose and (one of my favourites) the four cheese for me. While we were finishing our drinks we realised that we'd not sampled the wares from Theodosia so far this visit. That will be remedied by a lunchtime visit tomorrow before some long dreaded packing. Back home on Wednesday 😭😭😭😭
Best go now as my brew is getting cold.

Cheers Tom and Rose

[stevec]

Solar farm is only just visible from the ferries, so not surprised you'd not clocked it. Fish farm has undergone some upgrading of its basic infrastructure - out are the old rusty metal tank frames, in new big, heavy duty, black, individual segment, plastic ones. First time I've seen any substantive changes since we first came to the island in 2004. Water taxi to Kania is good value and you'll see the changes to the fish farm and the solar farm close up. Return trip comes with a drop of (warm) Raki.

The building work you noted is actually on the level down from the road mentioned which is the only access for any lorries bring in equipment. They have completely refurbished the two storey shell and were close to finishing off as we left on Wednesday. I've got images on slide film (away for processing) but no digital ones as I couldn't get a 'clean' shot when I first passed by.

The feeding station had 6 or 7 'customers' waiting each time I passed by. The person who brings their food does so about 7am each day, so if you walk past much after 7.30am, the cats will have 'refueled' and wandered off.

If you are feeling slightly energetic, take a wander down to Pondamos and take the road up towards Ais Soulas and the cemetery. Before you get to the cemetery, there is rough track/haul road running along the hill side and round the point. It's pretty easy going and you get some lovely views back into Pondamos bay, of the castle and Trachia which is surprisingly steep. The 'road' is part of the enabling works for a new sewerage system of which only the new interconnctor pipework has been completed. May be next year they will finish it.

[soupdragon]

Hi Steve.

Energetic? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 That's a good one. On our first visit to the island we walked to Kania. We were a few years younger then with working knees. Was really hot (for May) with little shade so Rose declared one visit was enough....
Next time on the island we walked up to the castle. The view from up there really is incredible, there's a picture on one of my threads somewhere. It was only the following day that our knees, back and legs told us that they weren't happy and wanted a couple of days off. So, we've given up on that kind of activity. We still love to wander around the village. There's plenty to see even after a few visits. We've adopted the let's just relax on the balcony type of exercise now 😎

Cheers Tom and Rose

[stevec]

I was walking that track/haul road a little after 7am when it's quite pleasant and not too hot, having pottered down to Pondamos first before heading up the slope. Our accommodation didn't get the early morning light (no window in the bedroom either), so took a while to get into my old routine of up about 6am, make a coffee and wander off with a camera half an hour later with the aim (most days) of being at Dimitri's for 7.15 to get our day's rolls fresh from oven. Managed to shoot 4 rolls of film (3 morning/roll) with a full day to spare despite the struggle to get into my usual rhythm.

[muriman]

Tom, I think you've mentioned returning tomorrow (Wed). It's occurred to me that assuming you haven't seen any UK news recently, it might be useful for you to know that at present there are some travel problems going on here because of hot weather; eg runway at Luton airport has been closed for a time because part of it melted; London-Yorkshire rail services are cancelled today and reduced elsewhere (concern about track buckling); highway authorities laying sand to stop road tarmac melting etc. Things may be back to more or less normal by Wed as cooler weather is forecast, and if you are travelling via Manchester airport that should be OK; but beware, public transport might not be entirely back to normal.

In the current heatwave I'm finding it difficult to get brain in gear to work out possible trip to Halki in late Sept/early Oct, but many thanks for all your posts and for helping to revive the HalkiVisiting site! Hope you have a good journey back.

Graham

[Liz]

Thank you Tom and Rose for your 'blog' its always so great to read ..and thank you to all of you who have posted such positive comments about this site, its not the busiest ( and I am guilty of not contributing ) Face Tube is a good platform but I do think a good forum is easier to navigate .... Thank you all of you xx