Halkian Days III

The boat tied up just across the quay from Taverna Babis, which is run by my friend Zois, along with wife Soula and sister-in-law Katerina, who had a baby just over a year ago. The last time I'd seen her she had a very large 'bump'! Zois it was who I photographed with a freshly-caught Tuna a couple of years ago, see the post "Smile Please" from September 2012. That post also carries quite a few more photos showing how beautiful the harbourfront of Halki is.

We'd booked our accommodation by phone, after I'd called Kyria Mary who runs the "Marco" Studios, in advance. Once again, it was a couple of years ago when I'd first snapped the sign on her front gate so as to have a record of the phone number for an occasion just such as this. The photos below, though were taken this time round...

Clicking on this photo you'll get the larger view, the phone number is [+30] 6946-250612. Our room was upstairs and far left

This is the street where the rooms are situated. You can see the gate on the right. It's two minutes up from the harbour.

We tugged our case and holdall up the street and entered the gate and climbed the few steps to Mary's front door. There's no doubt in this particular case that the owners live downstairs. Once we reached the terrace below the balcony it was littered with the toys of an evident grandchild or two, plus, as usual, a table [regulation oilcloth tablecloth spread over it] and chairs, a scattering of potted plants, basil amongst them of course. The front door was open (and it was never closed the whole time we were there) and the kitchen was in a small whitewashed outhouse at the far end of the terrace and the opposite side from the house.

I called out, "Κανείς μέσα;" which basically means "Anybody in?" In no time at all our hostess emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishcloth. She was of average height, stocky of build and smiled immediately at us, revealing a set of gnashers that hadn't had the benefit of a dentist's attention for many a year. "Ah, καλός τους!" [no exact translation for this expression, but near enough it's like "to their good" and is often used to mean "Good to you both", even though it's in the third person] she exclaimed, walking forward and proferring her hand in welcome. She wore a black dress, indicating that she's lost her husband. I'd guess that she's about 60, so he may have died young, tragically. She told us which was our room and waved away my attempts at sorting out the cash. 

"Aach, see me before you go on Friday," she said, "get yourselves settled in and I hope it's all to your satisfaction."

It's a long time since we stayed in an older property, but it's something we used to do with great regularity many years ago, having always tried to keep away from hotels and other tourists. We twisted the key, which was hanging in the lock and pushed the door open to catch our first glimpse of our home for the next couple of nights...

This was actually taken as we prepared to leave on the Friday, hence the dishevelled bedclothes! The bathroom door was opposite the kitchen unit and the wardrobe at the far end on the right.

Yes, there was a TV, but we didn't bother with it.

This kitchen unit could well do with replacing. The right hand side is a fridge which no longer works, hence the free-standing fridge to the right. But, there WAS a travel kettle, definitely a plus-point when you need an Earl Grey urgently.

That balcony on the left is ours. You can see the recently installed TV antenna just beside it, where a pair of collared doves would sit daily and entertain us, see next photo.

The male kept trying, but the female was having none of it."I vant to be alone" she kept cooing. Didn't know I spoke "dove" did you?

A shot taken from the balcony early on the Thursday morning, as the Dodecanese Express was just docking. This ferry only comes in on Thursdays and Sundays, but it does come from Rhodes Commercial Harbour and so is convenient for anyone staying in Rhodes Town.

This is the view thru the rear shutters, next to the wardrobe.

This is the kind of view I like to wake up to on holiday!

As you can tell, I have a thing about old wooden shutters!! This is the view out of the bahroom window.

Looking through the front window, just above the sofa.

Of course, the first thing I did was go over the whole place with a toothcomb. The kitchenette, as referred to in one of the photo captions above, was a little dated and slightly tatty inside. There was, though, a decent enough set of cutlery and crockery for two people in the cupboard under the sink and the wall unit above. The hot water tap on the kitchen sink didn't work at all, but the one over the bathroom sink was fine, as was the shower, which, as expected didn't have a curtain and thus necessitated that one remember to relocate the toilet roll to the top of the vanity unit before taking a shower! The bathroom vanity unit was a cheapo once-white plastic affair with plenty of storage in its drawers and cupboards, but parts of it were damaged from cigarette burns. Why do people do that? The lower 30% or so of the mirror in said unit (which was pretty modest size-wise) was all gone wierd like mirrors do when the mercury on the back is eaten away as if by lichen or something. I know it's not lichen, but it gives that effect on the glass if you know what I mean.

The cistern above the loo was one of those narrow rectangular affairs and the downpipe, where it entered the rear of the toilet bowl could be pulled in and out. The first we realised this was when one of us flushed the cistern and a virtual shower of water spurted out from behind the pan and instantly turned half of the bathroom floor into a lake. At least it was clean water. Once I'd pushed the pipe into the rear of the bowl and gave it a periodical check, that problem was fixed. The toilet bowl was scarcely fixed to the floor and wobbled a bit, which was doubtless the reason why the downpipe tried to escape on occasion.

There was always plenty of hot water and, of course, now that Halki has its own desalination plant, there is never a shortage, which is a huge improvement over past years. The mains pressure is good too, resulting in some pretty satisfactory showers, even though they resulted in half of the bathroom getting drenched in the process. That, though, is the way it always seems to have been in village rooms or studios in older properties. It's almost kind of quaint.

I may be creating a poor impression of the Marcos Studios, so I want to redress the balance a little. Firstly, for years and years seasoned Grecophiles will identify with what I've described above. What really counts is the fact that the bedlinen was spotlessly clean and there was a plentiful supply of fresh towels laying on each of the beds. There were two pillows available for both of us and blankets if needed, which on this occasion they weren't. The view was simply exquisite as we sat and ate our breakfast on the balcony and - when all is said and done - it's only a base. We were very comfortable and loved the place, warts and all. Yes, it could do with some modernisation over the winter period. Whether it will get any is doubtful. But, would we stay there again? Yup, absolutely - and we doubtless will too.

Once we'd sorted out all our "stuff" (watch this, it's brill!!), we were soon on our way to the beach for a serious session of chilling.


Another episode will follow soon.