Holiday in KOS September 2011

KOS - Wednesday

It was an early start as usual for our holidays. We had the usual 40 mph lorries keeping us under control on the road to Newark. The A1 was surprisingly busy at 5:30 but we were parked at Robin Hood Airport and in the check in queue in under 2 hours.  The problem was the queue. It stretched all the way from departures to arrivals. A regular passenger assured me that he had never seen it as bad so maybe we won't cross Robin Hood of our list just yet. The car parking was also a bit of a problem because the super registration reading camera got one digit wrong and I had to press a button to get a ticket. It should be OK when we have to leave but we will see.
I set off the alarm going through security so they put my shoes through the X-ray machine but somehow the queue seemed to have evaporated and we were all on board the plane in time for a 9:45 take off. Then the pilot announced that there would be a delay of possibly 55 minutes. Fortunately he then said that it would only be 35 minutes and that we would have a tail wind that would reduce our flying time so that we would arrive in Kos at 2pm as scheduled. That is local time - the two hour adjustment and the early morning start confused us for the rest of the day. This all sounds chaotic and it is interesting that everybody seemed to accept it as normal.
On Kos everything went to plan. We even got a room upgrade!
We shouldn't have drunk a whole bottle of wine at dinner. That plus an early start, a longish flight and confusion over what time it was, sent us to bed early. We were woken by lightning at some obscure hour. Jean went to look out of the window but, although I was interested, I couldn't find the energy to get out of bed.   

KOS -Thursday

Today we were warned of bad weather but it didn't happen. We had a meeting with the rep at 9:15. He was OK - didn't push the trips but gave us useful information. After Wednesday we were still a little tired and because the weather was suitable we did reading, lounging and swimming. The hotel has a collection of pools and even a channel that connects two of them.
In the evening, after dinner, we went to the bar for some music in the open air but as soon as we arrived it began to rain and we had to go inside. When the pianist was established inside, every alternate song had rain somewhere in the lyrics. Despite not enjoying Greek coffee when I first tried in in Crete, I decided to give it another go and was really pleased. Good Greek coffee is fantastic.

KOS - Friday

There was a beautiful sunrise and the day was immediately warm so we had breakfast outside. Our waiter said that in three weeks time the hotel would close for the winter and he would be home in Warsaw. What a contrast!

A trip to KOS town. We waited at the bus stop outside the hotel, having been told that timetables don't mean much. However the bus turned up at a scheduled time and we travelled into town in comfort although slowly as there are a lot of stops for other hotels. At the terminus there was the ubiquitous Castelfranco train ready to take us up to the Asklepion so, although we had seen this as a specific expedition, we climbed about and roared though the town with the engines diesels struggling up the hill. Although the Asklepion is obviously recognised as a major archaeological treasure, it has none of the detailed explanation that we expect. There are a few notices explaining the function of the original buildings and some of the general history. In town lies the probable explanation - there is just too much archaeology. We have seen some wonderful buildings on various Greek islands but they are always displayed with a casualness that we find confusing.
The old town is lovely. It is truly Mediterranean and maybe we have become used to the atmosphere but this is a town in which we immediately felt comfortable.

When it was time to return we joined the slightly uncomfortable crowd at the bus terminus worrying if other people had asked the right questions and not wishing to look stupid. Of course it was OK. The drivers knew what we needed and we were soon all squashed on the right bus.  For some reason the door that we were next to didn't open at our stop and we had a short walk back which was OK because we passed a mini-market where we stocked up with drinks.

In the evening we watched African acrobats and jugglers. Not exactly our usual taste in entertainment but a pleasant way to pass the time.

KOS - Saturday

We used the hotel gym. Unusually all of the equipment worked and had instructions in english. Apart from that we swam in the sea and the pools and did a lot of reading. There was no entertainment in the evening so it was not not an exciting day. We decided to make more effort on Sunday.

KOS - Sunday

We went to Thermae. Only a few miles along the coast but past all of the hotels, there is a place where volcanic gasses bubble up through the water in a large rock pool and heat it to bath temperature. The dissolved minerals  and faint smell of sulphur are supposed to be good for you. After soaking in the hot water you should go into the sea. Although  there were a lot of people trying the hot pool, not so many went in the sea. We did, it is a good place to swim and we certainly felt better afterwards but that was probably because we had done something different. The bus left us at the top of a rough track down to the sea and it was a fairly tough climb back in the hot sun. There was a small café at the top. They were trying to fix the Greek economy all by themselves. 5 euros for two small bottles of Fanta!
 
After this we felt justified in returning to the hotel pool and our books. Having read two thrillers I returned to my usual Greek island author - Lawrence Durrell. I don't think that he wrote anything about Kos but this is about Rhodes and reminds me of our visit there. I don't know anyone else who reads Durrell. That is a pity because his use of language is brilliant.

In the evening there was a band. We danced so that was the end of a really good day.

KOS - Monday

Another day on the buses. The beach at the hotel is uncomfortable shingle and rocks and so we decided to try Tagikis on the west coast but only a few miles from Kos town. We caught the first bus outside the hotel and were very quickly in town. The bus to Tagikis leaves from another terminus which we had to find with a map and advice from the girl in the ticket office. We found it OK but there are fewer buses on this route and we had to wait about 45 minutes for it to arrive. Once on the bus we were in Tagikis in 20 minutes. The beach is completely different. To start with, it is covered in sun beds. This is not our usual style but it is a large beach of white sand and it is very easy to get into the sea. In fact I don't know how far you would have to walk out in order to have to swim. I think that I walked about 50 yards before accepting that it was not going to come up to my shoulders.
The only drawback was a loud gross German who only stopped talking when he was asleep. As far as we could see he was still talking when he walked into the sea but we couldn't hear that.
The return bus arrived pretty much on time and sped back to Kos town. On the walk back to the other terminus we decided to have ice creams and got a bit lost. but we soon found our way and the final stage of our bus journey was also quick and easy.
We still haven't seen Hippocrates' tree.

KOS - Tuesday

Now we have seen the tree. It is not well, the trunk is hollow and huge chunks of it have fallen off. Of course it was not there when Hippocrates was teaching but there are many young trees that have grown up around it. It is possible that it is genetically linked to one that was there 3000 years ago.
We also walked around the castle. This is about 700 years old. Entrance was free, although you had to have a ticket, but there were no guidebooks for it so we don't know how long it took to build. It is a ruin but the outer wall still stands as do a few internal builings. It would not be possible to visit a castle in this state in the UK. It is dangerous, but everybody seems to understand the risks, and walks with care. It is an interesting walk with great views. If anyone ever found the money to make it safe it would lose its charm.
We then spent about an hour people watching in the main square while I drank a large Mythos beer very slowly.
Back on the bus to the pool that we had ignored so far. Among my reading I discovered that Belgium has been without a government for months and has now broken the world record for such an achievement. It doesn't seem to have done them any harm!
Before dinner we were invited to the Privilige Club Meet. My first attempt to speak to someone was a disaster because he was German and had no English. The next was a French woman who had less English than I had French but she was prepared to try to have a conversation so we stumbled along. She was not in fact French but Belgian so my recently acquired knowledge of their political situation was valuable. We also talked to the manager who is a  great enthusiast for the company and some English people who have visited this hotel many times and never left the grounds.

The evening entertainment was Greek song and dance. on what was still a warm summer evening it was very acceptable although we do wonder if some of the songs are the equivalent of Childe Ballads.

KOS - Wendesday

We started packing on Tuesday night so after a very leisurely breakfast in the sun we had enough time for a really good swim in the sea and a final dry in the sun. The coach turned up on time and took a fairly roundabout route that gave us views from the mountain tops that we hadn't seen before. Checkin and security were straight forward and although the airport is very small we managed to pass the time easily and were were in the air on time.
Back at Robin Hood I was annoyed by the time that Border Control take. They even have a target that 95% of passengers will get through in 25 minutes - that is really impressive!
The car park exit was easy - the registration plate reading camaeras must make errors often enough for them to have to have an efficient backup system.
The drive home was easy although by the time we were back home we were confused about the time again.

Shrewsbury 2011 - Day 5

Jean's birthday and the last day of the festival. We had plenty of time to go swimming but the pool was closed because it was bank holiday!
We spent some time in the record tent and then met Penny and Brian from the Folk Club. We were pleased to discover that they were not happy with the Cecil Sharp Project. I am always a little nervous when talking to people who perform in the club. They have a justifiable air of confidence and it was therefore rewarding to find that they agreed with our view.
There was some music on the 'Village Stage' but at 12pm there was only one concert available and the queue was so long that we gave up. We later heard that it had provoked someone to throw a punch but it was cleared up quickly. While on duty a woman came in worried because a rabbit suffering from mixomatosis had taken up residence in her tent. After some consternation we discovered that it was a fairly regular problem and that there were stewards who knew what to do. It involved a hammer and a shovel. We were on duty from 3 to 5, the last session of the week - a slot that we have now done for 4 years in a row. I can only assume that because we didn't make a fuss the first year they thought that we didn't mind missing the last concert. This year we did mind that we would miss most of the Martin Simpson Band, but it was very quiet so we were allowed to leave 15 mins early. It was one of the best performances of the weekend.
The journey home was uneventful but rather tedious. At the very end the GPS tried to send us down a narrow road that I know became a dead end over a year ago!

Shrewsbury 2011 - Day 4

Normally we would have gone swimming on Sunday morning but this year we were on duty at 11am and couldn't get to the pool and back in time. It did mean that we could settle down with the Observer after breakfast. Not something we have done recently because we usually spend some time at Sense on Sunday morning - after the gym.
The number of issues is much lower. I think that it is because the Festival has now been based on the same site since 2007 and has had no need for major change in physical layout or program. Also the team of stewards now contains a solid core of regulars who know what they are doing.
There was a woman who had to be taken away in an ambulance because she had damaged her ankle in the dance tent - falling over her own kids. Hopefully that's as bad as it gets.
After lunch Jean went to Chris Wood and Andy Cutting and I went to see Sam Carter. He still has only two really good songs but sounded much more interesting when Sam Sweeney joined him. The next item on our program was Spiers and Boden but that was a mistake and they were not on for another hour. We had to creep out before the end because we were on duty again.
The evening plan was, The Cecil Sharp Project followed by The Imagined Village. It didn't really work. We expecte the Cecil Sharp Project would have been similar to The Darwin Project in the previous year but it didn't have the narrative flow and the performers were too happy to sit at the back of the stage as if they were in a club singaround. We left in the interval and went to the main stage in order to get seats for The Imagined Village.
This meant that we saw the last songs from the Sweetback Sisters - an OK American folk rock band.
We saw one of the first performances of this project designed to display the heritage and links between English, Asian and Caribbeen cultures. That included, Billy Brag, Martin Carthy, Benjamin Zepheniah, and Satnam Singh. This was a different show with no real theme and again we left before the end. Not a good evening but it was saved when we heard the sound of Spiers and Boden ringing out as we walked back to our caravan. We saw their last two songs and our faith in festivals was restored.