I'd booked for an excursion during the welcome meeting - "Round the Island with Captain Yiannis and crew on The Poseidon" and with this particular excursion there were two options: you could either join the boat at the harbour and sail around the island (something I would do many times in the future), or you could travel on an open backed truck up the mountain road and through Chorio and through Symi's interior for an informative walk and later meet with the boat at Panormitis - Symi's famous Monastery. I chose the second option. We'd been told to dress modestly as we would be visiting a monastery and so I opted for a long cotton dress but with my bikini underneath - tee hee. I loved knowing that every day would be gloriously sunny and hot and you never had to wonder what the weather would be like - bliss!

I found the journey in the open-backed truck hilariously funny; one of our party kept losing his hat and we kept having to stop for him to retrieve it. Sylvia and her husband John were great hosts and prepared us for a great day with their enthusiastic and warm tales of their many years working the summers on Symi. I nearly lost my own head as I twisted my neck in all directions so as not to miss a single sight during the ride. The higher we got, the more I could see - mountains and beyond to Rhodes and Turkey, cats, goats, motor bikes and scooters speeding past us, smaller dwellings and small-holdings scattered across the valleys, the bluest sky - never a single cloud, and always the sea, the magnificent, delicious, beautiful sea. Our walk took us through ancient forest, the aroma of wild herbs tantalising our senses, an ancient wine-press, again more lovely little churches so well taken care of by devoted elderly local women, and I have a memory of almost absolute silence as our party absorbed this paradise.