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Post by amy114 on Sept 24, 2015 13:34:51 GMT
Wednesday
I woke this morning, pulled back the curtain, opened by balcony doors, to dark clouds and rain! Oh well, had been told this would be the last of it and the sun would come out around lunch. Nothing for it but to kick back with my book a d a cup of tea to wait for improvements! Eventually I got ready and went for breakfast at the snack bar at the apartments, and secured my little under the covered area by the kitchen. Ordered a tea and omelette and had just finished eating when one of the guests appeared around the corner of the block to say her husband had slipped and fallen on the tiles just outside their door! Cost as, Efi and II rushed round to find him face down and in a great deal of pain. He couldn't move his left arm at all and when Cost as touched his left shoulder,he cried out in pain. Efi called for the doctor and ambulance and I rang his daughter, who is also on Skiathos, and we waited for the services to arrive. In the meantime, I helped his wife get all the paperwork together as she was in shock and stayed with them until the doctor arrived. The ambulance came a short while later and he was taken off to one of the clinics in town.
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Post by amy114 on Sept 24, 2015 13:43:10 GMT
His daughter arrived as the ambulance was leaving , then Vanessa to take her to the clinic, and I had a quick word with her before she followed the ambulance. As the doctor had said he had dislocated his shoulder, he was going to spray him first before putting it back and he would be back at the apartments in a short time. A couple of hours passed and as they had not returned, I walked up to Elisabeth apartments to see if they had any news. Unfortunately not so we just had to wait it out. Eventually his daughter returned and told us that apart from the dislocation, he had a fracture in his left arm and they had sent him to Volos as he did not have the facilities to treat him on the island.
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Post by amy114 on Sept 24, 2015 13:50:49 GMT
I have to say, the Greek people are fantastic. Efi arranged for her sister to meet them in Volos and assured her daughter that her brother in law was a pharmacist and new the doctors well at the hospital, so he would see he got the best of care. The upshot was that just by a fluke,Efi's aunty was on the ferry and met them onboard and stayed with them for the crossing! They couldn't have been in better hands.
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Post by amy114 on Sept 24, 2015 14:19:22 GMT
Oh dear, just lost my last post but not surprised as I have only just noticed that my battery is nearly flat!
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Post by kelso on Sept 24, 2015 17:09:45 GMT
Oh that poor family. What a holiday, with the storms and this accident. Great to hear that there was so much support available to them. As well as the island itself it's also the wonderful people that keeps bringing us back. I hope that they won't be put off returning to Skiathos in the future. Bob
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Post by kelso on Sept 25, 2015 12:18:13 GMT
Re your battery, I find it useful to carry a spare battery for my phone and my camera, after two instances when my camera battery gave up on me at just the wrong time and I missed a cracker of a picture. Is there any news of the gentleman with the broken arm, Amy?
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Post by amy114 on Sept 26, 2015 7:38:44 GMT
Hi Bob, back at home so will bring my thread up to date. Yes they returned on Thursday but did not get to see him before I left as he was very tired. I spoke to his wife on Friday morning and she said he was as well as could be expected but was asleep. The news was that it was a dislocation of the shoulder but the hospital did not find a fracture in his arm. He had the dislocation sorted under anesthetic (he is 82) and his wife stayed with him at the hospital. They are there until next Friday (booked for 4 weeks) so hope that he gets to enjoy his last week. His daughter decided to stay a further week so will be going home via Athens next Friday.
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Post by amy114 on Sept 26, 2015 7:57:23 GMT
Wednesday night
We all ate at the snack bar at my apartments (the Dream House) tonight as it is a favorite before going to the weekly quiz night at the Iguana bar. It was simple fare, I had the chicken souvlaki which came with chips and salad. Very nice. There were 9 of us so we split the bill and left a tip. When we got to the Iguana, we split into two teams, men (4) and women (5). I'm afraid my contribution was minimal. During the music questions, I recognised the songs but couldn't for the life of me remember who sang them but we had some good members of our team who did. We didn't do too badly on the film section and most of the general knowledge and the only question I got right, I was out-voted on turned out to be correct but it was all good fun. We didn't win a prize but we didn't come last either, that accolade went to our men's team, who won the booby - a toilet roll complete with sparkler! Still I am sure it came in useful! :-) The quiz raised more than 400 euros for the dog shelter so a good night all round.
Went back to the Elisabeth for a nightcap before a walk down the still very dark lane back to my apartments.
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Post by amy114 on Sept 26, 2015 8:27:54 GMT
Thursday
My last full day. :-(
Woke up to a beautiful hot sunny day today so after a very late breakfast at the Pegasus, decided to take myself off for a walk to Troulos. What I hadn't appreciated when I was doing my research on accommodation for this trip is that most of the hotels, etc, are really quite close together. For instance, in my head I had the Skiathos Princess on its own on a bluff somewhere near Koukanaries, imagine my surprise to see it on the first day opposite the Iguana bar! Just a few minutes walk towards Troulos and I came across the Atrium. I also saw the Paris guest house opposite the Kohyli taverna so all tucked away for a future trip!
Having climbed the road to the first bend, I looked down on AP beach (still hadn't visited) and took a video and couple of photos. Due to the storms the sand had been scored in two places so actually looked like three very small beaches separated by two gullies. I continued my walk, very little traffic, until I came to Troulos where I took a look around one of the supermarkets, before heading back!
I noticed that there were still some blackberry bushes still giving fruit but very little in the way of flowers at this time of year. However, when I was passing the Atrium, I noticed that they still had some flowering shrub type plants at the front of the hotel so I stopped to take a few photos. I recognised the flowers but could not remember the name but what I found most interesting was the berries growing on the same stems as the flowers. On the stems of pink flowers were tiny individual blue/purple berries whereas on the yellow/orange flowering stems, very large berries which looked like big succulent blueberries!
When I got back to the last bend in the road before the Iguana bar, I was treated to a wonderful peppery aroma coming off the pine trees, complete with cones.
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Post by amy114 on Sept 26, 2015 8:42:26 GMT
I carried on past the Iguana and called in at Jimmy's taverna, where I had a drink before going back to the apartment.
Tonight was again spent at the Pegasus. You may be thinking that this is my favorite taverna but as it is Vanessa's birthday it was her restaurant of choice, so happy to go with it. There were 10 of us for dinner tonight and I chose the pork with cream & mushroom sauce, which came with crispy chips and rice. Another good meal. We split the bill between us and with a tip included I paid 20 euros.
As I was feeling very tired I declined he invitation for a nightcap back at the Elisabeth, opting for an early night.
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Post by amy114 on Sept 26, 2015 9:05:44 GMT
Friday
Up with the alarm at 7.30 this morning, two cups of tea, before taking my last shower of the holiday and finishing my packing. Had my last breakfast at the snack bar, and just got onto my tablet to write a post when Vanessa arrived to take me to the airport. Said my goodbyes to Costas and Efi, after leaving my Avon SOS with Efi and off to the airport on another glorious, sunny, hot day! Arrived before the hordes, so check-in was painless and quick and then went over to Desires taverna to have a final coffee and watch the planes arriving and taking off. At 12.50 thought I had better go back as the flight was boarding at 1.30 pm only to be met with a queue that was the length of the airport and snaking back on itself! Blimey, I had heard that it could be quite bad but was not expecting this! There were three flights waiting to go through, Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle, all going out within minutes of each other. We were assured that we would be called to the front if we didn't move fast enough. We were then left waiting and after a short while an Olympic rep called the Manchester and Birmingham passengers to the frontTof the queue. When moving forward, I spotted Dennis and Vera but was not near enough to say hello.
Finally went through security and into the departure lounge and did some final shopping before waiting to be called. They announced the Birmingham flight, and managed to get Dennis' attentions to wish both a safe journey home. Our flight was next and we boarded over 30 minutes late finally taking off at around 2.30 pm.
Some turbulence on the way home and arrived to a sunny but cold reception in Manchester, where when I eventually got a taxi, hit the motorway in the rush hour traffic!
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Post by amy114 on Sept 26, 2015 9:16:03 GMT
Post holiday
Lots of things I didn't get to do this trip. Didn't get to check out the beach at AP or visit Kanapitsa beach. Didn't get to eat at the Maistrali, Avli, Orsa, Jimmy's or Swell bar (in Megali Ammos, which has had good reviews). Didn't get to do a boat trip either but there is always next time! :-)
Can definitely recommend the Dream House. Warm reception on arrival and continued throughout my stay although by the end of the holiday the somewhat hard mattress was beginning to take its toll!
So until next time ......
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Post by kevb on Oct 5, 2015 9:24:04 GMT
What I hadn't appreciated when I was doing my research on accommodation for this trip is that most of the hotels, etc, are really quite close together. For instance, in my head I had the Skiathos Princess on its own on a bluff somewhere near Koukanaries, imagine my surprise to see it on the first day opposite the Iguana bar!.
Only just got round to reading your report Amy. Just for reference, the big hotel on the hillside overlooking Koukounaries beach is the Skiathos Palace. As you say, the Princess is that very modern looking place near the Iguana and just to make things really confusing in Troulos there is the Skiathos Premier.
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Post by amy114 on Oct 5, 2015 18:26:39 GMT
Too many Skiathos P's kevb! :-)
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Post by exgreekgod on Oct 7, 2015 7:51:04 GMT
Hi Amy enjoyed reading your feedback,we almost came out the same week on a last minute booking but I was outvoted by the other half and we ended up in a lovely cottage in Suffolk, which is a bit odd as we live in a Cottage in Suffolk! Never mind will have to wait till next year although my job is a little bit shakey at the moment, so fingers crossed.
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