Adriana's Symi-a Greek island diary: September 2008

Clean and Newly Washed

It is a clear sunny day on Symi with patches of low cloud and a fresh north-westerly wind. The lingering remnants of last night’s showers are evaporating quickly in the breeze, leaving the island looking clean and newly washed. The upper slopes of the Vigla are already turning green and the oleanders lining the motor road out of the town have started to flower in places.

The harbour is filling up with brightly flagged cruising yachts from all over the world, indicative of Symi’s cosmopolitan attraction. We have had a steady procession of walkers passing through the office, stoutly booted and brandishing formidable walking sticks, asking advice on various routes and landmarks and checking the weather forecast for the rest of the week.

We are happy to report that Nikos Halkitis, Proprietor of the Symi Visitor, has been successful in his project to foster the twinning of the island of Symi with the town of Tarpon Springs in Florida. Symi Town Council voted unanimously last week in favour of the twinning. Nikos and Liz Halkitis will be accompanying members of Symi Town Council on a trip to Tarpon Springs in November to attend further talks and a Panormitis Day dance organised by the local Symiot community. Further information on this breaking story will be available in the October edition of the Symi Visitor newspaper which will be on the streets shortly. Regular readers of the Symi Visitor newspaper will have been watching this story unfold since it first appeared on the front page of the February 2008 Symi Visitor.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

Windy Skies - Sunday 28 September 2008

Photographers may flock to Symi to photograph the perfectly preserved neo-classical architecture and the amphitheatre harbour, but at this time of the year it is also worth looking up! These were taken from half way up the Vigla at day break on Sunday. The weather forecast for the rest of the week is clear and mild with a fresh band of clouds and showers coming through around Friday.

Clearing from this Afternoon

This is proving to be the wettest September for many years. Regular visitors to Symi have been astonished to see their favourite island in the conditions normally mentioned on these pages in the depths of winter. By 8 o’clock this morning we had already had 52 mm of rain for the month, and that was before the downpour shown in the accompanying photograph which hit Symi at about 9 a.m. Fortunately the weather should be clearing from this afternoon and no showers are expected for the next few days.

The ferry service has been another source of frustration for visitors this week. The Aegli hydrofoil broke down on Monday and as at time of writing it is still unclear whether it will be back in operation by the weekend. Then the Symi II had to do a medical evacuation on Wednesday night and failed to return, leaving at least 60 visitors stranded on Symi early on Thursday morning, most of them with planes to catch. Fortunately Wendy Wilcox of Symi Visitor Accommodation was able to help not just our own visitors but also other travelers by chartering alternative transport to rush them to the airport as well as rescheduling flights for those who had already missed their connections. For some visitors it was an exciting, if nerve-wracking, end to a Symi holiday.

Have a peaceful weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

Symi's Second Spring

The first rains have fallen early this year and, combined with warm temperatures and a reasonable amount of daylight, have triggered the 'second spring' that is characteristic of the Mediterranean climate. Late season walkers will enjoy an usual sight as many plants are up a month earlier than usual.

Nasturtiums germinating in my Symi garden, days after the first rains.

Just add water - wildflower seeds starting to germinate on the terraces in the Pedi valley. It does not take much rain to start things growing again.

The first cyclamen, spotted in a sheltered corner of the Pedi valley. Note the snail on the right.

Symi in September

According to my rain gauge, Symi received 25 mm of rain in the early hours of Sunday morning. That is about an inch for those readers who are not metricated and quite a lot more than the normal rainfall for Symi in September which is usually more like 5 mm if that. Fortunately the downpour did not last very long and the rest of Sunday was fine with just the occasional passing cloud, much to the relief of the Spalding family who were celebrating young Harry’s christening up at Agios Thannasis. (A detailed account of this joyful event can be found on http://symidream.com/wp/)

More showers are expected tonight and the island is already perceptibly greener. The dust of summer has been washed away, brightening the colours and freshening the air. Unsettled weather is forecast for the whole of the Mediterranean for the next few days and the satellite picture shows bands of clouds all the way from here to Gibraltar. Temperatures, however, are still mild and very pleasant. The evenings are cooler and we ate indoors last night for the first time in months, not because we had to but because we wanted to.

As you can see from the accompanying photograph, there are still plenty of yachts at anchor in Pedi. A lot of cruising yachts pass through Symi in September and October, making their way towards the marinas in Turkey and Cyprus where they intend to overwinter. Symi also sees a lot of bareboat charter yachts at this time of year, often full of businessmen on team-building expeditions. Putting six or eight work mates into the confines of a 36 foot Benetteau and bouncing them around the Mediterranean chop is something the television reality shows have yet to investigate as far as I know, but it certainly has potential!

Regards,
Adriana

Seasonal Obsession

Symi is sheltering beneath a gentle grey blanket of cloud and for the first time in months I put an umbrella in my bag before setting off this morning. This may not be perfect weather for beach goers but the Triton was full for the trip to Datca this morning and I passed stout-booted walkers heading resolutely up the Vigla as I was coming down. Those visitors who are not so energetically inclined spend their time in the coffee shops and kafeneions or exploring the shops in Yialos and Chorio. Cooler weather and well-equipped self-catering accommodation often add up to adventures into Greek cookery and it is not unusual to see visitors stocking up in the supermarkets. The day excursion boats from Rhodes tend to be full at this time of year too as it is often too windy for the beach on Rhodes’ exposed coastline but still fine for the larger excursion boats to run.

The whole of Greece is battening down for some stormy weather this weekend (see
http://news.ert.gr/en/c/9/35445.asp) and there is much clearing and painting of gutters and replacing of cracked tiles going on on the rooftops of Chorio. After nearly five months of drought it is time to prepare for the rainy season and Wednesday evening’s downpour was something of a ‘wake up call’ for those who have been putting off essential roof repairs for months. Unlike other styles of Greek vernacular architecture which have overhanging eaves, the neo-classical roofs on Symi terminate in a gutter set into the tops of the walls. This then drains down a pipe, often within the wall, and, traditionally, into a large cistern under the house to provide water during the dry months of the year. If the plaster of the gutter starts to crack or the gutter becomes blocked with leaves and other debris during the summer, the heavy rain that is characteristic of the rainy season at this time of the year quickly finds its way into the house. Hence the seasonal obsession with roof maintenance!

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

The Drought Broke

The water ship gliding past a blustery Pedi bay.

Agia Triada at the top of Chorio, from an unusual angle.

The Kastro in the early morning sun.

Profiti Ilias on the slopes of the Vigla

The drought broke at about 9 pm on Wednesday 17 September when a fat cloud rolled across the moon and dumped a large amount of cold water on Symi, just as the new arrivals were disembarking from the Symi II. The rain only lasted twenty minutes but was enough to get the gutters flowing and bring a welcome freshness to the air. Temperatures are now in the twenties, a relief to all of us living and working on Symi after months of sweltering in the thirties and forties.

The weather is expected to remain unsettled for the next few days with isolated showers and some wind. This is normal around the equinox and should clear later in the week. It is not for nothing that late September and early October are popular periods with walkers, photographers, artists, writers and anyone else who wants to take advantage of cooler weather and spectacular scenery. We have also noticed an increasing number of architects visiting the island, interested not just in Symi’s famous neo-classical architecture but also in the way in which ruins are restored and new structures designed to blend in with the existing houses.

I took the accompanying photographs at seven o'clock this morning, just as the sun was climbing over the hills that guard Pedi.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

Watching the Sky

Symi is dripping with dew as the equinox approaches. Mist fills the valleys from early evening until quite late in the morning and anything accidentally left out over night is sodden. The accompanying photograph was taken at 8 o’clock in the morning on Monday and gives an idea of just how hazy it is at the moment.

The weather forecasters are teasing us with rumours of rain and strong winds are expected at the end of the week. Tantalisingly low clouds glide past the western sky at sunset and the rising moon illuminates fine fingers of wind-spun vapour trails. The rest of Greece may already be mopping up after autumnal downpours but here in the Southern Dodecanese we are watching the sky and wondering when the first showers will fall. Temperatures are expected to slip into the twenties this weekend and it is already much cooler at night.

Well-known local shopkeeper, Yannis Moschos of Kampos Supermarket in Chorio, seems set to make a full recovery after his heart attack yesterday morning – the prompt application of one of the two defibrillators generously donated by two anonymous British philanthropists (see The Symi Visitor newspaper July 2008) and a speedy transfer by hydrofoil to Rhodes saved his life. We hope to see him behind the counter again soon.

Regards,
Adriana

Shockwaves

Symi remains abnormally warm for the time of year, with midday temperatures touching 40 degrees centigrade some days. The rest of Greece is experiencing more usual conditions for the time of year with thunderstorms and occasional downpours as the autumn equinox approaches.

The collapse of XL has sent shockwaves through the community. Kosmar was a major operator on the island and brought many of the island’s regular British visitors to the island in September and October. On an island where most business is seasonal and based on tourism, the loss of so many visitors in the last six weeks of the season is a major economic blow, particularly following on a season that by most accounts has been described as ‘bad’. Many independent travelers also booked flights through XLA and are now struggling to find alternative flights, often paying extortionate prices as beleaguered airline companies take this opportunity to bump up their own shortfalls.

On the bright side, we were told by the water department yesterday that from 16 September Symi’s continuous mains water supply will come back into operation so the water shortages of the last 8 weeks will be a thing of the past. (Maybe someone worked out that with so many empty beds the island’s water reserves will stretch a lot further, but perhaps that is just the cynic in me.)

Commiserations to all of you Symi lovers out there who have suddenly lost their Symi fix for this year. Somehow I don’t think that two live webcams can really compensate for the real thing, no matter how many hours a day they are watched.

Regards,
Adriana

The Shadows are Lengthening

Symi continues to sizzle, as chat page devotees have observed, thanks to the real time temperature gauge Allan has cunningly located on the Pachos banner on the forum. The sensors are on the terrace of the main Symi Visitor building, over by the bus stop in Yialos. http://symivisitor.forumco.com/default.asp Click on the thermometer for an up to the minute temperature report.

The days may still be hot but the shadows are lengthening and when I walk to work at half past seven in the morning the sun is only just touching Pedi bay. It is quite dark by 8 p.m and a pocket torch comes in handy when going out in the evening. The school year is beginning although the local children will still find plenty of time to go down to Pedi to swim in the afternoons after their lessons.

The deepening shadows flatter Symi’s amphitheatre harbour, enhancing the elegant symmetry of the neo-classical architecture and lending a gentle luminosity to the palette of traditional ochres and blues with which they are painted. It is easy to forget in the summer scramble for water taxis and sun loungers that Symi’s unique selling point is not her beaches but her perfectly preserved amphitheatre harbour with its rows of beautiful neo-classical houses. First time visitors and day trippers often ask me where to go sight-seeing, disappointed that there aren’t distinct must-see tourist attractions, easily ticked off. I always tell them that the ‘attractions’ are all around them – it is the houses themselves and their arrangement on the hills and cliffs, punctuated by Greek Orthodox churches of every style, that make Symi unique. Halki does not have the elevation. Kastellorizo does not have the scale. It is only in Symi that tiers upon tiers of neo-classical houses rise from the water’s edge to half way up the Vigla, cloaking the slopes in a skilful combination of original nineteenth century stone buildings, sympathetic restorations and new constructions designed to blend in with the old.

The accompanying photograph shows the houses on the hill below the windmills, looking towards the Pedi Valley and the Vigla.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

The Changing Season

In the last few days the geraniums and jasmine on the balcony of Symi Visitor Accommodation have come into flower. That grey oblong shape in the left hand pot of geraniums is the webcam. Barbie was having her morning nap downstairs. She walks down with Zoe every morning and always lies out front until Nikita comes along to chat to her after his morning coffee at Pachos.