Humming in the Broad Beans

The Merchant Houses of the Kali Strata as seen from Mavrovouni, the hill on the north side of the harbour.

The days are growing longer and the island is lush with daisies and rain-spattered poppies. Symi is looking forward to sunny weather next week as the rainy spells diminish in frequency and duration. Buds are swelling on the roses and the oak trees have been transformed from bald to bright green in a matter of days. The Easter lambs are munching plumply through the fields of Pedi and new chicks are hatching in the hen houses of Symi. The rising temperatures are also bringing the island’s insect life out of winter hibernation. Bees are humming in the broad beans and the eager twittering of wild birds fills the days with sound, even down here in the harbour.

Down in Yialos the paving work along the shop fronts on the north side of the harbour is progressing and some shopkeepers have started to reassemble the fittings that they had to remove to allow the paving work to proceed. The new Taxas supermarket restoration project in the lane next to the Symi Visitor Accommodation office is also taking shape and they have started to paint the exterior.

The ferry situation at the moment is quite dire as the Aegli hydrofoil www.anes.gr is still out of commission. Costas Sikalos at Symi Tours www.symitours.com says that there are no big boats running to Symi in March and Dodecanese Seaways www.12ne.gr is only running the Dodecanese Express which currently passes through Symi just three days a week. At the moment the only days where it is possible to do a trip from Symi to Rhodes and back without staying over night are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. As March is a month when business owners are running around sorting out paperwork for the forthcoming season and property owners are trying to get renovation work finished before the first holidaymakers arrive, this severely reduced schedule is causing a lot of headaches. We hope that the shipping companies come up with some solutions soon as in principal the tourist season starts in less than a month.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana