Hot and Dry

The weather across Greece remains hot and dry with strong meltemi winds in the Aegean, gusting up to Beaufort Force 8 later this week. The summer tourist season on Symi has peaked with the traditional all-night celebrations for the Dormition of the Virgin on Saturday night at the Alethini on the Pedi Road. It was pleasant to hear traditional Greek music drifting across the Pedi Valley, reminding us of the many warm Saturday nights when live bouzouki was a feature of Symi’s audio landscape and tourists tested their skills at the sensuous tsifteteli.

For many Greeks this week marks the return to work after a fortnight’s holiday and there are many cries of ‘Kalo Chimona’ (good winter) as they depart on the ferries for Rhodes, Kos and Pireaus. Many of the island’s French and Italian visitors are also heading homewards and over the next week or so Symi will slowly empty, only to fill up again at the end of the month as many of Symi’s regular British, German and Scandinavian visitors start to arrive, plus anyone else who isn’t tied to school holidays and is free to enjoy the golden days of late summer on Symi at whim.


Many areas of Chorio continue to be affected by water shortages and the mains supply is still off for most of the time. As the water supply is turned on very much at random, more often than not when people are at work during the day and are not at liberty to stay at home to fill the cistern or catch up on the laundry, this is a very frustrating state of affairs. Symi residents and visitors alike hope that this situation will become a thing of the past when the new desalination plant finally comes into operation. Meanwhile a steady shuttle of laden water boats from Rhodes is coming into Yialos and Pedi to ensure that hotels and restaurants remain fully supplied.

Have a good week.



Regards,

Adriana