Symi in the Winter

It is a wet and gloomy day on Symi. Yesterday’s downpours have turned the water in Yialos and Pedi brown and puddles reflect the low clouds rolling across Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean. The Vigla and surrounding peaks are wrapped in mist and brief rainbows arc over Chorio and Nimos. The weather is expected to remain unsettled with some very strong winds and thunder activity for the next few days. As you can see from looking at the various webcams around Greece on http://www.yassou.com/, the only part of Greece currently enjoying sunshine is Zakinthos! That is quite an impressive Christmas tree they have put up in St Markos Square, Zante Town. Definitely no tourists on the beach at Alykes though. It is quite fun panning around the various webcams in different parts of Greece on a rainy day, watching the locals bustling around the squares and the ferries come and go.

Here on Symi the Christmas decorations look a bit droopy in the wet, particularly the big Santa on the terrace of the house next to the Windmill Restaurant in Chorio. He is kept inflated by an air compressor which was definitely not running this morning - the crumpled remains of a larger than life pink and red Santa were draped forlornly over the railing amongst some very wet washing. I am sure he will revive though when the sun comes out.

This will be my last Symi blog for a while as my father is very ill and I have to return to South Africa urgently. However I hope to be back on line with news from Symi in mid January. In the meantime you will be able to keep up to date on daily life on Symi in the winter with http://symidream.com/wp/ You can also now follow Symi on Twitter.

Have an enjoyable festive season and a prosperous New Year.

Regards,

Adriana

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Flowering in Confusion

It is a bright clear day on Symi. Saturday’s downpours have washed the island clean and the fishing boats are sparkling in the sun. The benches along the harbour front are full of locals warming themselves in the sunshine as the northerly breeze is quite chilly. Tuesday should remain dry and the next round of rainy weather will move in from Wednesday evening, once it has finished depositing snow on the Alps. On the whole, however, the temperatures have remained remarkably mild for the time of the year and the almond and oak trees are still covered in leaves. Some of the almonds are already flowering in confusion.

Up in Chorio the winter stock has finally arrived and Sotiris’ supermarket has an impressively cosmopolitan display of imported chocolates, German stollen and Italian panetone as well as the usual Greek honey and walnut cakes, dried fruit and nuts. Not a mincepie in sight, however, and Christmas shopping on Symi does not involve piped carols either – most shopkeepers have a television set somewhere in line of sight of the till so that they can keep an eye on the news and football matches in idle moments. For heated shops, window displays, tinsel and Bing Crosby one has to head further afield, to the bright lights of Rhodes, just under two hours away on the ferry.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Farewell to a Brave Symi Visitor

We are sorry to report the recent passing of Enfys Hankey, after a long and courageous battle against cancer. Enfys and her husband, well known photographer Barry Hankey, visited Symi as part of their twice yearly Dodecanese island-hopping holiday since 2000 and so will be familiar to many regular visitors and residents. An enthusiastic walker, Enfys did not allow her health to control her life and on her last visit to Symi in May 2009 was still to be seen striding out into the Symiot countryside, living life to the full until the very last.

The accompanying photograph was taken on Symi in May this year, in the oregano fields en route from Nimborio to Agios Nikolaos Stenou. Our thoughts are with her family at this time and we hope to see Barry on Symi again in the spring.

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A Brief Day Off

After two days of stormy weather, hail, rain and wild winds, Symi is having a brief day off before the low pressure system that is currently spiraling across Italy, the Ionian and mainland Greece hits Symi in the course of tomorrow. While the fishermen are busy bailing out their boats and checking lines, everyone else is mopping, scrubbing and drying – when it rains on Symi water finds its way into unexpected places. The traditional Symi roof design with gutters set into the tops of the walls and channeled into a pipe set into the house wall to fill the cistern under the house often leaks in heavy downpours, particularly if hail stones prevent the water from flowing, as was the case in Thursday’s storm. Wednesday afternoon’s storm surge took breaking waves right up the customs slipway in the harbour but the raised pavements that were built along the front of Pachos and the other shops at the head of the harbour in recent years minimised the seawater flooding that used to be a problem for waterfront properties in Yialos during winter storms.

Today’s photos are for regular Symi visitors who may be surprised to see, firstly, a Christmas Tree, complete with baubles, tied to a fence post and Old Drakos signpost opposite Kampos supermarket in Chorio and secondly, who may not believe that the terraces in the Pedi Valley are ever any colour other than brown. With less agricultural activity on the island indigenous trees are taking over in the valley, creating a shady green garden out of what used to be vine-filled terraces and orchards.  Just in case you are wondering, those plastic bags in the background are builders' rubble, awaiting collection by truck after being dropped off there by a mule train. 

Many thanks to those of you who emailed us to point out that the webcam at Symi Visitor Accommodation was off the air – the power surge that caused the problem has been fixed and you can continue to enjoy a Symi winter from wherever you are in the world - until the next power outage of course.

Have a warm dry weekend.
Regards,

Adriana

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