Hot and Sweet
A Visiting Cruise Ship Dwarfs the Clock Tower and Nireus Hotel.
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana Read more...
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana Read more...
Small Pleasures and Simple Things
It is a warm sunny day on the small island of Symi in the southern Dodecanese. A strong westerly wind is pulling the clouds into ragged shapes and the pretty new umbrellas on the balconies of one of the waterfront pensions have all blown inside out like giant tulips. Waiters are chasing menu cards and escaped paper napkins down the quay and visitors are keeping a firm hand on their sun hats.
It is amazing how cool 30 degrees feels after temperatures in the forties. We are all sleeping better and even the mosquitoes seem to have taken a break for a few nights. Symi is a lot busier than it was a month ago, though still not up to the levels of two or three years ago, before the global economic crisis sent the developed world into a belt-tightening panic. The trend on Symi is for shorter holidays with a strong emphasis on self-catering. Visitors are weighing up whether to buy a slice of water melon from a café for a euro a slice or buy a whole watermelon at 40 cents a kilo from the hawker’s truck in the back of the harbour. With a family, the whole watermelon and dad’s penknife definitely works out as the better deal!
Every morning there are queues at the bakeries as visitors buy the ingredients for picnics and packed lunches. Walking is back in fashion and there are fewer hire bikes and hire cars to be seen on the roads. The round the island excursion boats have reduced their prices considerably despite the huge hikes in fuel prices this year. The atmosphere is not one of austerity so much as a renewed delight in small pleasures and simple things. A glass of cold wine with friends on the terrace of the apartment rather than several rounds of drinks in a bar. A much anticipated boat trip as the culmination of a perfect holiday rather than a different organized outing every day. Talking to some of the visitors who have passed through the Symi Visitor Accommodation office in recent days, now that spend-spend-spend is no longer a life style option for most people, many find that life has become a lot less complicated and rather more enjoyable.
On that profound note I wish you all an enjoyable weekend.
Regards,
Adriana
A Sleepy Sundrenched Apathy
It is mind-numbingly hot on Symi today. Fingers stick to keyboards in our office and the only sound to rise from the cafeneion below is the clink of glasses and beer bottles – it is too hot for conversation. Time slows down on Symi on days like this and a sleepy sundrenched apathy settles over the island. There is little inclination to move very far or very fast.
The footpath up to the Cottage from the motor road.
Looking up the Kali Strata from the bar at the Corner.
Yes, that is the Symi Dream shop and gallery on the right.
That little patch of blue peeping out between the buildings is a glimpse of the Hotel Fiona
- a welcome first sight to those who decide to walk up the Kali Strata instead of taking a taxi.
A Glimpse of Visiting Turkish Gulets Between the Mansions of the Kali Strata
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana Read more...
On the Hottest Day
While the south of France is awash with unseasonably heavy summer downpours, Greece continues to sizzle under a scorching heatwave. Temperatures in Symi are in the forties with little relief in sight. DEH, the Public Power Corporation, has requested that people keep electricity consumption to a minimum to avoid power cuts and they are having to buy in electricity from neighbouring countries to meet the increased energy requirements of Athens and Thessalonica as everyone reaches for the air conditioning remote. Air conditioning in cities is a bit of a vicious circle as the amount of heat they pump out into the environment heats up city streets and raises the ambient temperature, encouraging the use of ever more air conditioning units. Last night, sitting out in our garden in the Pedi valley while waiting for the temperature to drop enough for sleep to be a possibility, we could hear Symi’s power station roaring away at full capacity. Locals know not to leave air conditioners running when they are not in residence as they have the huge electricity bills to meet but visitors often don’t think and leave units running all day while they are out on the beach. If you are visiting Symi during the hot months, please remember to switch off the air con when you are out – with modern units it is only a matter of a few minutes for the room to cool down after switching on, even on the hottest day.
Plank in Place and Men at Work
Pouring Concrete over the Pipe
Ilias Braves the Plank
Ilias thinks better of it.
Bike successfully manhandled across the Great Divide
Meanwhile, work is continuing on the Nimborio road. Big stormwater drains are being laid across the road and, as you can see from the photographs, it is only possible to get a motorbike across with some difficulty. Despite the big smile, in the end Ilias Haskas, the deputy mayor, chickened out and his bike was carried across the plank. The pedestrian route via Drakounta was the route of choice until the thermometer went over the top. Now beach goers are taking the easy option of hopping onto a water taxi or breezing over the mountain to Tolis and Marathounda on hire bikes. Flip flops have taken over from hiking boots and the walking season is definitely over until September.
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Adriana Read more...
Head for the Shade
It is a sizzling sunny day on the small island of Symi. The heat is shimmering off the stone pavements and visitors working their way around the tourist shops that fringe the harbour proceed slowly from one pool of shade to the next, fanning themselves with their sunhats and frantically finishing their ice creams before total meltdown. Judging by the clink of glass and the growing stack of empty crates outside Pachos downstairs, cold beer is moving well today. The’ no parking’ cones are in position around the harbour front and the municipal police are clamping down on illegal parking in Yialos. At this stage the date for the annual traffic ban in the harbour has not been announced but it can’t be far away. Traffic is banned at peak periods so that day trippers don’t have to dodge cars in the middle of the day and overnight visitors can enjoy their meals in the waterfront tavernas without exhaust fumes and passing vehicles disturbing the ambience.
It is quite definitely beach weather and there is only one water taxi still waiting on the quay; the others are all out, whizzing along Symi’s rugged coastline, dropping off and collecting patrons at the different beaches. As most of Symi’s beaches are inaccessible by any other means and it is a long hot walk to the few that can be accessed on foot water taxis are a very popular means of transport at this time of the year. Apart from the water taxis operating out of Yialos there is also one operating out of Pedi that serves the beaches at St Nicholas and Agia Marina.
The long range forecast for Greece as a whole and Symi in particular is hot, hot and hotter. Even in breezy Rhodes midday temperatures are in the high thirties which means that rocky Symi will be over the forty mark for the next few days. Time to grab another ice cream and head for the shade of my olive grove.
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana Read more...
A Warm Breeze
What do you mean, you want to put up this umbrella?
It is a hot sunny day on the island of Symi. A warm breeze is buffeting the jasmine on the balcony at Symi Visitor Accommodation and a small procession of thunder clouds is marching across the distant horizon, proclaiming showery weather over the Turkish hills. The Symi Visitor wedding team is over at Haritomeni restaurant, decorating the tables for Kate and Jody’s wedding reception later this evening. The office has been a flurry of excitement this morning and Wendy’s desk was briefly turned into a packing station for the traditional gauze and almond favours for the wedding guests. Seven pink and white almonds, wrapped in saffron net and tied with ribbons to match the bridesmaids’ dresses. As soon as the Poseidon returns from its day excursion it too will be decorated with ribbons and flowers as the wedding guests will travel to the little chapel at Agia Marina by caique after the civil service at the town hall. The bride and her entourage will be departing from Pitini House shortly and making her way down the Kali Strata accompanied by her family and friends and a group of traditional musicians. She will meet the groom and his party at the bridge and then walk together to Symi town hall where they will be married by the mayor.
Climbing up to Villa Jeanette and Villa Irene in Upper Chorio
Symi is quieter than usual for June but there have been quite a few last minute bookings from Spain and Turkey as well as the United Kingdom and most accommodation on the island is now full. The trend towards self-catering continues and while spending in tavernas is lower than previous years more visitors are to be seen buying the ingredients to prepare their own meals and revelling in the novelty of choosing fruit and vegetables from the lorry from Tilos and trying to identify the mysterious cuts of meat at the town butcher. On Symi fresh produce usually comes as nature made it, without the benefit of cellophane, polystyrene or fanciful labels of optimistic nutritional information. Apart from strawberries and occasionally mushrooms, which are put into open punnets so that they aren’t damaged in transit, everything else comes in crates and customers can choose exactly what they want. No unwanted surprises but no sell by dates either.
The Kastro as viewed from Stavros Church in Upper Chorio
Symi may be a small island in the outpost of Europe but World Cup fever is evident even here. The Greeks love football and Greece is playing against South Korea this weekend so the waterfront cafes and bars are preparing their big screen televisions.
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Adriana Read more...
A Warm Sunny Day
It is a warm sunny day on Symi. White clouds drift slowly across a powder blue sky and the palms outside my office window are fluttering gently in the breeze. A voluptuous Turkish schooner has just dropped its anchor in the middle of Yialos and is reversing rapidly in the direction of the pharmacy, hoping to get its lines ashore quickly before the crosswind catches the wheelhouse and sends it sideways. At this time of the year Symi’s mooring men really have to be on the ball, guiding yachts, ferries and excursion boats into the right slots on both sides of Symi’s narrow harbour. It is quite a job and often involves dashing from one side of the harbour to the other by motor bike at some speed. Yialos is surprisingly deep for its width and it is not uncommon for charter yachts visiting for the first time to drop their anchors too soon and run out of chain before they are within range of the quay. Then there is the whirr of anchor winches and indignant shouting as all that chain has to come back up for the second attempt. Speaking of boats, the Symi II had to turn back to Rhodes this morning due to a medical emergency on board so it will be an hour or so late coming into Yialos today.
Work is continuing on the road to Nimborio and the road is frequently closed due to wet concrete. With these disruptions there are not many people staying out there and the water taxi to Nimborio has not started its service yet. Work has also resumed on the undercover sports’ facility in Chorio. Workmen are busy plastering the pediments and generally tidying up the building site. There are, however, no signs of work resuming on the Pedi marina in the foreseeable future. Visiting boats are improvising moorings there, tying up to odd bits of reinforcing rod on the quay.
Hot clear sunshine is forecast for the rest of the week with the possibility of a minor mud shower again on Saturday night.
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana
Famous for Its Steps
Weddings aside, June is also a popular month for Symi’s regular visitors and there are many familiar faces on the island at the moment. The Poseidon is still the only round the island excursion boat operating, going out three to four times per week depending on demand, but the Triton should start once there are more people around. Rhodes must be busy judging by the number of day trippers coming over on the Symi, Symi II, Nikolaos and Tilos Sea Star and the visitors in the harbour at midday represent a wide range of languages and nationalities. Symi is certainly receiving far more Eastern European visitors this year and some of the waterfront shopkeepers are reputed to be working on their Russian sales patter. Unusually there are also a lot of early French and Italian tourists – normally they only come to Symi in July and August.
Today’s photographs show the apricots ripening in my garden and then, for those readers who have never been here, some photographs of my walk to work down the Kali Strata. Symi is famous for its steps and the Kali Strata was the nineteenth century high street connecting the residential area of Chorio with the business district of the harbour, Yialos. Many of the buildings lining the Kali Strata had shops on the ground floor and the owners lived above. Although the majority of the houses have now been restored by private owners the character is very different now from the way it would have been 100 years ago as the old commercial aspect has gone. These days Symiots and visitors alike prefer to do their shopping in the more convenient lanes of Chorio and Yialos rather than carry their purchases up and down 400 or so steps.
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Adriana Read more...
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