Spring Fever

Many Symiots fly the Greek flag for holidays such as Independence Day on 25 March. 

Greece, along with the rest of the EU, changed to daylight saving summer time yesterday and spring has officially begun. With the first tourists arriving on Symi for Easter in a few weeks there is a lot to be done and the island is humming with activity. A shipload of building materials came into Pedi at the weekend – we could see it unloading from the roof terrace of our farm house. Apart from preparing tourist accommodation, restaurants, cafes and shops, many locals are also busy getting their boats ready for the season. Many places on Symi that are beaches in the summer are home to small boats and caiques chocked up on barrels for the winter and these all have to be painted, launched and moved to summer moorings so that the beach franchise holders can get on with preparing their sunbeds and umbrellas for the season. Other boats have spent the winter on trailers in car parks, orchards and olive groves and have to be similarly dug out of their winter hibernation. The car and bike hire companies are washing and polishing their fleets. There is a line up of gleaming copper Fiats over by the clock tower, clearly visible in the sunshine from my office window.

A bee making sure that we will have at least one apricot this year.

Wild sage flowering in a water course.

Everywhere one looks the island is smothered with flowers at the moment. Even the oaks and olives are doing their bit. Here are some spring fever photos for those visitors who have only ever seen Symi in her dry summer garb and find it hard to imagine that Symi is ever anything but burned brown in the sun.

A Valonia oak in spring finery

A scented carpet of wild cyclamens under the olives.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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A Delightful Time of Year

It is a glorious spring day and the flags for tomorrow’s Independence Day parade are fluttering gaily in the breeze. Webcam devotees will be able to watch part of the parade live on the webcam as the dignitaries walk along the front when they leave St John’s church and go along to the war memorial.  It is a bank holiday long weekend in Greece which is why I am posting this blog a day early. Two fields of potatoes are still waiting to be dug up so I know how I will be spending the holiday.

The latest update on the boat saga is that yesterday the Tilos Star, a catamaran belonging to the nearby island of Tilos, called in en route from Rhodes to Tilos with its football team, and was kept here overnight due to a gale warning for a Force 8 northerly in the stretch between Symi and Tilos and is still here. Yialos is full of bored teenage footballers. Mind you, there is slightly more life on Symi, with 3000 winter inhabitants, than Tilos which only has about 300, but even so they would like to go home now please.

The Dodecanese Seaways catamaran also came through yesterday, heading from Kos to Rhodes, but they weren’t forced to overnight on Symi as they were heading away from the weather. The Proteus came in from Rhodes, empty, to bunker up with fuel and then set off for Rhodes early this morning. She was supposed to be leaving Rhodes at 16.00 this afternoon but this has now been deferred to later this evening. According to Symi’s truckers, she will be bringing goods onto the island. For those who are unfamiliar with the system, the usual practice is for a driver to put a truck on the ferry in Rhodes and then for another trucker to drive it off in Symi. It is then unloaded at leisure and sent back. This saves truckers getting stuck in odd places and keeps costs down for the companies because by using local drivers they don’t have to worry about accommodation and subsistence.

We are all waiting to find out when, if at all, any kind of formal schedule for ANES is going to appear. At the time of writing, there is still no announcement on ANES’ website.

Today’s photographs were taken by Ged Horton. As you can see, it is a delightful time of the year for walkers.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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Lupins and Lavender

Lupins and Lavender

The equinox passed with a flurry of thunder showers and spring has arrived on Symi on a wave of daisies.  As temperatures have shot up in recent days so has the vegetation with lush abandon.  The sheep nibble all night by the light of the full moon, bells tinkling gently as they move across the ancient terraces.  Symi is waking up for the tourist season which starts with Easter in April.  Now that the rainy season has, to all intents and purposes, come to an end, the great drying out process has begun. Outdoor jobs are a pleasure in the spring sunshine and even the workmen laying the paving outside the Symi Visitor Accommodation office have shed a few layers of clothing.  It is still quite chilly indoors though as it takes a long time for the warmth to penetrate the thick stone walls.

Men at work

There is a bit of a panic on with the boats at the moment as ANES has officially filed for bankruptcy. More details of this on our companion blog. However Wendy spoke to Ilias Haskas, the deputy mayor, this morning, and he told her that the Proteus will be running on Wednesday this week and that we will be seeing the Symi II again this summer. This is welcome news because at the moment there is virtually nothing in the shops and with the lack of car ferries it is impossible to have things sent over. On Symi even at the best of times choices are limited to what is available but with so many people needing paint, wood and other supplies to get their houses and businesses ready for the season, the prospect of being forced to paint ones shutters in whatever colour has proved to be the least popular in the last decade and therefore the only paint available is sad.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

A splash of brightness at Dino the Chandler. 

Apart from the wheelbarrow he also sells agricultural implements and brass door knockers.

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Perfume and Pollen

The Pedi Valley from a vantage point near the quarry at Profiti Ilias. 

The new 'solar farm' and the astroturf football field with race track are new landmarks. 

Yes, that is snow on the mountain in the distance.

After a couple of days of glorious sunshine the rain clouds are once again wreathed around the Vigla and squalls are blustering through Yialos. Temperatures are around 18 degrees so it is nowhere near as cold as it was this time last week and nature has shifted the agenda from winter to spring. The valonia oaks are sprouting new leaves and a tide of yellow daisies and mustard flowers is sweeping across the Pedi Valley. Perfume and pollen fill the air. As the equinox and full moon approach we can expect more showery weather but there are no strong winds forecast over the next few days and we can expect mild temperatures between the thundershowers. It is that time of the year on Symi when those who travel on motorbikes are still cocooned while those of us who walk everywhere are starting to shed layers and often wind up carrying more garments than we are wearing.

A small self-seeded valonia oak (right) shares verge space with a clump of wild garlic flowers.

Bright yellow mustard and oxalis flowers in the remnants of an ancient stone wall.

This magnificent moth was somehow trapped in the chicken wire fencing

around Yanni's garden in Lieni, Chorio.

The webcam at Symi Visitor Accommodation is back on the air. I apologise for the slightly wobbly focus – I was being blown off my feet while I was fitting it. I hope to remedy any shortcomings in a few days. One thing I cannot do anything about is the greyness of the weather on display at the moment. Webcam devotees can watch out for the anticipated sunny intervals on Saturday, not to mention the added bonus of watching the creeping tide of crazy paving tracking up past Pachos. It is already visible on the right hand side. It is going to be interesting to see what, if anything, they do about the fact that the road will be several centimetres higher than the lanes that lead into it which were paved in a previous project some years ago.

One of the oldest oak trees on Symi.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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Picture Postcard

The Gate House shining in the morning sun, as seen from the Kali Strata

Yialos and Harani.



Symi is basking in bright blue and white light, the sunshine of every glossy brochure and picture postcard. The recent cold weather has left the air sharp and clear with no trace of haze or dust. Symi looks newly painted, even though most householders have only just embarked on the annual whitewash job. In a climate of extremes it is traditional in Greece to spend much of Lent painting away the moss and mildew of winter and prepare for the long dry summer. It takes a while for all the woodwork to shrink and there is undoubtedly more rain to come but the days grow longer and warmer and the intervals between downpours increase until finally the number one topic of conversation on the bus changes from the iniquities of the ferry companies to speculation as to when the first rains will fall.

The Mouragio section of Yialos, with some of the houses of Harani in the background.

One casualty of Symi’s wet winters and scorching hot summers is the Symi Visitor Accommodation webcam. The webcam itself is fine, thank goodness, snug in its weather proof casing, but the cabling degraded in the sun and then let the rain in. A replacement cable is being made up so all being well we should be back on the air later this week.

In the Pedi Valley the Easter lambs grow fat on a diet of daisies and every patch of greenery seems to have a ewe tethered in it. Down in the harbour men are hard at work, laying the new paving outside Pachos. March on Symi wouldn’t be the same without roadworks and the staccato of jackhammers as the townhall rushes to get things finished before Easter. With the water table still high and springs popping out of the road near the bridge, paving the road around the head of the harbour is a challenging project involving much discussion and advice from bystanders, as well as the consumption of large quantities of caffeine and nicotine by all parties concerned.

One of my favourite pediments. 

I wonder what the story is behind that little saucer in the bull's eye.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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Moody Weather

After a week of extremely cold weather on Symi temperatures will start to creep up into double digits from tomorrow, helped by calm conditions as the gale force winds have finally abated. Much of Greece has had snowfall, as has neighbouring Turkey. In this photograph, which I took from the Kali Strata this morning, one can see snow on the hills behind Datca, an unusual occurrence indeed. The long range forecast shows temperatures ranging from 17 degrees at midday to 11 degrees at night which, although a bit on the low side for this time of the year, often prove to be warmer than that in reality. All one needs is to be on the south facing side of the harbour which is why Elpida’s has traditionally been such a popular winter cafeneion.

The shipping news is that the Proteus comes back into service on Monday. Unfortunately once again the schedule is a bit of a teaser because it only goes as far as 2 April and there is still no sign of life from the Symi II. There is not much happening on the other excursion boats in Rhodes either. Sue Grzebisz took this photograph of the Nikolaos in Mandraki last week, while on her enforced sojourn in Rhodes en route from England to Symi due to the lack of ferries. As you can see, the crew live on board in the winter.

One advantage of the moody weather we have on Symi at this time of the year is the photographic opportunities for those in the right place at the right time. Ged Horton took these in Nimborio a few weeks ago. A far cry from the sunshine and blue skies normally associated with this popular summer resort but beautiful nonetheless.

Thank you for all the emails concerning the health of our webcam.  The external cables suffered in the winter storms and as soon as a replacement cable arrives, ferries permitting of course, we should be back on the air.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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Things I love about Symi

Low clouds over Pedi this morning.

One of the things I love about Symi.

Temperatures are barely in double figures in our small corner of Greece today but despite ominous looking clouds on Sunday afternoon it did not rain on Symi’s carnival parade , there was enough of a breeze to permit the flying of kites on Clean Monday  and this morning’s downpour ceased in time for the Dodecanese Day parade so we can all go home to our firesides, content that all was as it should be for the holiday long weekend. March is always a capricious month in the Mediterranean as the spring equinox brings with it everything from delicious sunshine to sand winds, sleet to downpours, with occasional late snowfalls on both the Greek mainland and Asia Minor just across the water from us. Indeed Symi has once again escaped the violent winter weather that has brought much of the rest of the country to a standstill but at 6 degrees at 8 o’clock this morning it is hardly warm.  Tomorrow, Wednesday, is not expected to be significantly better with Force 9 northerly gales expected in the Aegean and snow forecast as far south as Crete. We could be spending the next few days in scarves and mittens.

Two cats campaigning for a fitted kitchen in the back lanes of Chorio.

Nanny goat and her kid in Lieni. 

As you can see, goats love daisies - but that tall graceful asphodel is definitely unappetising.

Flowers everywhere.  Even the most mundane verge looks like a garden.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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A Bank Holiday Long Weekend

Not snow but drifts of almond blossom.

There's always something interesting on the horizon on Symi.

The lizards are starting to wake up and are easy to photograph

because they are still sluggish in the low temperatures.

As I was walking down the Kali Strata this morning I was passed by a woman heading upwards who I know to be well into her eighties.  If she can tackle the Kali Strata steps, so can I ...

This is for Symi regulars who might find it hard to imagine what 

one of the island's most well known summer watering holes looks like when it is closed.

The new stone flags are ready for paving the waterfront road round Yialos.

It is a clear dry day on Symi and we are all making the most of the day. The children came out of school early today and are down in Yialos, practicing their marching. The unsettled weather that has been hovering over Italy all week is heading East and the Ionian has already experienced heavy rain and flooding so we can expect more showers over the rest of Greece during the next few days. Temperatures are expected to drop all over Greece and snow is forecast for many areas for the Clean Monday bank holiday. As Clean Monday and Dodecanese Day coincide this year, Symi’s annual Dodecanese Day parade has been deferred until Tuesday. Meanwhile the children’s Carnival parade which was originally scheduled for Sunday has now been brought forward to Saturday to avoid the anticipated bad weather.   Fortunately as Symi is a very small place with a very efficient municipal loud speaker system, announcing these changes is quite quick and easy.


Another piece of news that may be of interest to readers is that Olympic Air has made changes to its schedules, dropping routes to London, Paris, Brussels and Vienna and introducing new ones to Bucharest and several other Balkan destinations. For information please see our travel blog and also ekathimerini.com  This comes as they contest the EU's decision to block the merger of Aegean Airways and Olympic Air for reasons of monopoly.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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