Down in the Valley

The Pedi Road

Veteran of many fights. 

 That is the bell tower of St John's Church, Yialos, in the background.

It is not for nothing that the Greek word for summer, kalokairi, means ‘good time’. While Symi does not have a reputation as a party island like Mykonos and Santorini, July and August are certainly the busiest time of the year down in Yialos, Symi’s famous natural amphitheatre harbour. Returning from dinner in Harani with friends last night the pavement cafes and bars were humming and all the restaurants and tavernas appeared to be full.

The official premiere of the Symi Festival is scheduled to take place tonight with a performance by Greece singer Miltos Paschalides. Presumably he and his entourage will be arriving on the big boat in the course of the day because at time of writing there are no posters up in the town advertising this event, although there are plenty promoting the annual Symi Women’s Association Symi Shrimp Festival which takes place in Syllogos Square, Chorio, on Sunday evening. There are also a lot advertising something called ‘Miss Vanity’ which is taking place at the Alethini, one of Symi’s clubs, at 23.00 this evening more or less the same time that the concert would be taking place. Of Miltos Paschalides, however, not a word. Indeed when a rep made enquiries at the town hall about the Symi Festival this year so that she could inform people of what is going on at her ‘welcome meetings’ she was told that to all intents and purposes there isn’t one, but if anyone wants to stage something, please let the town hall know!

Meanwhile life in the Pedi valley continues quietly, with modest pleasures and little fanfare. The main church dedicated to St Pantelimon had a big festival on the evening of 27 July with lots of free food and drink and live music. Down in the Pedi valley, however, the small monastery and chapel dedicated to the same saint had a much quieter and more discreet name day celebration attended by many locals. These photographs were taken by my husband, Nicholas Shum.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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A New Home for the Symi Gallery

Part of the original salon ceiling, complete with a house martin's nest.  Four babies hatched in the time that the room was cleared and painted.

The upstairs entrance.  There's is still plenty of work to be done.

The steps up the side of the building, from the Kali Strata.

Looking down the corridor to the salon and balcony.  Unfortunately my camera does not do the view justice but one can see across the rooftops to Nimos.

After a year without a base the Peripatetic Symi Gallery has now found a home in an old mansion near the top of the Kali Strata. Belonging to a Symiot family now living in Rhodes the house has been uninhabited for decades with the inevitable damage that neglect and a broken tile or two brings. Ian Haycox and members of the Symi Gallery have been hard at work, removing junk and clearing rooms to reveal what is salvageable of the original stencil work and to determine how the space can best be used. As is often the case in traditional Symi 19th century houses, the salon is the only reasonably sized room in the house, the rest being a warren of small rooms used as for sleeping, dressing and cooking. For the present the intention is to optimise the upper storey which comprises the salon and a long corridor with several smaller rooms branching off it.

The initial exhibition which opens in early August will be of Ian Haycox’s work. Posters will be going up shortly.

Entrance is up steps to the side of the building, next to the grove of conifers.



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That Old Charm

The view from the area of the Two Fishes.  The Cottage is in the group of houses in front.  The Little Blue House and Zoe's apartments are in the group of houses on the hill to the left of the picture.  That is Pedi Bay in the background - no where is very far from anywhere else on Symi.

Symi's Acropolis with the remnants of the old Kastro built by the Knights of St John,

as seen from the same vantage point.  This is a very old part of Chorio which is

 now being extensively restored.

A quiet lane in Chorio.  The Museum is behind the walls on the left with the hibiscus growing out of it, and Hatziagapitos House is behind the wall on the right with the vine tendril.

Early morning in Yialos.  That is the Hellenikon apartment in the centre, with the blue pediment.  In a few hours the gyros bar will be busy but at seven on a July morning there is hardly a soul in the harbour apart from fishermen and street cleaners.

It is the last week of July and Symi is very hot and very busy. Yialos, the main harbour is bustling with yachts, gulets, water taxis and excursion boats, not to mention ferries of all sizes. The Blue Star Diagoras squeezed in this morning, only about 2 hours late. Something worth remembering when planning ferry trips at this time of the year is that the more stops there are between the point of departure and the place of arrival the less likely one is to arrive on time, particularly when catching a car ferry from Piraeus that takes in such popular islands as Santorini and Kos.

While the harbour is humming, Chorio, the village is much quieter, particularly during the day when most visitors staying there are away on the beach. As most of Symi’s beaches are surrounded by steep cliffs they are only accessible either by water taxis operating out of Yialos and Pedi or by some fairly energetic walking over rugged terrain. Their charm lies in their spectacular settings and astonishingly clear water. For those who have hired a car or bike or don’t mind a serious walk with a swim at the end of the trail, Toli Bay is worth the hike, particularly with the promise of lunch at Dafne’s Taverna as a reward. Other beaches that can be reached on foot or by car include Pedi bay, Nimborio and Marathounda. For more beach information please see our beach guide on Symi-beaches.htm.

Symi’s main attraction is the island’s beautifully preserved architecture and spectacular scenery, all on a small scale that gives the place a magical air enhanced by the fact that so little of the habitation can be seen when approaching from the sea. Visitors in the past used to enjoy the evening arrivals on the Symi I, watching the sparkling lights of Yialos and Chorio appear out of the darkness as the boat came round the headland and the whole panorama unfolded. These days connections tend to be high speed catamarans so arrivals are more efficient with less of the magic, but returning from a day out on one of the excursion boats still captures some of that old charm.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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A Warm Welcome

The bell tower of St John's with Lemonitissa looking down from the Acropolis

A more familiar view of the bell tower of St John's church in Yialos. 

This is Symi's cathedral where the Metropolitan says mass.

A glimpse of the early morning rush hour in Yialos from a lane off the Kali Strata.

Looking down the Kali Strata from the Hotel Fiona in Chorio

Profiti Ilias on the cliff above Agia Marina cemetery.

Look at those amazing folds in the rock above.  No wonder Symi does not hold water.

It is believed that an old temple to Apollo used to stand where the monastery to the Prophet Elijah is and there are remains of some very ancient walls inside.

An overnight breeze brought brief relief from the heatwave that has been smothering Symi in recent days and we are enjoying a slight drop in temperatures on the island. This will be short-lived unfortunately as the heatwave will resume with new vigour from tomorrow but it is amazing how fresh 35 degrees centigrade can feel after days in the forties. An unfortunate side effect of the heat is that the indigenous insect life is proliferating and every supermarket on Symi has prominent displays of every kind of insect spray and trap imaginable. This is certainly nothing new. The myth of Pandora’s box with its plagues of winged nasties probably had its origins in centuries of annual eruptions of insects in high summer in Greece. At least these days we have Baygon!

Symi is filling up steadily with summer visitors but there is still some August availability to be found in the off peak weeks. A sign of the times is that there are fewer Greek holidaymakers this year. In these days of high unemployment and limited funds for treats many Greeks are visiting relatives and staying in family properties in the islands or rural villages where at least they don’t have accommodation costs to worry about and they can be sure of a warm welcome from the older generation.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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Rising Temperatures

There is to be no relief from the heat as the meteorologists forecast that the countrywide heatwave will linger into next week. Most of Greece is experiencing temperatures of at least 40 degrees and on Symi temperatures are closer to 50 degrees centigrade as the rocky slopes have been soaking up the heat for weeks and the meltemi breezes seem to be giving us a miss this year. It is a busy time for the water taxis and the beach tavernas as everyone who does not have to work heads for the cooling waters of the Mediterranean. With the rising temperatures the bougainvilleas are shedding bracts and papery pink drifts collect in the corners of the Kali Strata like rosy snow.

This is a week for name days, first Agia Marina and then Profiti Ilias. Profiti Ilias(Prophet Elijah) is the imposing white monastery clinging to the cliff face above the Pedi Valley. These last few evenings it has been floodlit and the sonorous tones of the Papa reading the liturgy have rung out across the valley. On a small island with over 300 churches and chapels one is seldom far from the Word of God or the sound of church bells.

Although there is a country wide taxi drivers’ strike at the moment, protesting against the government’s new plans to liberalise the profession, the taxis on Symi are working normally today. While taxi drivers in big cities such as Athens can easily recoup lost earnings after a few days at the picket line, in a small place like Symi with 2500 inhabitants and 6 taxis, they cannot afford to take a week off work.

I apologise to my regular readers for the erratic nature of this blog but the new interface at www.blogger.com seems to be having teething problems.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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The Heatwave Rolls On

Preparing for breakfast at the edge of the sea.  A waiter shakes crumbs off a chair to the waiting fish.

The 17th Symi Festival opens tonight with a 50 voice choir from the neighbouring island of Rhodes. The posters went up around the town yesterday and this morning municipal workers were busy, sorting plastic chairs in yard of St John’s church. Many of us remember when Nana Mouskouri opened the first Symi Festival and the harbour was packed with megayachts as her international fans flocked to the small island of Symi. Who knows? Perhaps one day we will return to such splendour but in the meantime we thank those who have given of their time to enable Symi to have a festival this year.

On Thursdays it is often a cruise ship from Cyprus...

On Friday it was the water ship from Rhodes - the third visit in a week as the island's

reservoirs ran dry. Like many small Greek islands Symi has no natural water.

Fast Track, the BBC World Service’s travel program, devoted this week’s program to Greece and the significant role tourism plays in this country’s economy. No where is that more true than in the islands, particularly the small ones like Symi which have no natural resources or industry. Symi’s sponge fishing industry faded away decades ago and the lone boatyard still building wooden boats down in Pedi is certainly not providing fast ships for the Ottoman fleet. What remains of Symi’s glorious past is preserved in her extraordinarily pretty architecture and it is that, combined with the spectacular cliffs and rock formations to which these houses cling, which provides Symi with her own unique tourist attraction.

Looking up the Kali Strata, the famous flight of 360 or so steps that connects

 the top town of Chorio with the port of Yialos.

The latest batch of Kali Strata kittens.

Many of the ruined mansions on the Kali Strata have been restored or rebuilt. 

This one, however, is in the clutches of a fig tree.

The pediment of Villa Afaia on the Kali Strata

The heatwave rolls on with temperatures in the forties. July is usually the hottest and driest month. As we move into August the days grow shorter and the humidity climbs but for now Symi is a sizzling hot lump of rock in the embrace of Asia Minor. The July full moon shines down on an island where it is often too hot to sleep and the late night hours carry the discreet splashes of those for whom a night time swim is the only way to cool off enough to sleep.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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Spoil Yourself on Symi - Last Minute Accommodation Offers

We have some last minute special offer discounts on selected villas, apartments and studios for July and August. There is something to suit all budgets and group sizes.

If you have never been to Symi before, this could be the opportunity you have been waiting for.  If you are a regular visitor to the island, this is the chance to sample Symi at a different time of the year.

Please contact Wendy and Adriana on symi-vis@otenet.gr or symivisitoraccommodation@live.com and find out if we can make your dream Greek island summer holiday come true!

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A Silvery Sea

This disused windmill in Chorio is enjoying a new lease of life as a small restaurant. 

 Note the oleanders growing out of the paving.

Three tiny kittens enjoying a nap at the bottom of the Kali Strata.

Pedi Bay at 7 a.m

The first official heatwave of the summer season is scorching Greece.  Forest fires are blazing in Evia, Zakynthos and other tinder dry parts of the country. The strong winds that have been fanning the flames are absent here in Symi where the sun beats down on a silvery sea from dawn to dusk with a not a ripple of breeze to relieve the heat.

The price of fuel does not seem to have had an impact on the size of the power yachts that pass through Yialos and Harani.  Those little boats by the clock tower are for hire.

The last rains fell on Symi at the end of May and it is only the hardiest and most heroic of the summer plants that are still flowering. Oleanders splash bright pink and crimson blossom in an environment so arid that it is

inhospitable to just about anything else. July is such a dry month that even with intensive watering plants shrivel and buds turn to dust without ever opening. Roses and jasmine fade on their stems and the bees have vanished. The incessant chirrup of cicadas drowns out the desperate roar of Symi’s power station on hot summer afternoons.

An oleander amongst the dry grasses.

Early morning shadows on the Kali Strata.

The ferry schedules have now changed to their summer format. This means that the Proteus does a double Symi-Rhodes-Symi- Rhodes trip on Sunday evenings to make up for the complete absence of anything from Symi to Rhodes on Monday mornings. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays the Dodecanese Seaways morning connection from Symi to Rhodes now leaves at 09.30 instead of 8 a.m which means that it only reaches
Rhodes at 10.30 – quite tight scheduling for some check in times so if you are travelling on those days of the week please check your flight details now and if necessary inform whoever you have booked your accommodation with to avoid possible problems later. The reason for these changes is not to make life difficult for visitors to Symi but to try to provide a service to other islands as well during the high season weeks. Dodecanese Seaways is endeavouring to keep everyone happy but at the end of the day still only has two vessels. In these days of austerity no one is running about, commissioning new boats.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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Our Sunny Corner of the Mediterranean

The Kastro (Acropolis) as seen from Lieni, an area of upper Chorio

Beating the heat in Lieni. 

A sign of the times is that these studios were built as holiday lets

but are now rented out to conscripts, hence the uniforms on the line.

Summer rain may be lashing Northern Europe but here in our sunny corner of Mediterranean the sky remains clear and the weather forecast is all variations of hot, hotter and hotter still. Temperatures are around 40 degrees centigrade on Symi in the heat of the day at the moment with moderate to low humidity. Washing dries to a crisp within the hour and bread turns to rusks as soon as it is sliced. July is always the hottest and driest month of the year on Symi and it is only in August that the humidity starts to rise again as the nights grow longer and cooler.

Another face of the Acropolis - looking up at Lemonitissa church from the side balcony

of Symi Visitor Accommodation's office in the centre of Yialos. 

Lemonitissa Studio and Apartment are screened by the trees to the right of the church.

The Kastro looking across from the row of windmills on the crest of the hill that divides Yialos from Pedi.  No where on Symi is really very far from anywhere else.

After some anxious moments it seems that Symi will have a summer festival after all, with a grand opening on 30 July with the Greek singer Miltos Paschalidis. At the moment this is the only ‘big name’ event on the calendar, the other items being the usual appearances of various local dance and drama groups that perform every year, originally to augment a wider program but now its mainstay.

Looking down at the Mouragio part of Yialos with the area of Harani in the background. 

The rooftops on the right foreground belong to the Panormiteon high school.

Both these 19th century mansions on the Kali Strata need to be restored

 but the red geranium is relentlessly optimistic.

In these days of Austerity Greece there is little money in the municipal or national coffers for all the costs involved in terms of publicity, transport, accommodation, meals and equipment that are unavoidable for visiting performers, even if they themselves offer to perform gratis. Local businesses no longer have the spare capacity to provide sponsorship either. I wonder where all the musicians, soloists and bands that used to do the Greek Summer Festival Circuit are spending their days now that belts have been tightened and free cultural events for all have come to an end. Are they performing on the cruise ships that are still supposed to be a growth industry in tourism these days? Or are they sitting in Athens and Thessaloniki, waiting for the telephone to ring?

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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In the Shade of an Olive Grove

It is that time of the year when those of us on Symi who do not have air conditioning seek out whatever coolness nature provides, be it the shade of trees and vines or the bracing chill of the Mediterranean Sea. Indeed I am writing this blog in the shade of an olive grove, my living room from now until October. In July, with so much exposed rock, Symi is a giant storage heater, soaking up the sun like the dainty blue tailed lizards and prehistoric agamas that bask upon those stones. In the Pedi Valley and Xisos the constant chirrup of cicadas provides a soundtrack to sunny afternoons of sleepy cats and gently cooing doves. The summer sun makes nocturnal animals of us all.

Speaking of soaking up heat, as in other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries many properties on Symi make use of solar water heaters and these devices are a common sight on the roofs. The important thing to remember with using one of these is that once the supply of hot water has been depleted there isn’t any more until the next day so a long hot shower in the evening cannot be followed by another first thing in the morning. On an island with no natural water long showers are not a good idea anyway as domestic water supplies are limited and expensive. This is why Greek showers usually have a little button on the shower head. This enables one to easily turn the shower off while shampooing etcetera and then reactivate it for rinsing off without going through the whole palaver of adjusting taps to get the temperature right again. A simple but effective method of saving water that could be adopted world wide.

As Symi turns from green to brown under the Mediterranean sun the dominant vegetation is also becoming more prickly. Thistles, euphorbias, capers and rapidly desiccating thyme, rigani and sage bushes all seem destined to make walking in the valley a scratchy experience. Velcro was inspired by someone who noticed how well burrs adhere to clothing when walking in the countryside, a phenomenon with which Symi’s sheep are only too familiar.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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