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| Sunrise over Pedi Bay. |
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| Pomegranates ripening in the courtyard of St John's church, Yialos. |
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| Spotted, dining on a fig leaf outside the butcher's shop in Yialos. |
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| A rustic fence in the Pedi Valley. Why waste money on expensive metal and wire gates when a few pallets can be recycled? |
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| Remnants of fine stonework among the ruins on the Kali Strata. |
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| This is an example of an old building that was plastered to make it look as though it was made of dressed stone blocks. Now that the plaster is dropping off, the subterfuge is revealed! |
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| Spot the birdie! |
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| Some impressive hand wrought spikes on a courtyard on the Kali Strata. |
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| While the Kali Strata is easy enough to find from the top, at the bottom its origins are rather inconspicuous. Look out for the blue paint, the green sign and the carpenter's workshop behind the Bella Napoli pizzeria! |
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| Water taxis, heading for the beaches. Many of Symi's beaches can only be accessed by water or by negotiating quite hot and tricky footpaths so the water taxis run a shuttle service out of Yialos and Pedi to take people out to the beaches in the morning and bring them back in the afternoon. |
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| A washing line of birthday balloons near the Kampos bus stop and kiosk in Chorio. |
August is drawing to a close. The French, Italian and Greek visitors are heading back to work and the British and Scandinavian visitors are starting to arrive on Symi. The children of Symi will be heading back to school next week for the start of the new academic year. Some mothers on the island will also be waving their older teenagers good bye as they head for colleges and universities in other parts of the country and, in one case that we know of, the United Kingdom. Symi may be a small island with a population of only 2500 people, but parents do their best to give their children the best education possible and as many opportunities that they can. The current generation of Symiot children are largely polyglot, learning not just English in addition to their native Greek but increasingly Spanish, French, Italian and anything else that is available to increase job opportunities. The driving ambition that has made generations of Symiots so successful as entrepreneurs in the Diaspora in the past is still very much in evidence today. We hope that their homeland, Greece, gives them the opportunity to fulfill their promise without having to head off to the far corners of the world.
The weather continues hot and humid although some of us were saying today that it seems to be losing its edge. With the autumn equinox only a few weeks away it would be nice if we settled into the tolerable thirties after the blistering forties of recent days.
Have a good weekend and we wish our American and Canadian visitors a happy Labour Day long weekend.
Regards,
Adriana
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