Symi Is Open for Business!

The leather shop and some of the other tourist shops along the Mouragio side of the harbour are now open.

The view from the Symi Visitor balcony is still mainly fishing boats. I took this photograph early in the week when the Dodecanese Seaways catamaran did a day trip from Rhodes. The Panagia Skiadeni did her first day trip yesterday.

Work on the new harbour has stopped for the Easter weekend so that the crew can spend the holiday with their families.  Look at how green the hillside is.

The wild lupins have joined the poppies and corona daisies in the terraces.

Muscari - the wild grape hyacinth.

Muscari growing from the base of an old stone wall in Lieni.

More of the tavernas and cafes are opening up, ready for visitors coming over from Rhodes.

An abundance of clover.  No wonder Symi Easter lamb is so succulent.

Maria has been busy, cutting wild oregano to dry in the shade and sell to passers by on the Kali Strata.

The Turkish gulets are back.

Lemonitissa church looming over Yialos.  This is one of the main churches in Chorio for the Easter celebrations at midnight on Saturday night.

The beach tavernas are not open yet and it will be while a month before the water taxis come into operation but that's no excuse not to buy designer beach wear.

New stock, waiting to be unpacked.  

Suddenly Symi is a lot more awake.  The day boats have started from Rhodes and there are a lot more people about, mostly Greek rather than foreigners.  More businesses are opening up and there is a buzz of activity around the harbour.  At this point it is still very low key as there are few tourists actually staying on the island and the main focus is people coming over from Rhodes for the day and people visiting their families for the Easter holidays.

At this point there is no much open in the evening as everyone is in church.  The most solemn services take place tonight and tomorrow, Good Friday, when the epitaphs are paraded through the parishes with a lot of loud bangs and firecrackers to deter Satan and other evil spirits. At midnight on Saturday night there will be an altogether different kind of loud bangs as the Resurrection is celebrated with fireworks and dynamite.

The grocery shops are overflowing with fresh produce for the Easter feast and the smell of baking wafts through the lanes of Chorio.  Every year brings more chocolate bunnies and eggs but Easter is still very much a non-commercial event in the islands.  The emphasis is on home-baked biscuits of all kinds and dyed boiled eggs to share with friends and family.

After a couple of days of drizzly weather it looks as though the Easter weekend itself will be mainly fine and dry with the possibility of thundershowers on Monday.  Temperatures are around 20 at midday, falling to around 14 at night.

Our office is closed for the long weekend so I shall be back on Tuesday with more photographs of Symi in April to share with you.

Kalo Pasca everybody!

Regards,
Adriana