Chickens and Kittens

Yialos, 9.25 this morning and the Dodecanese Seaways docks, en route to Kos and other points north.  We are now on a reduced ferry schedule for the winter and the Pride or Express only comes through on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings.  The water taxis are conspicuous by their absence - they are now out of the water for the winter.

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation winter at half past nine this morning.  The flags are for the Ochi Day parade which will take place later today.  That is also probably why there were quite a lot of people coming off the catamaran, over from Rhodes for the bank holiday long weekend.  Many Symiots now live, study and work in Rhodes and come back to see their families for holidays such as this one.

No matter where one is in the world, fishing boats are irresistibly photogenic.

Do not disturb.  One of the kittens living outside the carpenter's shop at the bottom of the Kali Strata enjoying a lie in this morning.

Colour co-ordinated in Chorio.

A still and misty morning in Pedi.

Symi is a famously steep island and it is very difficult to get away from steps, particularly in the celebrated amphitheatre harbour where the houses are built into the cliffs and hillsides. This may be a contributory factor to the famed longevity of the Symiots as they are constantly going up and down steps all their lives. Very few properties in the harbour have vehicle access in any form and many entail climbs of 100 steps or more to reach them.  Up in Chorio the terrain is gentler with winding lanes, slopes and occasional shallow steps rather than perpendicular flights like this one. This is why when people contact us about accommodation and say that they have mobility problems, we usually recommend houses such as Villa Anastasia in Chorio rather than properties in the harbour where steps may be unavoidable.

As the traditonal buildings on Symi are quite small no one wants to waste precious internal space on staircases.  Accesses like this are not unusual in the back lanes of Yialos.  While most furniture can be dismantled, moving fridges and other heavy items must be quite a challenge when confronted by a spiral like this one!  Ropes and pulleys spring to mind.

Lining up to cross the road in Lieni.  Amazingly, despite the proliferation of free range or effectively feral poultry living on the only road out of town and at one of its busiest stretches, I have never seen so much as a feather, never mind a fatality, so perhaps Symiot chickens have more road sense than most and can cross the road with impunity.

Symi continues to enjoy exceptionally mild weather this October.  Temperatures are still in the 18-25 degrees centigrade range and rain continues to elude us.  The long range forecast predicts a slight fall in temperatures from Sunday with quite strong northerly winds.   The clocks change in Greece and the rest of the EU on Sunday.  As Symi is so steep many places on the north-facing slopes are already in shadow for much of the day and we will soon be smelling wood smoke in the evenings as the evenings become chillier.

Today is Ochi Day, the day General Metaxa, the dictator governing Greece at the time, said 'No' to Mussolini and Greece found itself embroiled in World War 2.  It is a bank holiday so many businesses are closed today.  The day starts with a church service in St John's church, Symi's cathedral at the back of Yialos and the seat of Metropolitan (similar to a bishop). This is then followed by a parade and wreath-laying ceremony at Symi's war memorial in Yialos. All the school children take part in the parade and it is an opportunity for families to get together afterwards for gyros or lunch at one of the traditional tavernas in the harbour.  In the big cities of Athens and Thessalonika there are big military parades and fly-pasts but on Symi celebrations are much simpler and involve the whole community.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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Life on Symi in November

Apparently this privately owned yacht went aground at Nimborio earlier this week and was towed round to Yialos, kept afloat by these bladders.  Salvage attempts to raise her will be taking place soon.

Wednesday morning's Blue Star Diagoras was absolutely packed, as you can see from the crowd at the clock tower.  It was our first day return to Rhodes in 10 days because of the strike and limited winter schedules and at the same time also the last for some time as Thursday's strike meant that the Friday boat would not be coming through in time for anyone needing to get to Rhodes during business hours to benefit.

If you follow this lane at the back of the harbour you will find yourself climbing the Kataraktis, the ancient path up to the Akropolis and Chorio that was used for centuries before the Kali Strata was built by wealthy sponge merchants in the late 19th century.  The fancy paving quickly turns to cobbles once one is clear of the houses and it comes out, not surprisingly, in the oldest part of upper Chorio.

One of the two dental surgeries on Symi.  While there is a constant crisis when it comes to doctors serving the community through the clinics as they are outside appointments, the two dentists are local men, indeed they are related as uncle and nephew, and they provide excellent treatment at affordable prices.

An orange tree, swelling with fruit which will ripen in the course of the next few weeks. The heavy rain in September and again in October gave the citrus trees a head-start this winter.

Symi is an extremely steep island with lots of steps.  They don't always follow any kind of cohesive order as  in many cases, such as this one, each property has built its own access steps over the years and they only merge where they pop out at the bottom.  This photograph shows access to at least 6 households built into the cliffs of Symi's Akropolis.  The remnants of the Kastro are right at the top, beyond the Greek flag.

Now that the Great Winter Sleep has begun it is very quiet in Chorio and often the only life to be seen is in feline form.

A windy sky on Tuesday.  The weather is still dominated by a big high pressure system which is showing little sign of shifting.  Temperatures remain between 16 and 23 degrees centigrade and the long range forecast remains rainless.

A rebel in Chorio.  I don't know to whom this Mercedes belongs as it has only appeared in the neighbourhood recently but whoever it is is determined to ignore the request in triplicate.

Not all of you use Facebook but if you love Symi you are undoubtedly aware of the work of Solidarity Symi, a registered charity set up by Wendy Wilcox of Symi Visitor Accommodation and Andrew Davies of the Old Markets Hotel to help refugees and other people in need on Symi.  Here is a link we posted on Facebook recently to an article in Kathimerini, a mainstream Greek newspaper which interviewed Wendy and Ian Leckie, a British policeman who decided to take a year's sabbatical to help out on Symi.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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